“The Convoluted Universe”, Books 1 – 5

by Dolores Cannon (1931 – 2014)

Book Review

Dolores Cannon was an American past life therapist, who died in 2014.  I have just finished reading the fifth of her enormous volumes entitled “The Convoluted Universe.”  The content will seem bizarre to many, but I just found them wonderfully mind-expanding and endlessly fascinating.  Sometimes I could only read them in bite sized pieces for the sake of my mental digestion, but other times I would be entirely engrossed on a long railway journey, far away from my everyday preoccupations or the political wranglings of the day.

Early books of Dolores Cannon

Dolores was born in 1931, and married a US Naval man in 1951, with whom she spent 21 years travelling all over the world in relation to his work.  She was a housewife and brought up her children, until in the 1960s she began to work with hypnosis.  She began by using hypnosis to help alleviate physical illness, and one day (in 1968) a client spontaneously went into a past life.  Thereafter, Dolores developed her own way of working with past lives, bearing in mind that at the time it was a new practice.

I read several of her books written in the 1990s, centred around past lives (such as the Essenes, and Hiroshima) but also some accounts of clients who described lives in spaceships or other stars.  At the time, she tended to focus on past lives, but her work was to expand.  She began to work with the expanded intelligence of the client, which she thought of as the “Subconscious Mind”, and to ask questions about the person’s own health, and the meaning of life.  She developed a method of healing entitled the Quantum Healing Hypnosis Technique.

Her body of work increasingly took her into the realms of UFOs and extra-terrestrials, i.e. beyond lifetimes on earth.  She also identified “Three Waves of Volunteers” (her book of that name, published in 2011, in between volumes of the Convoluted Universe), some people who were reporting that this was their first life on Earth (coming in without karma), and they had come to help planet Earth (tying in with the Ascension and New Earth movements).  Stop reading now if you are cynical, or faint-hearted!  When her work became thus expanded, she started putting together the “Convoluted Universe” series, which initially she thought would only be one or two volumes.  It is an apt title, for nearly every page is mind-bending.

Birth Chart

Dolores had a pioneering Sun in Aries, with a futuristic close conjunction of Uranus and the North Node (karmic mission) also in that sign.  Her Moon was right at the beginning of Aries too, so she was completely fearless.  The ruling planet of all that pioneering energy, Mars, was conjunct the Part of Fortune, so it was her joy and passion to investigate the unseen (this conjunction occurring in her 12th House of the Unconscious).  Her Ascendant was in Virgo, with Neptune rising, which gave her both the rigour of examining detail (Virgo) and the  sensitivity to work with clients who might often have presented with a trauma, phobia or emotional turmoil.  She also had a wider, but powerful, conjunction of Jupiter and Pluto in Cancer (delving deeply into the past) in 11th House of Group Work.  Last but not least, Mercury was conjunct Chiron in Taurus, a conjunction of working with mental trauma to find solutions.  The expansiveness and breadth of her work is shown by Mercury exactly sextile her natal Jupiter.

The Convoluted Universe, Book 1 (2001) [509 pages]

The books are compiled by sections of transcripts from her sessions grouped by different themes.  In the first book, some of the material comes from earlier sessions going back to the 1980s which were considered too “out there” at the time.

There was a startlingly huge amount of new information that came to me with this first book, even though I have been a past-life therapist for nearly 30 years.  The first revelation was that some people come into this life with no karma.  Often this is because they may have had lives on other star systems, but it is their first lifetime on Earth, because they have taken up the call for help for our planet from the place or places they call “Home” in the Universe.  Most of my clients have had many lifetimes here, though I did have one who said it was her second lifetime.

Although this book takes you beyond the realms of “ordinary” past life work, there is still plenty of material for those interested to learn more about them.  For example, she investigates historical details of past lives in the ancient civilization of Atlantis, something many regard as mythical, but a subject I have had much personal experience of.  Some of our actual myths and mythological creatures originate in those times, such as mermaids, and there is a section on mermaid life in this volume, as well as in volume 5.

There is extensive documentary about life on other stars and planets.  Again, this is not a “normal” part of my work, but I have had clients who experienced origins on other stars.  One of them described crystal buildings, and that is a feature of some of the descriptions in this volume.  The fashion designer Paco Rabanne has described coming from the crystal star Altair thousands of years ago.  I think I have always believed in life on other planets.  When I was a young child I wrote a story about life on another planet, and even then the life forms I envisaged were not concrete but rather abstract in consciousness.  There is a huge body of work about such life forms in these volumes, and the only other literature I have come across with so much to say on this subject is “Starlight Elixirs” by Michael Smulkis and Fred Rubenfeld.

Time itself is highlighted in these volumes as being our human linear construct, whereas there are other ways of looking at it, such as seeing it as non-existent.  The client I had from a crystal planet, when asked when she was there replied “before the Earth was formed”.

By far the most electrifying, and mind-challenging, section of the book (for me) was the section on parallel universes.  But enough said, I don’t want this book review to be a “spoiler”.

” In “Keepers of the Garden” Phil said many souls that had never known Earth lives had volunteered to come to help the Earth at his time in its history. They were the infusion or transfusion of new blood, the ones who have never known violence. Because they do not have this in their soul’s history they can help to change the vibration of the Earth and raise it to a higher dimension where such things as violence are impossible”.

The Convoluted Universe, Book 2 (2005) [661 pages]

Each time she published one of these books she thought it might be the last in the series, and then more and more material came in.  Each book is able to build on the credibility of the last, for if you followed the earlier work you are more able to take in the next phase.  For this reason, she urges you to read her earlier material (and though I had read several, I certainly now intend to go back and fill in the gaps, because I read her first few books, then rested on my laurels for a while before coming to the new material).  She established her own publishing company, Ozark Mountain Publishing. and has a vast catalogue of books written.

So if you are still with me, what fascinating delights are contained in Book 2?  The book starts out with examples of healing various ailments through identifying past life causes.  This in itself is an element of past life work which is satisfying.  Dolores would ask to speak directly to the Subconscious for an overview of the physical and mental condition of the client (rather like in the healing sessions of Edgar Cayce), and then from the Source would direct healing into the auric field or the cells of the body to restore the body to a normal healthy state.  This she called Quantum Healing Hypnosis Technique.

There follows in this volume insights into the mysteries of ancient civilizations such as that of Egypt, and other lost civilizations, from information gathered in her sessions.  A controversial subject, that of Underground Cities, is also explored, as well as more information about Atlantis.  She believed in checking, and cross-checking various topics with many subjects, to arrive at truth and verification.  There are whole sections on the intricacies of the subject of karma, too.

She also introduces us to lives in non-human bodies.  Some people have not only had ancient lives, but been instrumental in the creation of Earth itself.  Therefore, you hear about lives in different elements and aspects of nature.  This is something I have not come across in my practice, but I remember reading the books by Arthur Guirdham about his Soul Group, where he asserts that his first consciousness was within an amethyst.  This may seem a stretch, but if you consider that many people have had the experience of being one with nature, that may be akin to such an experience or memory.

“Some of the non-human lives that have been reported to me were life as a stalk of corn where enjoyment came from basking in the sun and swaying in the gentle breezes. Life as a rock where time went by with incredible slowness”.

The Convoluted Universe, Book 3 (2008) [693 pages]

In the Introduction to this volume, Dolores elaborates on the healing element of her work:

“The client is instantly cured in miraculous ways in only one session.  I have reported some of these cases in my other books…It is most important for people to realize that they can cure themselves.  That their minds are extremely powerful, and the body will heal itself if properly directed to do so.”

She did train many others in her method, and indeed there are hypnotherapists doing amazing work along these lines, such as Steven Blake in the U.K. who has developed a neurolinguistic programming based technique called OldPain2Go which involves connecting with the subconscious.  Dolores’ guidance was that she needed to train as many people as possible as it would be the “therapy of the future”.

Also dealt with in this volume are Parallel Lives and Walk-Ins, subjects introduced in the books of Ruth Montgomery a few decades ago.  Again, these are controversial subjects.  I was told by Judy Hall a few years ago that I had a Parallel Life, which I do feel sceptical about.  But when I was hosting a regular meditation group about 20 years ago, one of our attendees used to talk about 7 Parallel Lives she was experiencing.  So I have an open mind on the subject per se, just not about my own!

Life in non-human bodies (including part-robots and even inanimate objects) is expounded in more detail in this book, with many examples given:

“It doesn’t matter what you’re made of, you still see, are still aware. It doesn’t matter; flesh and bones or nuts or bolts. There is still consciousness”.

Again, I can even stretch my mind to this, when I consider that in meditation you can become one with a flame. Objects and crystals can take on the vibrations of people they are in close contact with.

She also writes a great deal about the New Earth, which many souls are working towards.  This is linked with the Ascension movement, and involves the Earth moving into a higher dimension.  The book was written before the 2012 end of the Mayan calendar, which was a key date for this happening.  There are many still developing this work, post 2012, notably Celia Fenn.

The Convoluted Universe, Book 4 (2012) [595 pages]

This book was published in 2012, in anticipation of the end of the Mayan calendar, but before the actual end, which took place in December of that year.  This was a watershed in people’s minds, as much as that of the Millennium and the end of the Nostradamus prophecies.  But, life goes on, and the world is in as much turmoil as ever!  This book continues to illustrate the hope for the evolution of mankind/womankind, and describes the limitless consciousness and awareness contained in the subconscious mind of the many people who continued to work with Dolores.  If I am going to be pedantic, I might put in a plea for the word “superconscious” rather than subconscious, but I continue to (as I always have done) look at different definitions of subconscious and unconscious, a subject which has intrigued me since my undergraduate days.  I have never settled with this issue satisfactorily, even with the diagram of Roberto Assagioli who does bring in the superconscious.

What is lovely in this book and Book 5 is that increasingly Dolores asks for a parting message from the subconscious of the client, which is always lovingly reassuring.  Here is one:

“You’re exactly where you need to be. You are on the right track. You are doing what you are exactly supposed to be doing. So just be who you are and know that you’re not responsible for anybody else. You’re only responsible for you. Take care of your people. Have fun”.

In this volume, she describes how sometimes very advanced souls take on very difficult lives and bodies.  There are also interesting ideas about the cyclical nature of events, overcoming fear, the importance of love, and many other metaphysical concepts.

Here is an example of the process of healing during one session:

“The SC [subconscious] then described how it was going to remove the growth. ‘We are going to melt it. And allow it to flatten back out to normal health, and the energy she has been building up is being released…as it melts, it moves back into where it came from’ “

The Convoluted Universe, Book 5 (2015) [336 pages]

I had assumed that, having made her transition in 2014, Dolores had not written any other books.  Imagine my surprise then when at Christmas my sister gave me Book 5!  This apparently had been almost finished by Dolores when she died, and her daughter Julia completed the work.  It is shorter than the other volumes, because it is not padded out by Dolores’ commentaries and reflections, but still as fascinating as ever, containing transcripts of many of her sessions, together with the encouraging “parting messages”.  There is a delightful description of a life as a mermaid, for example.

Earlier in her career, Dolores had written a book specifically about life between lives, but there is an interesting description in this book of something which is reported extensively in Michael Newton’s books on the between life state:

“D. Well, now the ones you’re waiting for are coming. Now you can find out about it. What do they look like?

K. They look like people that Leonardo did of the Last Supper. It looks like people in robes. Sitting all at a table

 D. Are there many of them?

K. I think there are nine

Many times when the spirit goes to the other side they report being before a group of robed beings. This council is usually composed of nine or twelve”.

Dolores Cannon passed away on 18th October 2014.  Her transits in passing were Mars trine her Sun (an energetic shift), Saturn sextile her Saturn (steadiness in the process), and Uranus conjunct her South Node exactly to the day (a cycle of her karmic work completed).

I leave you with one of the particularly uplifting “parting messages”, which you might want to adopt for yourself:

“You are worthy of loving yourself. You’ve done great things in the past. You’ll do great things in the future. You’re doing a great thing now. All will be revealed to you. You are Divine. Rejoice! The rest of your life will be  Jubilee, jubilant. Impart that to others, jubilation, and they won’t feel threatened by their own jubilation. They’ll revel in it. As you revel in yours, they will revel in theirs.”

Julia Cannon reported that she received a message as her mother passed, which was “I can do so much more on the other side than I can from this side now”.

These books have given me so much more perspective on life, the Universe, and the limitlessness of the human mind, and  are a source of strength and enlightenment.

Aspects

In the very early hours of Tuesday morning (30th) Saturn in Capricorn will be stationary prior to going retrograde.  With Pluto also retrograde in Capricorn, we are learning deep lessons about patience and timing, and our relations with authority.  All over the world the existing order is being challenged, and this is yet another sign of the need for change.  It highlights what is not working, and where there is a need to revision certain structures of society, for example people keep saying that the political system (Capricorn) is not working.  It is a good time to re-examine the structures in your own life and take a cool look at how they are working and how they might be improved.  Some structures seem beyond repair (Pluto in Capricorn) but don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.  In France, the destructiveness of agents of change does not seem the way to go.  The Extinction Rebellion movement and the School Strike movement seem to be able to get their message across without damage.

On the same day, Saturn conjuncts the South Node, which hammers home the same message, adding a karmic emphasis.  The consequences of things people do that day will matter.  It may be a case of “It ain’t what you do it’s the way that you do it…”.  But it certainly will be important to think before you act.  If you are protesting or demonstrating, be mindful.  The principle of cause and effect will be highlighted.

Early on Wednesday morning (1st May) Mercury sextiles Mars, which may be a helpful start.  The early bird will catch the worm.  It is important to clear a path early on that day, because the rest of the day may be rather more complicated.  The energy of the early morning is brisk and efficient, so set your alarm for 6.37 a.m. (the time of the sextile) and accomplish some outstanding tasks.

The next aspect of the day is Mercury squaring the Nodal Axis, the second karmic aspect of the week.  Karmic information may come into your awareness, and communication in groups will be important.  Past life exploration may beckon, for some!  A good day to acquire a volume of  “The Convoluted Universe”!

Mercury also squares Saturn, so it could be a heavy going day if you are trying to wade through documentation or forms, or exacting paperwork.  There may also be communication or travel difficulties.  Patience may need to continue to be your mantra (one of the themes of this week).

Learn the lessons of Wednesday well, for a greater lesson awaits on Thursday (2nd)!  Mercury goes on to square Pluto, which is a deeper mental challenge.  Whereas Mercury square Saturn speaks of frustration and delay, Mercury square Pluto needs to get to the source of the problem in order to recalibrate.  There may be deep psychological conjectures, or challenging conversations to be had, in negotiating this square.  Approach this aspect in a spirit of constructiveness, positive speech, and a desire for peace.

Be heartened that your efforts will be rewarded, for in the early hours of Friday (3rd) Mercury wins through, after all the toil of the week.  Mercury trine Jupiter signals a big breakthrough of some sort, with a stroke of luck on your side.  You may be able to pull together some of the loose strands of this week, or achieve some enlightenment on its issues.  This aspect favours business, teaching and learning, travelling, and positive thought.

Finally, on Saturday (4th) we have a chance at a new beginning, for the New Moon occurs at 14 degrees Taurus, which is good news for those born around that date.  It completes the week with a flourish, and Taurus brings such a cornucopia of good things to our lives, the abundance of the earth, plants, food, money, art and music (I could go on) that you may benefit from one of these areas or several of them.  Remember to set your intentions for the month, and if you know the area of life (House) it occupies in your chart, your intentions can be even more focussed and potent.

The week in bullet points:

  • Tuesday – patience and timing, give what is due
  • Wednesday – the early bird catches the worm, otherwise slow
  • Thursday – think deeply
  • Friday – a bonanza
  • Saturday – the New Earth