Praise for Cosmic Cradle

We were honored to receive reviews of Cosmic Cradle from the following leaders in the field of consciousness, pre- and peri-natal psychology, and near-death studies.

"I have read Cosmic Cradle with great enthusiasm. It is a colossal research work, absolutely wonderful. I am very impressed.

I am 88 years old. I have spent 60 years studying the seven great religions. I have studied with the greatest living Sufi masters and intellectual leaders of our day, but no one volume has ever crossed my path that has been as conclusive as the Cosmic Cradle. This information has never been brought together before to my knowledge.

It was wonderful to open Cosmic Cradle and look at all the illustrations before reading any of the text. I have been an illustrator and designer all my life and the impress on me was so terrific. I could not put the book down. I was awake all night going through the illustrations. I thought. "This in itself is a great study, the evolution of illustrations of the angelic, spiritual beings."

I found so much illumination about how our individual truth blossoms in this lifetime, and where does that truth begin, and how is that soul impressed, and by whom. Cosmic Cradle presents such a wonderful teaching about how the individual soul is bringing the pattern out by himself. That absolutely blew my mind. It took me two days and two nights to really accept that. But your research is excellent. There is no way one could deny that. The notion that we have made choices about the path we will go on prior to conception is in all traditions.

Cosmic Cradle really explains why my sister and I are so completely different even though we experienced the same early childhood imprint from parents and environmental influences. Our life study, what we believed, followed, and understood did not begin with our birthing family. It came before we came into this plane. The independence of my nature is such that I like that idea. It takes responsibility away from other characters, institutions, and programming.

The idea that destiny is not something programmed by somebody else, an outside force, or deity is also extremely helpful in a day when there is so much psychosis, psychotherapy.

Cosmic Cradle is like an encyclopedia, such a tremendous teaching. No one should start reading from page 1 and go through it. It would be overwhelming. It is not a mental trip. I recommend that readers work with the index. A person can look up what he is currently searching for on his own path to illumination, what he is experiencing in his own life, or facets that are already opening to him in his own truths. Index is the most important thing. Reader must use index to search for his own truth. For instance, "What do I understand about meditation in chapter, 1, 2, 3, etc?" This technique of using the index will be absolutely mind blowing no matter what path the reader is on - meditation, visions, angelic experiences.

Cosmic Cradle clearly points out that the individual must search for the fulfillment of his own truth and depend upon that for his illumination. Search for individual truth, more than anything I have ever been exposed to, is what Cosmic Cradle gives an opportunity for. But the reader must start with what he is interested in and use the index to search for what he already knows. The illumination that comes through that will be tremendous.

Readers must also accept that the kernel of truth has been taught by all masters, all religions, and times

Cosmic Cradle is marvelous. I was ready for everything you said. Such a rare privilege, a tremendous teaching. I feel challenged, inspired. It opened new vistas, new horizons to me. H. B. Blavatsky did tremendous ground work. But Cosmic Cradle is predating, pre-realizing that. It is an work of illumination, it truly is, if used in the way I have laid out (working with the index). Thank you for the great opportunity to expand my consciousness."

"Cosmic Cradle is a stunning achievement, comprehensive in scope, spiritually illuminating! In one stroke the authors have succeeded in lifting out of obscurity a world literature--ignored during the recent era of scientific materialism--representing virtually all cultures and religions from ancient to contemporary times.

An introductory overview brilliantly and concisely documents the historical depth and paradigm-shattering significance of communications between parents and babies before conception. The logical succession of chapters which follow artistically blend ancient and contemporary sources of authoritative personal reports and prove that the experience of preconceptual communication is a universal human experience.

This work of encyclopedic proportions is the rare fruit of thirty years of passionate and scholarly exploration of human consciousness, the neglected step-child of 20th Century psychology.

Elizabeth and Neil Carman have thrown open a golden door."

"Occasionally one comes across an exceptional book. Thus is COSMIC CRADLE. Spanning the whole of recorded history up to contemporary times, authors Elizabeth and Neil Carman have collected and then shared with us the lesser-known mysteries surrounding conception, pregnancy, and birth. They have unveiled the soul in all its splendor and glory, and done so with meticulous care and irrefutable scholarship."

"Cosmic Cradle is wonderful!! This book gives us a wider lens through which to view the questions every child asks -- where did I come from and how did I get here? Cosmic Cradle reports how for millennia parents relate with their children prior to conception through stories of people's spontaneous recall of choosing their earthly circumstances. The authors also offer a fuller picture on the soul's pre-existence by drawing on traditional wisdom from around the globe and the dreams and visions of lovers destined to be parents.

There is a world of insight in this book. Cosmic Cradle is fruitful reading for couples planning to have a child, for parents, and family life educators. I enjoyed Cosmic Cradle so much that I am including it in the new bibliography of my revised and expanded edition of Prenatal Yoga & Natural Childbirth. It is a relatively small bibliography of only what I consider are the finest titles for the possible family.

Cosmic Cradle is an important book that will deepen our exploration of the mysteries of conception, birth, and family relations. Thank you Elizabeth and Neil Carman for compiling this tome!!"

"An extraordinary research work, yielding a quasi-encyclopedic treasury of evidence for the soul's pre-existence. Cosmic Cradle makes it clear that pre-birth communication has been known and recorded throughout history and across cultures worldwide."

"Cosmic Cradle reaches inside our souls and challenges our sleeping spirit to understand that we are spiritual beings who have chosen a human experience. Who are we? Where do we come from? Why are we here? The authors cite hundreds of ancient and contemporary accounts providing answers to these questions that may threaten the foundations of your belief system. Once read, you will never be the same."

"Your book is probably the most comprehensive treatise I have seen on the subject of pre-mortal existence. It covers a range of philosophies and religious beliefs that is wide-reaching. And that is its greatest strength as well as being its greatest weakness. It is a strength in that it presents the data to the reader without editorial interjection, and it then allows the reader to form his or her own conclusions. It is a weakness in that the various positions on pre-mortal existence are not self-consistent. By the very nature of the broad reaching coverage, some ideas of how pre-mortal existence works are contradictory to other ideas. These contradictions are left to the reader to resolve, and since some do not lend themselves to easy resolution, the unsophisticated reader is left to wonder how strong the basic proposition of pre-mortal existence really is. One clear example of such a contradiction is the position of reincarnation. Several of the Eastern religions subscribe completely to the reincarnation school of thought. On the other hand, the Mormon position, and that of many other modern Christian religions, reject reincarnation completely. As you correctly point out, only the Mormons among modern Christian religions, believe in a pre-mortal existence.

Since your treatise is so complete in its coverage of disparate philosophies and religions, I was surprised to find that you have not included a dissertation on Emanuel Swedenborg; at least I did not find anything on him. As you are probably aware, Swedenborg was a scholar who lived from 1668 to 1772 and wrote widely about an extensive epiphany he had in which he visited the world of the dead. His most prestigious work was probably the book "Heaven and Hell." In that book, as well as much of his other writings, he subscribed to the position of pre-mortal existence. All of his works are readily available from the "Swedenborg Foundation" in West Chester, Pennsylvania.

As a general thought, I am enjoying your book. It certainly is excellent as a reference source of the many and differing positions on pre-mortal existence. Thank you for sending me a copy."

A counterpart of the Near-Death Experience is the conscious memory of a spiritual pre-existence that may occur mainly among young children. Elizabeth and Neil Carman have produced a very extensive and richly illustrated overview of more than 700 pages of anything related to this topic. They give attention to the most diverse cultures and thinkers. Of course many authentic experiences surrounding a pre-existence are included as well.

The mere fact that a concept is almost universal obviously does not mean that it must be true. Almost any ethnic group used to believe that the sun revolved around the earth rather than the other way round. For this reason, the book continually combines personal experiences with ancient traditions. These often overlap, e.g. in stories among the Australian Aboriginees about spirits in the Dream World that try to get in touch with possible future parents. If a father does not dream about his children-to-be, his wife will not be able to get to pregnant.

During NDEs people may also get impressions of souls who want to be born and sometimes they are reminded of the task they accepted to make this possible. This matches so called announcing dreams in cases of children who -after birth- recall a past life. I particularly liked a survey of traditional theories that might explain why most of us do not have any conscious memories of a pre-existence (anymore).

Based on their study of the relevant literature, the Carmans conclude, just like e.g. Pim van Lommel, that human consciousness and memory may exist independently of brain activity.

An example of memories of another world concerns Katarina (pp. 522-526). As a child she recalled that she had come from a world of pure light where she used to enjoy the freedom of not having to endure the limitations of a physical body. In this world she decided to choose for a particular life and a specific family. Another example is that of two-year-old Alan (pp. 550-551). When his aunt Lida died, he asked his mother who had 'taken' her. His mother told him that it was someone his aunt had known. 'Alan's face lit up. "Oh I know what it's like! Grandpa Clark brought me when I came to you. He'll probably take me back when I die." In this life, Alan had never met his Grandpa Clark, as the latter had died 10 years before his birth.

I certainly hope that the subject of a spiritual existence prior to earthly life will become a lot less exotic through the admirable efforts of Elizabeth and Neil Carman.