Esoteric empathy interests me in a deep way. My own empathic abilities are strongest with non-human creatures, particularly mammals and some birds.

I’d say I have slightly higher-than-normal empathic aptitude when it comes to other people, but full-blown esoteric-strength empathy with regards to the animal kingdom.

I wanted to read this book because esoteric empathy, like many skills, can be honed and developed for greater finesse and nuance to perception. I’m always looking to develop myself in that direction.

Much of this book features a very New Age, very theistic, belief system. She talks about angels, auric fields, and the ubiquitous concept of Spirit. Some of this aligns with my own beliefs about the architecture of the universe, but, of course, not all of it.

I’ve got a bit of background in chaos magic, though. The chaote in me knows that techniques can be solid without necessarily reflecting the practitioner’s worldview.

And frankly? It doesn’t matter to me whether I buy 100% into what this author is saying about things like Spirit, angels, and guides. The exercises work quite well for me, even without adopting the worldview.

If you’re less comfortable adapting such things or sinking into them for the sake of the moment, you might find this book less useful, but it’s still worth reading if you’ve an interest in esoteric empathy at all.

I found the author’s attempts to scientifically validate empathy and esoteric energy to be a bit silly. While it’s quite possible science will someday understand such things, nothing currently understood by science explains them. Attempts at handwaving the issue away with “quantum” explanations and such don’t really work, in my opinion. They’re interesting to think about, but fall short of the mark.

I also disliked much of the discussion of “narcissists” and other folks with mental illness in this book. Most empaths online already seem to have this deep-seated fear that they’re surrounded by “narcissists.”

I didn’t like that this book kind of feeds into that, setting up people with narcissistic personality disorder (and certain other disorders) as diametrically opposed to empaths. The author also says that autistics “lack empathy,” which recent research seems to indicate isn’t exactly true, nor is it the whole story.

I wish the author would recognize that NPD, autism, and even ASPD are serious matters and not really related to empathy in the esoteric sense at all. This is a complicated issue, and I might write an article at some point about my views on it.

Despite that, I do think this is a decent book, and overall, I give it four out of five stars.

The author’s discussion (in detail) of the different types of empathy makes the book worth it, though, all on its own. Many books on empathy ignore the sheer variety of experiences stemming from it - not so with Cyndi Dale, who details physical empathy, emotional empathy, and more, with tips for managing each sort.

I believe most of us experience a mixture of the different types she discusses, and she acknowledges that as well. For many people, one type will be dominant, and the level of detail she approaches each with will be extremely helpful.