Book 2 , Chapters 10-12 Summary

As the crest narrows, Dan fights vertigo, but Mama Chia plunges on, despite her limp. She appears to transform into an "apapane bird" and, laughing, explains that shape-shifting involves transferring consciousness and forming deep empathy and awareness. When Dan calls it a good trick, Mama Chia turns serious and stuns Dan by crushing her semi-wild pet, Redbird. When she throws the lump into the air, however, he is unharmed. Dan dreads what lies ahead. Mama Chia draws the "Tower of Seven Floors" (chakras). It lies within every person, each floor representing an expanded state of awareness, and has its own qualities. The lower three - survival, creativity, and power - belong to the Basic Self. One must clean them before making contact with the Higher Self in the heart, the fourth floor. Mama Chia says that "The Great Leap...