Straight up, y'all, I was really disappointed by this book.  It was lying on a cart at the library at the end of an aisle, as if it was calling to me!  One glance at the title and I was hooked.  Who wouldn't want to… um… do it yourself psychic power?

Nonsensical title aside, the cover promises "practical tools and techniques for awakening your natural gifts."  From this I expected, you know.  Practical tools and techniques.

Instead, O'Sullivan spends fully half of the book explaining preparations you should take.  Meditation, opening chakras - basically, an awful lot of "sitting quietly and thinking about things."  I imagine that if you really did follow all of the rituals and proscribed meditations, you could easily spend every day fully booked with that kind of thing.

Sadly, I have never once attempted to meditate without falling asleep.  Such was the case this time as well.  I decided to be a good sport, and followed the instructions for a bit of meditation.  

I'm ashamed to admit that I didn't even make it through the prep phase, when you are instructed to relax before meditating.  I sat back on the couch, concentrated on the rise and fall of my breath… and woke up about an hour later when my own snoring startled me awake.

I was hoping to develop some honest to goodness psychic powers.  Once I filtered out anything that involved meditation (including "color breathing," raising chakra awareness, and the proscribed half hour (!) morning ritual), I was left with meager fare.  

Ruling out meditation related activities, we're basically left with dowsing, crystals, and aromatherapy.  These three items are glossed over in one chapter near the end, followed immediately by a lengthy and detailed chapter titled "Creating Sacred Space in the Home."

Looking through this final chapter, I contemplated performing the elaborate ceremony for "Space Clearing Your Workplace."  Luckily I work from home, so I wouldn't have to worry about sneaking into the office on a Saturday afternoon, and being interrupted by another weekending coworker while, say, stroking the walls lightly with a feather.  (In order to locate trapped energy.)

I have hesitations about burning incense or bundles of herbs in my home.  Sure, the smoke alarm can easily be disabled.  But who wants their couch, their clothes, their towels and bedding to all reek of scorched cedar?  

The final strike against this procedure came when my eyes fell upon the instruction to "drink at least 2-3 liters of water the day before, during and after the clearing."  At least!  Two to three!  I pictured a two liter soda bottle, filled with water.  I pictured myself drinking "at least" one and a half of those in the course of a day.  I had to pee just thinking about it!

Now don't get me wrong.  I'm all in favor of meditation and burning smudge sticks, if that's what turns your crank.  There are a lot worse ways you can spend your time.  (I mean, hey, at least you're not watching television!)  It's just that for a book that invokes the phrase "DIY" and uses the words "psychic powers," there really wasn't much in the way of either here.