Previews of New Books, Video and Music for Body, Mind & Soul
LOCAL AUTHOR
Confessions of a Reluctant Ghost Hunter: A Cautionary Tale of Encounters with Malevolent Entities and Other Disembodied Spirits, by Von Braschler (Destiny Books), 192 pages, $16.95 — Despite early recognition of his own psychic sensitivities and ability to see spirits, Von Braschler did not seek to become a ghost hunter. He entered on this path through a chance encounter with a professional ghost hunter. After training with her, he returned to Oregon where he began exorcising ghosts for friends and acquaintances and, as he reveals in these pages, quickly stumbled upon forces far beyond his level of experience. Sharing his true story of what can go wrong when ghost hunting, Braschler describes his training sessions with the professional ghost hunter and details his most difficult and dangerous attempts to remove spirits from haunted buildings, including an old church in Portland and an herbalist’s trailer on Mount Hood, where he encountered a spirit known to choke people in their sleep. He explains how not all spirits are simply ghosts of deceased people reluctant to move on from this plane of existence. They may be entities created from the rage, hatred, or frustrations of a building’s current or former inhabitants, and disturbing them can lead to dark confrontations without easy resolution. Offering a primer on ghost removal, Braschler provides practical lists of what to do and what to avoid when removing ghosts from a haunted building. He outlines how to identify what kind of spirit you are dealing with, whether it is safe to attempt removal, and how to approach the ghost and convince it to leave. Detailing his own intense and sometimes hellish battles with unseen spirits, he also includes an impassioned plea of caution to those who try to contact ghosts and spirits purely for entertainment.
From the book: “I now present for my readers a how-to primer on contacting and dealing with ghosts, along with a warning abou the dangers involved. It is important to remember that not every haunting will be simply contacting the lost spirit of somebody’s dead aunt who is confused or reluctant to move on. The spirits who from time to time haunt our homes and buildings can prove to be much more difficult and dangerous. Be warned. It’s not always as fun and innocent as some of the ghost stories you might see on television..”
NEW BOOKS
Akashic Alphabet, by Trenace Rose (Dementi Milestone Publishing), 72 pages, $38.95 — Akashic Alphabet is a one-of-a-kind, research-based, spiritual-Inspirational, fine art gift book of the highest quality. A molecule gateway invites entry into the light of the astral realm. There, the journey begins through a grand, vignette banquet created to fill your hearts with wonder. This thought-provoking series of vision narratives coupled with acutely sensitive Illustrations, painted by a Master Artist, conveys diverse cultural and spiritual philosophies from around the world, revealing a graceful connection of Oneness in all. The All are One concept portrayed throughout the book, is based on an expanding theory by top-tiered physicists that all living matter exists in one, vast, quantum field of sub-atomic vibrations in the akasha, or space, between matter and that within this virtual, invisible web of life-energy force, all are connected. Like spokes to the hub of a cosmic wheel, universal threads of refined truth flow in an indigenous pattern throughout various belief systems, all ultimately leading to Source. The compilation of these immortal clues has given rise to a unique format, an alliterative, akashic alphabet, tapped from the records of inner, ether consciousness.
“A conscious, metamorphic shift, ” author Trenace Rose says, ” is taking place in our dimension and each soul has subconsciously chosen an individual rate of spiritual growth and ascension. Those at the forefront may be aware that you are acting as catalysts in a vital process of raising the vibration for all living beings, including a cherished Mother Earth.”
Book of Enlightenment, by Anadi (Mantra Books), 312 pages, $26.95 — Book of Enlightenment is the most complete exposition of the teaching of Anadi. It is a revolutionary compendium of spiritual knowledge addressed to those commencing their inner journey, as well as those who have already reached higher levels of spiritual realization. In the dimension of forgetfulness, a human being lives fully locked within the claustrophobic walls of his psychological reality, his true nature veiled by mental states and emotional moods. He knows nothing beyond body and mind. He knows not reality. He knows not the way. The unreal is his domain. He lives in a dream state, tethered to the constant fluctuation of appearances, painfully disconnected from the unconditional refuge of the absolute principle. His desperate striving to find satisfaction and security in the realm of illusion only reinforces his self of separation and perpetuates his alienation from the source. Unless he starts to question the unreal and seek the real, he will find no way out of ignorance and no way into the consciousness of truth. Beyond the turmoil of our phenomenal existence, beyond our insatiable search for happiness, lies hidden the great way, the inner way to our original state of wholeness and completion. Discovering the way, we finally realize the purpose of our creation and the meaning of our life on earth. Our true life as conscious existence dawns only the moment we awaken from the dream of the human mind and begin our journey into the heart of the self.
From the book: “The bone and marrow of the spiritual path is the deep recognition of the limited, unsatisfactory and unconscious nature of human existence. Unless we recognize the basic suffering of human life that is rooted in the forgetfulness of our eternal nature, the longing for spiritual emancipation will never awaken. The desire for freedom is encoded in our higher being, but we must consciously recognize our ignorance, or else it will lie dormant.”
Bulletproof Spirit: The First Responder’s Essential Resource for Protecting and Healing Mind and Heart, by Dan Willis (New World Library), 248 pages, $15.95 — If you are a police officer, firefighter, EMT, ER nurse, or soldier, or you love one — this book can save your life. Suicide, depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), substance abuse, and many more emotional and stress-related problems plague the first-responder community. Hundreds of thousands of these brave public servants have unwittingly become victims of the professions they once loved. However, the suffering that results from a professional life of sacrifice and service can be prevented and mitigated. As a law-enforcement veteran, police captain Dan Willis has witnessed the damage of emotional trauma and has made it his personal mission to safeguard and enhance the wellness and wholeness of police officers, firefighters, EMTs, emergency-room personnel, and soldiers. Bulletproof Spirit offers field-tested expertise designed to be used by all first responders — and their families — to heal themselves and continue serving with compassion and strength.
“It is essential,” says author Dan Willis, “for every first responder agency and individuals to have a wellness program that emphasizes healing and the wellness of one’s spirit. The statistics are overwhelming about the suffering of our nation’s first responders, yet very few agencies even offer a wellness program or emotional survival training. Without such programs and training, we will continue to tragically lose far too many first responders through suicide, PTSD, depression, early retirement, and disability claims — while leaving our communities vulnerable. We can’t be safe and secure if those who have devoted their lives to protecting us are suffering inside.”
Burning Man: Art on Fire, by Jennifer Raiser, with photography by Sidney Erthal & Scott London (Race Point Publishing), 208 pages, $35 — When the first annual Burning Man took place in 1986 on a San Francisco beach, relatively few people noticed what the founder described as a spontaneous act of “radical self-expression.” In the decades since, this event, which is now held Nevada’s remote Black Rock Desert, has blossomed into a festive week-long artistic event that attracts tens of thousands of participants and spectators. The Art of Burning Man takes you inside this popular celebration and outdoor exhibition with interviews, stories, and more than 200 photographs of its sculptures, art, and performances. (P.S. This authorized gift book could be your best opportunity to actually see Burning Man: The event has been sold out every year since 2011.)
From the book: “Burning Man, at its core, is a permission engine. It gives you permission to create practically anything you want, while surrounded by people eager to help and to celebrate with you. For any artist, it’s the best place on Earth find out who you are, and who you could be.”
Dream Weaver: A Memoir; Music, Meditation, and My Friendship with George Harrison, by Gary Wright (Tarcher/Penguin), 256 pages, $27.95 — Music legend Gary Wright reflects on his professional collaboration, friendship, and spiritual journey with “quiet Beatle” George Harrison, and releases for the first time a recording of a song they wrote together. Best known for his multiplatinum hits “Dream Weaver” and “Love is Alive,” Gary Wright came to prominence as a singer and songwriter during the golden age of rock in the 1970s. What is not as well known to the public, however, is Wright’s spiritual side. At the heart of this memoir is the spiritual conversion and journey that Wright experienced alongside his close friend George Harrison. Until Harrison’s death in 2001, the two spent decades together writing songs, eating Indian fare, talking philosophy, and gardening. In addition to featuring lyrics to a song cowritten by Wright and George Harrison in 1971, titled “To Discover Yourself,” this memoir includes a cache of never-before-seen photos. Also available is a deluxe e-book featuring an audio recording of “To Discover Yourself.”
From the book: “His brown eyes were penetrating yet peaceful, and he immediately disarmed my nervousness with his gentleness. Meeting someone of his stature was challenging for me at first. I had really never met anyone quite like George before; he didn’t seem to be on some huge ego trip like the other artists I had met over the years. His aura was calm, and his being exuded a subtle spiritual magnetism. Yet, at the same time, he was someone who was very focused in the here and now.”
Dying to Know You: Proof of God in the Near-Death Experience, by P.M.H. Atwater (Rainbow Bridge Books) 144 pages, $15.95 — What has been missing from my work, from everyone else’s work, from personal stories, from those who interpret personal stories, from experts in religion and spirituality, from the news media, the scientists, the grief-stricken, and the born again…is the voice of the collective…inside what we all seek to describe. What lies at the heart of near-death experiences? A God that in ways beyond description, smiles at you. Not the God of holy writ, but a Sourceplace–an all-encompassing Oneness, Allness, that, as It breathes, moves skin and bark and wings and stars and babes and rivers and comets and dreams and faces…as well as the mustard on your hotdog. The book you have before you releases that collective voice, the sum of millions of people–worldwide–who speak as one. It is nothing less than the proof that everyone on planet Earth, in their own heart, seeks to have: that God exists.
From the book: “Face it: 90 to 95 percent of near-death experiencers, not just in my study, return absolutely convinced that God exists. Whether atheist, agnostic, purveyor of fairy tales or avid worshipper, watch the experiencer’s face change when someone mentions God…a special calmness spreads, a kind of “glow,” as if to affirm all is well.”
The Endless Practice: Becoming Who You Were Born to Be, by Mark Nepo (Atria Books), 336 pages, $26 — As a poet, philosopher, and cancer survivor, Mark Nepo has been breaking a path of spiritual inquiry for more than thirty years. In his new book, the #1 New York Times bestselling author explores how the soul works in the world.
Called “one of the finest spiritual guides of our time,” this beloved teacher explores what it means to become our truest self through the ongoing and timeless journey of awakening to the dynamic wholeness of life, which is messy and unpredictable. Nepo navigates some of the soul’s deepest and most ancient questions, such as: What does it mean to inhabit the world? How do we stay vital and buoyant amid the storms of life? What is the secret to coming alive? Nepo affirms that not only is the soul’s journey inevitable, it is essential to our survival. The human journey is how the force of life grows us, and no matter where we go we can’t escape this foundational truth: What’s in the way is the way. As Nepo writes, “The point of experience is not to escape life but to live it.” Featured on Oprah’s “Super Soul Sunday” program, Nepo’s Seven Thousand Ways to Listen has inspired millions of people to redefine themselves in the face of life’s challenges. Comforting, moving, and spiritually practical, The Endless Practice is filled with universal insights and stories woven with guidance and practice, which will bring the reader closer to living life to the fullest.
From the book: “I believe in the infinite part of our heart. I don’t question it. Can I prove this? No. I just know my experience. At different times, I’ve been beaten up by life, broken and rearranged, and even when I thought I couldn’t go on, something elemental couldn’t be broken down or extinguished. It seems that holding nothing back awakens the unending dynamism of being alive.”
The Gentle Way of the Heart, by Anders Nilsson (Nordic Light Books), 170 pages, $14.95 — In The Gentle Way of the Heart, scientist Anders Nilsson presents a perspective on how to navigate life guided by the heart. He believes that each of us has a spark of God deep within and a heart filled with Divine Light. The challenge is to stay connected to this source of vitality and transformation in the hurried and challenging circumstances of modern life. In The Gentle Way of the Heart, Nilsson provides unique insights, exercises and meditations to launch you on a great spiritual adventure. The Gentle Way is a spiritual path for regaining a sense of who you are at a deep level. Follow its practices outlined in this book and dissolve your false self; allow your true self to blossom. The newfound light within will dispel your day-to-day fears. A scientist who has a deep conviction of the dance of spirit in the physical universe, Nilsson shows how to create a personally unique and fulfilling life when you live moment-by-moment without expectations or fear. Read The Gentle Way of the Heart and learn how to expand your authentic, gentle, kind self from which a perspective of heart-felt acceptance and forgiveness grows. Enjoy the rewards of more harmony and love in your life.
From the book: “The way forward to finding our true self appears when we are kind and gentle to others, to our surroundings and in particular to ourselves. When we are able to view the world from this perspective of heart-felt acceptance and forgiveness, everything changes, and together we create a better world filled with harmony.”
God’s Message to the World: You’ve Got Me All Wrong, by Neale Donald Walsch (Rainbow Ridge Books), 240 pages, $16.95 — Is it possible that everything we think we know about God, and what God wants, is wrong? Could humanity’s ideas about all this be the greatest inaccuracies…ever? Would it matter if they were? The author of the multi-million-selling Conversations with God series places the question squarely before our world in another blockbuster book that could move our species closer to true spiritual revolution on the Earth, changing humanity’s future for the better, forever. In direct and spiritually challenging language, Walsch here exposes the many ways in which he believes that humanity completely misunderstands God. He then describes in clear terms how the world could change overnight if humans accurately comprehended what God is, what God wants, who they are in relation to that, and to each other. Walsch calls this the “Missing Data” which, if ever embraced and acted on by our species, would create a spiritual revolution across the globe, bringing humanity both inner and outer peace at last. Does anybody care why our species has been such a failure? Does anybody imagine it has not been? Does anybody want to know how this whole situation can be turned around in the virtual blink of an eye? If you do care about those questions, then you will read this book.
From the book: “God has been telling us from the very beginning, and it is becoming more clear to us every day, that humanity’s Ancient Culture Store about needing to fear God is plainly and simply inaccurate. It is okay now to remove this ancient teaching from our current story, and to stop telling this to ourselves and to our children.
The last thing God would suggest is that we fear God.”
Harness Astrology’s Bad Boy: A Handbook for Conquering Pluto’s Tumultuous Transit, by Hazel Dixon-Cooper & Bridgett Walther (Beyond Words/Atria Books), 256 pages, $16 — Don’t let your life be bullied by Pluto. Discover how to domesticate astrology’s bad boy and master the transition into the Pluto era. Pluto, the planet of transformation, is in transit in Capricorn through 2024, awakening a tidal force of change. The last time we saw this combination, the world felt the impact in the Revolutionary War that birthed America. In this wickedly funny guidebook, world-renowned astrologers Hazel Dixon-Cooper and Cathleen Bridgett Walther are here to show you how to use this unique time to overcome fear, guilt, regret, and self-punishment, and find your place in the cosmos. Their in-your-face advice and step-by-step instructions will help you unlock the heroic part of your soul and flourish in every aspect of your life. Pluto’s transit in Capricorn presents all of us with a series of cosmic wakeup calls–bringing a unique opportunity to overcome our most difficult and ingrained traits. Begin now with Harness Astrology’s Bad Boy, and you will emerge this Pluto transit stronger, wiser, and more in control of your life than ever before.
From the book: “In order to transform, the first step forward is to become aware of the negative patterns you keep repeating. Then you just make a conscious decision to change. How do you achieve such a transformation? By becoming mindful of the automatic responses and misconceptions about yourself that you learned in childhood and then continued to perpetuate throughout your adult life. Seem impossible? It isn’t. One of the easiest ways to learn about these ingrain ed patterns is through astrology.”
I Ching: The Essential Translation of the Ancient Chinese Oracle and Book of Wisdom, by John Minford (Viking) 928 pages, $46 — A landmark new translation of the ancient Chinese oracle and book of wisdom, Pose a question, then toss three coins (or cast your yarrow stalks) to access the time-honored wisdom of the I Ching. The I Ching, or Book of Change, has been consulted through the ages, in both China and the West, for answers to fundamental questions about the world and our place in it. The oldest extant book of divination, it dates back three thousand years to ancient shamanistic practices involving the ritual preparation of the shoulder bones of oxen. From this early form of communication with the other world, it has become the Chinese spiritual book par excellence. An influence on such cultural icons as Bob Dylan, John Cage, Merce Cunningham, Philip K. Dick, and Philip Pullman, the I Ching is turned to by millions around the world for insights on spiritual growth, business, medicine, genetics, game theory, strategic thinking, and leadership, and of course for the window it opens on China. This new translation, over a decade in the making, is informed by the latest archaeological discoveries and features a gorgeously rendered codex of divination signs–the I Ching’s sixty-four Tarot-like hexagrams. It captures the majesty and mystery of this legendary work and charts an illuminating path to self-knowledge.
From the book: “Let me put this in another way. The I Ching is a game, a most demanding game. One does not just read it, one does not just translate it. One plays it, one plays with it, one interacts with it. It plays too, in deadly earnest, ‘No two games are alike. There are only infinite possibilities.’ The act of reading creates a new dynamic, triggering reflections and conversations that might otherwise never take place. To call this a game is not to be irreverent, it is not to trivialize it. On the contrary, it is to elevate it.”
The Immortal Mind: Science and the Continuity of Consciousness beyond the Brain, by Ervin Laszlo, with Anthony Peake (Inner Traditions), 176 pages, $16.95 — Evidence now points to consciousness existing beyond the brain, such as when the brain is temporarily incapacitated, as well as to the survival of consciousness after death. Conventional science prefers to dismiss these findings because they cannot be accommodated by a materialist view of reality. Spirituality and religion embrace the continuity of consciousness and ascribe it to a nonmaterial spirit or soul that is immortal. As such, spirituality/religion and science continually find conflict in their views. But what if there truly is no conflict? Based on a new scientific paradigm in sync with experience-based spirituality, Ervin Laszlo and Anthony Peake explore how consciousness is continually present in the cosmos and can exist without connection to a living organism. They examine the rapidly growing body of scientific evidence supporting the continuity of consciousness, including near-death experiences, after-death communication, reincarnation, and neurosensory information received in altered states. They explain how the persistence of consciousness beyond the demise of the body means that, in essence, we are not mortal–we continue to exist even when our physical existence has come to an end. This correlates precisely with cutting-edge physics, which posits that things in our plane of time and space are not intrinsically real but are manifestations of a hidden dimension where they exist in the form of superstrings, information fields, and energy matrices. With proof that consciousness is basic to the cosmos and immortal in its deeper, non-manifest realm, Laszlo and Peake reveal the purpose of consciousness is to manifest in living beings in order to continuously evolve.
From the book: “Could human consciousness exist in the absence of a living brain? There is credible evidence regarding this question, provided by persons who had conscious experiences while their brain was clinically dead. They reached the portals of death but came back. Their conscious experience is known as NDE: the near-death experience.”
The Light: A Book of Wisdom: How to Lead an Enlightened Life Filled with Love, Joy, Truth, and Beauty, by Keidi Keating (New Page Books), 288 pages, $16.99 — This powerful book contains chapters by 22 of the world’s leading luminaries in the field of personal development and spiritual transformation, including bestselling authors Neale Donald Walsch (Conversations With God) and Don Miguel Ruiz (The Four Agreements). Covering topics from co-creating a peaceful world, forgiveness, healing, and finding purpose and happiness, to chapters about health, well-being, destiny, and the mysteries of kundalini, The Light also includes practical exercises and guidance, empowering readers to achieve their greatest potential. Based on the guidance from 22 luminaries in the field of spirituality, author Keidi Keating leads the reader through preparation, exercises and practices, and experiences to accompany their sacred journey on the path to where the ancient mystery of the Inner Light is revealed. The Light: A Book of Wisdom presents profound guidance for discovering inner Light, living from the heart, oneness with humanity in a spiritual realm, and connection to others through service. Keating said, “I discovered my own Light through a series of synchronistic events, after enduring a period of depression and uncertainty.”
From the Book: There is a Light shining inside all of us. It is a beautiful sphere of radiance and it lives in our spiritual Heart. Some of us may have allowed it to dim through the years until it is no more than a vague glow. Others know of its presence and might tap into it on occasion, but fail to harness its amazing power permanently. This book gives you the tools to take back that power and shine once again.
Medical Uses of Marijuana, by Joseph W. Jacob, B.A., M.P.A., (Trafford Publishing), 228 pages, $24.95 — Throughout history, more than 150 successful medical uses of marijuana plants have been identified, effectively tested, publicly used, and reliably trusted. In Medical Uses of Marijuana, author Joseph W. Jacob provides an extensive chronological history of marijuana and its medical uses throughout the world in the last 10,000 years. Thoroughly researched and documented, Medical Uses of Marijuana discusses: the many and varied health benefits of marijuana use; more than 150 destructive medical harms of drinking alcohol; discriminatory government laws allowing public ingestion of alcohol, while prohibiting the use of marijuana; and the process by which marijuana use became illegal due to taxation laws. During the last 10,000 years, people from countries throughout the world — including China, India, Arabia, Africa, Russia and Japan — have employed the use of marijuana to treat a variety of ailments. Initially intended to be used for the medical benefits of everyone, natural marijuana plants have successfully treated and healed many ailments. Medical Uses of Marijuana seeks to provide the truth about the loss of the legal use of this beneficial plant.
“It is not democratically fair,” author Joseph W. Jacob says, “to encourage harmful food products for people to consume while legally prohibiting the public from consuming a healthful and nutritional product.”
Mutual Awakening: Opening into a New Paradigm of Human Relatedness, by Patricia Albere and Jeff Carreira (The Evolutionary Collective), 78 pages, free eLearning course and eBook at EvolutionaryCollective.com — Over the past decade more and more people have discovered a new kind of spiritual awakening. It is more than an individual awakening. It is an opening that occurs in the relational space between individuals. Many are calling this the new frontier of human development. Mutual Awakening: Opening into a New Paradigm of Human Relatedness is devoted entirely to exploring the profound experience of mutual awakening. It is the companion book to the Evolutionary Collective curriculum of the same name. The book gives only a partial picture of the overall spiritual work of the Evolutionary Collective — a new model for mutual awakening. It marks the creation and ongoing expansion of an inter-subjective field of intimacy, truth, mutuality and depth that occurs in a new space of consciousness — one that allows participants to transform inside an intense and accelerated relational field.
This book is an introduction to a profound spiritual practice called Mutual Awakening. In truth, it is better described as a variety of practices of similar form generally worked with in pairs or small groups. These practices, when guided masterfully, lead those engaged into a shared awakening of consciousness not only within the individuals themselves but more importantly in the space between them.
The Nature of Reality: Akashic Guidance for Understanding Life and its Purpose, by Aingeal Rose O’Grady (Wild Flower Press), 270 pages, $16.50 — There is a growing group of scientists who are opening up to the spiritual realms where gifted people like Aingeal (AnnGail) Rose O’Grady have spent their whole lives exploring and seeking answers about the unseen realities we are surrounded by. What science has yet to understand completely is that humanity has always had a direct channel to these subtle realms. Aingeal Rose has her connection through the Akashic Records. The Nature of Reality, the second book in the Honest-To-God series, is presented in a question-and-answer format, which allows readers to experience the answers as they came through to Aingeal from the Records. Some of the topics covered in her latest book include: The Brain, DNA, Dreams, Light Bodies, Chakras and Kundalini. Attendees to the sessions also sought answers to more vast topics such as: God & Original Creation, Consciousness, Miracles, Love, Time & Dimensions and The Future. Ultimately, the truth that comes through Aingeal from the Akashic Records opens our minds, allows us to grow beyond the physical world, beyond our conscious programming and its negative influences on us, and inspires us into becoming our greater selves.
From the book: “Source’s consistent message throughout The Nature of Reality is to remind us of the rich internal environment of our body and consciousness. We see by these discourses that we haven’t even begun to touch the surface of our innate divinity. The good news is that we have been given many ways to begin the discovery of ourselves; it can be done at any age, and it is not dependent on religion, race upbringing, or past.”
New Slow City, by William Powers (New World Library), 272 pages, $15.95 — Burned-out after years of doing development work around the world, William Powers spent a season in a 12-foot-by-12-foot cabin off the grid in North Carolina, as recounted in his award-winning memoir Twelve by Twelve. Could he live a similarly minimalist life in the heart of New York City? To find out, Powers and his wife jettisoned 80 percent of their stuff, left their 2,000-square-foot Queens townhouse, and moved into a 350-square-foot “micro-apartment” in Greenwich Village. Downshifting to a two-day workweek, Powers explores the viability of Slow Food and Slow Money, technology fasts and urban sanctuaries. Discovering a colorful cast of New Yorkers attempting to resist the culture of Total Work, Powers offers an inspiring exploration for anyone trying to make urban life more people- and planet-friendly.
“It’s hard to reduce what I learned to a soundbyte,” author Williams Powers says. “It took much effort to try and stretch a New York minute into an hour and a great way to discover what I learned is through the new trend of Slow Reading. We’re so distracted by quick Tweets and the barrage of email that we rarely sit with a book — New Slow City for example! — on a non-Internet-connected device or better yet the physical book, and simply enjoy it for hours on end. Slow Reading is a radical act in our workaholic era, where economic growth is put before life itself.”
The Physics of Angels: Exploring the Realm Where Science and Spirit Meet, by Rupert Sheldrake & Matthew Fox (Monkfish Book Publishing Co.) 256 pages, $16.95 — Many people believe in angels, but few can define these enigmatic spirits. Now visionary theologian Matthew Fox and acclaimed biologist Rupert Sheldrake–pioneers in modern religious thinking and scientific theory–launch a groundbreaking exploration into the ancient concept of the angel and restore dignity, meaning, and joy to our time-honored belief in these heavenly beings. When Fox and Sheldrake first held discussions on the topic of angels, they became fascinated by the parallels between Thomas Aquinas speaking of angels in the Middle Ages and Albert Einstein speaking of photons in this century. Calling upon the time-honored works of Dionysius the Areopagite, Hildegard of Bingen, and St. Thomas Aquinas, Fox and Sheldrake translate into modern language the thinking of these great prophets, helping us move into the future with an ecumenical and interfaith understanding that consciousness extends well beyond human.
From the book: “We are entering a new phase of both science and theology, and the subject of angels becomes surprisingly relevant again. Both the new cosmology and the old angelology raise significant questions about the existence and role of consciousness at levels beyond the human.”
Rebel Angels in Exile: Pleiadians, Watchers, and the Spiritual Quickening of Humanity, by Timothy Wyllie (Bear & Co.), 328 pages, $20 — After the angelic rebellion 203,000 years ago, Earth and 36 other planets were quarantined from the larger Multiverse. Despite aligning with Lucifer and the rebel angels, Georgia–an angel of Seraphic status–was permitted to remain on Earth and continue her role as a Watcher. In this book, Georgia, writing together with Timothy Wyllie, shares her personal account of half a million years on this planet. Focusing this volume 38,000 years after the angelic rebellion, Georgia shares her experiences being present for key decisions taken by the rebel angel leadership, witnessing firsthand Earth’s steady descent into darkness, ignorance, and confusion. Georgia explores mythic events in Earth’s ancient history, such as visits from the Nephilim and the Pleiadians and the destruction of Lemuria, and reveals information about angelic influence, their ability to affect whales and dolphins, and the presence of illicit alien colonies in remote areas of Earth. Interweaving her own story with observations about Timothy Wyllie’s current and previous lives, such as his long involvement with the Process Church, she explores the supreme significance of the Earth as a world on which the rebel angels have been accorded the privilege of mortal incarnation and as an arena for accelerating spiritual growth.
From the book: “Georgia, as those who have read the first two volumes of her Confessions will know, represents herself as a discarnate Watcher, an angel who aligned herself with Lucifer at the time of the rebellion among the angels some 203,000 years ago. She claims she first came to this planet as an observing angel 500,000 years ago, accompanying the first of the off-planet interventions. She has written extensively about those early times in the two previous volumes of this series.”
Stillness in Mind: A Companion to Mindfulness, Meditation & Living, by Simon Cole (Changemakers Books), 129 pages, $16.95 — This is not your typical meditation book. No Sanskrit terms, no gurus, no mystique. Less a set of instructions, more a challenge to the reader to work on themselves within the framework the author sets out. Simon Cole has formulated a meditation path for a modern age, grounded in Western therapeutic tradition. He draws on eminent thinkers in the field of therapy and human relations — Buber, Rogers and Gendlin. He introduces into meditation “felt-sense” and “kindly attention” and invites the reader to sit alongside themselves and truly discover the person they are.
From the book: “What I would like you to find here, at the outset is an everyday approach to a practice which is too fast becoming intellectualized on one level and trivialized by phone apps and the line on another — namely mindfulness — and then an invitation to move on from mindfulness into meditation, using a path which adopts a Western therapeutic approach, in order to hold the link with day-to-day living.”
Turning Me to We: The Art of Partnering with Mindfulness, by Dr. Beth Gineris (CreateSpace publishing), 308 pages, $16.89 — Turning ME to WE: The Art of Partnering with Mindfulness provides the keys and innovative techniques to create healthy, successful relationships in an easy to implement step-by-step model. Written in an accessible, engaging format, the simple, yet highly effective tools offered in this insightful book teach how to shift relationships from competitive to collaborative and estranging to connected. Readers will find the skills necessary to allow all of the partnerships in their life to flourish. Dr. Beth Gineris asserts that by developing an attitude of mindfulness one can integrate spirit, mind and body to positively shift communications and relations with the outside world. All interactions with others- from family, work, and love life- become harmonious from this more balanced perspective. Turning Me to We: The Art of Partnering with Mindfulness provides invaluable information about how and where relationships go awry and what steps to take to successfully change disempowering and dissatisfactory relationships. The information in this book will have a positive impact on the reader’s lives and partnerships. This is a companion book to Turning NO to ON: The Art of Parenting with Mindfulness. It delineates quick and easy tools for developing profoundly successful relationships.
From the book: “Breath, flow and non-attached observation in the present moment creates expansion of your understanding and capacity for mindfulness. It deepens and broadens your perspective. Applying this to communication, rather than proving your point and digging in, you clarify your understanding and deepen your compassion. From this space you may focus your energy and intention toward your desire.”
Voices of the Sacred Feminine: Conversations to Re-Shape Our World , edited by Rev. Dr. Karen Tate (Changemakers Books), 408 pages $24.95 — Most of us have come to realize patriarchy — rule by a male-dominated society revering solely a male God — is not working for Mother Earth or most of the people on the planet. How do we counter beliefs that there is no option but the authoritarian father? How does society go about making a course correction? How do ideas that permeate every level of society from womb to tomb, boardroom to bedroom, voting booth to the workplace shift into a more fair, equal, and just world of partnership, sharing, caring and peace? Those are exactly the questions discussed on the long-running radio show, “Voices of the Sacred Feminine,” hosted by Rev. Dr. Karen Tate in her show dedicated to the Sacred Feminine as deity, archetype and ideal. Never before has an internet radio show cast such a wide net to include so many voices whose ideals are in alignment with “sacred feminine liberation theology.” If we can imagine it, vision it, and restore ancient truths swept beneath the rug and kicked to the curb by patriarchy, then we can manifest it! Hear solutions from these visionaries, scholars, wayshowers, foremothers and activists — women and men — dedicated to reshaping our world.
From the book: “We have to take responsibility for our own education. We must have the courage to rethink and challenge everything we’ve been taught at our dinner table, from the pulpit and in the educational institutions we attended, because patriarchy has infiltrated every aspect of our inner and outer lives. It is truly incredible what we have accepted as normal for so long.”
Warrior Goddess Training: Become the Woman You Are Meant to Be, by HeatherAsh Amara (Hierophant Publishing), 192 pages, $17.95 — It’s no secret that women today are juggling a lot. We now make up more than half the workforce in the United States and are busier than ever with partners, children, family and friends, often putting the needs of others ahead of our own. And if we feel overwhelmed by it all or fall short of perfection, many of us have learned to be our own worst critic rather than our own best friend. In Warrior Goddess Training, bestselling author HeatherAsh Amara provides the antidote to the flawed idea that you are not enough. Direct, honest, and unapologetic, Amara will show you how to release the layers of expectations to finally see yourself for the authentic, perceptive, perfect woman you really are. If you don’t love and honor yourself with every fiber of your being, if you struggle with owning your power and passion, if you could use more joyful play and simple presence in your life, then it is time for an inner revolution. It is time to claim your Warrior Goddess energy. Drawing on the wisdom from Buddhism, Toltec wisdom, and ancient Earth-based goddess spirituality, the Warrior Goddess path includes personal stories, rituals, and exercises that will encourage and inspire you to become the true warrior goddess you are meant to be.
From the book: “Warrior energy is a combination of focus, dedication, purpose and determination. Consciously bringing these things together gives us our power. When we harness our warrior energy we are confident, clear and bring 100 percent of ourselves to each action. Goddess energy is our creative flow: unconditional love, pleasure, passion and wisdom. When we claim our goddess energy we live in joyful self-acceptance and self-respect, and we listen to our sacred inner voice..”
Warrior’s Return: Restoring the Soul After War, by Edward Tick (Sounds True) 328 pages, $18.95 — Everyone agrees that our troops deserve a return to productive and creative lives after service. Yet in spite of billions spent on psychological care and reintegration programs, we face an epidemic of combat-related conditions like PTSD. What’s the solution? With Warrior’s Return, Dr. Edward Tick reveals what’s missing in our approach to bringing our veterans back from war. While most trauma treatment programs focus on symptom reduction or temporary relief, Dr. Tick presents a comprehensive vision for healing the soul-level wounds of war. Here he offers proven strategies drawn from cross-cultural wisdom, mythical archetypes, and his 35 years of experience helping veterans, families, and caregivers cope with the life-changing effects of combat. “No society is healthy without a healthy, functioning elder warrior class,” states Dr. Tick. Warrior’s Return offers step-by-step guidance for initiating our veterans back into the community-an essential map for the hero’s journey home.
From the book: “Civic, moral and spiritual vision and responsibility regarding war, veterans and their return involve us all. We admit that war maims, distorts and hurts and we abandon denial. We affirm that there is a spiritual warrior’s journey, develop a vision of the elder warrior and nurture it in returnees. We accept that responsibility for return does not rest solely on the veterans and their caregivers but is shared by the entire community and nation.”
Yoga for Cancer: A Guide to Managing Side Effects, Boosting Immunity, and Improving Recovery for Cancer Survivors, by Tari Prinster (Healing Arts Press), 320 pages, $19.95 — For those faced with a cancer diagnosis and the journey of doctor-led surgery and treatments, yoga offers a way to regain control of your body and take an active part in your recovery and long-term health. In this easy-to-follow illustrated guide, yoga teacher and cancer survivor Tari Prinster presents 53 traditional yoga poses that are adapted for all levels of ability and cancer challenges. She then applies the movements and breathwork of these poses to address 10 common side effects and offers 9 practice sequences for varying stages of treatment and recovery. Sharing her own story as well as those of cancer survivors and yoga teachers with whom she has worked, Prinster explores how yoga can be used to strengthen the immune system, rebuild bone density, avoid and manage lymphedema, decrease anxiety, detoxify the body, reduce pain, and help the body repair damage caused by the cancer and conventional treatments. She reveals the research that supports the physical and psychological benefits of yoga as an aid to recovery and in reducing the risk of recurrence. Explaining how yoga must be tailored to each survivor, Prinster gives you the tools to create a safe home yoga practice, one that addresses your abilities, energy level, and overall health goals. Through personal stories, well-illustrated poses, and sample practices for beginners as well as experienced yoga practitioners, Prinster empowers survivors to create their own wellness plan in order to regain their independence and their physical and emotional well-being.
From the book: “For me yoga became my companion on a long journey, my ally to encourage me to take an active role in my recovery. It empowered me to be healthier and stronger than I ever was before the cancer. Most importantly, it provided me the time and support for self-awareness and self-love. In fact, it enabled me to build, I hope, a better version of myself, a person dedicated to helping others find power, love, and support through yoga.”
Your Hidden Riches: Unleashing the Power of Ritual to Create a Life of Meaning and Purpose, by Janet Bray Attwood, Chris Attwood & Sylva Dvorak, Ph.D. (Harmony Books) 304 pages, $25 — From the New York Times bestselling authors of The Passion Test comes a book that will teach readers to harness the power of ritual to unlock their unique gifts and create a life of love, wealth, and happiness. Rituals are the common feature of every ancient culture on Earth. Yet, modern society has lost touch with the power and value of ritual to create a rhythm for daily life, balance, and a connection with others. In the process, many of us have lost touch with ourselves. Your Hidden Riches is a call to reignite the power of personal and community rituals–to sustain us in the midst of an ever-increasing onslaught of information and expectations, and to sustain our world by reawakening the awareness of our interconnection with all life. In the book you will learn to engage with: Rituals for Magical Relationships; Rituals for Diet, Health, and Beauty; Creating Wealth Through Ritual; Rituals for the Seasons of Life; and Rituals for a Closer Family Circle. Embracing ritual will allow you to finally live the life of health, wisdom, and love that you deserve.
From the book: “Rituals are tools to access your hidden riches. They can take you to the heart of your problems, as well as to the heart of their solutions. This may be a new message for many of you, yet one of the purposes of rituals have served for centuries is healing. They also served as the sacred connection to a higher reality. Why should you take such a journey yourself? Rituals are all about reconnecting. When the mind, body and spirit are truly connected.”
NEW VIDEO
The Power of the Heart, starring Paulo Coelho, Maya Angelou, Deepak Chopra, Isabel Allende and Eckhart Tolle, directed by Drew Heriot, 84 minutes, $24 at www.thepoweroftheheart.com — From the director of The Secret, Drew Heriot, comes this unparalleled and life-changing film about the astonishing power and intelligence of your heart. Featuring some of the most inspiring and influential icons of our age including Paulo Coelho, Maya Angelou, Deepak Chopra, Isabel Allende, and Eckhart Tolle, this film — which ties into a book of the same name — presents fascinating evidence that your heart is much more than a physical organ… and that it can actually transform your views of money, health, relationships, and success. This film is an experience that will lead you to uncover…and rediscover…the treasure in your chest. In the film, the Heart Math Institute discusses how the human heart noticeably reacts to images seen or yet to be seen, before the mind or body does.
“We did an experiment and we actually discovered something quite remarkable,” says Rollin McCraty, Ph.D., executive vice president and directory of research at the Heart Math Institute. “The heart seems to be connected to a type of intuition that is not bound by the limits of time and space. But what is that intuition and how can we learn to tape into more of that?”
Song of the New Earth, featuring sound healer, psychotherapist and sonic shaman Tom Kenyon, directed by Ward Serrill, 208 minutes, $24, at www.beyondword.com/dvds — A new, feature documentary, Song of the New Earth, from award-winning filmmaker Ward Serrill (director of The Heart of the Game) features the adventurous quest of musician, psychotherapist and brain researcher Tom Kenyon to integrate modern science and ancient mysticism through the power of sound. As an aspiring country musician, Kenyon was on way to fame and fortune in Nashville when a series of mystical experiences rocked his world. Desperate to understand his experience, he fervently dove into the study of neurophysiology to explore his unexplainable spiritual insights and became an expert in the world’s spiritual traditions — Tibetan Buddhism, Yoga, Taoism, mystical Christianity, Shamanism, and Egyptian alchemy and more. Song of a New Earth provides viewers with a distinctive and intimate portrait of Kenyon’s quirky yet rare talent, as he transcends conventional musical forms by chanting or “toning” using his nearly four-octave range voice that takes audiences on sound journeys to deeper states of consciousness. From the San Juan Islands to Tibetan nunneries in the Himalayas, from cathedrals and mysterious caves in southern France to the golden-chandeliered symphony halls of Vienna, Song of the New Earth explores the cutting edge scientific research proving that sound shifts brain states and can promote dramatic healing not only for ourselves but for our precious planet earth.
NEW MUSIC
Harmonic Way, featuring Dean Evenson & Scott Huckabay (Soundings of the Planet) 68 minutes, available at www.soundings.com and other online music sellers — Harmonic Way — a collaboration between prolific new age musician Dean Evenson and guitarist Scott Huckabay — features ten original pieces that include a variety of sounds and instruments from Evenson, including flute, synthesizer, viola, harp, and Tibetan singing bowls, all paired with Huckabay’s contemplative acoustic guitar parts. The result is a mystic interplay of harmony and bliss — the perfect soundscape for a massage, yoga or deep relaxation. “Scott Huckabay touches the soul of musical healing,” says Evenson. “Harmonics are a key to healing with sound, and Huckabay is a true master of guitar harmonics creating pure, bell-like sound by gently tapping the strings on the neck of his guitar in a perfect ratio.”
The Mantra Project, Vol. 1: Daughter of the Mountain, by Suzin Green and Daniel Johnson, available on CD Baby, iTunes and Amazon — Daughter of the Mountain is the first volume of The Mantra Project, a multi-CD collection of mantra-driven music we’ll be recording over the next few years. Daughter of the Mountain is one of many names for the goddess Parvati, beloved of Lord Shiva. Together, they represent the power of transformation, inner stillness, and supreme love. When Shiva drinks poison in order to save the world, Parvati takes him in her lap and sings him back to life. Her song is the force, the sakti, within mantra. In the same way that yoga and meditation have exploded out of their counter-cultural beginnings, chanting is now breaking into the mainstream. We hope that by the end of the decade, mantra practice is as common as yoga classes and mindfulness meditation groups. And that the music of The Mantra Project, infused with the force of Parvati, brings healing and transformation to everyone it touches…and everyone they touch…multiplying in endless circles of luminosity, wisdom, and love.
Weightless (Ambient Transmissions, Vol. 2), by Marconi Union, (Just Music), available on CD Baby, iTunes and Amazon — Marconi Union is an English musical trio consisting of Richard Talbot, Jamie Crossley and Duncan Meadows, and their new recording, Weightless (Ambient Transmissions, Vol. 2), is the trio’s latest creation of minimal and introspective music that can best be described as illustrative and impressionistic. This second volume follows the first, which arose when Marconi Union was asked to collaborate with a sound therapist from the British Academy of Sound Therapy. They were asked to write a piece of relaxing music, and when examined, the Mindlab Institute scientists reported that their research indicated that the music slowed the heart rate, reduced blood pressure and decreased levels of cortisol, a hormone that is released in response to stress. Volume 2 is the group’s inspiration to make more music using the same approach.
