New Books: Fall 2017

1143


Local Authors

Second Coming: Awakening The Christ Within, by Kimberly Lilith Phelps (A Soul Proprietorship), 222 pagesSecond Coming: Awakening The Christ Within presents the idea that the Second Coming is not only about someone coming to save us. Here we examine closely the emergence of the Christ within, as each of us awakens to our own God-given ability to heal ourselves and, thereby, change the world. Phelps sets the stage with her own spiritual journey, building a bridge between ancient mystical spirituality and a unique interpretation of the teachings of Jesus. With just a one degree shift in perception we are moved away from fear and are introduced to Love on a whole new level: the Spirit of God inside each of us. Come. Explore the possibility that Jesus was preparing us to awaken. As we learn to make better choices through Love we awaken to knowing and believing that each of us is a Beloved Child of God.

The Subtle Body Coloring Book: Learn Energetic Anatomy–from the Chakras to the Meridians and More by Cyndi Dale, illustrated by Richard Wehrman (Sounds True), 148 pages — When it comes to the subtle body, coloring is more than just an enjoyable way to learn about the energy systems that govern our health–it’s also an effective practice to help awaken your intuitive connection to your chakras, meridians, and more. With The Subtle Body Coloring Book, Cyndi Dale joins illustrator Richard Wehrman to bring you an illustrated resource on healing modalities from a variety of traditions, inviting you to: embark on a coloring tour through the major energy structures of the subtle body — fields, channels, and centers; explore the body’s aura and electromagnetic biofield; illuminate the meridians — the body’s chi channels as identified by Traditional Chinese Medicine; and awaken the gifts and wisdom of each chakra as you color them. Filled with practical guidance for students, teachers, and holistic practitioners here is an information-rich book that serves as an educational tool, memorization aid, and a great way to relax and explore the energetic dimensions of our health.


New Books

Ancestral Medicine: Rituals for Personal and Family Healing, by Daniel Foor (Inner Traditions/Bear & Co.), 336 pages — Everyone has loving and wise ancestors they can learn to invoke for support and healing. Coming into relationship with your ancestors empowers you to transform negative family patterns into blessings and encourages good health, self-esteem, clarity of purpose, and better relationships with your living relatives. Offering a practical guide to understanding and navigating relationships with the spirits of those who have passed, Daniel Foor, Ph.D., details how to relate safely and effectively with your ancestors for personal, family, and cultural healing. He provides exercises and rituals, grounded in ancient wisdom traditions, to help you initiate contact with your ancestors, find supportive ancestral guides, cultivate forgiveness and gratitude, harmonize your bloodlines, and assist the dead who are not yet at peace. He explains how to safely engage in lineage repair work by connecting with your more ancient ancestors before relating with the recently deceased. He shows how, by working with spiritually vibrant ancestors, individuals and families can understand and transform intergenerational patterns of pain and abuse and reclaim the full blessings and gifts of their bloodlines.

Discovering Your Soul’s Purpose: Finding Your Path in Life, Work, and Personal Mission the Edgar Cayce Way, Second Edition, by Mark Thurston (Tarcher Perigee), 304 pages — A new edition of the classic guide to using the spiritual and psychological insights of renowned mystic and psychic Edgar Cayce to find your authentic mission in life. The medical clairvoyant Edgar Cayce (1877-1945) left the world a wealth of intuitive readings on everything from health and spirituality to psychology and past lives. Now the most significant teacher of Cayce’s teachings, Mark Thurston, updates and revises his classic book, Discovering Your Soul’s Purpose, to help you use the Cayce teachings in the twenty-first century to find greater purpose in your relationships, career, and overall mission in life. Mark Thurston, Ph.D. is an educator, psychologist, and author of more than a dozen books about personal spirituality, dream psychology, meditation, and mind-body well-being.  Among his publications are The Essential Edgar Cayce (2004) and Willing to Change: The Journey of Personal Transformation (2005). Mark worked for the Association for Research and Enlightenment (A.R.E.) and Atlantic University in Virginia Beach, Virginia, for 36 years. Mark and his wife of many decades Mary Elizabeth Lynch are co-founders of the Personal Transformation and Courage Institute, a non-profit educational organization begun in 2000 which offers small-group learning intensives. Mark and Mary Elizabeth are parents to two adult children.

The Energy Medicine Yoga Prescription, by Lauren Walker (Sounds True), 280 pages — When you’re dealing with a health issue, what kind of energy practice will help the most? “To bring ourselves back into wellness,” teaches Lauren Walker, “we first have to understand what brought our body out of wellness. When we return to balance, the body is best able to heal itself.” With The Energy Medicine Yoga Prescription, Lauren brings you an invaluable guide to help you uncover the root causes of specific physical, emotional, and psychological health complaints–along with a treasury of potent self-care practices to accelerate your healing. This easy-to-use resource includes: simple instructions for learning to sense and diagnose your body’s subtle energy; the Five Elements System — the ancient healing practice at the heart of Energy Medicine Yoga; and an easy reference charts to match hundreds of health complaints with the most effective energy healing practice. “If you want to affect the physical matter that is your body and the invisible matter that is your mind and your soul,” says Lauren Walker, “the most effective practice you can learn is how to work with your own energy.” With The Energy Medicine Yoga Prescription, she brings you a solution-oriented manual to complement any health regimen–filled with essential insights for well-being, techniques to activate your body’s natural healing intelligence, and a powerful new vision for happiness and wholeness.

The Fearless Path: A Radical Awakening to Emotional Healing and Inner Peace, by Leah Guy (Career Press Inc.), 224 pages — Leah Guy believes that disconnection is the root of all fear, and the attempt at letting go causes more problems than it solves. Debunking the myth of detachment and other popular New Age ideologies, she emphasizes that there’s no escapism in emotional healing. Rather, the process is about putting the personal pieces of your heart, mind, and soul back together again. The Fearless Path offers a radical approach that will heal trauma, fear, heartache, and mental and physical health. Overcoming anxiety, sexual abuse, eating disorders, and addiction using the principles in this book, Leah has spent her life helping others find relief and freedom from personal afflictions. In The Fearless Path, you will learn: why “letting go” is the worst advice for healing, and how to really move on; how to understand the stories your energy system tells about your mind, body, and spirit–and how to rewrite the script; how to transform fear and anxiety into love and inner peace; why the law of attraction isn’t all it’s cracked up to be; and find strength and serenity in the midst of a personal storm.

Getting Grief Right: Finding Your Story of Love in the Sorrow of Loss, by Patrick O’Malley with Tim Madigan (Sounds True), 256 pages — When the New York Times ran Patrick O’Malley’s story about the loss of his infant son — and how his inability to “move on” challenged everything he was taught as a psychotherapist — it inspired an unprecedented flood of gratitude from readers. What he shared was a truth that many have felt but rarely acknowledged by the professionals they turn to: that our grief is not a mental illness to be cured, but part of the abiding connection with the one we’ve lost. Illuminated by O’Malley’s own story and those of many clients that he’s supported, readers learn how the familiar “stages of grief” too often mislabel our sorrow as a disorder, press us to “get over it,” and amplify our suffering with shame and guilt when we do not achieve “closure” in due course. “Sadness, regret, confusion, yearning — all the experiences of grief — are a part of the narrative of love,” reflects O’Malley. Here, with uncommon sensitivity and support, he invites us to explore grief not as a process of recovery, but as the ongoing narrative of our relationship with the one we’ve lost — to be fully felt, told, and woven into our lives. For those in bereavement and anyone supporting those who are, Getting Grief Right offers an uncommonly empathetic guide to opening to our sorrow as the full expression of our love.

Healthy Posture for Babies and Children: Tools for Helping Children to Sit, Stand, and Walk Naturally, by Kathleen Porter (Healing Arts Press), 192 pages — Babies and toddlers develop naturally healthy alignment by moving in instinctive ways. Their posture is easy and relaxed, founded on correct pelvic positioning and deep core muscles to hold their bodies upright. Yet, as evidenced by the slouching epidemic seen in school-age children, most kids lose this natural alignment early in life, often due to an over-reliance on strollers, baby seats, and bucket-style carriers during infancy and the reluctance to put babies on their bellies because of widespread fear of SIDS. In this richly illustrated manual for parents, teachers, and kids themselves, movement educator and researcher Kathleen Porter explains how to relearn natural alignment with a simple movement routine that “reminds” the body of its natural patterns. Detailing the principles of natural alignment in accessible ways to share with children, she also explores research on the importance of “tummy time” and how the movement patterns present at birth act as an engine that activates neural pathways to key areas of the brain. In this way, movement plays an essential role in the development of a fully functioning nervous system, coordinated muscle tone, and a strong, internal core that stabilizes the spine and prepares the baby for the soon-to-be-acquired upright position.

How to Own Your Own Mind, by Napoleon Hill (Tarcher Penguin), 288 pages. available September 19 — Locked in a vault since 1941, here is Napoleon Hill’s definitive lesson on how to organize your thinking to attain success! In How to Own Your Mind, you receive a one-of-a-kind master class in how to think for success from motivational pioneer and author of Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill. In three compelling chapters, Hill demonstrates how to organize, prioritize, and act on information so that it translates into opportunity. Knowledge is not power. Only applied knowledge is power. This book teaches you how to use what you know, and how to know what’s worth knowing. First compiled in 1941 but forgotten due to the onset of World War II, Napoleon Hill’s 20-year study of the great American success stories has been recently rediscovered and is now being republished for a new generation. Napoleon Hill was born in 1883 in Wise County, Virginia. He worked as a secretary, a “mountain reporter” for a local newspaper, the manager of a coal mine and a lumber yard, and attended law school before he began working as a journalist for Bob Taylor’s Magazine — a job that led to his meeting steel magnate Andrew Carnegie, which changed the course of his life.

The Impersonal Life: The Classic of Self-Realization, by Joseph S. Benner (Tarcher Perigee), 240 pages — The classic of practical mysticism is published with four bonus works in this handsome signature edition. Since it first appeared in 1914, The Impersonal Life has touched hundreds of thousands of readers. Its simple meditative message teaches you, step by step, to realize that your own consciousness is one with all of Creation — that you are an outlet of Divine will. Once that extraordinary truth is understood, your wishes become one with God, and your life unfolds in a meaningful, exuberant mosaic in which your fondest hopes and highest purposes are realized. Written anonymously by American mystic Joseph S. Benner (1872-1938), The Impersonal Life is one of the modern landmarks of New Thought and mystical spirituality As a special bonus, this edition includes four of Benner’s most powerful essays: The Way Out; The Way Beyond; Wealth; and The Teacher. Here is a complete journey into the work of a spiritual genius and practical mystic.

Into the Mystic: The Visionary and Ecstatic Roots of 1960s Rock and Roll, by Christopher Hill (Park Street Press), 294 pages, available September 12 — The 1960s were a time of huge transformation, sustained and amplified by the music of that era: Rock and Roll. During the 19th and 20th centuries visionary and esoteric spiritual traditions influenced first literature, then film. In the 1960s they entered the realm of popular music, catalyzing the ecstatic experiences that empowered a generation. Exploring how 1960s rock and roll music became a school of visionary art, Christopher Hill shows how music raised consciousness on both the individual and collective levels to bring about a transformation of the planet. The author traces how rock and roll rose from the sacred music of the African Diaspora, harnessing its ecstatic power for evoking spiritual experiences through music. He shows how the British Invasion, beginning with the Beatles in the early 1960s, acted as the “detonator” to explode visionary music into the mainstream. He explains how ’60s rock and roll made a direct appeal to the imaginations of young people, giving them a larger set of reference points around which to understand life. Exploring the sources 1960s musicians drew upon to evoke the initiatory experience, he reveals the influence of European folk traditions, medieval troubadours, and a lost American history of ecstatic politics and shows how a revival of the ancient use of psychedelic substances was the strongest agent of change, causing the ecstatic, mythic, and sacred to enter the consciousness of a generation.

In Tune with the Infinite Mind, by Anthony Talmage (CreateSpace), 212 pages — An alternative, ground-breaking guide to harnessing the life-transforming power found at the source of the Infinite Mind — where the worlds of quantum science and the paranormal meet. Is this how a boy of 5, who couldn’t read or write, mentally calculated the cube root of 268,336,125 in six seconds? Or how a journalist was “taken over” by the spirit of the dead Princess Diana while shopping in Harrods? Or how a dowser pinpointed a stolen harp located over 1,500 miles away without leaving his home? After setting out the evidence for his discovery of “Cosmogenic Energy,” Anthony Talmage gives a step-by-step guide to plugging into the Unified Force that will give you the chance to find new confidence and fulfil your own true Destiny. But your new powers won’t stop there: you could even change the future course of human history….

Life Lessons: 125 Prayers and Meditations, by Julia Cameron (Tarcher Perigee), 144 pages — This book of prayers and affirmations by bestselling author of The Artist’s Way, Julia Cameron, is full of inspiration and encouragement. Beautifully packaged, these pocket prayers are perfect for carrying around or sharing as a gift. All too often we yearn for a more spiritual life but tell ourselves it’s too difficult. But the smallest prayer is heard and answered. The simplest overture meets with a loving response. Each of the prayers in this book is a starting point. Taken collectively, they offer an approach to God that is powerful as well as simple. These prayers not only allow us to reach out to God, but they allow God to reach out to us. The book is called Life Lessons because each entry is a corrective to commonly held misconceptions of the divine. Like the postures assumed in hatha yoga, they stretch us gently. Through these prayers, we learn more of ourselves and the divine.

Living Presence (Revised): The Sufi Path to Mindfulness and the Essential Self, by Kabir Edmund Helminski (Tarcher Perigee), 256 pages — This is a revised 25th anniversary edition of the classic work on Sufism that Jack Kornfield called, “A heartfelt modern illumination of the Sufi path, filled with the fragrance of the ancients.” In Sufism, the mystical branch of Islam, presence is the quality that describes a heart-filled state of mindfulness, an experience of being conscious in the present moment. It is only in this present moment, Sufi teachings reveal, that we can connect with the Divine, and the Divine can live through us. Kabir Helminski is one of the world’s most recognized teachers of Sufism. Named one of the “500 Most Influential Muslims” in the world by Georgetown University and the Royal Strategic Studies Center, Helminski and his teachings are touchstones for the growth in interest in Sufism, and his books have been translated around the world. In Living Presence, Helminski lays out the basic principles of Sufism, and how these ideas can lead to the experience of presence. With unique clarity, this book describes how presence can be developed to vastly improve our lives. Drawing on the work of the beloved Sufi poet, Rumi, as well as traditional material and personal experience, this book integrates the ancient wisdom of Sufism with the needs of contemporary life. Completely revised and updated for its 25th anniversary, this edition of Living Presence offers a wisdom that is both universal and practical.

Mastering the Addicted Brain: Building a Sane and Meaningful Life to Stay Clean, by Walter Ling (New World Library), 160 pages — As most drug and alcohol addicts eventually realize, good intentions alone aren’t enough to break destructive habits. However, addiction can be managed once its true nature is understood. This simple, yet profound, guidebook takes you step-by-step through the process of building a life after addiction by adopting new behaviors that create lasting change. An internationally renowned psychiatrist, neurologist, and addiction specialist, Dr. Walter Ling has worked with thousands of addicts, their loved ones, and fellow clinicians. His no-nonsense, no-judgment approach, which he calls the “neuroscience of common sense,” advocates holistic methods to prevent relapse and establish new patterns to create a sustainable, meaningful life. Based on the best scientific evidence, the book makes clear how drug addiction — taking drugs and acting like an addict — arises from the addicted brain altered and diseased by repeated drug exposure. It’s an extreme takeover so that using drugs becomes the only thing the addicted brain concerns itself with. Without finter wagging or assigning blame, Ling guides addicts and their loved ones through the difficult path to recover, offering both encouragement and tips to avoid potential triggers for relapse, such as stress, boredom and social pressure.

Midwest Medicinal Plants: Identify, Harvest, and Use 109 Wild Herbs for Health and Wellness, by Lisa M. Rose (Timber Press), 312 pagesMidwest Medicinal Plants is a comprehensive guide for foraging and natural medicine that is accessible to everyone, from beginners seeking reliable advice to experienced practitioners on the hunt for new information. You’ll find plant profiles, color photographs, step-by-step instruction for essential herbal remedies, and seasonal foraging tips. This must-have resource to finding, harvesting, and using wild plants covers Ohio, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, and Ontario. Author Lisa M. Rose is an herbalist, forager, urban farmer and writer. Lisa’s interest in ethnobotany and herbal medicine has taken her across the United States and into the Yucatán Peninsula, mainland Mexico, Nicaragua, and Brazil to study plants, people, health, and their connection to place. Lisa leads foraging plant walks and teaches classes on edible and medicinal wild plants. She also is the author of Midwest Foraging.

My Story: The Life of Yeshua, by Elizabeth Beckett (CreateSpace Publishing), 228 pagesMy Story: the Life of Yeshua is a story of the life of Jesus the Christ from his birth in the Holy Land to his escape to Britain after the crucifixion. The book gives an alternative account of this infamous man as a mystic and key member of a divine holy order of celestial beings sent to set the world to rights. The book is narrated by Yeshua himself and the reader is brought close to him as his internal divinity battles ego and then turns outward to the world around him. As Yeshua strives for truth and illumination for his land and people he hurtles toward the final and greatest battle of an exalted life — that with himself, and with his inner God. There are an overwhelming number of accounts of the life of this man who was born Jehovah and was later called Yeshua, or one who brings love. Somewhere within this worldly multitude of perspectives, of a man who certainly did exist, lies the truth. The truth of who he really was and ultimately what he accomplished in his life of renown as a human being in the Holy Land two millennia ago. My Story channels his true voice and the real life behind the legend. Yes, he was exalted, and special, but Yeshua was also mortal, flawed, and at times weak and egotistical. He was real and relatable. Eccentric, brilliant, and powerful, he was also unstoppable in his messages of love, light, and truth. Until he was stopped; persecuted, and crucified for his beliefs that challenged the corrupt and disintegrating order of the day, and the powers that were, within his homeland. Although Yeshua survived his crucifixion it was the crisis point of his life that taught him surrender. Surrender to a much higher power than himself — to a far more exalted order, and to the celestial forces that worked through him but were not necessarily of him.

Not Your Average Angel Book: A Practical and Humorous Guide to All Things Angelic, by Andy Myers (Ozark Mountain Publishing), 211 pages — This book is a double dose of angels, as Andy Myers explores the phenomenon from two different perspectives. The first section focuses on spirit guides and is overflowing with useful content on how the reader can learn to communicate with his or her spirit guides on a daily basis. In the second section Andy focuses on classic, winged angels and explores them in terms of history, spirituality, and pop culture. Andy Myers is a psychic medium, inspirational speaker, and life coach who has appeared on popular radio stations nationwide. He travels often to conduct sold-out psychic events and inspirational lectures in cities nationwide. Andy resides in Omaha, Nebraska, with his wife and daughter.

Overcoming Your Difficult Family: 8 Skills for Thriving in Any Family Situation, by Eric Maisel (New World Library), 232 pages — Many of the difficult people you encounter in daily life can be avoided, but what if they’re family members? What if the difficult person is a parent, a sibling, one of your children, or your mate? In Overcoming Your Difficult Family, life coach and retired family therapist Eric Maisel offers useful strategies for dealing with the people you’re connected to for life, even when they are not cooperative. Dr. Maisel tackles the problematic aspects of families, describing eight vital skills to help you cope with challenging relationships. The book also serves as a unique “field guide” to common types of dysfunctional families — authoritarian families, anxious families, addicted families, and more — and how to thrive despite those dynamics. By following Dr. Maisel’s battle-tested advice, you’ll learn to maintain inner peace in the midst of family chaos and create a better life for your whole family. Dr. Maisel is the author of more than 50 books including his latest, Overcoming Your Difficult Family. He has been quoted or featured in a variety of publications, including Martha Stewart Living, Redbook, Glamour, Men’s Health, the San Francisco Chronicle, and Self.

Overtones and Undercurrents: Spirituality, Reincarnation, and Ancestor Influence in Entheogenic Psychotherapy, by Ralph Metzner (Inner Traditions/Bear & Co.), 192 pages — Drawing on more than 50 years’ experience as a transpersonal psychotherapist, Ralph Metzner explores the spiritual overtones, karmic undercurrents, and ancestral connections that shape our individual psychologies. Sharing 15 detailed histories from his casebook and the innovative practices he uses in his therapeutic sessions, Metzner shows how the psychological problems we confront often derive from factors not considered in conventional psychotherapy, such as birth trauma, unconscious imprints from prenatal existence, memories from past lives, ancestral and familial soul connections, and even psychic intrusions. The case histories he describes include a wide spectrum of practices, such as the use of quiet meditative retreat, guided regressions, as well as imagery visualizations amplified by entheogens. He describes how tuning in with the spiritual overtones of our being and the karmic undercurrents of our lives can resolve issues such as a fear of intimacy, help heal the after-effects of abuse and abortion, reconcile estranged parental and ancestral relationships, dissolve fears left over from past incarnations, and convert malignant presences into protective allies. In addition to guided meditations, visualizations, and yogic light-fire exercises, the practices in his psychotherapy sessions at times include the selective use of small amounts of psychedelics, mind-expanding substances functioning to amplify awareness of the subtler realms of consciousness.

The Path to Personal Power, by Napoleon Hill (Tarcher Perigee), 256 pages — This true lost manuscript from the “grandfather of self-help,” Napoleon Hill provides timeless wisdom on how to attain a more successful and wealthy life using simple principles. Napoleon Hill first wrote The Path to Personal Power in 1941, intending it as a handbook for people lifting themselves out of the Great Depression. But upon the bombing of Pearl Harbor and America’s entrance into World War II, these lessons were put aside and largely forgotten — until today. Discovered in the archives of the Napoleon Hill Foundation, this never-before-published work is made up of three easily digested lessons, each its own chapter: Definiteness of Purpose; the Master Mind; and Going the Extra Mile. This concise book is a powerful roadmap that leads to a single discovery — you already have the power to attain whatever wealth, success, and prosperity you desire in life. All you need to do is walk the path without straying, and the rest will follow. Using these lessons, you have principles to live by that will help you stay on your own personal path to power, and achieve success that you never thought possible.

The Possibility Principle: How Quantum Physics Can Improve the Way You Think, Live, and Love, by Mel Schwartz (Sounds True), 200 pages — How would you like to experience your life? It’s an intriguing question, and yet we’ve been conditioned to believe our life visions and goals are often unattainable — until now. With The Possibility Principle, psychotherapist Mel Schwartz offers a revolutionary approach to living the life we choose. Though science has vastly expanded our knowledge, it has also led us to adopt a worldview where we see ourselves as insignificant specks living in a mechanical universe. Now, insights from quantum physics reveal that our universe is, in fact, a vibrantly intelligent reality and that each of us plays a vital role in shaping it. In this groundbreaking book, Schwartz shows us how to integrate this new quantum worldview into our everyday lives, allowing us to transcend our limitations and open to infinite possibilities. The Possibility Principle reveals how we can apply the three core tenets of quantum physics — inseparability, uncertainty, and potentiality — to live the life we choose, free from the wounds of our past and the constraints of our old beliefs. You can learn to: develop a mastery of your thinking as you free yourself from the replication of old thought patterns; utilize the concept of wave collapse to realize that you are not imprisoned by your genes, brain chemistry, or past traumas; overcome anxiety and depression through a shift of mind; thrive in resilient relationships and develop powerful communication skills that foster empowerment and intimate connection; and embrace uncertainty to ride the waves of personal change.

Practice You: A Journal, by Elena Brower (Sounds True), 160 pages — When the way forward seems uncertain, where can we turn for guidance we can trust? For yoga luminary, meditation teacher, and artist Elena Brower, the answer has always been close at hand. “Whenever I’ve needed direction, strength, or centering, I’ve so often turned to my own journals. Why? Because many of the answers we seek are found within ourselves.” Now, for those compelled to the pen and page, Elena invites us to gather our own wisdom through writing, self-inquiry, and reflection. Practice You is a portable sacred sanctuary to record our flashes of insight, find our ground, create and clarify our goals, and bear witness to our own evolution. With more than 150 beautiful pages of questions, teachings, inspiring imagery, and plenty of space to write, draw, and reflect, this journaling adventure guides us into nine compelling portals to our highest ways of living.

Raindrops of Love for A Thirsty World, by Life, as shared with by Eileen Workman (Muse Harbor Publishing), 382 pages“Beloved, I am life. And I invite you, in this perfect moment, to realize that we — you and I — are one Spirit flowing within, and throughout, the infinite realm of matter, and that our unity has always and ever been so. Although for a while you forgot that we were united, that did not mean we were ever separated. It just rendered you briefly insensible to our eternal connection.” As expressed by Life itself, Raindrops of Love For A Thirsty World invites each of us on a tender, beautiful odyssey into personal self-realization. Part One encourages us to fall irrevocably in love with ourselves, just as we are. But it doesn’t stop there. Part Two extends our journey of self-exploration by focusing on how to practice healthy and compassionate self-discipline. We are encouraged to love ourselves enough to graciously change whatever may be holding us back from becoming the best human being that we can possibly be. Part Three invites us to self-actualize, by reminding us that we each bear some responsibility for making a positive difference in this world. We are encouraged to express fully our personal passions, talents, and gifts for the benefit of all life on Earth — which includes ourselves. Part Four encourages each of us to become genuinely self-governing creatures by aligning ourselves more consciously with life’s rhythms and loving intentionally. Taken together, these practices offer a most promising means for advancing ourselves — both personally and collectively — as we awaken to the truth that we are the boundless power of unconditional love, fully embodied.

Sacred Retreat: Using Natural Cycles to Recharge Your Life, by Pia Orleane (Inner Traditions/Bear & Co.), 240 pages — All of life is interwoven into a living system of cycles, from Earth’s seasons to the enzymatic pathways that provide energy to a cell. Waxing and waning from times of growth to times of rest, renewal, and healing, cycles map the most auspicious time for everything in life. Both women and men have biological cycles of active growth and quiet renewal, led by our hormones. By understanding how everything in life moves in cycles, you can become more aware of and comfortable with your own cyclic nature, something that has been forgotten by the modern world’s linear views of time. Drawing on the wisdom of ancient cultures, the natural cycles of life, and her own groundbreaking research, Pia Orleane, Ph.D., offers a template for how we can restore balance to our emotions and health, ease tensions between the sexes, and heal our fractured culture by honoring divine feminine consciousness and re-embracing natural cycles, including our innate need for rest and retreat. She explains the biology of how our bodies operate by hormones released in cycles and shows how balanced hormones help eliminate anger, depression, insomnia, anxiety, and fatigue. Exploring ancient traditions and rituals surrounding blood and sacred retreat, she explains how the seclusion of women during menstruation and of men during vision quests offered a cleansing process for body and mind, alone time to clear suppressed emotions, awaken our innate creativity and sensitivity, re-attune us with the deeper rhythms of the body and nature, and restore harmony between the genders and balance between the divine feminine and masculine.

Sekhmet: Transformation in the Belly of the Goddess, by Nicki Scully (Inner Traditions/Bear & Co.), 288 pages — This book explores shamanic ritual with the Egyptian goddess Sekhmet to bring about alchemical transformation at the deepest levels of your being. Sekhmet is the lioness goddess of the Egyptian Pantheon, a fierce protector of truth, balance, and the Cosmic order of Ma’at. Known and feared as the goddess of war and destruction, she also represents the transformative power of kundalini energy, or sekhem, and is the main goddess to harness this power for healing. As “She Who Comes in Times of Chaos,” she takes offerings of fear, rage, and weakness and transforms them into alchemical gold, the universal medicine for physical, emotional, and soul healing. In this book you are guided through a shamanic ritual of alchemical transformation and initiation with Sekhmet, working with this powerful goddess to release your most deeply rooted negative behavior patterns and be reborn into a more purified state of consciousness. Using intensive self-examination exercises to help you prepare to meet the goddess, the author leads you through a guided visualization, illustrated with photographs, to an ancient statue of Sekhmet in her chapel at the Temple of Karnak. There, you will be shamanistically devoured by the goddess, directly experiencing the alchemical process of transformation in the belly of Sekhmet until you are rebirthed as a fully realized adult child of the goddess. You will experience how your offering of pain, fear, rage, and self-sabotage is digested, absorbed, and assimilated by Sekhmet while you are initiated into the alchemy of total transformation. The initiations, rites of passage, and transmissions from Sekhmet included in the journey restructure the most important aspects of your body, mind, spirit, and soul.

The Self-Love Experiment: Fifteen Principles for Becoming More Kind, Compassionate, and Accepting of Yourself, by Shannon Kaiser (Tarcher Perigee), 336 pages — Put a stop to self-sabotage and overcome your fears so that you can gain the confidence you need to reach your goals and become your own best friend. Too many people seem to believe that they are not allowed to put themselves first or go after their own dreams out of fear of being selfish or sacrificing others’ needs. The Self-Love Experiment rectifies this problem. Whether you want to achieve weight loss, land your dream job, find your soul mate, or get out of debt, it all comes back to self-love and accepting yourself first. Shannon Kaiser learned the secrets to loving herself, finding purpose, and living a passion-filled life after recovering from eating disorders, drug addictions, corporate burnout, and depression. Shannon walks you through her own personal experiment, a simple plan that compassionately guides you through the process of removing fear-based thoughts, so you can fall in love with life. If you want to change your outcome in life, you have to change your daily habits and perspective. Shannon takes you on this great journey into self-love and true self-acceptance.

Story Sparks: Finding Your Best Story Ideas and Turning Them into Compelling Fiction, by Denise Jaden (New World Library), 184 pages — Anyone who has been hamster-wheeling a story idea for years or has hundreds of pages exploring various approaches on their hard drive knows that there must be a better way. There is. Young adult novelist Denise Jaden shows exactly how to create the captivating stories that prevent dispiriting wasted time. Busting the “visitation from the muses” myth, she shows that inspiration is a skill writers can learn by understanding how story ideas work (or don’t), fertilizing the ground for fresh and sound ideas, and moving swiftly through stuck points. Practical and inspiring, Jaden’s approach celebrates the imaginative sparks that make innovations of all kinds possible while pinpointing the precise tools writers need to fan their unique creative flames. Jaden shares, “I think the idea that everyone has a story in them is universal. I speak with many people who say, ‘I could never write a book,’ but when I start to delve into their lives and the possibilities for stories within them, something lights up.” The truth is, finding great story ideas does not have to be a gift or a talent from birth. It is a skill, and it can be learned.

Stress-Proof: The Scientific Solution to Protect Your Brain and Body–and Be More Resilient Every Day, by Mithu Storoni (Tarcher Perigee), 288 pages — Discover simple, science-based strategies for beating stress at its own game. When’s the best time to exercise — and how much is too much? Which foods fortify the brain, and which do the opposite? How can we use music, movement, and motivation to boost our rational brain and keep our cool no matter what life throws our way? Short bursts of stress are an inevitable part of modern life. But how much is too much? Research is uncovering the delicate balance that can turn a brief stressful episode into systemic overload, eventually leading to inflammation, anxiety, depression, and other chronic health issues. This practical and groundbreaking guide reveals seven paths to fighting the effects of stress — to strengthen our natural defenses so that our minds remain sharp, and our bodies resilient, no matter what life throws at us. Each chapter examines a common stress agent — including inflammation, an out-of-sync body clock, cortisol levels, and emotional triggers–and presents simple ways to minimize its harmful effects with changes in diet, exercise, and other daily habits–including surprising hacks involving music, eye movements, body temperature, and more. Translating cutting-edge scientific findings into clear and simple advice, Stress-Proof is the ultimate user’s guide for body, mind and well-being.

The Transformational Power of Dreaming: Discovering the Wishes of the Soul, by Stephen Larsen and Tom Verner (Inner Traditions/Bear & Co.), 360 pages — We have been dreaming for all of our 3 million or more years of existence. Dreams provide an extraordinary way to process the day’s events and uncover new perspectives. Many cultural creatives credit their world-changing creations to their dreams, and science now believes that dreams helped evolve the very process of thought itself. In this book, Stephen Larsen and Tom Verner examine dream traditions from around the world, beginning with the oldest records from ancient Egypt, India, Greece, and Australia and expanding to shamanic and indigenous societies. The authors investigate the psychology of dreaming, the neuroscience behind the dreaming brain, the Jungian perspective, and the intersections of yoga and modern dream research. They show how dreams and myth are related in the timeless world of the Archetypal Imagination and how dreams often reveal the wishes of the soul. They explore the practice of dream incubation, an age-old tradition for seeding the unconscious mind to help solve problems and gain deep insights. They examine the profound role that dreams have played in the survival of exploited and persecuted cultures, such as the Native Americans, African slaves, and the Jews during the Holocaust, and share inspirational dream stories from exceptional woman dreamers such as Hildegard von Bingen, Joan of Arc, and Harriet Tubman. Drawing on their more than 50 years’ experience keeping dream journals, the authors offer techniques to help you remember your dreams and begin to work with them.

Unlimited Realities: Born with the Gift of Sight and Natural Healing, by Elizabeth Joyce (Visions of Reality), 340 pages — This is a memoir of the life of a gifted “seer” and “healer” and how a woman transcends from pain and sorrow, as destiny taps her on the shoulder. Rather than just shrugging off her problems, she gazed upward, spiritually awakened, floated above her body, and gained great wisdom and knowledge. The book alerts people that they have the power for transcendence personally. Through meditation, mystical union with God is possible to attain, for everyone. The powers that were previously considered only for the elite high yogis, and gifted can now be seen through reading the book, as a rites of passage. We all have the power to attain higher levels to help us solve the problems that everyday life can bring. When I was eight, I became ill with a touch of TB. We lived in Ridgewood, New Jersey, but Mother had grown up in Warner, New Hampshire, where her mother and family still lived. I was shipped up to grandma’s to live for a year, which was the beginning of “saving my Soul” as well as my life. During that precious time I learned so much. Grammie taught me integrity of the heart. There in the Mink Hills of New Hampshire, I received my first nurturing. I felt the touch of God’s love, the glory of the animals, nature, clean air and water, honesty, integrity, and most of all, self-responsibility. I came to see that the mark of true wisdom is twofold: First, it encompasses every aspect of our being, body/mind/spirit. It touches our personal lives as well as our relationships with family, community, and the world. At the same time, this new lifestyle was so simple, with no need to run, hide, or fear. I was able to feel inwardly and thought, “Yes, I knew that!” “Of course, this is natural.” There was a sense of reawakening to an understanding that Grammie believed was inherited through her ancestor generations. When we are open and touched on this deeper level, truth is instantly translated from a thought into active, workable solutions to our upsets and problems. Such were the lessons of truth that flowed from Grandmother’s wisdom, ceaselessly. Not as platitudes, but as practical expressions of the supreme wisdom that brings success, health, enduring happiness, and love of the Divine into all circumstances of life. She filled my mind with a universal harmony and taught me that I could meet any challenge to my well-being.

Waking Up in 5D: A Practical Guide to Multidimensional Transformation, by Maureen J. St. Germain (Inner Traditions/Bear & Co.), 256 pages — We are all transitioning from the narrowly-focused and polarized awareness of the Third Dimension and waking up to the higher vibrations and abilities of the Fifth Dimension. Each of us has already experienced 5D: Think about your most memorable and uplifting experiences of the recent past — where everything went well, interactions were harmonious and loving, and all felt blissful and happy — that’s 5D. For some, the shift is sudden and permanent, but for many of us, the change is gradual, coming in fleeting moments and waves. In this ascension manual, spiritual teacher Maureen J. St. Germain explains how to shift your energetic patterns and choose to permanently anchor yourself in the joy, love, and kindness of 5D. Guiding you through the opportunities the Fifth Dimension has to offer, the author reveals how to develop a Higher Self connection, increase your sensitivity to dimensional signatures, and consciously choose 5D, where love is the governing force. She shows how 5D relates to 3D as well as to 4D, the transitional dimension between the two, and explains how to read the energy patterns that distinguish one dimension from the next as well as how to experience multiple dimensions simultaneously. She explores how to identify the differences between “good vs. evil” polarized 3D linear thinking and dynamic 5D multidimensional thinking and how to turn 3D viewpoints around to expand your perception of what is possible.

Weave the Heart of the Universe into Your Life: Aligning with Cosmic Energy, by Meg Beeler (Findhorn Press), 240 pages — This transformational guide offers you simple, effective, potent ways to connect with the energy, mystery, and power of nature and the universe. Imbued with indigenous wisdom and shamanic insight, Weave the Heart of the Universe into Your Life guides you in dissolving worry and self-doubt as you find fluidity in the face of complexity. It offers you medicine for your soul and spirit. Shamanic teaching tells us that we live in a cosmos in which all things are connected. Through Energy Alchemy™ — practices, insights, meditations and animist perceptions adapted to modern life — you will discover how to lift heaviness from your heart and open up to the beauty and harmony found in a true connection with the universe. Author Meg Beeler offers you 84 experiential practices to help you: let go of patterns and stories that weigh you down; reconnect with the amazing, interconnected web of life; make space for light — the light of the cosmos and your own essence–to fill you; and thrive and live profoundly in joyful celebration of life. A potent journey of re-enchantment with nature, expanded perception, and connection with the heart of the universe awaits you.

Whole Self: A Concise History of the Birth and Evolution of Human Consciousness, by Kendrick Mercer (The Kendrick Mercer Co.), 144 pages — Deep inside everyone alive today is an elemental state of being, Whole Self, which is a natural, instinctive, intuitive state of being that has been chiseled and honed in our biology over billions of years as it was handed down from ancestor to ancestor, generation by generation, in an unbroken chain of DNA. At rest, Whole Self is a tranquil state of confidence. In action, it enables us to decipher the truth of each moment, and respond spontaneously and appropriately to that truth with minimal effort. Kendrick Mercer explains why each of us should reclaim Whole Self, enabling us to have access to the full spectrum of consciousness for greater peace, freedom, joy, and fulfillment. Unfortunately, this Shift in cognitive ability had a major drawback: It introduced fear into our minds, along with the response to fear — control. Ever since, we’ve had to contend with these two issues, which are major sources of human suffering. Kendrick offers a concise exploration of post-Shift forces that have led to the planet-wide disruption of social configurations that supported the healthy psychological development of our “uncivilized” forbearers, such as the parent-child bond. He makes the case that modern cognition has the potential to lead us either to collectively annihilate ourselves or to work together wisely in common purpose to solve the pressing problems of the day — particularly if it is blended with the more confident, spontaneous, and joyful state of Whole Self that is our birthright. He explains how our generation, with its advanced understanding of the brain, has a great evolutionary opportunity now to find ways to combine the best of post-Shift reasoning with our reawakened capacity for spontaneous and joyful life lived in harmony with nature and all living beings on our planet.

Wired for Healing: Remapping the Brain to Recover from Chronic and Mysterious Illnesses, by Annie Hopper (The Dynamic Neural Retraining System), 276 pages — Annie Hopper had exhausted the medical system and was still suffering from disabling symptoms of multiple chemical sensitivities, fibromyalgia and electric hypersensitivity syndrome. Hopper deduced that a toxic trauma had over-activated threat and protective mechanisms in her brain that were keeping her body stuck in a cycle of chronic illness and inflammation. In her ensuing search for healing, she created The Dynamic Neural Retraining System (DNRS) program — a drug-free, neuroplasticity-based approach to remap neural pathways in the limbic system. Since 2008, the program has helped countless people recover from many chronic conditions that have baffled the medical system for decades, such as Multiple Chemical Sensitivities, Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Chronic Pain, Food Sensitivities, Electric Hypersensitivity Syndrome, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Depression and Anxiety, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome, Inflammatory Conditions and other Chronic Illnesses. Wired for Healing is Hopper’s account of the innovative science behind DNRS and sheds light on how trauma causes the brain to disorganize neural circuits. Hopper also shares her personal recovery story as well as triumphant stories of recovery from people who have been liberated from chronic and mysterious illnesses through remapping the brain.

Womb Awakening: Initiatory Wisdom from the Creatrix of All Life, by Azra Bertrand & Seren Bertrand (Inner Traditions/Bear & Co.), 560 pages — The ancients lived by a feminine cosmology of creation, where everything was birthed and dissolved through a sacred universal Womb. Within each of us, whether female or male, lies a holographic blueprint of this Womb of Creation, connecting us to the Web of Life. By awakening your spiritual Womb, the holy of holies within the temple of your body, you can reconnect to the transformative energy of Womb Consciousness and reclaim your sacred powers of creation and love. Drawing on mythical and spiritual traditions from almost every culture, Dr. Azra and Seren Bertrand reconstruct the moon-based feminine mystery teachings of a lost global Womb religion, tracing the tradition all the way back to the Neanderthals and beyond. They explore how these teachings were encoded in the symbolism of folk and fairy tales; the legends of the Holy Grail; the traditions of Mary Magdalene and Sophia; the maiden, queen, and crone archetypes; and the teachings of alchemy and the chakras. They show how sages and shamans across the globe all secretly spoke of the Cosmic Womb and the sacred creative powers of Moon Blood. The authors look at the power of the Moon and its connection to sacred Womb Consciousness, offering meditations and practices to help awaken your spiritual Womb and activate its sacred magic of creation and manifestation. They explain how to activate the energetic gateways of the Womb and merge the heart and Womb to make sexual union the highest sacrament of love. Access is also provided to 3 audio journeys. Revealing how we must reconnect with the Divine Feminine to rebirth the Divine Masculine and restore balance to our world, they show how, as we reawaken the powerful ancient path of the Womb Mysteries, we help return our world to harmony with the wild, untamed creative flows and cyclical rhythms of the cosmos.

Writing as a Path to Awakening: A Year to Becoming an Excellent Writer and Living an Awakened Life, by Albert Flynn DeSilver (Sounds True), 208 pages — The best writers say their work seems to come from a source beyond the thinking mind. But how do we access that source? “We must first look inside ourselves and be willing to touch that raw emotional core at the heart of a deeper creativity,” writes Albert Flynn DeSilver. In Writing as a Path to Awakening, this renowned poet, writer and teacher shows you how to use meditation to cultivate true depth in your own writing — so your words reveal layers of profound insight that inspire and move your readers. “Writing and meditation practice are a powerful pair, a dynamic duo,” Albert Flynn DeSilver teaches. “Together they nourish and push, trigger and define, inform and inspire, enable, and energize. To engage in both practices fully is to activate a more complete, creative, and spiritual self.” With a mixture of engaging storytelling and practical exercises, Writing as a Path to Awakening invites you on a yearlong journey of growth and discovery — to enhance your writing through the practice of meditation while using the creative process to accelerate your spiritual evolution.

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