Divination Cards
Chibi Anime Angel Cards, by Dawn Brown, illustrated by Crazy Cookie Maniac (Inner Traditions/Bear & Co.) — This is a full-color card set to develop your intuitive powers and connect to the wisdom of the angelic realms, containing 44 full-color cards depicting the Archangels, including Raphael, Michael, Gabriel, and Uriel, in playful Chibi Anime style to bypass the intellect and connect directly with your inner child. In this full-color oracle card deck, Dawn Brown pairs the Archangels with sacred knowledge from ancient mystery schools, esoteric symbols, sigils, directions, planetary alignments, and the Qabbalistic Tree of Life. She explains that when these images are accessed and the symbols become internalized, a connection is made to etheric energy that has stored this sacred knowledge for thousands of years. The Archangels are depicted in playful Chibi Anime style, “little animations” of the Archangels, to connect directly to the inner child, bypassing the intellect and thus allowing the messages to be absorbed by the subconscious. The accompanying 128-page booklet provides a comprehensive explanation of associated symbols, planetary alignments, and messages for each Archangel as well as their position on the Qabbalistic Tree of Life.
Sacred Geometry of Relationships Oracle Deck, by Lon (Beyond Words) — LON, creator of the Sacred Geometry Activations Oracle, follows up her bestselling deck with cards that delve into our ties to one another. Her new deck provides fresh perspectives about our connections to friends, family, colleagues, and especially our romantic partners. We are all made of sacred geometric structures, and these intricate webs hold us all together. The deck s 44 activations bring our deepest questions to light and show us how we are linked with other humans. This deck and the Sacred Geometry Activations Oracle can also be used in combination to help users gain deeper clarity on how our relationships bring meaning to our temporal and eternal lives. Nautilus Award-winning quantum artist and author Lon was born and raised in Holland, where she attended art school and worked in the advertising and graphic-arts industry. Lon works with Sacred Geometry design to connect people with their soul’s essence and soul’s purpose.
New Books
The Ancient Magick of Trees: Identify & Use Trees in Your Spiritual & Magickal Practice, by Gregory Michael Brewer (Llewellyn) — This is a comprehensive field guide to over 100 trees and their magickal and medicinal uses. This unique illustrated resource helps you identify more than one hundred common trees across North America and Europe and discover their medicinal and magickal properties. Gregory Michael Brewer provides detailed information about the mythology and symbolism of trees from around the world along with an abundance of exercises and meditations suitable for Pagans of all skill levels and traditions. Featuring over 200 illustrations, this book is the only one you’ll need while studying trees. Whether you’re seeking the scientific characteristics of a particular species or the folk traditions and remedies associated with it, this is a must-have guide for those who want to enhance their magickal practice and their understanding of our relationship with trees.
The Angel Experiment: A 21-Day Magical Adventure to Heal Your Life, by Corin Grillo (New World Library) — A mind-blowing miracle from the angels saved Corin Grillo’s life, cured her of lifelong depression, and awakened her spiritual gifts. She now teaches others all over the world how to awaken their intuition, heal illness and addiction, create financial abundance, and discover their true purpose by working with the divine. In this 21-day adventure, you will learn: a powerful way to talk to angels so they can hear you and help you; how to hear, see, and feel the angels in your life; which specific archangels to call upon for your unique needs; 21 daily angel invocations to help you manifest miracles; and 21 healing meditations to detox your heart, mind, body, and soul. Try The Angel Experiment, and you’ll discover firsthand that miracles are real, there is no such thing as coincidence, and a mighty team of angels always has your back.
The Book of Spells: The Magick of Witchcraft, by Jamie Della (Ten Speed Press) — Witches and witchcraft are reemerging in popular culture as a symbol and a practice for self-help, healing, empowerment and spiritual strength. The Book of Spells is a detailed and comprehensive resource newly revised with over 50 spells and complete with the history and in-depth details on the magickal tools and traditions of witchcraft that are designed to help you uncover your Divine essence. Readers will be guided through a variety of rituals and visualizations including those for releasing negativity, increasing bliss, healing a broken heart, and finding your Spirit guides. Whether new to the Craft or simply seeking needed wisdom on healing or self-empowerment, The Book of Spells is the ultimate guide for those seeking to affirm and manifest their desires and dive confidently into the mysteries of Magick with guidance from a trusted expert,Jamie Della, who has studied magick and spirituality from around the world for more than twenty years.
The Clutter Remedy: A Guide to Getting Organized for Those Who Love Their Stuff, by Marla Stone (New World Library) — The Way to a Perpetually Organized Lifestyle. There are many valid approaches to creating neat and tidy spaces, but these approaches tend to fail over time because they suggest that we dispose of our stuff, and most of us love our stuff! Marla Stone’s fresh and friendly approach, based on her work as both a professional organizer and a former psychotherapist, goes beyond tidying up to offer the Clutter Remedy strategy that will create spaces you love and keep you perpetually organized. Marla walks you through a process of getting to know yourself and your values and then visualizing your ideal lifestyle and optimal surroundings. From that perspective, you’ll learn step by step (and room by room) how to create your ideal lifestyle and organize your space to support it.
Conceiving with Love: A Whole-Body Approach to Creating Intimacy, Reigniting Passion, and Increasing Fertility, by Denise Wiesner (Shambhala) — Conceiving with Love offers supportive, practical advice for couples who are trying to conceive. Denise Wiesner’s integrative East-meets-West approach, developed over twenty years of practice, has helped thousands of couples relax, reconnect, and conceive. The stress of trying to get pregnant can wreak havoc with a couple’s intimate relationship—right at a time when that connection is most important—and the frustration and shame couples may feel can have a harmful effect and reduce their chances of conceiving. Wiesner gives couples the tools they need to repair their sexual relationship, rebuild their self-confidence, and reclaim their intimacy and desire. She includes advice from leading experts in Western reproductive medicine and Traditional Chinese Medicine; offers sensual practices from yoga, qigong, and Tantra; and answers questions couples have about sex, intimacy, and both naturally occurring and medically assisted fertility.
Conversations on Awakening: Part One, by Iain McNay and Renate McNay (White Crow Books) — Conversations on Awakening contains 12 unique accounts of Awakening. They are all taken from transcripts of interviews that were made for Conscious TV. People used to talk of ‘Enlightenment’ or ‘Self-Realisation’ but these days it is Awakening that people tend to speak of. What does Awakening mean? What form does it take? How does it affect ones practical life? How is it integrated? These are all important questions that are addressed in the chapters in this book. Some of the subjects are renowned spiritual teachers while others are completely unknown having never lead a seminar or written a book. The beauty of the spiritual path is that no story is the same. There are a myriad of paths up the mountain and we all end up finding our own way. Conscious TV is a UK based TV channel founded by Iain & Renate McNay, broadcasting on the Internet and on various Satellite channels in the UK. Its quest is to stimulate debate, question, enquire, inform, enlighten, encourage and inspire people in the areas of Consciousness, Science, Non-Duality and Spirituality.
The Deep Heart: Our Portal to Presence, by John J. Prendergast, Ph.D. (Sounds True) — The great human quest is to discover who we really are—a discovery that changes our lives and the lives of those around us. With The Deep Heart, spiritual teacher and psychotherapist Dr. John J. Prendergast invites us on a pilgrimage within, using the heart as a portal to our deepest psychological and spiritual nature. The “deep heart” is Prendergast’s term for our heart center—a subtle center of emotional and energetic sensitivity, relational intimacy, profound inner knowing, and unconditional love. “The heart area is where we feel most deeply touched by kindness, gratitude, and appreciation, yet it is also where we feel most emotionally wounded,” writes Prendergast. “Whether we realize it or not, the heart is what we most carefully guard and most want to open.” In this experiential guide, Prendergast invites you to tune into your inherent wisdom, love, and wholeness as you journey into the deep heart. Through precise and potent meditative inquiries, insightful stories, and reflections drawn from Prendergast’s intimate work with students and clients, you’ll begin to open your heart, see through your core limiting beliefs, and discover the true nature of your being.
The Empath’s Empowerment Journal: Your Self-Care Companion, by Judith Orloff,M.D. (Sounds True) — The premier authority on empaths presents a daily self-care journal created specifically for highly sensitive people. For highly empathic and sensitive people, self-care is essential. “Being an empath has its challenges, but it is also an incredible opportunity to live with compassion, intuition, and an open heart,” says Judith Orloff, MD, “I’m excited to offer you The Empath’s Empowerment Journal as a chance to work and play with understanding your empathic nature.” It is your safe place to be you. With this journal as a guide, your day-to-day experience of self-care and growth can be flowing, energizing, intuitive, and playful. Created as an ideal companion for Dr. Orloff’s new book Thriving as an Empath or as a standalone support for any sensitive person who wants to practice better self-care, The Empath’s Empowerment Journal provides invaluable tools and inspiration for helping you become more protected, effective, and empowered each day.
The Evolutionary Empath: A Practical Guide for Heart-Centered Consciousness, by Rev. Stephanie Red Feather (Inner Traditions/Bear & Co.) — As an empath herself, Stephanie Red Feather has experienced firsthand the challenges of being extremely sensitive to subtle energies and the emotions of others. She knows that it can be overwhelming and cause you to lose yourself and doubt who you are. With this guide for anyone who’s ever felt out of place because of their sensitivity, Red Feather offers advice on how to manage life’s difficulties as an empath as well as insight into how these qualities are vitally important to the future of humanity. Affirming that being an empath is a real thing and you are not alone in your experience of the world, Red Feather offers practical exercises to help you understand, control, and fully manifest your gifts. With this hands-on guide, Red Feather provides empaths the tools they need to empower themselves and embrace their essential role in the next step of humanity’s evolution and ascension into the frequency of heart-centered consciousness.
Good Food Gratitude: Easy to Prepare Vegan Home-Style Recipes and Beach inspired Lifestyle Tips for the Entire Family, by Hollan Hawaii (Deeper Well Publishing) — Good Food Gratitude is an engaging vegan lifestyle cookbook that also encourages people to change the way to perceive healthy food. Vegan Chef Hollan Hawaii teaches new culinary techniques and shares delicious new plant-based recipes for replacing favorite non-vegan dishes and shows how simple cooking and good health are not mutually exclusive and can be easily accomplished by making thoughtful changes to your mindset and the recipes you know and love.
Homestyle vegan recipes from a Hawaii-based chef. “As a raw food chef and restaurant owner, I honor and appreciate those who support and advocate a healthy plant-based diet,” says JP Alfred, chef and owner of Peace Pies Restaurants and author of Fresh, Funky & Raw! “Talented fellow chef Hollan Hawaii has created a beautiful recipe book rich with inspiring and delectable recipes as well as thoughtful tips for those seeking to, or already, embrace a vegan lifestyle. Good Food Gratitude is the family-friendly vegan recipe book we have been waiting for and deserves to be in kitchens around the world.”
Gravity & Grace: How to Awaken Your Subtle Body and the Healing Power of Yoga, by Peter Sterios (Sounds True) — What if, instead of constantly pushing yourself beyond your limitations, you paused to really listen to your body’s needs? In Gravity & Grace, innovative yoga teacher and trainer Peter Sterios shares a unique set of practice principles to help anyone—from beginners to advanced practitioners and teachers—revitalize their approach to yoga by tuning into the subtle body. When our yoga practices become too rigid, overly focused on technique, or dependent upon ideals that are not suited to our bodies, we lose the full potential of what yoga offers—a truly personal pathway to physical well-being, emotional unfolding, and spiritual awakening. In this groundbreaking book, Sterios helps you embrace the full, healing potential of yoga as he shares wisdom gained from over 45 years of exploring yoga and the subtle body. He teaches that by developing a sensitivity to how the natural forces of gravity and grace are at work physically and psychologically, we become empowered to confidently decide how to practice each day.
Heal: Discover Your Unlimited Potential and Awaken the Powerful Healer Within, by Kelly Noonan Gores (Beyond Words) — Go on a fascinating scientific and spiritual journey in this eye-opening book that explores the body’s incredible ability to heal itself—perfect for fans of Deepak Chopra and Anita Moorjani. When we receive diagnoses from medical professionals, we are often so overwhelmed that we give up authority over our own health and well-being. But the truth is, we have more control over our health and life that we have been led to believe, and that belief is at the core of our body’s capacity to heal itself. Based on the groundbreaking documentary of the same name, Heal follows two people on their healing journeys, while combining science-backed research and real-world testimonials from experts like Marianne Williamson, Bruce Lipton, Deepak Chopra, Bernie Siegel, Anita Moorgani, Kelly Brogan, and many others, to offer hope and alternative treatments for the many people suffering from a variety of chronic illnesses. By identifying the emotional roots of illnesses, we can tap into the body’s healing powers and discover that although healing can be complex and deeply personal, it can also happen spontaneously in a moment.
Kintsugi: The Japanese Art of Embracing the Imperfect and Loving Your Flaws, by Tomás Navarro (Sounds True) — Cultivate inner strength and rebuild your life with the ancient principles of kintsugi. When we lose a person we love, a job, or our health, it can feel like a precious piece of ourselves falling to the ground and shattering. But in the Japanese art of kintsugi, that’s where the creation of beauty begins—in the delicate re-joining and mending of shards with loving attention. Psychologist Tomás Navarro encourages us to approach our lives in the same way. Everyone faces suffering, but how we engage with our troubles and heal our emotional wounds can make all the difference. Rather than conceal our repairs, what if we embraced them—and looked to them as proof of our strength? With Kintsugi, Navarro presents a sensitive and contemplative approach to the suffering that he’s seen in his professional practice and in his own life. His reflections help us to engage with our tragedies and challenges—transmuting them into sources of strength. Through gentle stories, practices, and insights, readers gain deeper perspective and courage in the face of life’s inevitable crises, heartbreaks, and losses.
Letters to a Dead Friend about Zen, by Brad Warner (New World Library) — The night Brad Warner learns that his childhood friend Marky has died, Warner is about to speak to a group of Zen students in Hamburg, Germany. It’s the last thing he feels like doing. What he wants to do instead is tell his friend everything he never said, to explain Zen and what he does for a living and why he spends his time “Sitting. Sitting. Sitting. Meditating my life away as it all passes by. Lighting candles and incense. Bowing to nothing.” So, as he continues his teaching tour through Europe, he writes to his friend all the things he wishes he had said. Simply and humorously, he reflects on why Zen provided him a lifeline in a difficult world. He explores grief, attachment, and the afterlife. He writes to Marky, “I’m not all that interested in Buddhism. I’m much more interested in what is true,” and then proceeds to poke and prod at that truth. The result for readers is a singular and winning meditation on Zen — and a unique tribute to both a life lost and the one Warner has found.
The Manifestation Journal, by Amy E. Chace (Red Feather) — This book is a hybrid. It’s a journal, a sketchbook, a planner, but mostly it’s a fun collaboration between you and me. These images and words are mere jumping-off points for your own creativity. Go off on a tangent. Write about elves and fairyland. Draw boxes or rabbits or dollface ladies. Of course there are also pages for writing and planning and thinking because those things are good. Gallop through this exciting journey anyway you want—back to front . . . upside down . . . It’s not judging you. Add petals to those circles that could be flowers. Draw a house on that big moon. Try to figure out if that little dude with the shovel is gardening or hiding a body—then write his story. This open-minded book is about enjoying the process of creating. You’re not on a deadline; you’re relaxing and crafting with ease. Have Fun. Easy peasy.
Moving Light: Meditation Journeys, by Andrew Dean, illustrated by Lauren Dean (Balboa Press) — This book is for you. It is a series of ten sequential meditation journeys that will develop your imagination, inspire you, and challenge you to rebuild your inner self in a whole new way. There is humor, tenderness, freshness, and a profound underlying sense of care in the way Dr. Andrew Dean presents this book. Dr. Dean, an emergency doctor, writes in the preface that he never intended to write a book on meditation. But following an illness several years ago, he realized that he “had to institute effective methods for maintaining health and balance in my own life.” He writes that meditation reacquainted him with “stillness,” and it “has brought much joy, awe and reverence back into my life.”
Neither Wolf nor Dog: On Forgotten Roads with an Indian Elder (25th Anniversary Edition), by Kent Nerburn (New World Library) — An unforgettable journey into the Native American experience. Against an unflinching backdrop of 1990s reservation life and the majestic spaces of the western Dakotas, Neither Wolf nor Dog tells the story of two men, one white and one Indian, locked in their own understandings yet struggling to find a common voice. In this award-winning book, acclaimed author Kent Nerburn draws us deep into the world of a Native American elder named Dan, who leads Kent through Indian towns and down forgotten roads that swirl with the memories of the Ghost Dance and Sitting Bull. Along the way we meet a vivid cast of characters — ranging from Jumbo, a 400-pound mechanic, to Annie, an eighty-year-old Lakota woman living in a log cabin with no running water. An unlikely cross between On the Road and Black Elk Speaks, Neither Wolf nor Dog takes us past the myths and stereotypes of the Native American experience, revealing an America few ever see.
The Obesity Code Cookbook: Recipes to Help You Manage Insulin, Lose Weight, and Improve Your Health, by Jason Fung (Greystone Books) — With this companion cookbook to the international bestseller The Obesity Code, Dr. Jason Fung makes it even easier to follow Dr. Fung’s weight-loss advice. Mouth-watering recipes—from slow-roasted pork shoulder to chia pudding and almond cake—showcase healthy fats, nutrient-dense foods, and low or no carbs. The Obesity Code Cookbook is an indispensable tool for home cooks looking to lower insulin, lose weight, manage diabetes, or simply lead a healthy, longer life. Dr. Fung has inspired thousands of people around the world to transform their diets with his groundbreaking book The Obesity Code. Dr. Fung is recognized as one of the world’s leading experts on fasting for weight loss and diabetes reversal, and his work has been featured in outlets such as the Atlantic, the New York Post, Forbes, the Daily Mail, and Fox News.
Pathworking the Tarot: Spiritual Guidance & Practical Advice from the Cards, by Leeza Robertson (Llewellyn) — enhance your tarot skills and expand your spirituality by delving deeper into each card’s story. Just as using a tarot deck is a journey through a story, so is pathworking a journey through an inner landscape to find higher awareness and spiritual growth. This practical book’s approach to pathworking will deepen your connection to the cards and encourage you to evolve spiritually. As you pathwork through the deck, you’ll learn how to meditate on your readings and uncover so much more than you thought you could. Leeza Robertson introduces you to three pathworking styles: intentional (intentionally selecting cards based on theme), intuitive (letting the cards guide you), and wandering (combining a little of both the intentional and intuitive styles). Using straightforward techniques and hands-on exercises, she guides you through the seventy-eight cards and the stories they tell. This remarkable book inspires you to go further, deeper, and wider with your tarot practice and find spiritual enlightenment through new experiences with your deck.
The Power of Now Journal, by Eckhart Tolle (New World Library) — This beautiful journal is filled with carefully chosen, inspiring quotes from Eckhart Tolle’s masterpiece, The Power of Now. Terms like groundbreaking and life-changing are often used to describe books, but not always accurately. They are when describing The Power of Now , which has become a genuine cultural phenomenon. Oprah Winfrey keeps it at her bedside and calls it “one of the most valuable books I’ve ever read.” Katy Perry says it inspired her song “This Moment.” Director Tom Ford asked everyone in his film A Single Man to read it — and on and on. More importantly, millions who suffer from the kind of debilitating depression Tolle once did or who wrestle with anxiety, loss, or grief, as well as those seeking personal growth and a deeper experience of fulfillment and spirituality, have found life-altering, attitude-shifting inspiration in the book’s simple yet powerful teachings. Lovely, vibrant four-color art and carefully chosen excerpts inspire insights and prompt contemplation, meditation, and relaxation. Whether you’re a longtime fan or new to Tolle’s work, the journal format will help you engage with Tolle’s teachings to discover or rediscover the extraordinary power of The Power of Now.
Rosicrucian America: How a Secret Society Influenced the Destiny of a Nation, by Steven Sora (Inner Traditions/Bear & Co.) — Dr. John Dee and his polymath protégé Sir Francis Bacon were the most influential men in the court of Queen Elizabeth I, part of an elite group with invisible control throughout Europe. And, as Steven Sora reveals, not only were they key members of the Rosicrucians, they were the driving force behind England’s colonization of the New World and the eventual establishment of the United States. From Avalon in Newfoundland to New England to Pennsylvania and Virginia, Sora shows how Bacon and Dee’s Rosicrucian impact is felt throughout North America. Sora looks at Rosicrucian influences on the Founding Fathers and earliest settlers of America, such as Washington, Franklin, and William Penn of Pennsylvania, on the American Revolution, and on American colonies, such as the Williamsburg colony. He details how Penn invited Rosicrucians to Philadelphia and how the city’s layout follows esoteric principles, including a direct reference to Bacon’s New Atlantis.
Scatterbrain: How the Mind’s Mistakes Make Humans Creative, Innovative, and Successful, by Henning Beck (Greystone Books) — In this mind-bending book, an esteemed neuroscientist explains why perfectionism is pointless—and argues that mistakes, missteps, and flaws are the keys to success. Remember that time you screwed up simple math or forgot the name of your favorite song? What if someone told you that such embarrassing “brain farts” are actually secret weapons, proof of your superiority to computers and AI? In Scatterbrain, we learn that boredom awakens the muse, distractions spark creativity, and misjudging time creates valuable memories, among other benefits of our faulty minds. Throughout, award-winning neuroscientist Henning Beck’s hilarious asides and brain-boosting advice make for delightful reading of the most cutting-edge neuroscience our brains will (maybe never) remember.
Soundflower: The Journey To Marry Science & Spirit, by Mandara Cromwell (New Leaf Distribution) — Soundflower is the story of a woman whose divine quest began as a child with a mystical experience in the majestic Gothic architecture of a Catholic church. Signs and symbols experienced in her youth continued to appear throughout her life, but one of the most profound spiritual messages came to her from science -in the form of sound made visible. In this book, Mandara Cromwell reveals an angelic experience with a message that led her to create a new paradigm of healing. If you are looking for answers in your own spiritual quest and a more natural way of healing the body, Soundflower will benefit you in a multitude of ways. It is an intimate sharing of personal experiences showing the incredible power of sound — from the ancient practices of healers in many cultures, to the instruments of cutting edge sound technology.
Stillness Is the Key, by Ryan Holiday (Penguin Random House) — In The Obstacle Is the Way and Ego Is the Enemy, bestselling author Ryan Holiday made ancient wisdom wildly popular with a new generation of leaders in sports, politics, and technology. In his new book, Stillness Is the Key, Holiday draws on timeless Stoic and Buddhist philosophy to show why slowing down is the secret weapon for those charging ahead. All great leaders, thinkers, artists, athletes, and visionaries share one indelible quality. It enables them to conquer their tempers. To avoid distraction and discover great insights. To achieve happiness and do the right thing. Ryan Holiday calls it stillness—to be steady while the world spins around you. In this book, he outlines a path for achieving this ancient, but urgently necessary way of living. Drawing on a wide range of history’s greatest thinkers, from Confucius to Seneca, Marcus Aurelius to Thich Nhat Hahn, John Stuart Mill to Nietzsche, he argues that stillness is not mere inactivity, but the doorway to self-mastery, discipline, and focus.
A Theology of Love: Reimagining Christianity through A Course in Miracles, by Richard Smoley (Inner Traditions/Bear & Co.) — In the West, theology has almost always meant Christian theology—a hodgepodge of beliefs that are hard to make sense of. Why, for example, should an all-loving, merciful God have gotten mad at the human race because someone ate a piece of fruit six thousand years ago? And why would he send part of himself down to earth to be tortured to death? These beliefs, stated baldly, are nonsensical. Millions of people are realizing this and losing their faith. The time has come to reenvision Christian theology without contradictory teachings laced with fear. It is time for a theology of love and miracles. Richard Smoley reframes Christian theology using logical, consistent, and easy-to-understand teachings of unconditional love and forgiveness. He draws inspiration not only from the Bible, but also from Hinduism, Buddhism, Gnosticism, and from esoteric and mystical teachings, such as A Course in Miracles and the Sefer Yetzirah, the oldest known Kabbalistic text. He explains how the “fallen” state of the human condition, not one of sin but of oblivion, leads us to experience the world as flawed and problematic—not wholly evil, but not wholly good.
Tom Brown’s Guide to Healing the Earth, by Tom Brown Jr., with Randy Walker Jr. (Penguin Random House) — As a child he was taught to respect nature by an Apache elder he called Grandfather, now as a bestselling author and master tracker Tom Brown, Jr., shares his secrets for nurturing and saving our planet. Tom Brown, Jr., is America’s most acclaimed outdoorsman, tracker, and teacher. When he was eight he met Stalking Wolf, an Apache elder who taught the young man how to survive in the wild, and more importantly, how to value our place in the natural order. For more than three decades, Tom Brown, Jr., has shared these insights with the world through teaching, writing, and film. Now, for the first time, he has detailed actions that each of us can take to help heal our ailing planet.
The Way of Fire and Ice: The Living Tradition of Norse Paganism, by Ryan Smith (Llewellyn) — This is a radical new take on Norse Paganism. The Way of Fire and Ice reimagines Norse Paganism with mystical practices and rituals for today’s world as well as tips for building community and resisting fascism. This approach to working with Norse deities and beliefs is a living, adaptable tradition, representing a strong alternative to the reconstructionist perspectives of Asatru and Heathenry. In these pages, the old ways come alive in a radically inclusive form. You will explore the secrets of the World Tree and the mysteries of the gods, work with the many spirits around us, and feel the deep rhythms that drive all life while creating new songs of power. You will also discover how to make these practices part of your every waking moment, developing your own personal spirituality and building healthy, sustainable communities along the way.
Ways to Go Beyond and Why They Work: Seven Spiritual Practices for a Scientific Age, by Rupert Sheldrake (Monkfish) — We are in the midst of a spiritual revival. This book is an essential guide. To go beyond is to move into a higher state of consciousness, to a place of bliss, greater understanding, love, and deep connectedness, a realm where we finally find life’s meaning. Scientist and spiritual explorer Rupert Sheldrake looks at seven spiritual practices that are personally transformative and have scientifically measurable effects. He combines the latest scientific research with his extensive knowledge of mystical traditions to show how we may tune into more-than-human realms of consciousness through psychedelics such as ayahuasca, and how everyday activities can have mystical dimensions, including sports and learning from animals. He discusses traditional religious practices such as fasting, prayer, and the celebration of festivals and holy days. Dr. Sheldrake is a biologist and the author of more than 90 technical papers and 14 books, including Science Set Free.
When Antidepressants Aren’t Enough: Harnessing the Power of Mindfulness to Alleviate Depression, by Stuart J. Eisendrath, M.D. (New World Library) — For nearly two decades, Dr. Stuart Eisendrath has been researching and teaching the therapeutic effects of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) with people experiencing clinical depression. By helping them recognize that they can find relief by changing how they relate to their thoughts, Dr. Eisendrath has seen dramatic improvements in people’s quality of life, as well as actual, measurable brain changes. Easily practiced breath exercises, meditations, and innovative visualizations release readers from what can often feel like the tyranny of their thoughts. Freedom of thought, feeling, and action is the life-altering result. “I will help you change your relationship to depression, so that you can live a more satisfying and happy life,” Dr. Eisendrath writes.
When God Had a Wife: The Fall and Rise of the Sacred Feminine in the Judeo-Christian Tradition, by Lynn Picknett & Clive Prince (Inner Traditions/Bear & Co.) — Despite what Jews and Christians—and indeed most people—believe, the ancient Israelites venerated several deities besides the Old Testament god Yahweh, including the goddess Asherah, Yahweh’s wife, who was worshipped openly in the Jerusalem Temple. After the reforms of King Josiah and Prophet Jeremiah, the religion recognized Yahweh alone, and history was rewritten to make it appear that it had always been that way. The worship of Asherah and other goddesses was now heresy, and so the status of women was downgraded and they were blamed for God’s wrath. However, as Lynn Picknett and Clive Prince reveal, the spiritual legacy of the Jewish goddesses and the Sacred Feminine lives on. Drawing on historical research, they examine how goddess worship thrived in early Judaism and included a pantheon of goddesses. Providing all the necessary evidence to restore the goddess to both Judaism and Christianity, Picknett and Prince expose the disastrous consequences of the suppression of the feminine from these two great religions and reveal how we have been collectively and instinctively craving the return of the Sacred Feminine for millennia.