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Meeting Jesus In The Sacraments
by Ave Maria PressMeeting Jesus in the Sacraments (Second Edition) helps students recognize the living presence of God's Incarnate Son in the Seven Sacraments, especially in the Eucharist. Organized around three dimensions of the sacraments -- Understanding, Celebrating, and Grace -- the text unpacks the origins, rites, and effects of the Seven Sacraments in a spiral design that follows a common structure from chapter to chapter. The text provides a thorough coverage of core theological content listed in the Secondary Level Protocol of the USCCB curriculum framework for Course V in a pedagogically appealing way. The text is intellectually stimulating, but also accessible to students of all types of learning styles and skills, and who enter this course with varying backgrounds in theology. Meeting Jesus in the Sacraments (Second Edition) is part of the most complete and encompassing support package to aid teachers in presenting the material for Course V of the USCCB curriculum framework. This includes lesson materials and planning guides in an east-to-follow Teacher's Wraparound Edition and the most extensive and helpful collection of online teacher and student support resources available. This is a textbook primarily for first-semester juniors enrolled in a Catholic high school. It serves as the core textbook for a course Sacraments as Privileged Encounters with Christ as specified by Course V of the USCCB’s doctrinal framework.
Your Life In Christ: Foundations In Catholic Morality
by Ave PressYour Life in Christ introduces high school students to the essential message of Christian moral teaching--love of God and love of neighbor. Against this backdrop, students encounter and explore Catholic teaching that applies the mandate to love in real-life scenarios and situations. In a culture where moral relativism increasingly blurs distinctions between right and wrong, students quickly see that this subject couldn't be more relevant. Students consider and study such topics as conscience formation, law, Jesus as a moral guide, sin and forgiveness, respect for life, and sexuality.
Go Bravely: Becoming the Woman You Were Created to Be
by Emily Wilson HussemEmily Wilson Hussem used to feel the same way. In Go Bravely, the Catholic musician and speaker offers twenty bits of advice that will equip you to tackle your deepest concerns about relationships, self-esteem, and dating while strengthening your faith at the same time. "Sometimes even the smallest acts of living out faith require great bravery." In Go Bravely, Wilson Hussem offers readers warm and friendly encouragement as she shares her experiences with other young women as their youth minister as well as her own struggles with insecurity, relationships, loving and forgiving herself, and living her faith. You'll feel right at home as she challenges you to be a light in the world while simultaneously offering you easy-to-digest advice on your most pressing questions. Fresh off figuring out who she is as a daughter of God, how to cultivate healthy friendships, how to save sex for marriage, and how to develop a prayer life, Wilson Hussem gives you advice about what she learned in the midst of becoming a young woman. Aware of the information overload that young people face today, she shares simple wisdom for bravely living your faith, such as: Always be kind to other women. Work hard at what you love. Recognize God's plan for your life. Remember that nobody is perfect. Cultivate authentic friendships. These are basic ideas, Wilson Hussem says, but taking care of yourself and loving others are easy tenets of our faith to forget. A book that can be read in short snippets or in one sitting, Go Bravely offers you the encouragement and tools you need to live out your Christian faith with purpose and zeal.
Give Up Worry for Lent: 40 Days to Finding Peace in Christ
by Gary ZimakCatholic author and self-described “recovering worrier” Gary Zimak combines practical spirituality, daily scripture readings, and simple action steps to help you kick the worry habit as part of your Lenten renewal. He shows you how to let go of the anxiety-producing areas of life in order to find the lasting peace that comes from trusting God. During the season of Lent, Catholics and other Christians frequently give up something they enjoy as a measure of penance or self-discipline—and often fall back into old habits at the first “Alleluia!” In Give Up Worry for Lent!, Zimak offers fellow worriers practical, scripture-centered advice on how to relinquish the need to control the uncontrollable—not just for Lent but for good—and how to find peace in Christ. From Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday, Zimak guides you to ponder a scripture passage and to apply it to your own life by following four simple steps: read, reflect, respond, pray. As you continue to meditate on scripture and practice the simple action steps at the end of each reflection, you will find it easier to replace old worries with new messages of hope and to change your life forever.
What Matters: Spiritual Nourishment for Head and Heart
by Frederick FranckAfter his nearly 100 years of seeding, Franck's reflections on what really matters will help you to savor what truly matters in your own life. "Could the meaning of being born human be, to become Human?" This elegantly simple book of reflections presents the rich harvest of a lifetime of thinking, feeling, and seeing by an artist, whose vital spirituality has inspired hundreds of thousands of readers and students through his art, books, and workshops. The pithy, sometimes humorous, always wise contemplations reveal Franck's lifelong confrontation with the human in himself and others. Originally jotted down as reflections for himself and close friends, Franck's insights will challenge you to consider new ways of experiencing your spiritual path and to savor what truly matters.
Disaster Spiritual Care: Practical Clergy Responses to Community, Regional and National Tragedy
by Willard W. C. Ashley Stephen B. RobertsThe first comprehensive resource for pastoral care in the face of disaster--a vital resource for clergy, seminarians, pastoral counselors and caregivers of all faith traditions. This essential resource for clergy and caregivers integrates the classic foundations of pastoral care with the unique challenges of disaster response on community, regional and national levels. Offering the latest theological perspectives and tools, along with basic theory and skills from the best disaster response texts, research and concepts, the contributors to this resource are innovators in their fields and represent Christianity, Judaism, Islam and more. Exploring how spiritual care changes following a disaster, and including a comprehensive explanation of a disaster's lifecycle, this is the definitive guidebook for counseling not only the victims of disaster but also the clergy and caregivers who are called to service in the wake of crisis.
God the What?: What Our Metaphors for God Reveal about Our Beliefs in God
by Carolyn Jane Bohler<p>"We do not have to let go of one sense of God to take up another. Neither do we need to go about challenging old metaphors. What is crucial is to find a metaphor--or two, or six--that creatively point toward what we believe." --from Chapter 1 <p>Let Carolyn Jane Bohler inspire you to consider a wide range of images of God in order to refine how you imagine God to have and use power, and how God wills and makes divine will happen--or not. By tapping into your God-given ability to re-imagine God, you will have a better understanding of your own beliefs and how you, God and the world relate to each other. <p>Wonderfully fresh and down to earth, Bohler uses playful images, moving stories and solid scholarship to empower you to break free of old habits and assumptions, whatever your faith tradition. She encourages you to explore new names for God that are not only more consistent with what you believe, but will also deepen and expand your experience of God. Think about ... <p> <li>God the Choreographer of Chaos <li>God the Nursing Mother <li>God the Jazz Band Leader <li>God the Divine Blacksmith <li>God the Divine Physical Therapist <li>God the Team Transformer <li>... and more</li> </p>
Fly Fishing - The Sacred Art: Casting a Fly as Spiritual Practice (The Art of Spiritual Living)
by Chris Wood Eric Eisenkramer Micheal Attas Lori SimonDiscover the spiritual potential hidden in every cast of the fly rod. <p><p>"For us, fly-fishing is about more than catching fish. We have been skunked on the stream too many times to count, and stood shivering in our waders in 45-degree water long after sundown. Yet, every chance we get, we head back to the river in search of trout and something more." ―from Rabbi Eric's Introduction <p><p>"Early in my fly-fishing career I remember telling a friend that there is so much to learn! Some forty years later, that is still true. Every trip I learn something new about rivers, fish and the natural world. Most importantly, I learn something new about myself. Every encounter with the waters of our planet draws me deeper into who I am and who I want to become." ―from Reverend Mike's Introduction <p><p>In this unique exploration of fly-fishing as a spiritual practice, an Episcopal priest and a rabbi share what fly-fishing has to teach us about reflection, awe and the wonder of the natural world, the benefits of solitude, the blessing of community and the search for the Divine. Tapping the wisdom in the Christian and Jewish traditions and their own geographically diverse experiences on the water, they show how time spent on the stream can help you navigate the currents and eddies of your own inner journey.
This Saint Will Change Your Life: 300 Heavenly Allies for Architects, Athletes, Bloggers, Brides, Librarians, Murderers, Whales, Widows, and You
by Thomas J. CraughwellHeaven Help Us!Your days of worry and frustration are over. Whoever you are, whatever you do, there's a patron saint who wants to help you--specifically you--with your troubles. This Saint Will Change Your Life features 300 patron saints for every person and situation imaginable. * There are patron saints for travelers, vegetarians, and women in labor. * For gamblers, lawyers, and parents with disappointing children. * For families stressed by houseguests. * For victims of toothaches, appendicitis, and sore throats. * For beekeepers, booksellers, sailors, schoolgirls, and even (we kid you not) vampire hunters! This Saint Will Change Your Life! describes the real-life histories of an amazing variety of holy figures from the Christian faith and reveals how each became associated with particular beneficiaries. Also included are reproductions of 300 full-color holy cards depicting these heavenly helpers in all their glory.From the Trade Paperback edition.
Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources
by Martin LingsA revised edition of the internationally acclaimed biography of the prophet - Includes important additions about the prophet's spread of Islam into Syria and its neighboring states - Contains original English translations from 8th and 9th century biographies, presented in authoritative language - Represents the final updates made on the text before the author's death in 2005 Martin Lings' biography of Muhammad is an internationally acclaimed, comprehensive, and authoritative account of the life of the prophet. Based on the sira, the eighth- and ninth-century Arabic biographies that recount numerous events in the prophet's life, it contains original English translations of many important passages that reveal the words of men and women who heard Muhammad speak and witnessed the events of his life. Scrupulous and exhaustive in its fidelity to its sources, Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources is presented in a narrative style that is easily comprehensible, yet authentic and inspiring in its use of language, reflecting both the simplicity and grandeur of the story it tells. This revised edition includes new sections detailing the prophet's expanding influence and his spreading of the message of Islam into Syria and its neighboring states. It represents the final updates made to the text before the author's death in 2005. The book has been published in 12 languages and has received numerous awards, including acknowledgment as best biography of the prophet in English at the National Seerate Conference in Islamabad.
Entheogens and the Future of Religion
by Robert ForteA study of the importance of psychedelic plants and drugs in religion and society.
Sacrificial Ceremonies of Santería
by Ócha'Ni LeleThe first book to explore the history, methods, and thinking behind sacrifice in the growing Santería faith • Explains the animal sacrifice ceremony in step-by-step detail • Shares the ancient African sacred stories that reveal the well-thought-out metaphysics and spirituality behind the practice of animal sacrifice • Chronicles the legal fight all the way to its 1993 U.S. Supreme Court victory to establish legal protection for the Santería faith and its practitioners Tackling the biggest controversy surrounding his faith, Santería priest Ócha’ni Lele explains for the first time in print the practice and importance of animal sacrifice as a religious sacrament. Describing the animal sacrifice ceremony in step-by-step detail, including the songs and chants used, he examines the thinking and metaphysics behind the ritual and reveals the deep connections to the odu of the diloggún--the source of all practices in this Afro-Cuban faith. Tracing the legal battle spearheaded by Oba Ernesto Pichardo, head of the Church of the Lukumi of Babaluaiye, over the right to practice animal sacrifice as a religious sacrament, Lele chronicles the fight all the way to its 1993 U.S. Supreme Court victory, which established legal protection for the Santería faith and its practitioners. Weaving together oral fragments stemming from the ancient Yoruba of West Africa, the author reconstructs their sacred stories, or patakís, that demonstrate the well-thought-out metaphysics and spirituality behind the practice of animal sacrifice in the Yoruba and Santería religion, including explanations about why each animal can be regarded as food for both humans and the orisha as well as how sacrifice is not limited to animals. Shedding light on the extraordinary global growth of this religion over the past 50 years, Lele’s guide to the sacrificial ceremonies of Santería enables initiates to learn proper ceremony protocol as well as gives outsiders a glimpse into this most secretive world of the santeros.
The Shamanic Odyssey: Homer, Tolkien, and the Visionary Experience
by Robert Tindall Susana BustosReveals the striking parallels between indigenous cultures of the Americas and the ancient Homeric world as well as Tolkien’s Middle Earth • Explores the shamanic use of healing songs, psychoactive plants, and vision quests at the heart of the Odyssey and the fantasy works of J. R. R. Tolkien • Examines Odysseus’s encounters with plant divinities, altered consciousness, animal shapeshifting, and sacred topography--all concepts vital to shamanism • Reveals how the Odyssey emerged precisely at the rupture between modern and primal consciousness Indigenous, shamanic ways of healing and prophecy are not foreign to the West. The native way of viewing the world--that is, understanding our cosmos as living, sentient, and interconnected--can be found hidden throughout Western literature, beginning with the very origin of the European literary tradition: Homer’s Odyssey. Weaving together the narrative traditions of the ancient Greeks and Celts, the mythopoetic work of J. R. R. Tolkien, and the voices of plant medicine healers in North and South America, the authors explore the use of healing songs, psychoactive plants, and vision quests at the heart of the Odyssey, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and Tolkien’s final novella, Smith of Wootton Major. The authors examine Odysseus’s encounters with plant divinities, altered consciousness, animal shapeshifting, and sacred topography--all concepts vital to shamanism. They show the deep affinities between the healing powers of ancient bardic song and the icaros of the shamans of the Amazon rain forest, how Odysseus’s battle with Circe--wielder of narcotic plants and Mistress of Animals--follows the traditional method of negotiating with a plant ally, and how Odysseus’s journey to the land of the dead signifies the universal practice of the vision quest, a key part of shamanic initiation. Emerging precisely at the rupture between modern and primal consciousness, Homer’s work represents a window into the lost native mind of the Western world. In this way, the Odyssey as well as Tolkien’s work can be seen as an awakening and healing song to return us to our native minds and bring our disconnected souls back into harmony with the living cosmos.
Neolithic Shamanism: Spirit Work in the Norse Tradition
by Galina Krasskova Raven KalderaA step-by-step guide to working with the spirits of ancient northern Europe • Explains how to build relationships with Earth, Sun, Moon, Plants, Animals, Water, Fire, Craft, Air, and the Ancestors through 83 practical exercises • Explores the role of altered states in spirit work • Outlines the ancient cultural rules and taboos to avoid spiritual debt or offense We are all surrounded by spirits. Many people feel called to work with them, but few know where to begin. Enjoined by the gods and spirits to fulfill this need, Raven Kaldera and Galina Krasskova have reconstructed the indigenous spiritual traditions of northern Europe and Scandinavia extinguished more than one thousand years ago by the spread of Christianity. Arising from basic survival needs, these practical traditions are fundamentally tied to the elements found in the harsh world of the ancient North. Beginning with the skills tied to the Earth element, necessary for grounding prior to the more demanding aspects of the practice--working with Sun, Moon, Plants, Animals, Water, Fire, Craft, and Air--the authors explain, step by step, how to build relationships with each elemental spirit and the Ancestors. Offering 83 practical exercises, from cleansing with the Moon or borrowing the legs of Reindeer to making sacred space with Mugwort or creating an ancestor altar, they also explore building spirit relationships through altered states. Emphasizing the proper management of your spirit relationships to avoid spiritual debt or offense, the authors outline the ancient cultural rules and taboos that circumscribe these practices, essential knowledge for successful and fruitful spirit alliances. Detailing the beginning set of skills needed to work with the spirits of this ancient world, this comprehensive workbook offers a unique ancestral spiritual outlet for those of northern European descent as well as an accessible guide for anyone trying to fulfill their shamanic callings.
The Mysteries of John the Baptist: His Legacy in Gnosticism, Paganism, and Freemasonry
by Tobias ChurtonThe search for the real historical person known as John the Baptist and the traditions that began with him • Explores why John the Baptist is so crucially important to the Freemasons, who were originally known as “St. John’s Men” • Reveals how John and Jesus were equal partners and shared a common spiritual vision to rebuild Israel and overcome corruption in the Temple of Jerusalem • Explains the connections between John as lord of the summer solstice, his mysterious severed head, fertility rites, and ancient Jewish harvest festivals Few Freemasons today understand why the most significant date in the Masonic calendar is June 24th--the Feast of the Birth of St. John the Baptist and the traditional date for appointing Grand Masters. Nor do many of them know that Masons used to be known as “St. John’s Men” or that John the Baptist was fundamental to the original Masonic philosophy of personal transformation. Starting with the mystery of John in Freemasonry, Tobias Churton searches out the historical Baptist through the gospels and ancient histories, unearthing the real story behind the figure lauded by Jesus’s words “no greater man was ever born of woman.” He investigates John’s links with the Essenes and the Gnostics, links that flourish to this day. Exposing how the apostle Paul challenged John’s following, twisting his message and creating the image of John as “merely” a herald of Jesus, the author shows how Paul may have been behind the executions of both John and Jesus and reveals a precise date for the crucifixion and the astonishing meaning of the phrase “the third day.” He examines the significance of John’s severed head to holy knights, such as the Knights Templar, and of Leonardo’s famous painting of John. Churton also explains connections between John, the summer solstice, fertility rites, and ancient Jewish harvest festivals. Revealing John as a courageous, revolutionary figure as vital to the origins of Christianity as his cousin Jesus himself, Churton shows how John and Jesus, as equal partners, launched a covert spiritual operation to overcome corruption in the Temple of Jerusalem, re-initiate Israel, and resurrect Creation.
Magia Sexualis: Sexual Practices for Magical Power
by Donald Traxler Maria De Naglowska Paschal Beverly RandolphA step-by-step guide to the occult science of sex magic • Based on the practices of P. B. Randolph, occult rival of H. P. Blavatsky • Reveals how to perform sex magic rituals for specific real-world results, such as greater strength or enhancement of the senses • Explains how to create magical talismans, such as rings with specific planetary forces, how to enliven a painting, and how to charge an effigy Conceived by Paschal Beverly Randolph, Magia Sexualis has been heralded as the most influential book about sex magic ever written, surviving to the present day solely through Maria de Naglowska’s French translation. Published more than 50 years after Randolph’s death, the authorship of this “translation” has been repeatedly called into question: While the greater part of the content can be traced to Randolph’s known works, a very significant portion cannot--leading to the conclusion that this work was supplemented by Naglowska’s own sex magic work and extensive occult teachings. Magia Sexualis explains Randolph’s meticulous science of sex magic, practiced by the Brotherhood of Eulis and the Hermetic Brotherhood of Light. Beginning with exercises to develop essential skills, the book explains in step-by-step detail how to perform sex magic rituals for specific results, such as greater strength or enhancement of the senses, how to charge and use a “volt”--an effigy of a specific person you want to influence or protect, how to enliven a painting in order to influence those around it, and how to create magical talismans with specific planetary forces, using what Randolph calls “fluid condensers.” This work from two great occult minds shows that true power of the spirit is acquired in conjunction with the power of sex--affirming that “sex is the fundamental force in every being, the most powerful force in Nature, and the most characteristic evidence of God.”
The Heart-Mind Matrix: How the Heart Can Teach the Mind New Ways to Think
by Joseph Chilton Pearce Robert SardelloActivating the compassionate intelligence of the heart to reconnect to the universe and our spiritual future • Shows how the heart is connected to our prefrontal cortex and offers a balancing counterweight to the calculating intellect of the lower brain • Explains how we are stuck in reactive behavior loops resulting from the loss of the nurturing culture of our ancestors • Reveals how the Heart-Mind Matrix connects us to the universe and is the engine of spiritual evolution Expanding the revolutionary theories of mind explored in the bestselling The Crack in the Cosmic Egg and The Biology of Transcendence, Joseph Chilton Pearce explains how the heart provides the balancing intelligence to the brain’s calculating intellect, an innate system of emotional-mental coherence lost generations ago through a breakdown of the nurturing culture of our ancestors. By severing ourselves from our heart intelligence, we are left with our selfish, survival-oriented reptilian brains, which create and reinforce “strange loops” between potential and actual reality, leading to our modern world’s endless cycle of self-inflicted disasters and societal crises. Pearce explains that in order to break these cycles and transcend a life focused solely on surviving the results of our own reactive patterns, we must reconnect with the compassionate intelligence of the heart. Offering a rich variety of evidence, Pearce explores neurological research, lost and enduring nurturing cultures, personal experiences, and accounts from the lives and writings of modern sages such as Jane Goodall, Maria Montessori, and Rudolf Steiner. He shows that by activating the original matrix of the Heart-Mind--the engine of our spiritual evolution and our innate connection to the universe--we can teach our brains new ways to think, amend our destructive behavior loops, and enter into a future of peace, spiritual connection, and conscious evolution.
Cactus of Mystery: The Shamanic Powers of the Peruvian San Pedro Cactus
by Ross HeavenThe history of San Pedro and its uses for healing, creativity, and conscious evolution • Includes interviews with practicing San Pedro shamans on their rituals, cactus preparations, and teachings on how San Pedro heals the mind and body • Contains accounts from people who have been healed by San Pedro • Includes chapters by Eve Bruce, M.D., and David Luke, Ph.D., on San Pedro’s effects on psychic abilities and its similarities to and differences from ayahuasca San Pedro, the legendary cactus of vision, has been used by the shamans of Peru for at least 3,500 years. Referring to St. Peter, who holds the keys to Heaven, its name is suggestive of the plant’s visionary power to open the gates between the visible and invisible worlds, allowing passage to an ecstatic realm where miraculous physical and spiritual healings occur, love and enthusiasm for life are rekindled, the future divined, and the soul’s purpose revealed. Exploring the history and shamanic uses of the San Pedro cactus, Ross Heaven interviews practicing San Pedro shamans about ancient and modern rituals, preparation of the visionary brew, experiences with the healing spirit of San Pedro, and their teachings on how the cactus works on the mind, body, and illness. He investigates the conditions treated by San Pedro as well as how it can enhance creativity, providing case studies from those who have been healed by the cactus and accounts from those who have been artistically and musically inspired through its use. Psychedelic researchers Eve Bruce, M.D., David Luke, Ph.D., and journalist Morgan Maher contribute chapters delving into San Pedro’s effects on conscious evolution and psychic abilities as well as its similarities to and differences from ayahuasca. Exploring plant communication and the vital role of music in San Pedro ceremonies, Heaven explains how healing songs are communicated by the sacred plants to the shamans working with them, much in the same way that other gifts of San Pedro--from healing to inspiration to expanded consciousness--are passed to those who commune with this ancient plant teacher.
Global Awakening: New Science and the 21st-Century Enlightenment
by Michael Schacker Stephen LarsenShows how we must make deep changes to complete our paradigm shift from the old mechanistic worldview to the new organic worldview • Reveals the distinct stages of paradigm shifts through the ages, including the 18th-century Enlightenment and the critical stage of our current shift • Explains how the new organic worldview began with Goethe and Kant • Offers solutions for each of us to be able to realize and make the deep changes needed for global regeneration In Global Awakening, Michael Schacker shows that hidden within our global crises is a positive future for the planet. Sharing his 30 years of intensive research into the history of change as well as the evolution of consciousness and regenerative science, Schacker explains how our current shift from the old mechanistic worldview to a new organic worldview based on biological models follows the same pattern as other paradigm shifts across history, including the 18th-century Enlightenment and the American Revolution. He reveals the creative geniuses who have contributed to the birth of the organic worldview, beginning with Goethe, Kant, and Hahnemann. Exposing the scientific and social forces that drive paradigm shifts, he details the stages every paradigm shift progresses through: the early Enlightenment, the conservative backlash, the intensive phase, and and the transformational phase leading to the Organic Shift. Explaining that we are currently in the throes of the paradigm flip, the critical last phase of our paradigm shift, Schacker shows how the mechanistic worldview is crumbling around us and nothing but a complete transformation in the way we think will keep us from the path of total self-destruction. Providing a map to overcome the allure of the simplistic mechanical model that has spawned countless unsustainable practices and problems--from global warming to intense economic disparities--the author offers concrete solutions showing how each of us can use our talents, skills, and time to make the deep changes needed for global regeneration.
Passion for Creation: The Earth-Honoring Spirituality of Meister Eckhart
by Matthew Fox• Matthew Fox's comprehensive translation of Meister Eckhart's sermons is a meeting of true prophets across hundreds of years that results in a spirituality for the new millennium.• A brilliant interpretation of Eckhart's teachings on creation spirituality. Passion for Creation (formerly Breakthrough) is Matthew Fox's comprehensive translation of and original commentary on the critical German and Latin texts of 37 sermons by Meister Eckhart, the noted 14th-century Dominican priest, preacher, and mystic. The goodness of creation, the holiness of all things, the divine blood in each person, the need to let go and let be--these are among Eckhart's themes, themes that the best-selling author Matthew Fox brilliantly interprets and explains for today's reader. Passion for Creation will be embraced by theologians, students, and all seekers of truth. It will be especially welcomed by those interested in creation spirituality, which Eckhart advocated six centuries ago and which Matthew Fox has promoted as a spiritual path for the new millennium. Simply put, this book is a meeting of two prophets across hundreds of years. The outcome of that meeting is a fount of wisdom.
Soul Talk: The New Spirituality of African American Women
by Akasha Gloria Hull• A celebration of the journey of African-American women toward a new spirituality grounded in social awareness, black American tradition, metaphysics, and heightened creativity.• Features illuminating insights from Alice Walker, Toni Cade Bambara, Lucille Clifton, Dolores Kendrick, Sonia Sanchez, Michele Gibbs, Geraldine McIntosh, Masani Alexis DeVeaux and Namonyah Soipan.• By a widely published scholar, poet, and activist who has been interviewed by the press, television, and National Public Radio's All Things Considered From the last part of the twentieth century through today, African-American women have experienced a revival of spirituality and creative force, fashioning a uniquely African-American way to connect with the divine. In Soul Talk, Akasha Gloria Hull examines this multifaceted spirituality that has both fostered personal healing and functioned as a formidable weapon against racism and social injustice. Through fascinating and heartfelt conversations with some of today's most creative and powerful women--women whose spirituality encompasses, among others, traditional Christianity, Tibetan Buddhism, Native American teachings, meditation, the I Ching, and African-derived ancestral reverence--the author explores how this new spiritual consciousness is manifested, how it affects the women who practice it, and how its effects can be carried to others. Using a unique and readable blend of interviews, storytelling, literary critique, and practical suggestions of ways readers can incorporate similar renewal into their daily lives, Soul Talk shows how personal and social change are possible through reconnection with the spirit.
Tibetan Sacred Dance: A Journey into the Religious and Folk Traditions
by Ellen PearlmanThe first book to explore the significance and symbolism of the sacred and secular ritual dances of Tibetan Buddhism.• Lavishly illustrated with color and rare historic photographs depicting the dances, costumes, and masks.• Looks at both sacred (cham) and folk (achi lhamo) forms and their role in the development, practice, and culture of Tibetan Buddhism.From the time Buddhism entered the mythical land of the snows, Tibetans have expressed their spiritual devotion and celebrated their culture with dance. Only since the diaspora of the Tibetan people have outsiders witnessed these performances, and when they do, no one explains why these dances exist and what they really mean. Ellen Pearlman, who studied with Lobsang Samten, the ritual dance master of the Dalai Lama's Namgyal monastery in India, set out to discover the meaning behind these practices. She found the story of the indigenous shamanistic Bon religion being superseded by Buddhism--a story full of dangerous and illicit liaisons, brilliant visions, secret teachings, betrayals, and unrevealed yogic practices. Pearlman examines the four lineages that developed sacred cham--the secret ritual dances of Tibet's Buddhist monks--and achi lhamo storytelling folk dance and opera. She describes the mental and physical process of preparing for these dances, the meaning of the iconography of the costumes and masks, the spectrum of accompanying music, and the actual dance steps as recorded in a choreography book dating back to the Fifth Dalai Lama in 1647. Beautiful color photographs from the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts and Pearlman's own images of touring monastic troupes complement the rare historic black-and-white photos from the collections of Sir Charles Bell, chief of the British Mission in Tibet during the life of the Thirteenth Dalai Lama.
A Yoga of Indian Classical Dance: The Yogini's Mirror
by Roxanne Kamayani GuptaThe yoga and classical dance traditions of India have been inextricably entwined for millennia. The exacting hand gestures, postures and movements of Indian classical dance can only be achieved through yogic concentration. Conversely, the esthetics, symmetry, and dynamism of dance enhance the practice of yoga. These two traditions, so complementary and essential to one another, are united and explicated for the first time in A Yoga of Indian Classical Dance. Twenty-five years ago Roxanne Kamayani Gupta embarked on a journey of dance and yoga, yearning to unlock their mysteries and discover their common origins. As a twenty-year-old student from America she was miraculously and mysteriously absorbed into Indian culture, became a Hindu, and began an odyssey so unusual and unique that the reader will be enchanted by its telling. Choosing the path of the dancer, Roxanne Gupta accomplished what no Western woman had done before: being accepted and trained by Indian masters and then performing in the Indian classical traditions--from the palaces of maharajas to the arts festivals of Europe and America--while at the same time achieving a doctorate in the anthropology of religion and being initiated into a number of yogic traditions. Having mastered the classical form of Kuchipudi dance and studied with teachers of the hatha and kriya yoga traditions, she brings together these two great streams of consciousness and practice. In this tantric approach to yoga and dance, expressed through the body and through a yoga of emotions, we see the traditions embodied in a manner that embraces the totality of the human experience. The result is the dance of the yogini, the sacred feminine initiatress who dances with one foot in nature and the other in the realm of the gods. With extensive photographs of innovative yoga routines, Roxanne Kamayani Gupta distills her experience into techniques for yogic study certain to assist students of all levels to achieve a dynamic, beautiful, and graceful practice.
A Spirituality Named Compassion: Uniting Mystical Awareness with Social Justice
by Matthew Fox• Fox marries mysticism with social justice, leading the way toward a gentler and more ecological spirituality and an acceptance of our interdependence• A road map to fulfillment for the coming centuryIn A Spirituality Named Compassion, Matthew Fox, the popular and controversial author, establishes a spirituality for the future that promises personal, social, and global healing. Using his own experiences with the pain and lifestyle changes that resulted from an accident, Fox has written an uplifting book on the issues of ecological justice, the suffering of Earth, and the rights of her nonhuman citizens.Fox defines compassion as creativity put to the service of justice and argues that we can achieve compassion for both humanity and the environment as we recognize the interconnectedness of all things. Working toward the creation of a gentler, ecological, and feminist Christianity, Fox marries mysticism and social justice, emphasizing that as we enter a new millennium society needs to realize that spirituality's purpose is to guide us on a path that leads to a genuine love of all our relations and a love for our shared interdependence.
The Mystery of Manna: The Psychedelic Sacrament of the Bible
by Dan Merkur• Compelling evidence that the early Jews and Christians used psychedelics as part of their religious rites.• Reveals the Bible's disguised references to this tradition and traces knowledge of this secret to the gnostics, masons, kabbalists, and the legends of the Holy Grail. • Explores the idea that psychedelics have played a role in nearly all religious traditions.When Moses fed manna to the Israelites, he told them that after eating the miraculous bread they would see the glory of God. And indeed they did: "They looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory of Yahveh appeared in a cloud." In The Mystery of Manna, religious historian Dan Merkur provides compelling evidence that this was the Israelites' initiation into a psychedelic mystery cult that induced spiritual visions through bread containing ergot--a psychoactive fungus containing the same chemicals from which LSD is made. Citing biblical material, as well as later Jewish and Christian writings, Merkur reveals the existence of an unbroken tradition of Western psychedelic sacraments, from Moses and manna to Jesus and the Eucharist. Most important, Merkur shows that this was not a heretical tradition, but instead part of a normal, Bible-based spirituality, a continuation of the ancient tradition of visionary mysticism. Even when this practice became unacceptable to the religious orthodoxy, it was perpetuated in secret by gnostics, masons, and kabbalists, as well as through the legends of the Holy Grail. Merkur traces a long line of historical figures who knew of manna's secret but dared only make cryptic references to it for fear of persecution. The Mystery of Manna is the strongest contribution yet to our growing realization that, contrary to popular belief, psychedelics and religion have always gone hand in hand.