Search results for ""author ink"

Avoiding Apocalypse: How Science and Scientists Ended the Cold War tells the little-known story of the worldwide scientists’ boycott of the Soviet Union that set in motion an astonishing sequence of events. Starting simultaneously with the rise to power of an obscure Soviet bureaucrat named Mikhail Gorbachev, the scientists’ boycott led to the end not only of the Cold War but also of the Soviet Union itself.

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At the crossroads of nature and the human imagination, Earth is sentient, fertile, and eloquent. When ancient goddesses, outcasts, heroes, and poets speak, they speak on her behalf to reveal living myths that first enchanted sacred landscapes. Their primal stories emerge from wilderness and rise from buried libraries to jolt us awake. We meet a lone goddess battling fifty giants, a beguiling wife who is secretly a serpent, a radiant lyre about to sing her own poetry, and an ogre whose heart is his forest. When oaks and rivers call for justice, when furies and monsters counter king and plow, let us turn our ear to hear. As we listen, mythic fragments lead us from marble palaces to nymph-haunted gardens, on a quest that teems with strange immortals. Along the way, a goddess of desolation, a mistress of animals, ash tree spirits, and a trickster water god appear as guides. Primeval green wisdom emerges from abyss, forest, and borderland, hidden in myths we almost lost forever, in ancient images that say things we no longer can.

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Candlemas/Imbolc is the re-awakening of the Old Lass within Old Craft belief and also coincides with the Roman Candelaria and Fornicalia - a spring corn festival celebrated in honour of Fornax, goddess of ovens, and observed by each ward of the city. All this merging of primitive origins and rites, belonging to the European pre-urban agricultural culture, meant that it also commemorated the search for Persephone by her mother and the festival of candles symbolizing the return of the Light. So it continued to be performed until the Christian era, when it was transformed into Candalmas in AD494. In pre-Christian times, Imbolc observance began the night before 1st February, and celebrants prepared for a visit from Brigid into their homes by crafting an effigy of the goddess from bundles of oats and rushes. The clothed effigy was placed in a basket overnight, and the day was celebrated by burning lamps and lighting bonfires in tribute to her. Traditions from both the pagan celebration and the Christian observance of St. Brigid’s Day can be found in the modern Imbolc festivities - while celebrants sometimes make a Brigid’s Cross out of reeds, as well as a Brigid corn doll or effigy.

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The ancients revered this sacred tree that has existed on Earth for 200 million years - some trees, still alive today, even survived the last ice age. This immortal tree was therefore venerated as the triple goddess of life, death and rebirth, and was believed to be the guardian of our planet. With climate change threatening our existence, many are now turning to the Tree of Life, identified with the ancient yew, for answers to our predicament. Through groundbreaking research, Janis Fry answers our modern yearning to make sense of life through a god/dess of Nature that guides our lives and connects us to people and events, to which we are answerable as custodians of life on Earth. The Cult of the Yew: Tree of Life, Mystery and Magic explores the spiritual history of this iconic tree and aims to change how those who read it think and understand life in these times.

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The moon and witchcraft go hand in hand. Lady Lunar has long been both a guide and a companion, a sign by which we mark time, all the while she gently aids us in our explorations into the self and magical workings. She is a reflection of not only the sun’s light but also the endless cycle of birth, life, death and rebirth. The ebbing and flowing energy of the moon influences our thoughts and emotions. Many people believe that this energy can also bring change and enhance our own lives, through knowing when and how to use it. On Her Silver Rays: A Guide to the Moon, Myth and Magick is a collection of science, myth, poetry, and ritual. It will guide you through working with the different phases of the moon in order to gain a better sense of wellbeing. Discover how best to harness the lunar energies for healing and emotional strength, as well as physical and mental wellness. Deepen your connection with Lady Lunar through making your own ‘moon water’, prayer beads, incense and anointing oils. Through the keeping of a lunar diary, learn how to effectively manifest and release with the endless changing energies of the moon. Create your own unique moon names regardless of where you live. When you are ready to take your moon magick deeper, this book will guide you through the differing astrological signs, cosmic events, including Blue and Black Moons, as well as working with both solar and lunar eclipses, and even how to make your own Kamea of the Moon. More than just another book about working with the moon, On Her Silver Rays: A Guide to the Moon, Myth and Magick is an informative guide to developing a deep ultimate connection with our night time companion.

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Oswald Augustus Grey was a Jamaican immigrant. He was 20 years old when he was executed and 19 when the crime for which he was convicted took place. To talk to people who lived in the city at the time, or to scour the nostalgia forums that proliferate online, is to discover an episode that has almost entirely disappeared in terms of public remembrance. This book unearths something of a place and a society that allowed a young life to become expendable and forgotten. The Birmingham in which this happened is both alien yet familiar.

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Navigate through the sacred, the impossible, and the unexpected in these hard-won reflections on parenting with humility, connection, resilience and joy. Tending Sacred Ground: Respectful Parenting is a series of essays, each of which alights on the experience of parenting and is inspired by a Quaker perspective. Pamela Haines shows how to cultivate respect, resilience, humility, connection, discernment, and joy while encouraging and inspiring a wider view toward inclusion.

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What made the Jesus movement tick? By situating the life of Jesus of Nazareth in the turbulent troubles of first-century Palestine, Crossley and Myles give a thrilling historical-materialist take on the historical Jesus. Delivering a wealth of knowledge on the social, economic, and cultural conflicts of the time, Jesus: A Life in Class Conflict uncovers the emergence of a fervent and deadly serious religious organizer whose social and religious movement offered not only a radical end-time edict of divine reversal and judgment but also a promising new world order ruled in the interests of the peasantry. The movement’s popular appeal was due in part to a desire to represent the values of ordinary rural workers, and its vision meant that the rich would have to give up their wealth, while the poor would be afforded a life of heavenly luxury. Tensions flared up considerably when the movement marched on Jerusalem and Jesus was willingly martyred for the cause. Crossley and Myles offer a vivid portrait of the man and his movement and uncover the material conditions that converged to make it happen.

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To Sing with Bards and Angels is an invitation to travel through landscapes evoked by beautiful language, into the heart of nature and imagination. Step into the magic of a creative spiritual journey through the descriptive voice of a contemporary Bard, as she shares her quest to live and work in harmony with the Creative Spirit, writing her way into being, turning her life into poetry and story. With help from an angel and a full moon shining on the ocean, Iona Jenkins blends this potion of inspiration from a treasury of memories, her love of wisdom, sacred places, native landscapes, legends, the arts and nature, all served in a cup of creative possibility for those aspiring to live with wisdom and soul as spiritual artists. A few sprinklings of practical suggestions, optional meditations and tasks are added to help readers discover inspiration flowing through the unique song of their own lives.

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Discover the Cat of the Night and the Cat of the Day. Over the centuries, the relationship between cats and humans has been one of profound change, of both darkness and light. In Ancient Egypt, we worshipped them as the physical embodiment of a goddess. In Medieval Europe, we tortured and punished them for being the familiars of witches. In the twenty-first century, we are obsessed with filming and posting their antics on social media. And while we may think of them as our pets, that doesn’t mean that we are in charge. Far from it. Cats know exactly how to get their humans to follow their orders! They have been an ongoing source of intrigue and mystery throughout human history. They are the stuff of myth and legend, as well as being our best friends. They sit among the stars and curl up on our laps. There is nothing so wonderful as the magic of cats.

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There is a fundamental core within each of us where our true nature resides. Our learned patterns of relating to ourselves and the world cause us to get pulled off our center, coming out of alignment with our True Self. While these conditioned patterns were at one time useful, continuing to live from them prevents us from experiencing the ease and beauty of our own true nature. In this remarkable exploration of the human condition, Harmony Kwiker provides a clear and comprehensive map to rediscovering how to live and love from the True Self, including how to come back to wholeness by accessing your subtle energy body, how to embody your alignment in all of your relationships and how to explore sexual intimacy in a sacred way.

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A remnant from the age of the dinosaur, the serpent was originally a symbol of arcane knowledge from the old gods. Transformed into the devil for tempting Eve to eat from the forbidden tree, the serpent has remained the villain ever since. Scott Irvines’s The Magic of Serpents is a profound search for the symbolism and worldwide mythology - at the religious, philosophical and spiritual levels - for which the serpent stands.

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The most popular of the Norse goddesses is the Vanic deity Freya, found across the Norse myths and into modern mass media, yet often obscured by contradictory tales and external moral coding. Freya is an alluring deity of magic and fertility, a being so important in the mythology that gods and giants fought over her, yet she is never shown as a passive prize to be won only as a forceful being with agency and will of her own. Who is this powerful goddess who has left such a profound mark across not only Norse culture but also wider Western culture? Pagan Portals-Freya is a basic introduction to the Norse Goddess Freya that covers her history, mythology, associations, and modern appearances, and offers readers suggestions for how to begin connecting to Freya in their own lives.

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This book helps children open the door to the magic of their imagination and gives them the keys to new and exciting possibilities. By developing their imagination, children can increase their ingenuity, creativity and ability to problem solve. With 100,000 combinations of story visualisations, children will have a different adventure each time they step through the portal of their imagination.

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If the human species has an evolutionary purpose that purpose is delight. Aren’t we constituted to experience and express conscious delight in the immensity and intimacy of creation, the diversity, abundance, and miracles of life? We have moved far from such purpose. Instead of imagination’s dreamers with the Earth, maturing into avatars of relationships, narrators of wonder, we are now a clear and present danger to all species. How do we change identity, direction, and move toward a future inclusive of Earth stability and Human responsibility?

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Yavor Tarinski examines the fundamental conflict between democratic aspirations and the imposed norms of capitalism, the potential for directly democratic and ecologically designed cities, the imperative to renew the commons, and the prospects for a genuine solidarity economy to overturn the ravages of capitalist economic growth. It critiques bureaucratic, technocratic and conspiracist tendencies both in mainstream discourse and on the Left, and offers a compelling and uplifting vision of a thoroughly transformed social order.

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Silver Butterfly Wings is my story. It’s a story of transformation, of the many paths and decisions I faced while going through the process of grief. My husband had died and I was utterly shattered; could not imagine a life without him. Then signs from the other side appeared, filling me with hope: flickering lights, hawks flying overhead, our song on the radio, a butterfly’s silvery wings, a hot spot on his side of the bed. At first I was sceptical. How could my dearly departed be sending signs and messages from across the veil? Over time I learned to trust these signs, these gifts from Spirit. There was a reason I was still here. I was meant to go on, to live my life with passion. I was to figure out who I was becoming in this totally different world and trust that life was taking me where I was meant to be. In short, I was to transform - like a butterfly.

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Women everywhere are exploring their spirituality and having exciting, unfettered, euphoric experiences. A Soulgasm is a mystical state of bliss that requires you to open the channels of your mind, body, and soul. Each forms a bridge for the energy of your spirit to fly forth like a phoenix and burn brightly in the present moment. It’s a heat that sears through you yet doesn’t burn, and instead fuels your love of life.

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In an age where Silicon Valley dictates what it means to innovate a painless future, knowledge and enjoyment are fertile breeding grounds of political contestation. But it’s not exactly democracy. We are controlled through platforms that turn us into data for the profit of billionaires. Control has become so playful that we carry it in our pockets, as we continue to crave likes and followers. What is to be done? Should the Left continue to cling to the promise of a political Event, patiently waiting for a revolutionary rupture where new possibilities emerge? Is there a way to delineate its horizons amidst the chaos? Through a psychoanalytic interrogation of the intersections of online culture, sexuality, and politics, Bonni Rambatan and Jacob Johanssen explore such horizons at the limits of capitalism. Event Horizon examines how capitalist ideology functions in our current moment, and, more importantly, how it breaks down. With the increasing urgency of formulating a proper Leftist response to the rapidly growing violence that seriously threatens the lives of marginalised communities, this book could not be more timely.

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Entrepreneurs, business leaders and execs do not deliberately set out to over-work, feel miserable, become stressed by their success, think badly of themselves or damage their health and relationships. However, these are the people Estelle Read has been working with in her coaching practice for the last 15 years, and the issues are on the rise. Optimise your success, performance, productivity and wellbeing to lead your best business-life.

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Earth is a School presents the case for the material world as a spiritual school, specifically tailored to develop consciousness and bring the human soul closer to recognition of its divine source. William Willdblood discusses how our planet serves as a training ground for the soul, with particular reference to the present time as one of decision and a kind of end of term examination. It can be hard to discern spiritual purpose behind the upheavals in many areas of contemporary life, but it is there if one knows how to look.

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What do healthy relationships look like? Most of the difficulties we face on a daily basis have to do with our relationships - be it with our partners, families, children, parents - or with our friends, neighbors or colleagues at work. This is why most of us really want to know how we can best get along with other people. What do healthy couple relationships look like? What do healthy families look like? What are the characteristics of respectful, constructive conversations? How can we best navigate through the challenges we meet in our daily lives and disagree with our friends, colleagues and families in a respectful way without running away or going on the attack? Is it possible to speak respectfully and reach compromises which function for everyone involved? In short, what do healthy relationships look like? Barbara Berger’s answer to these important questions are her Healthy Models which describe what healthy relationships look like in practice. The value of these Healthy Models is that when we have clear models of how healthy behavior looks, we can then compare our own relationships to these models and identify what is not working in our relationships. And this can be a big help because then we can begin to work to improve our relationships. The book is packed with practical techniques and exercises.

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While his post-9/11 turn to the right has defined Christopher Hitchens for the last two decades, we may now be in a position to rehabilitate his long pre-9/11 career as a left-wing polemicist. Burgis reminds readers about what was best in Hitchens's writings and helps us gain a better understanding of how someone whose whole political life was animated by the values of the socialist left could have ended up holding grotesque positions on Iraq and the War on Terror. Burgis' book makes a case for the enduring importance of engaging with Hitchen's complicated legacy.

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Religion is an essential part of our humanity. We all follow some form of religion, in the original meaning of the word. But organized religion establishes definitions, boundaries and hierarchies which the founders would be amazed by. This is perhaps more true of Christianity than most other religions, due to the short life of Jesus, his sudden death, the lack of any contemporary records. His teaching about the kingdom of God is great; it could see us through our time on earth. But his followers watered it down and soon lost it altogether. It became a kingdom in heaven for the few, rather than one here and now for everyone. The Church, or Churches, that resulted became increasingly irrelevant, even a hindrance, to seeing it realized. Many will always find security and truth in the traditions that developed, and good for them. But for those who can't, for those who have given up on religion or never thought it worth considering, the original teachings are worth another look. If we could recover them and live by them, we could change ourselves and the world for the better. We could bring God up to date.

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From France to California, from journalism to real estate, from sales associate to founder, executive vice-president, general manager, CEO, or president of several of the top companies in the US, such has been the professional itinerary of Alain Pinel, an American real estate icon in constant search for business excellence. In Real Estate Management Strategies and Tactics, Alain shows managers of all levels, from office sales managers to CEOs, how to reach top performance and make success more predictable, measurable and sustainable. A must read for real estate leaders.

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What does jazz “mean” 20 years into the 21st century? Has streaming culture rendered music literally meaningless, thanks to the removal of all context beyond the playlist? Are there any traditions left to explore? Has the destruction of the apprenticeship model (young musicians learning from their elders) changed the music irrevocably? Are any sounds off limits? How far out can you go and still call it “jazz”? Or should the term be retired? These questions, and many more, are answered in Ugly Beauty, as Phil Freeman digs through his own experiences and conversations with present-day players. Jazz has never seemed as vital as it does right now, and has a genuine role to play in 21st-century culture, particularly in the US and the UK.

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Trees occupy a place of enormous significance, not only in our planet’s web of life but also in our psyche. A Spell in the Forest - Tongues in Trees is part love-song, part poetic guidebook, and part exploration of thirteen native sacred British tree species. Tongues in Trees is a multi-layered contribution to the current awareness of the importance and significance of trees and the resurgence of interest in their place on our planet and in our hearts.

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In the course of Pat Spain’s time filming wildlife-adventure TV series, he’s gotten pretty used to being uncomfortable. There’ve been rabid raccoon attacks, days spent in the baking equatorial African sun, and consumption of many revolting local delicacies like fermented mare’s milk. And then there was Sumatra. On the Hunt in Sumatra details the two weeks Pat spent soaking wet with a National Geographic film crew tracking the legendary Orang Pendak through the forests of Indonesia, while tigers, leeches, amorous orangutans, Coldplay fans, a guide named Uncle Happy, two shaman, car demons, and rogue cameramen tracked them. It is, without a doubt, the most inhospitable terrain Pat’s ever encountered, with the highest likelihood of grievous bodily harm. But the payoff is the theory he reached about Orang Pendak, and a 5 a.m. EDM Tai Chi party.

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The veritable tsunami of anxieties that are affecting individual lives, the increasingly dysfunctional nature of society and the potential catastrophes of global conflict and of climate change, have a common cause. The inability of capitalism or the state to respond to existential crises and internal contradictions is the cause of what William Briggs terms A Cauldron of Anxiety. Briggs defends a Marxist perspective that would challenge this and provides an optimistic vision for the future.

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We all want more ways to feel and look healthy. Fashion can do just that, and Alyssa Couture is here to show you how. There’s so much pain and suffering in the world, but fashion can be the tool to promote and create healing, health, and overall balance and harmony.

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On the morning of April 29, 1992, Exxon International president, Sidney J. Reso, left his home for the office. He stepped out to pick up the newspaper at the end of his drive as he did every morning. A van screeched to a stop and a large man wearing a ski mask and wielding a .45-caliber pistol leaped from the vehicle and grabbed Reso, shoving him into the back of the van. The female driver sped away. No one saw or heard anything, sparking the largest kidnapping investigation in US history since Patty Hearst’s abduction.

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The journeys in this book are all ones using the mind. Guided visualisations use an interactive story to help people know themselves better, find solutions to problems and get ideas for creative projects. They can also be used as a wellbeing tool using relaxation techniques. Many guided visualisations also have spiritual aspects. Within this book are visualisations created for those on the paths of paganism, witchcraft and earth-based spirituality. They were written to follow the Wheel of the Year, embrace the power of the moon and the elements, and develop magical wisdom. Through the pages of this book you will be guided to amazing places. It will be an adventure...

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Written in the true spirit of the wounded healer, The Winds of Homecoming draws from and is enriched by the poetry and writings of Rainer Maria Rilke. These fifty short meditative reflections offer you hope and inspiration to embrace your loss and loneliness, transforming what is limiting and restrictive into something freeing and infinitely expansive. Through his writing, Christopher Goodchild walks alongside us, not in his role as spiritual guide, but as a fellow-traveller, writing from a deeply human place of vulnerability. He does not just tell us how to sit in the contemplative fire and be transformed, he shows us. He shows us by the life he has lived, and continues to live. Christopher’s latest book, written with his characteristic lyricism and tender-hearted, compassionate observations on the human condition, is enhanced by four evocative woodcuts by Kent Ambler. Allow the Winds of Homecoming to guide you home.

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Joseph Grosso traces the history of New York's transformation back into a gilded city, and asks what can be done about it. He examines New York's deindustrialization and the elite planning and design that followed; New York's financial crisis of the mid-1970s and the policy decisions made in its wake; New York's housing crisis; and the history of public housing across the United States. Making the history of gentrification and deindustrialization widely available and understood is a crucial tool in combating housing crises which continue to spread in cities around the world as more and more houses are left empty, to be used for global investments instead of for living. Fresh, lively, accessible, Grosso brings the issues of gentrification, deindustrialization, homelessness, and militarized policing, so easily ignored, to the fore.

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As this second book opens, the wanderers from the fifth dimension are now incarnate on Earth in the third dimension as 21 year old humans living around the world - in Moscow, New York, London, Tehran, Mumbai, Dublin, Tokyo, and Jerusalem. Growing up they have each had many strange encounters with the dark side, and now suspect they are not from this time and place. When they wake up, they reunite with their twin flames, and remember who they are and why they incarnated. Once awake, they work through a virtual reality game called Fifth Dimension, travelling to hot spots around the world and battle the dark lords to prevent disaster. The second volume in the Mission From Venus saga by Susan Plunket.

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Can Marxism emerge from the long shadow cast by Stalinism, and challenge capitalism? There is undoubtedly a growing interest in Marxism and socialism. Opinion polls show a majority that regard socialism as a real option. It is against this reality, and as a contribution to growing debates, that this book has been written. Marxism, as an ideological force and instituted to lead the charge against capitalism, has been poorly served in the past century. Many of its core messages have been obscured. William Briggs gives a rousing defence of Marxism, calling for a return of the working class to the centre of potential struggle. Briggs seeks to heal the damage done to Marxism, in the name of Marxism, over generations past.

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Do you want an end to war and inequality? Civilizations the world over have produced spectacular innovations; monumental architecture, complex mathematics, magnificent art, and the invention of writing, to name a few. Civilizations have also produced several unsavory "innovations", which to the modern mind seem an inevitable part of living in civilized society. Large-scale architecture was invented to store hoarded food and other goods, produced by the enslaved masses but enjoyed by the powerful elite. Writing was invented to keep track of hoarded commodities. Institutionalized warfare was invented to steal slaves, who could produce more for the monumental storage containers. A striking parallel with today's governments' violent obsessions over endless growth. This prevailing mindset can and must be undone or else we risk the annihilation of humanity.

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Stories for the Songs of the Year is a collection of new children's stories which celebrate the festivals and seasons. The tales follow the adventures of Attila and Meg, a know-it-all rabbit and a cat with half a tail, who generally cause chaos and mischief for Angus Og and which introduce Celtic Gods and some of the ideas central to Celtic beliefs in an age-appropriate way. The stories will also appeal to pre-teens who are able to read for themselves and who may be ready to begin to explore their own spiritual paths. Tinker's book also includes a short, factual essay written for parents, covering many practical matters, which is both helpful and informative for parents wishing to explore their own Pagan paths with their children.

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Finding Zen in the Ordinary offers honest and thought-provoking spiritual insights drawn from daily-life experiences. The book includes forty-eight brief stories, prose poems, dialogues between Zen student and teacher, and reflections on moments of spiritual awakening. Written by Zen priest and teacher Christopher Keevil, this book presents readers with the chance to reflect on their own moments of spiritual insight and engenders in the reader an experience of clarity and presence.

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Does Divine Consciousness exist only with the Son of God, or within all of us? Two thousand years ago, a rich myriad of Christian teachings emerged after the death of Jesus. Two pillars rose above the din; two churches, two structures, two leaders: James, the Brother of Jesus, and St Paul, the Evangelist. Journey with St. Paul, whose tireless efforts laid the foundations for one of the biggest religions in modern times. Walk with James, the brother of Jesus, who was given the mantle to lead the original Church by Jesus, upon his death. These accounts offer intimate knowledge of what motivated and moved them, how and why they built and developed the twin pillars of Christianity, and what happened to their respective churches. Two thousand years have dimmed the light on these diverse teachings. It is now time to illuminate the secret stories of the Early Christian Church and the Divine Consciousness.

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In The Secret of The Alchemist, Colm Holland reveals how you can discover the power to miraculously change the world around you beyond all recognition and for the better. Colm will tell you the story of his encounter with Paulo Coelho and his bestselling book The Alchemist and how discovering the secret in Paulo’s novel gave him the insights to achieve true empowerment in his life. Alchemy is all about transformation and draws upon the greatest power of all to convert seemingly insurmountable obstacles into life changing experiences. Through an honest account of his own, often difficult quest to live life to the full, Colm offers you the chance to draw on his discoveries and other real-life stories to inspire the pursuit of your dreams and reach your goals. How does he know? As he wrote this book, Colm asked Love to give you, the reader, everything you need to become the alchemist in your world.

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Mountains form the most spectacular creations on the planet and cover such a large amount of Earth’s landmass that they can be seen clearly from outer space. Mountains are also a reminder that humans count for nothing in the greater scheme of things. They were formed by tectonic plate upheavals of such magnitude that the fossilised remains of prehistoric sea-creatures can be found on mountains tops; in fact, many Himalayan rocks were originally sediments on the primordial Tethys Ocean floor. In this first of the Sacred Landscape series Melusine Draco looks at ways of connecting with the genii locorum that inhabit the caves and mountains of our world. A companion volume to Sacred Landscape: Groves and Forests and Sacred Landscape: Lakes and Rivers.

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We are living in the age of decline, or at least crisis, of what might be called a ‘culture of friendship’. Our existence as social beings is constricted in a triangle whose three apices are: the alienated work, subjected to the principle of ruthless competition, the closed, isolated nuclear family and the national or ‘cultural’ community constituted in the act of aggression towards a common enemy (the ‘alien’). It is precisely this constriction that makes the culture of friendship decline, and vice versa: it is this decline that seems to make any other way of life increasingly harder to imagine. However, if we are to resist the temptation of returning to the logic of clashing, violent particularisms and defend ourselves against fascist or fascistoid tendencies that appear on the political horizon, some kind of opening must occur, we must once again be able to experiment with new forms of being together, despite divisions resulting from territorial and cultural identities or family relations. What we need is a renaissance of the culture of friendship. Originally published in Poland, this edition from Zero Books is the first English language publication of In Praise of Friendship.

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Spanning Norway, Washington DC and Greece, This Is All He Asks of You is a visionary story about letters never sent, life once flowing and now frozen, swim-flying in golden light and the beauty of human connection. Above all, it is a story about how sad it would be if everything became like everything else.

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In January 1996 Suzanne's first child, Timothy, was born. He had a mysterious, undiagnosed condition. Ninety minutes later, in his dad's arms, he stopped breathing. This is the true story of what happened next. When your child has a condition that can't be cured, where do you look for answers? In the first year they looked to doctors. In the second year they looked to holistic practitioners. In the third year they looked within. This book is about how Suzanne, and Tim's dad, learnt to trust their own instincts, through dreams and intuition. It's about the way an apparently fragile, highly vulnerable individual can create the perfect conditions for personal happiness and even spiritual awakening in others.

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How is it that, in doing our very best to achieve one thing, we can end up achieving just the opposite? There exists an unseen force with an unassuming name that conceals all manner of terrors. It is `Unintended Consequences', and it takes our efforts to do the good and right thing, turns them to ashes and blows them back in our faces. Whether it be governments fighting a "War on Terror" only to bring their economies crashing about their ears, ecologists attempting to stamp out pests but making things ten times worse in the process, or giving people lots of choice only for them to make worse decisions, it is all too easy to start out with the best of intentions, only to end up doing more harm than good. In Unintended Consequences, Clive Wills discusses national disasters, Prohibition and the War on Drugs, frustrated efforts to improve health and safety, and touches on issues of everyday life such as how to improve relationships and bring up children. As HL Mencken reflected, "For every complex problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat, and wrong". This book examines the many ways in which those apparently simple solutions can turn around and bite us, and more importantly, just what we can do about it.

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Are Quakers mystics? What does that mean? How does it translate into how we are and what we do in the world? 'Jennifer Kavanagh has written a lovely book which I found to be to be compelling reading. In a very practical way she explains the meaning of mysticism for Quakers and how an experience, which some might regard as being esoteric, can be truly meaningful for many today.' Terry Waite Practical Mystics is Jennifer Kavanagh's first addition to the burgeoning series Quaker Quicks, which examines very aspect of what it means to be a Quaker, from John Hunt Publishing imprint Christian Alternative.

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The Caribbean Irish explores the little known fact that the Irish were amongst the earliest settlers in the Caribbean. They became colonisers, planters and merchants living in the British West Indies between 1620 and 1800 but the majority of them arrived as indentured servants. This book explores their lives and poses the question, were they really slaves? As African slaves started arriving en masse and taking over servants’ tasks, the role of the Irish gradually diminished. But the legacy of the Caribbean Irish still lives on.

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