Taking a radical departure from traditional views of God, Western or Eastern, author Kevin Griffin neither accepts Christian beliefs in a Supreme Being nor Buddhist non-theism, but rather forges a refreshing, sensible, and accessible Middle Way. Griffin shows how the Dharma, the teachings of the Buddha, can be understood as a Higher Power. Karma, mindfulness, impermanence, and the Eightfold Path itself are revealed as powerful forces that can be accessed through meditation and inquiry.Drawing from his own experiences with substance abuse, rehabilitation, and recovery, Griffin looks at the various ways that meditation and spiritual practices helped deepen his experience of sobriety. His personal story of addiction is not only raw, honest and engrossing, but guides readers to an inquiry of their own spirituality. In doing so, he poses profound questions, including:·         How can I understand God from a Buddhist perspective?·         How can I “turn my will and my life over” as a Buddhist?·         How can this idea of God “remove my shortcomings”?·         How do I learn this God’s “will”?

    Play with me for a moment: if you were to consider the mind a machine, say, a telegraph in service to the heart, then the heart gives the first dictation. The mind then translates vital information in the form of language to the speaker system of voice, which will hopefully transmit the communications as the heart intended, if that is the priority. It is a good time to ask yourself what your priorities of communication are. What is motivating you?A short journey from heart to mind and back down to the throat takes mere seconds, but a mighty many detours are taken en route. This may be because the fear residing in the mind is like a highwayman, waylaying our genuine matters of the heart and causing havoc as it tries to make its simple way out of the human body. There are other desperados who lure the vulnerable traveler off-path: insecurity, anxiety, self-consciousness, the fragile ego-but nearly all are unmasked first cousins to fear when flushed out of the shadows. Some fears are linked to primal traumas which may yet be unearthed. These deserve special attention when working with voice.I think the greatest of all distractions between heart and throat might be faithlessness, because reigning religious institutions have effectively redirected the focus from faith to matters of righteousness, wrongness and "policies". Faith in love, and what it can do, has taken a particularly destructive back seat to the priorities of massive organizations with other things in mind than loving kindness, peaceful communication, fair resolutions, wellness and the expressive voices of living, breathing people.For today's spiritually traumatized, broken-hearted and soul-wounded, the process of revealing what rests on the heart can be a paralyzing challenge. To clear the path of negative imprint, one must declare the intention to speak to what matters most and set about the task of discerning what that is. One can make a choice now to stand up to the fears that mangle the truth into expressions more palatable for others, cause explosions of rage, freezing up, or cut-and-run behavior.To love the truth more than anything else is a tall order.

    After twenty-five years spent consulting and advising tens of thousands of people from all over the world, Tosha Silver realized that almost all of us have similar concerns: “How do I stop worrying? How can I feel safe? Why do I feel so alone?” And often, “Who am I really?” For the passionately spiritual and the bemusedly skeptical alike, she created Outrageous Openness. This delightful book, filled with wisdom and fresh perspectives, helps create a relaxed, trusting openness in the reader to discover answers to life’s big questions as they spontaneously arise.At its heart, Outrageous Openness opens the door to a profound truth: By allowing the Divine to lead the way, we can finally put down the heavy load of hopes, fears, and opinions about how things should be. We learn how to be guided to take the right actions at the right time, and to enjoy the spectacular show that is our life.

    

    But many Christians have difficulty comprehending God's pain, especially God's pain in the death of Christ. Is it atonement or child abuse? To speak of God in pain, says Barbara Brown Taylor, is not only to address the biblical stories of Christ's suffering and death, but also to proclaim the God who is present in our pain. This volume of teaching sermons on suffering presents different approaches to the problem of God in pain. In each sermon, Taylor speaks with sensitivity and profound insight as she addresses pain and both its human and divine impact.TABLE OF CONTENTS Part I: Pain of Life: The Gift of Disillusionment; A Cure for Despair; Learning to Hate Your Family; Divine Anger; Feeding the Enemy; The Betrayer in Our Midst; Buried by Baptism; The Suffering Cup; Pick Up Your Cross; Unless a Grain Falls; The Dress Rehearsal; Surviving Crucifixion; Portents and Signs; and The Delivery Room. Part II: Pain of Death: Believing What We Cannot Understand; Someone to Blame; The Triumphant Victim; The Myth of Redemptive Violence; The Silence of God; The Will of God; The Suffering of God; May He Not Rest in Peace.BARBARA BROWN TAYLOR, an Episcopal priest in the diocese of Atlanta, holds the Butman Chair in Religion and Philosophy at Piedmont College in Demorest, Georgia. She is widely sought after as a preacher and guest lecturer, and is the author of five books, including Preaching Life and Bread of Angels.She was named by Baylor University as one of the 12 most effective preachers in the English language.

    Nicole LePera often found herself frustrated by the limitations of traditional psychotherapy. Wanting more for her patients—and for herself—she began a journey to develop a united philosophy of mental, physical and spiritual wellness that equips people with the interdisciplinary tools necessary to heal themselves. After experiencing the life-changing results herself, she began to share what she’d learned with others—and soon “The Holistic Psychologist” was born.Now, Dr. LePera is ready to share her much-requested protocol with the world. In How to Do the Work, she offers both a manifesto for SelfHealing as well as an essential guide to creating a more vibrant, authentic, and joyful life. Drawing on the latest research from a diversity of scientific fields and healing modalities, Dr. LePera helps us recognize how adverse experiences and trauma in childhood live with us, resulting in whole body dysfunction—activating harmful stress responses that keep us stuck engaging in patterns of codependency, emotional immaturity, and trauma bonds. Unless addressed, these self-sabotaging behaviors can quickly become cyclical, leaving people feeling unhappy, unfulfilled, and unwell.

    It is a collection of essays, observations and rituals, and outlines LaVey's Satanic ideology. It contains the core principles of the Church of Satan and is considered the foundation of the philosophy and dogma that constitute LaVeyan Satanism.

    Through extended clinical vignettes, including therapeutic dialogue and dreams, he shows how depth psychotherapy with trauma's survivors can open both analytic partners to "another world" of non-ordinary reality in which daimonic powers reside, both light and dark. This mytho-poetic world, he suggests, is not simply a defensive product of our struggle with the harsh realities of living as Freud suggested, but is an everlasting fact of human experience-a mystery that is often at the very center of the healing process, and yet at other times, strangely resists it.With these "two worlds" in focus, Kalsched explores a variety of themes as he builds, chapter by chapter, an integrated psycho-spiritual approach to trauma and its treatment including:images of the lost soul-child in dreams and how this "child" represents an essential core of aliveness that is both protected and persecuted by the psyche's defenses;Dante's guided descent into the Inferno of Hell as a paradigm for the psychotherapy process and its inevitable struggle with self-destructive energies;childhood innocence and its central role in a person's spiritual life seen through the story of St. Exup�ry's The Little Prince;how clinical attention to implicit processes in the relational field, as well as discoveries in body-based affective neuroscience are making trauma treatment more effective;the life of C.G. Jung as it portrays his early trauma, his soul's retreat into an inner sanctuary, and his gradual recovery of wholeness through the integration of his divided self.This is a book that restores the mystery to psychoanalytic work. It tells stories of ordinary patients and ordinary psychotherapists who, through working together, glimpse the reality of the human soul and the depth of the spirit, and are changed by the experience. Trauma and the Soul will be of particular interest to practicing psychotherapists, psychoanalysts, analytical psychologists, and expressive arts therapists, including those with a "spiritual" orientation.Donald Kalsched is a Jungian analyst in private practice in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and a training analyst with the Inter-Regional Society of Jungian Analysts. He is the author of numerous articles in analytical psychology, and lectures widely on the subject of early trauma and its treatment. His books include The Inner World of Trauma (1996).

    Not knowing this fact is a severe handicap, as the Universe is designed to care for and nurture all its creatures and help make our life’s journey easier and more successful. When we learn how to connect with our angelic guides, our lives naturally fall into a pattern of ease and flow during which we grow our souls, fulfill our life’s purpose, and make our time on Earth endlessly entertaining. This fascinating and inspirational book by Sonia Choquette provides all the information you need to help you connect with your spirit guides so that you can enjoy all the love, abundance, and joy you’re entitled to.

    It gained popularity in the 1970s across Europe and North America and is still thriving today, sought out for its non-dogmatic structure and emphasis on individuality, hospitality, and community-based values. Ásatrú for Beginners is a newcomer’s guide to this spirituality. It breaks down everything from the history and traditions to the gods and goddesses, ancient texts, sacred rituals, and the use of runes with simple language anyone can dive into. It’s an inclusive and practical guide that makes it easy to apply Ásatrú in your modern-day life and find greater spiritual satisfaction. Ásatrú for Beginners offers: See yourself more clearly—Ásatrú centers around ideas like friendship, community, and sharing. Discover what’s important to you and how to worship in a way that fits your life. What’s old is new again—Explore the thousand-year-old roots of the original Ásatrú religion and what makes its recent rebirth so powerful. Gods and goddesses—Find wonder, purpose, and inspiration in the stories and poems about gods like Thor, Loki, and Frigg. Enter the world of Ásatrú with a simple guide that puts you on the path to spiritual health.

    In ancient times, the warrior learned to master the challenges of life, both on and off the battlefield. He acquired a sense of personal freedom and power—not through violence or aggression, but through gentleness, courage, and self-knowledge. The Japanese samurai, the warrior-kings of Tibet, the knights of medieval Europe, and the warriors of the Native American tribes are a few examples of this universal tradition of wisdom. With this book the warrior's path is opened to contemporary men and women in search of self-mastery and greater fulfillment. Interpreting the warrior's journey in modern terms, Trungpa discusses such skills as synchronizing mind and body, overcoming habitual behaviors, relaxing within discipline, facing the world with openness and fearlessness, and finding the sacred dimension of everyday life. Above all, Trungpa shows that in discovering the basic goodness or human life, the warrior learns to radiate that goodness out into the world for the peace and sanity of others. The Shambhala teachings—named for a legendary Himalayan kingdom where prosperity and happiness reign—thus point to the potential for enlightened conduct that exists within every human being. "The basic wisdom of Shambhala," Trungpa writes, "is that in this world, as it is, we can find a good and meaningful human life that will also serve others. That is our true richness."

    With its reverence for all creation, it reflects our current concern for the planet. This introductory guide explains: • what Paganism is • the different Pagan paths • what Pagans do • how to live as a Pagan Paganism is one of the fastest growing spiritual movements in the West today. Pagans are those who worship the ancient pre-Christian Gods of our ancestors and of our lands. Originally, the word 'Pagan' was applied to those who worshipped the Gods of the pagus, which in Latin means 'locality'. Pagan was also used in another sense by Christians - to mean 'country dweller'. 'Heathen', of German origin, is also used by those who worship the Northern European Gods. Heathen means the someone of the heath who worships the Gods of the land. 'Paganism' is not a word that our ancestors would have used and it is seen by some as derogatory. Outside Europe, Pagans often reject it as an example of Western colonialism denigrating their traditional beliefs. In West Africa, the followers of indigenous spirituality refer to their beliefs as African Traditional Religion. In the West, the terms Native Spirituality, Celtic Spirituality, European Traditional Religion, the Elder Faith and the Old Religion are also used to describe the Pagan religions. Pagans have a variety of beliefs, but at their core are three which many would share: 1) The Divine has made itself manifest through many Deities in different places and at different times. No one Deity can express the totality of the Divine. This can be called polytheism - the Gods are many. 2) The Divine is present in Nature and in each one of us. This can be called pantheism - the Divine is everywhere. 3) Goddess and God: The Divine is represented as both female (Goddess) and male (God) while understanding that It is beyond the limitations of gender. 4) A fourth principle that some Pagans would share is called the Pagan Ethic: 'If it harms none, do what you will.'

    Hall's legendary The Secret Teachings of All Ages is a codex to the ancient occult and esoteric traditions of the world. Students of hidden wisdom, ancient symbols, and arcane practices treasure Hall's magnum opus above all other works.While many thousands of copies have sold since its initial publication in 1928, The Secret Teachings of All Ages has previously been available only in oversized, expensive editions. For the first time, Hall's celebrated classic is now published in an affordable trade paperback volume. Literally hundreds of entries shine a rare light on some of the most fascinating and closely held aspects of myth, religion, and philosophy from throughout the centuries.More than one hundred line drawings and a sixteen-page color insert reproduce some of the finest illustrations of the original book, while reset and reformatted text makes this edition of The Secret Teachings of All Ages newly accessible to readers everywhere.

    The authors also make an important contribution to the interpretation of The Tibetan Book of the Dead. They show that it is concerned not with the dead, but with the living. The last section of the manual provides instructions for an actual psychedelic session, under adequate safeguards.The authors were engaged in a program of experiments with LSD and other psychedelic drugs at Harvard University until sensational national publicity unfairly concentrating on student interest in the drugs, led to the suspension of the experiments. Since then, the authors have continued their work without academic auspices.

    Through them we can interface with the universe."Everything in the universe is composed of constantly changing energy, including your home and its contents. This energy can profoundly influence your ability to be healthy, loving, creative and abundant. By clearing and enhancing this energy you can transform your home into a sanctuary which radiates positive energy in ever-expanding circles.In this fascinating and unusual book, Denise Linn shows you how you can dramatically change your life by changing the environment in your home or office. She combines information from her own Native American heritage with material she has personally collected from native traditions around the world to bring you practical, easy-to-use exercises for balancing the physical, emotional and spiritual energies in your home, including how to:* Diagnose and solve problems with stagnant home energies.* Use sacred sound, spirit smoke, mystic symbols and purifying fire forclearing home energy.* Discover the personal numerology of your home.* Use the ancient art of Feng Shui for the placement of objects in yourhome.* Call house angels and totems as home protectors.* Use rituals to rid your home of unwanted spirits.* Instantly uplift the energy in your home.Your home can resonate, sing and pulse with Light energy that can touch the lives of everyone around you. Your home can become Sacred Space.