Waking Up to the Dark: Ancient Wisdom for a Sleepless Age


Clark Strand - 2015
    The darkness Clark Strand is talking about here is literal: the darkness of the nighttime, of a world before electricity, when there was a rhythm to life that followed the sun’s rising and setting.   Strand here offers penetrating insight into the spiritual enrichment that can be found when we pull the plug on our billion-watt culture. He argues that the insomnia so many of us experience as “the Hour of the Wolf” is really “the Hour of God”—a wellspring of rest and renewal, and an ancient reservoir of ancestral wisdom and inspiration. And in a powerful yet surprising turn, he shares with us an urgent message for the world, received through a mysterious young woman, about the changes we all know are coming.  Waking Up to the Dark is a book for those of us who awaken in the night and don’t know why we can’t get back to sleep, and a book for those of us who have grown uncomfortable in real darkness—which we so rarely experience these days, since our first impulse is always to turn on the light. Most of all, it is a book for those of us who wonder about our souls: When the lights are always on, when there is always noise around us, do our souls have the nourishment they need in which to grow?  Praise for Waking Up to the Dark  “A celebration of the life-enriching—indeed, indispensable—properties of the night . . . Strand delivers a significant amount of experiential melding to existential thoughtfulness in this book about the sublime and elemental powers of the dark. . . . An exigent, affecting summons to rediscover the night.”—Kirkus Reviews“This book is small in size and mighty in spirit. It is at once a clarion call and a meditation. Sonorous, deep, soul-stirring, and profoundly comforting, Waking Up to the Dark is a rare book that will be pressed from one hand to the next with the urgent, whispered words: You must read this.”—Dani Shapiro, author of Devotion   “In a modern world flooded with artificial light, Clark Strand reminds us what we have left behind in the dark. This beautiful, haunting meditation is filled with surprises and lost knowledge. Read it by candlelight—you will never forget it.”—Mitch Horowitz, author of Occult America and One Simple Idea   “In this exhilaratingly original work, Clark Strand shows us that the key to enlightenment lies where we don’t want to look. It is hidden in plain sight, but we have to turn the lights off to find it.”—Mark Epstein, M.D., author of Going to Pieces Without Falling Apart and The Trauma of Everyday Life  “Breathtaking and revolutionary, a small masterpiece for a world that has grown uncomfortable with the darkness and a poignant plea to take back the dark as the Hour of God, as the great friend of faith, awakening, and soul nourishment.”—Gail Straub, co-founder of Empowerment Institute and author of Returning to My Mother’s House  “Wonder, solitude, quiet, intimacy, the holy—darkness holds these treasures and more. If we want to connect with God, argues Strand in this wise and compassionate book, we will ‘awaken to the dark.’ ”—Paul Bogard, author of The End of Night

When the Body Says No: The Cost of Hidden Stress


Gabor Maté - 2003
    With great compassion and erudition, Gabor Maté demystifies medical science and, as he did in Scattered Minds, invites us all to be our own health advocates.

The Wisdom of Sundays: Life-Changing Insights from Super Soul Conversations


Oprah Winfrey - 2017
    “I see it as an offering,” she explains. “If you want to be more fully present and live your life with a wide-open heart, this is the place to come to.”Now, for the first time, the aha moments of inspiration and soul-expanding insight that have enlightened millions on the three-time Emmy Award-winning Super Soul Sunday are collected in The Wisdom of Sundays, a beautiful, cherishable, deeply-affecting book.Organized into ten chapters―each one representing a powerful step in Oprah’s own spiritual journey and introduced with an intimate, personal essay by Oprah herself―the Wisdom of Sundays features selections from the most meaningful conversations between Oprah and some of today’s most-admired thought-leaders. Visionaries like Tony Robbins, Arianna Huffington, and Shonda Rhimes share their lessons in finding purpose through mindfulness and intention. World renowned authors and teachers like Eckhart Tolle, Thich Nhat Hahn, Marianne Williamson and Wayne Dyer, explain our complex relationship with the ego and the healing powers of love and connection; and award-winning and bestselling writers like Cheryl Strayed, Elizabeth Gilbert, and Elizabeth Lesser explore the beauty of forgiveness and spirituality.Paired with beautiful photographs, including many from Oprah’s private property in California where each episode of Super Soul Sunday is filmed, The Wisdom of Sundays promises to be a timeless keepsake that will help readers awaken to life’s wondrous possibilities and discover a deeper connection to the natural world around them.

Ordinary Magic: Everyday Life as Spiritual Path


John Welwood - 1992
    This inspiring book reveals how the simple practice of mindfulness can be a magical and transformative part of anyone's daily life. Thirty-five wide-ranging essays written by well-known spiritual teachers, therapists, and creative artists show how learning to focus awareness can bring a new richness to ordinary activities; how mindfulness can heighten creative pursuits such as painting, journal writing, or playing music; how contemplative awareness enhances both physical and psychological well-being; and how meditation can contribute to better relationships with family, community, and the world at large.Sunshine and green leaves / Thich Nhat Hanh --Everyday life as practice / Karlfried Graf von Dürckheim --Earth and space / Chögyam Trungpa --This very moment / Charlotte Joko Beck --Not preferring samsara or nirvana / Pema Chödrön --Seeing without the observer / J. Krishnamurti --Are you here? / A.H. Almaas --The way of seeing / Frederick Franck --Writing fearlessly / Natalie Goldberg --Meditation and poetics / Allen Ginsberg --Just being at the piano / Mildred Chase --Coming home to the body / Denise Taylor --Zen archery / Eugen Herrigel --The art of sword / Takuan Soho --Driving meditation / Kevin Berger and Todd Berger --The work of craft / Carla Needleman --Working for a living / Jean Martine --The healing power of unconditional presence / John Welwood --Touch and go / Karen Kissel Wegela --The listening mind / Ram Dass and Paul Gorman --On being unable to breathe / Stephen Butterfield --Conscious eating / Marc David --Being with anger / Stephen Levine --Being peace / Thich Nhat Hanh --Personal disarmament / Deena Metzger --The greening of the self / Joanna Macy --The path of service / Jack Kornfield --Mindful social action / Ken Jones --The power of peace / Chagdud Tulku --Nowness and enlightened society / Chögyam Trungpa --Intimate relationship as a practice and a path / John Welwood --Contemplation and intimacy / Monica Furlong --Family life and spiritual practice / Fran Tribe --Working with dying people / Stephen Levine --Facing death / Dainin Katagiri

The Celestine Prophecy


James Redfield - 1993
    They told their friends about it, and friends in turn told their friends. By word of mouth alone, news of this magical, moving work spread throughout the country, until -- within months of its first printing -- over hundred thousand readers had become excited by its predictions and touched by the way it made sense of what was happening in their lives.Now you can discover for yourself the insights, the vision, and the uncanny accuracy of "The Celestine Prophecy". A parable filled with vital truth that reads like a gripping adventure-tale, it begins with the disappearance of an ancient Peruvian manuscript. Although few Westerners know of its existence and a government wants to suppress it, this precious document contains an important secret: the 9 insights the human race is predicted to grasp as we enter an era of true spiritual awareness.To find the manuscript -- and its hidden treasures -- you will join one person's search. It is a quest that will carry you high into the Andes mountains, to ancient ruins deep in old-growth forest, and to a startling discovery. You will quickly recognize the truth of the First Insight: in each of our lives occur mysterious coincidences -- sudden, synchronistic events that, once interpreted, lead us into our true destiny.When you find and understand all 9 of the insights, you will have an exciting new image of human life, and a positive vision of how we will save this planet, its creatures, and its beauty. "The Celestine Prophecy" will give you hope…and chills…as you begin to perceive its predictions unfolding all around you in intimate relationships and international affairs. And you will suddenly recognize the quantum leap forward humankind is preparing to make as we approach the new millennium. Important works such as Carlos Castaneda's "The Teachings of Don Juan" and the prophecies of Nostradamus have helped prepare the way for the revelations you will find in James Redfield's life-changing words. The time is right to hear them, and to discover the personal journey that is opening in your life.

The Black Arts: A Concise History of Witchcraft, Demonology, Astrology, and Other Mystical Practices Throughout the Ages


Richard Cavendish - 1967
    This text describes the practice, theory, and underlying rationale of black magic in all its branches - the summoning and control of evil spirits, necromancy, psychic attack, devil worship, witchcraft, evil charms and spells - as well as other branches of occult theory.

Cunningham's Encyclopedia of Crystal, Gem & Metal Magic


Scott Cunningham - 1987
    This comprehensive and clear guidebook by Scott Cunningham has introduced over 200,000 readers to the secrets of over 100 gems and metals. Learn how to find and cleanse stones and use them in divinations, spells, and tarot card readings. Discover how to determine the energies and stories contained within each stone, and the symbolic meanings of a stone's color and shape. Also included in this classic guide:A 16-page, full-color insert, new with this edition Birthstone and jewelry magic lore Tables listing both planetary and elementary rulers of stones, magical intentions, and magical substitutions

Going Within: A Guide for Inner Transformation


Shirley MacLaine - 1986
    In three  international bestsellers, Out on a Limb, Dancing in the Light,  and It's All in the Playing,  multi-talented Shirley MacLaine described her own  ongoing spiritual journey in search of inner harmony  and self-transcendence. Now this celebrated  actress, social activist, and outspoken thinker shares  an enlightened program of spiritual techniques and  mental exercises to become healthier, happier, and  more attuned to the natural harmony of the world  around-and within-ourselves. In Going  Within Shirley MacLaine answers many of the  most challenging and important questions she has  been asked about her experiences in seminars and  interviews she has conducted from coast to coast.  Transformation is at heart of her profound and  inspiring message--the power to shape our lives, to find  inner peace and awareness, and to reach highest  potential in relationships, at work, and at home.  Candid, often controversial, and always courageous,  Shirley MacLaine opens the doors to an  irresistible journey of discovery and revelation. By going  within, she shows us how to reach a new level of  love and harmony, reduce stress, release fear, and  discover the joys of a new-and better-way of living.  Use light, sound, crystals, and visualizations to  increase your personal energy. Explore the power  of meditation to align body, mind, and spirit.  Understand and communicate with your hidden self.  Learn the secrets of sexual fulfillment in a new age  of commitment. Experience the stunning mysteries of  psychic surgery and much more!

Mindfulness on the Go: Simple Meditation Practices You Can Do Anywhere


Jan Chozen Bays - 2014
    Meditation practice is one way to do it, but not the only way. In fact, there are easy ways to fit it into your everyday life. Jan Chozen Bays provides here 25 practices that can be used on the go to cultivate mindfulness. The three-breath practice, the mindfulness of entering rooms, offering compliments, tasting your food one careful bite at a time--these deceptively simple practices can have a cumulative effect for the better. The book is an abridgment of Bays's longer collection How to Train a Wild Elephant: And Other Adventures in Mindfulness.

Modern Tarot: Connecting with Your Higher Self through the Wisdom of the Cards


Michelle Tea - 2017
    Infused with beloved iconoclastic author Michelle Tea’s unique insight, inviting pop sensibility, and wicked humor, Modern Tarot is a fascinating journey through the cards that teaches how to use this tradition to connect with our higher selves.Whether you’re a committed seeker or a digital-age skeptic—or perhaps a little of both—Tea’s essential guide opens the power of tarot to you. Modern Tarot doesn’t require you to believe in the supernatural or narrowly focus on the tarot as a divination tool. Tea instead provides incisive descriptions of each of the 78 cards in the tarot system—each illustrated in the charmingly offbeat style of cartoonist Amanda Verwey—and introduces specially designed card-based rituals that can be used with any deck to guide you on a path toward radical growth and self-improvement.Tea reveals how tarot offers moments of deep, transformative connection—an affirming, spiritual experience that is gentle, individual, and aspirational. Grounded in Tea’s twenty-five years of tarot wisdom and her abiding love of the cards, and featuring 78 black and white illustrations throughout, Modern Tarot is the ultimate introduction to the tradition of the tarot for millennial readers.

The Prophet


Kahlil Gibran - 1923
    Published in 1923, it has been translated into more than twenty languages, and the American editions alone have sold more than nine million copies.The Prophet is a collection of poetic essays that are philosophical, spiritual, and, above all, inspirational. Gibran’s musings are divided into twenty-eight chapters covering such sprawling topics as love, marriage, children, giving, eating and drinking, work, joy and sorrow, housing, clothes, buying and selling, crime and punishment, laws, freedom, reason and passion, pain, self-knowledge, teaching, friendship, talking, time, good and evil, prayer, pleasure, beauty, religion, and death.

Kundalini Tantra


Satyananda Saraswati - 2002
    This Book presents a systematic and pragmatic approach to the awakening of kudalini, which arouses greater intelligence from it's sleep and you can give birth to a new range of creativity.

Awakening Kundalini: The Path to Radical Freedom


Lawrence Edwards - 2012
    With its ability to connect us to the energy of creation and elevate us to a higher state of consciousness, Kundalini awakening is crucial to the deepening of our spiritual evolution. But the deep spiritual unfolding that Kundalini offers can also be confusing and difficult to grasp—so how can we approach this universal power with preparation and wisdom?An Essential Guide for Navigating the Kundalini ExperienceIn Awakening Kundalini, Dr. Lawrence Edwards, who has devoted his life to understanding and teaching about Kundalini, presents an essential guide to harnessing this boundless energy. In six in-depth sessions, he offers a comprehensive exploration from the physical, psychological, and spiritual perspectives, with insights and practices for recognizing what Kundalini is, how it manifests, and when your body and mind are ready to initiate an awakening of consciousness. "You are born with Kundalini," says Dr. Edwards. "You just need the right conditions to unfold it." Through seven hours of teachings, learn how to open to the freedom of awakening while avoiding the pitfalls, misunderstandings, and projections that are so often a part of the spiritual journey."Kundalini reveals the divine nature of the entire universe and every being within it-and shows us our true capacity for limitless compassion, connection, and love," Dr. Edwards teaches. Join him to discover how to tap into this profoundly transformative force, and through Awakening Kundalini, realize your ability to live "radically free."HighlightsThe soul's yearning for transcendence and freedom• The three upayas (means) that support Kundalini ascent• Cultivating "witness consciousness"—the ability to watch without judgment whatever arises and dissolves in our lives• Using the vibrational power of mantra to unfold Kundalini energy• The importance of discernment and healthy boundaries when it comes to spiritual practice• The unlimited ways in which shaktipat, the descent of grace, can reveal our true nature• The body's chakra system and its role in Kundalini awakening• Our shadow sides, and how Kundalini can illuminate the darkness that hides our talents and lures our ego-mind• Telling the difference between sat (what is true) and asat (what is not true)

The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge


Carlos Castaneda - 1968
    Includes the teachings and a structural analysis.

Pronoia is the Antidote for Paranoia: How the Whole World is Conspiring to Shower You With Blessings


Rob Brezsny - 1999
    This witty, inspiring how-to shows how any reader can become a wildly disciplined, fiercely tender . . . lustfully compassionate Master of Rowdy Bliss.