And more than helping you find your way out, this book will help you find your way through that place.

    Looking at ourselves and at the natural world around us, we realise that everything is in constant change and flux - like waves on the ocean, they are all part of one thing that is made up of everything. Even after the wave has crashed upon the shore, the ocean is still there, the wave is still there - it has merely changed its form. The aim of this text is to show how Zen teachings and Druidry can combine to create a peaceful life path that is completely and utterly dedicated to the here and now, to the earth and her rhythms, and to the flow that is life itself.

    Bill Moyers has called this search for spirituality "the biggest story -- not only of the decade but of the century."  Now, Sam Keen, the New York Times bestselling author of Fire in the Belly, addresses this crisis and provides a blueprint for bringing spirituality into everyday life in Hymns to an Unknown God:  Awakening the Spirit in Everyday Life.Using practical examples from his and other people's lives, Keen tells readers how to cut through what he calls the "spiritual bullshit," and recover the sacred in their love affairs, families, jobs, and politics -- in short, how to recover the "Unknown God." Down-to-earth and articulate, Sam Keen is a popular social commentator, philosopher, and teacher. He describes himself as "overeducated at the Ivies," with degrees from Harvard and Princeton. His work has been featured in a special Bill Moyers PBS interview, and for over twenty years he was a consulting editor at Psychology Today.How to Use Your Spiritual Bullshit Detector: In a world of one-minute solutions, false spiritual leaders, and instant spirituality, how can you tell which beliefs are valid and separate the bogus from the genuine.Sex and the Spirit: Why is it that sex and spirituality are so interconnected and confusing? Keen explains the conflict between "I want" and "I should," and tells readers how to integrate sensuality, sexuality and spirituality to experience truly deep and loving relationships.Consecrating Our Days: Rituals for Living: Keen gives more than a dozen suggestions for personal rituals to remind readers of the sacredness in their everyday lives, including creating a private place as a personal sanctuary, learning to make time to think deeply, setting aside personal days as times of celebration, and more.

    As he learns about science in his day school, Lev begins his own extracurricular study of the Bible’s Tree of Knowledge with neighbor Mr. Katz, who is building his own Tree out of trash. Meanwhile his sister Samara is secretly studying for her Bat Mitzvah with next-door neighbor and Holocaust survivor, Mr. Glassman. All the while his father, David, a professor of Jewish mysticism, is a non-believer.When, years later, David has a heart attack, he begins to believe God is speaking to him. While having an affair with one of his students, he delves into the complexities of Kabbalah. Months later Samara, too, grows obsessed with the Kabbalah’s Tree of Life—hiding her interest from those who love her most–and is overcome with reaching the Tree’s highest heights. The neighbors of Mile End have been there all along, but only one of them can catch her when she falls.

    Starting with a brief rundown of Witchcraft tools and symbols, this book helps you create spells for virtually every aspect of your life. This new edition includes essential information on:The Wheel of the Year: the eight major holidays (or sabbats) in the Witches' calendarKeeping a grimoire or Book of ShadowsMeditation, visualization, and manifestationMagickal correspondences and properties of stonesSpirit animals and totemsHow to join or create a coven Filled with more than 100 Wiccan spells that have simple instructions, this book contains everything you need to know in order to create spells that work.

    The Golden Bough" describes our ancestors' primitive methods of worship, sex practices, strange rituals and festivals. Disproving the popular thought that primitive life was simple, this monumental survey shows that savage man was enmeshed in a tangle of magic, taboos, and superstitions. Revealed here is the evolution of man from savagery to civilization, from the modification of his weird and often bloodthirsty customs to the entry of lasting moral, ethical, and spiritual values.

    

    Although Kathleen Norris’s best-selling Dakota: A Spiritual Geography has brought her to the attention of many thousands of readers, she is first and last a poet.  Like Robert Frost, another poet identified with a particular landscape, she can reveal the miraculous in the ordinary, and she writes with clarity, humor, and deep sympathy for her subjects.

    It is largely composed of extracts: a fitting way of expressing the breadth of Quaker theology. It also describes the current structures of Britain Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends.

    Without delving into either mythological or God-centric discourse, the book attempts to understand and explain various insights from the Gita through, in the author's words, derived theory and application. The Gita Way attempts to shed light on matters of self-realisation, and identifying and following the path to achieve the purpose of life. Within the framework of Vedic philosophy represented by Gita, this book explores:How to discover the swa-bhava, the inherent natural strength of our real-self?Is my profession aligned with my swa-bhava? What is my purpose of life?What is the real meaning of moksha, the liberation? How the realization of individual purpose leads us to attain supreme purpose we are born to achieve? Using the principles of Gita, this book presents innovative findings on theory of prarabdha, the luck or destiny, role of knowledge and karma, continuous improvement, yoga of universal harmony and yoga of devotion. To highlight few, in chapter combined discipline of knowledge and karma, authors introduce most important part of their research—Centring. Centring summarizes power of combined application of yoga of knowledge and karma along with simplified theory of spirit and supreme spirit. Chapter Vision of Universal Form and Yoga of Liberation simplifies the meaning of moksha, the state of liberation by linking it to the attainment of supreme purpose of life. Chapters on Yoga of Devotion and Continuous improvement focus on recipe of staying on the unique path of achieving individual goal. Unlike other books on Bhagavad Gita, the Gita Way is not a chapter wise discourse. Instead it presents deduced concepts in first place supported with relevant reference from the whole Gita. For example, in the first chapter of the Gita Way, you may get a reference of last chapter of Gita relevant to the topic of discussion.Contents:1. INTRODUCTION TO ‘THE GITA WAY’ 11Development of ‘The Gita Way’ 17 2. DEVELOPING A SENSE OF PURPOSE IN LIFE 25Goal 28Finding Unique Strength and Developing It 32Joy of the Self-Hobby vs Profession 35How to Set a Goal? 39Doubt in any form is the Biggest Enemyto Self-realisation 45The Story of Barbarika: Why was Barbarika Sacrificed? 47 3. YOGA OF KNOWLEDGE 51Knowledge of Self 54Elements of Self 56Consciousness of Self-Identity 57Intellect 60Primordial Matter 62Source of Perception and Action, One Mind and Five Senses 63Physical Body and Fitness 63False Goals such as Desire, Aversion and Pleasure 64Required Qualities in Self 64How Does One Achieve ‘Absolute Knowledge’? 67Lack of Knowledge is Ignorance which creates Fear 71 4. KARMA YOGA 74Prescribed Act and Prohibited Act 76Yoga and the Attributes of a Yogi 79How does One Achieve Equipoise? 80Desire-Entrap 84Hierarchy of Control 86Theory of Prarabdha or Destiny 88Butterfly Effect 90Hurdles in the Path of Karma-Yoga 93Vikarma 95Law of Growth 96Ultimate Dispassion: Nishkam Karma 97How to stay on the Path of Karma-Yoga? 99 5. COMBINED DISCIPLINE OF KNOWLEDGE AND KARMA 101Self-Realisation 102Wisdom 104Sacrifice 108Centring and Power of Real-Self 112Power of Real-self 113Centring 116Yoga of Self-Control 119 6. YOGA OF DEVOTION 121 The Cycle of Liberation 123How does devotion come to us? 127Devotion to Tame the Mind 129Relevance of Devotion to the Theory of Prarabdha 130Symptoms of Lack of Devotion 134 7. VISION OF THE UNIVERSAL FORM 136Universal Form of Goal 140Concept of Self 147Redirecting the Purpose of Desire 150 8. CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT ON THREE MODES OF NATURE 152Inner Purification by Knowing Sattva, Rajas and Tamas 159Sattva 159Rajas 161Tamas 164The Gita Way of Continuous Improvement 165Elimination of Waste 166 9. YOGA OF LIBERATION 170How is Sattva linked with the Supreme Goal? 173How does one attain sattva? 174Non-violence in thoughts and Action. 175Absence of Pride 175Internal and External Purity 176Steadfastness of Mind 176Control of Body, Mind and Senses 176Sincerity 177Forbearance 177Uprightness of Speech and Mind 177Devout Service to the Preceptor 177 Austerity of Mind 178Sattvika Intellect 178Sattvika Sacrifice 179Leadership by Creating Order Around 180 Yoga of Liberation 182

    This popular introduction to praying the rosary draws readers closer to Jesus and Mary by placing the mysteries-including the new mysteries of light-in the context of Scripture. The book addresses commonly asked questions about Mary and the rosary and provides the biblical background for all twenty mysteries. It also includes a scriptural rosary that offers ten Bible texts suitable for meditation on each mystery. An appendix offers the complete text of Pope John Paul II's Apostolic Letter, Rosarium Virginis Mariae. A Servant Book.

    Pagan religions have tended to be more concerned with practice than with theory and in a system that has no dogma - no legislated doctrine - that is as it should be. Yet as out movement grows and matures, it is inevitable that we will begin to think in a more abstract way about our models and systems. John Michael Greer has provided a primer on the kinds of ideas and themes that must be included in any discussion of the theology and philosophy of Neo-pagan religions.

    Top scholars--like the late John Boswell of Yale, Daniel Boyarin of Berkeley, Bernadette Brooten of Brandeis, L.William Countryman of the Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley, Victor P. Furnish of SMU, Saul M. Olyan of Brown and Robin Scruggs of Union Theological Seminary--show that those who perceive Bible passages as condemning homosexuality are being misled by faulty translation and poor interpretation...... Danial A. Helminiak, Ph.D. respected theologian and Roman Catholic priest, explains in a clear fashion the fascinating new insights of these scholars...... The Bible has been used to justify slavery, inquisitions, apartheid and the subjugation of women. Now, in this books which has sold over 100 thousand copies, read what the Bible really says about homosexuality.

    “Our main object will be to describe one of the most incomparably beautiful myths that has ever flowered from the mind of man, or from the unconscious processes which shape it and which are in some sense more than man.… This is, furthermore, to be a description and not a history of Christian Mythology.… After description, we shall attempt an interpretation of the myth along the general lines of the philosophia perennis, in order to bring out the truly catholic or universal character of the symbols, and to share the delight of discovering a fountain of wisdom in a realm where so many have long ceased to expect anything but a desert of platitudes.” —from the Prologue