The Astrology of 2012 and Beyond
Cal Garrison
$16.95 QP, 9781578634453, Weiser Books, www.redwheelweiser.com

Cal Garrison is a professional astrologer with more than 30 years of experience. She worked for Drunvalo Melchizedek (of Flower of Life/Merkabah fame), who wrote the foreword to this book. Cal has written The Old Girls’ Book ofSpells, Slim Spurling’s Universe, and is the editor of online magazine The Spirit of Ma’at. The Astrology of 2012 and Beyond is a comprehensive astrological guide to this extremely exciting and potentially hazardous period in which we find ourselves. Garrison delves into the planetary influences that affect our mother Earth which in turn affect the humans living here. She casts a horoscope for Earth and portrays that chart on the Cross of Matter (the Four Directions).

An ardent investigator ever searching for alternate paths along the way, Garrison entices us with portents of times when the planets are in positions most likely to create great changes for humanity; she even goes so far as specifying a number of exact dates when there is the potential for cataclysm. She relates numerous indigenous teachings, a long interview with Melchizedek, and always the latest in cutting-edge astrology. Of course nothing is for certain about 2012; however, she gives us potentials and probabilities that seem intuitively correct for her. In the end, our future is determined by what we believe, and Garrison points that out a few times to make sure we understand the greater picture, too. 

The topic matter is well covered in a unique way despite the flood of material from other sources about 2012 and its aftermath. A positive outlook can be found in this book, but there is always the darker side lurking in the background to keep us on our toes. No simple New Age rhetoric here, which is a pleasant relief. Even if you know little or nothing about astrology, you can certainly benefit from this informative and enlightening book. For those who are ardent astrological buffs, this is a must-have item!

David Paulsen, Ekaha Enchantments, Keaau, Hawaii

Horses with a Mission: Extraordinary True Stories of Equine Service
Linda and Allen Anderson
$14.95 QP, 9781577316480, New World Library, www.newworldlibrary.com

Horses helping humans on a humane level—what a novelty. The mainstream media images that involve horses usually feature battles and violence: horses pulling chariots as warriors fight each other, medieval knights charging on horseback, cowboys defending their territory. Other images include race horses or the mundane service of pulling cartloads of beer. There is the image of Pegasus flying through the clouds, but do most people associate him with knowledge? This book offers other images—horses as therapists for both physical and emotional ailments.
This book contains contributions from 21 horse lovers divided into five chapters: Offering Service; Inspiring; Teaching; Healing; Bringing Joy and Hope. The headings seem a bit forced as the categories overlap. They are indeed intertwined.

Each story ends with a meditation or what could be called a lesson to ponder. One of my favorites asks “what are the healing gifts for you and others in your life’s travails?” That is a good question to ask about all of life’s challenges.
Several contributors speak of hearing the horse’s thoughts or of understanding what the horse was thinking. Some say they learned to ask for the horse’s cooperation rather than demand obedience.

While the horse lovers are thrilled by the power of their companion horses, they are more impressed by the compassion and caring the horses are capable of expressing. For humans, the lesson is to explore the depths of the nurturing souls housed in 1,000 pounds (or more) of horse flesh. Hopefully the message of this collection will find a wide audience.

Catherine Ferguson, Psychic for Pets and People, www.cfergusonconsult.com, Jersey City, N.J.

Gary Goldschneider’s Everyday Astrology: How to Make Astrology Work for You
Gary Goldschneider
$24.95 QP, 9781594744082, Quirk Books, www.quirkbooks.com

If you’ve ever wondered why it’s so hard to get rent money out of your Gemini roommate or why your Taurus brother is so competitive, this book offers clear and sometimes eerily accurate answers. Gift-friendly and fun, the extensive guide to how the various signs behave in a variety of roles and situations is both accessible and well-written. Gary Goldschneider, best-selling author of The Secret Language of Birthdays, presents an alternative view of the sun signs—from the outside in. He describes how each sign’s traits manifest themselves at work, in love, and in friendship and family relationships. The comprehensive list of intriguing topics includes how to ask a Sagittarius boss for a raise, how to care for an aging Leo parent, and how to woo a Scorpio on the first date. The real-life scenarios and practical advice, not to mention the depth and breadth of information, are sure to delight both gift givers and receivers alike.

Janine DePaulo, New Age Retailer, Bellingham, Wash.

Chod Practice in the Bon Tradition
Alejandro Chaoul
$18.95 QP, 9781559392921, Snow Lion Publications, www.snowlionpub.com

Chod Practice gets a boost just from the intriguing cover design of this concise little 9-by-6-inch text. Our patrons looking for more insight into Tibetan Buddhist traditional rites will be attracted to Chaoul’s work because it documents the unique combination of meditation and shamanic rites that go beyond ego and literally invite our most fearful aspects to the light of day. To explore the cutting and rendering of our bodies for a feast of vultures or wild dogs may not appeal to all, but in many ways imagining our death and preparing for it through Chod is really a path to liberation as once we conceive of our passing through matter, we can then live much more fully. Like much in life that is truly ironic, knowing that we are such expendable flesh and bones, we can attain greater wisdom without denying the spirit. What the author has laid out is an understanding of the text of Laughter of the Skygoers, which has not had much circulation among Western audiences. But, if there are those who are squeamish, it would be wise to skip through descriptions of the White and Red Feasts.

Meditative trances are not wholly alien to ordinary people, but even Buddhist practitioners are not generally aware of the blending of yogic meditation with the sounds of thighbone trumpeting, earthen bowls being struck for resonance, and drumming to create an atmosphere that encourages ghosts, demons, and lost souls. Or, perhaps, just entices our ego to see itself for the foolishness it often is guilty of. Chaoul has studied the practice and is an expert observer of the noisemaking, singing, and dancing, often done in a cemetery or charnel grounds. The concept of summoning up what is most dreaded, confronting it, and welcoming our demise is really not inconsistent with what a reader of Tibetan Buddhism would find in the various Bardos. But, this adds an element of tangibility in that “the state of non-duality of emptiness and appearance” becomes the starting point for understanding this esoteric practice. Chaoul is careful to distinguish between genuine practitioners and “performers,” the latter of which are schooled in the appearances of the rites, but really don’t have the meditative skills. The Bon and the Buddhist traditions are similar enough at this time in history to allow them both to be discussed as one for the general reader. Chaoul informs the more adept of the finer distinctions between Bon and Buddhist chod activities, but for the general reader, his review of other scholar’s works is less important than his comparisons with tantric and other better-known aspects of Buddhism. Indeed, rather than get too deeply involved in the distinctions which the author notes [Bon] “sources claim their religion to be over 18,000 years old,” he instead focuses on dharma, or the teachings about the authentic nature of people and things. This is the common thread and it enables the reader to enjoy the longest chapter by making comparisons and contrasts with well-known Buddhist/Bon tantras and practices.

This tidy text has some valuable illustrations, and a 4-page bibliography. For those who cannot resist learning more about Chod and the Bon tradition, there is a fine 28-page notes section that will provide more fodder for deeper study. Overall, though, as seen from appendix III, there is much yet to be translated and made available to those without recourse to Tibetan. This is a valuable addition to the Tibetan Buddhist library and copies should be shelved in our Religion, Buddhism, and Anthropology sections.

Thomas Peter von Bahr, Pacific NorthWest Group, Lopez Island, Wash.  


The Secret Life of Genius: How 24 Great Men and Women Were Touched by Spiritual Worlds
John Chambers
$18.95 QP, 9781594772726, Destiny Books, www.destinybooks.com

At one time the European perspective was that science and spirit were intertwined with Nature as aspects of an overarching world view of reality. Later the view changed: Reality was viewed as having a dual nature, with science and reason entirely separate from spirit, and nature became something to be exploited. Even so, during the succeeding centuries many scientists, writers, and philosophers experienced events that questioned the view of duality. The Secret Life of Genius chooses 24 men and women from the beginning of the 16th century to the end of the 20th century whose lives were influenced by experiences related to realms beyond those of science and reason. Some, including James Merrill, Carl Jung, Victor Hugo, and William Blake, were deeply involved with these experiences. Others, such as Jules Verne and Norman Mailer, were involved only tangentially. Still others, like Leo Tolstoy and Goethe, actively sought out metaphysical experiences.

Each of the book’s lively accounts starts with a key event from the person’s life, moves to significant background experiences, examines other related incidents and outcomes, and often wraps up with a return to the opening segment. Carl Jung, for example, had many experiences with departed spirits that were still connected with their former lives and sought answers about their afterlives. He writes, “the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light in the darkness of mere being.” Isaac Newton, noted for his scientific and mathematical genius, understood that Nature represented the fusion of spirit and science and that together they created an overarching worldview.

Richard D. Wright, Tranquil Things, Derby Line, Vt.

The Compassionate Life: Walking the Path of Kindness
Marc Ian Barasch
$16.95 QP, 9781576757567, Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc., www.bkconnection.com

More and more people are becoming in tune with ways they can help improve the state of the world and human conditions of others. In The Compassionate Life, Marc Ian Barasch encourages all to cultivate the virtue of compassion and walk the path of kindness. Compassion has the power to change who we are when we show a genuine interest in others and who they really are.
We are reminded that unconditional love means we can love everyone without precondition or agendas while nourishing their possibilities. We are all designed to be emotionally entangled with other humans and simple shifts in our consciousness can lead to a compassionate life through the kindness we show others.

In his book, Barasch explains how living a compassionate life, filled with kindness, generosity, and love can help save our world. He encourages readers to open their hearts to others and extend themselves to those in need. Even acting out of guilt and helping another can be better than doing nothing!

Barasch also is the author of The Healing Path and Healing Dreams.
 
Every sold copy of Barasch’s book helps to fund the planting of trees in environmentally damaged areas around the world through Green World Campaign.

Lois A. Rogalski, Miss Lois’ Curiosity Shoppe, Benton, Ky.

Bloom Where You Are Planted
Stevie Wilberding and Beau Wilberding as told to Meg Bertini
$14.95 QP, 9781601660176, Dream Time Publishing, www.dreamtimepublishing.com

Bloom Where You Are Planted takes the reader on a wild travel adventure with descriptions of life in Saudi Arabia, Paris, and Great Britain, among other places. Written in a journal-like account, the book shares the difficulties and triumphs of trying to raise a family in a foreign culture. Interspersed throughout the book are photographs and memories from Wilberding’s two children and her husband Steve.
The book begins with Stevie Wilberding’s explanation of the awkwardness of her impending death from cancer and how she treats it lightheartedly so she does not make others (especially her husband and children) uncomfortable.

She strives to give the reader confidence to create adventure in their own lives, assuring them that one can love their own country and still enjoy others by finding things to appreciate and making the best of every situation. Bloom Where You Are Planted shares and documents her varied experiences and profound insights into the many cultures where she and her family were stationed throughout their lives. The last chapter contains eulogies from her husband and children followed by an appendix listing Stevie’s international travels from 1966-2008.

Lois A. Rogalski, Miss Lois’ Curiosity Shoppe, Benton, Ky.

Raw Food for Real People: Living Vegan Food Made Simple
Rod Rotondi
$24.95 HC, 9781577316732, New World Library, www.newworldlibrary.com

While many people would love to eat an optimal diet of fresh, raw, organic, vegan food, the truth is that it seems like a lot of work and sacrifice. Enter Rod Rotondi, chef and founder of Leaf Organics, to make a raw-food lifestyle seem not only doable, but downright delicious. Many adherents to the lifestyle, such as Michael Bernard Beckwith and Dr. Gabriel Cousens, tout its health-promoting, disease-curing attributes and say it has changed the lives of many people, including those with type 1 and type 2 diabetes. While Rotondi does present the scientific angle with sections written by Cousens and other experts in the field, the largest portion of the book is designed to make the diet accessible to everyday people. Rotondi first explains his background and what attracted him to raw food, then shares a variety of recipes from soups to Nut Mylk. The perfect book for customers who have felt interested but perhaps a bit intimidated by raw food in the past, its restaurant-tested recipes and warm writing style are both comforting and inspiring.

Janine DePaulo, New Age Retailer, Bellingham, Wash. 


Indra’s Net: Alchemy and Chaos Theory as Models for Transformation
Robin Robertson, Ph.D.
$16.95 QP, 9780835608626, Quest Books, Theosophical Publishing House, www.questbooks.net

Whether the Universe (or an innumerable amount of them) has elements and forces that are similar or even parallel to the sub-molecular level of life, well, that is the subject of speculation and hypotheses that covers topics from (special) relativity to quantum mechanics to chaos and string theory. It is also the territory explored by Dr. Robertson in this readable effort in the vein of Ken Wilber’s Theory of Everything. The notion of the book is twofold: one, unexpected change can occur through feedback loops known as autopoiesis; and two, reality is totally interconnected. Clearly, Robertson is trying to find ways to make sense of the human condition and he is using his erudition to compare and contrast insights about the nature of awareness and the species’ own development through the evolution of consciousness into today’s complex world. Historians of science (as a discipline) continue to try to make sense of the advances that have occurred in fits and starts since the origins of recorded civilization. Often the psychology is more accessible than the complexity of the hard science to our modern mind. The author manages to create a credible pathway from the great Greek thinkers to modern times by utilizing the thread of the pseudo-science of alchemy. He also credits the Egyptians for the link between the drive for self-understanding and the idea of immortality of the soul. 

The book, which yields some fascinating and perceptive views, is divided into six chapters, each with a reference to alchemy. Whether from the perspective of today’s vastly more thorough view of the material world, one thinks much of the supposed chemical manipulations of alchemy, as Robertson’s frequent references to Jung underlines, we have to give considerable credit to the penultimate aim of the alchemists: achieving wisdom. Further, understanding Chaos theory adds dimensionality to the attempts of these pre-scientific wizards of their time because they did understand a principle of connectedness which sadly too many of our species do not yet seem to grasp. Modern chemistry would not be anywhere near as advanced without the experimentation, mixtures, and processes discovered and utilized over the centuries of alchemy. Actions and reactions; cause and effect; observation and empirical proofs, all these and much more are at the root of scientific method. But, moreover, the principles of “so-above, thus below” applies equally to an understanding of pollution as well as the way the mind works; nothing whatsoever can be “junked”—it all hangs around our nest, the planet. Thinking and becoming are thus tied together. As the author repeats throughout the text, everything is connected to a degree, greater or lesser, and altering any component in a system results in changes, however significant, elsewhere. The tenets of Chaos theory thus are referenced in each of the six chapters under the aegis of the butterfly effect, to wit, “the flutter of a butterfly’s wings in Brazil [can] set off a tornado in Texas.” 

Indra’s Net contains 32 illustrations which help to emphasize the over-riding message of the work: that “we are inextricably linked with the entire natural world.” Still, there is more to the enlightened perspective: “but the best way to make major changes in the world is by making changes within ourselves … then use the understanding to help others on their own path.” How very Buddhist in its use of attained insight to assist others to do the same. Robertson’s work is itself an example of what he attempts to uncover: the paradox of life that is, simply put, that like his references to the worm uroboros with its tail in its mouth, “the end is already contained within the beginning.” A child born is an adult dying. We get closer to understanding our mortality by seeking the meaning of immortality just as the alchemists sought to create pure gold (immortality) from an admixture of impure chemical elements in the realm of the (mortal) world.

Dr. Robertson’s exploratory book ends with 12 pages of useful notes, a valuable bibliography of seven pages and a short index. It has an attractive prismatic graphic on the front cover and should be stacked in Psychology, Science, and Philosophy.

Thomas Peter von Bahr, Pacific NorthWest Group, Lopez Island, Wash.  


Buddhist Fasting Practice: The Nyungne Method of Thousand-Armed Chenrezig
Wangchen Rinpoche
$18.95 QP, 9781559393171, Snow Lion Publications, www.snowlionpub.com

Nyungne could be ideal for Western and other parties who allege they just don’t have the time for fasting and meditation practices. This is because despite its firm discipline, the process is only about two and a half days in length. This text is an authentic “handbook.” That is, it consists of a table of contents that is in and of itself, a detailed guide to the fasting and meditative steps necessary to gain the most from this crisp, useful practice. The reputed source of the practice was an Afghani princess and Buddhist nun, Gelongma Palmo. Legend has it she lived in Central Afghanistan. Those readers who pay attention to world events will recall the two Buddhas in Hazarajat which were dynamited by the Taliban as “idols” in 2001. As for the practice, on the first day one is permitted a single vegetarian meal, but the mind is also preparing for the second day’s total fast by contemplating the eight precepts of Restoring and Purifying Ordination. Wangchen spends fair portions of the book addressing Buddhist history and stories, and students of Buddhism will appreciate his lucid expositions and tales of Palmo and more. These narrations give the student of Nyungne the important background and moreover, the mindset needed to engage in the practice. Throughout the 204 pages of the principal text, stories of various buddhas, gurus, ordinary people, and others who engage in Nyungne are shared. In many ways, this is the greatest value of this wonderful tome, and these many dozens of sketches do not end with the chapter on the “Importance of Lineage and Guru.” Many references to the Tibetan history book, The Blue Annals, pepper the succeeding chapters, and this further adds to one’s understanding which in turn leads to a richer meditative Nyungne experience.

For the meditator, the chapter on “Praises to The Buddha” offers some important steps that can be reflected upon in the second day of the fast. An example would be the Four Immeasurables: that all beings have happiness; all beings not have suffering; all beings never be without supreme bliss; and that all beings live in great equanimity which is free from all attachment and aversion. Further reflections and prayers are found at the end of this highly readable chapter in the three turnings of the wheel of dharma, which are concise summaries of the teachings of Buddha: the four noble truths, the doctrine of emptiness, and the tantric doctrines and sutra teachings.

In the chapter entitled “Actual Practice,” Wangchen discusses in detail what is meant by ‘right’ and ‘correct’ action in the context of kriya tantra. He covers the reasons for the food allowed in performing Nyungne, examining dairy products and garlic and giving sound reasons for the vegetarian approach. We are thus prepared for the main points of chapters 14 and 15. The benefits of fasting and vegetarianism well outlast the present lifeform, but there are adequate rewards in the present life, not the least of which is likely to be greater longevity. Wangchen makes a logical case by pointing out that “according to true dharma and the laws of karma, longevity is primarily a result of your past-life deeds.” By not eating animals, we achieve beneficial karma; with beneficial karma, we get greater longevity. What’s not to like? In chapter 15 there are further expositions on the theme of suffering caused by the raising, treatment, and killing of sentient beings (including our own species). Two principles are worthy of note here: one, giving up hurting and harming other sentient beings is the basis for spiritual growth; and two, giving is receiving and giving life is receiving life. After a 4-page Q&A section, the remainder of the book is devoted to the actual Nyungne text itself.

This book has a handsome, inviting cover and eight pages of color plates. It belongs in the Religion, Buddhism, Nutrition and Food sections of our stores.

Thomas Peter von Bahr, Pacific NorthWest Group, Lopez Island, Wash.  


Building a Home With My Husband: A Journey Through the Renovation of Love
Rachel Simon
$24.95 HC, 9780525951209, Dutton, www.penguin.com

Rachel Simon’s book about renovating her home with her architect husband is an intriguing memoir. I was particularly interested in reading this book because my partner and I are renovating our home. I certainly identified with many of their predicaments—especially their attempt to do as many things in a green manner as possible and then finding out that due to some problem, some green things are not possible.
This book is more about Simon’s psychological growth and “aha” moments than it is about the actual renovation. She has a skilled way of tying experiences in her life with the process of the renovation, weaving in stories about whether or not to have children, relationships with her siblings, and the breakup and reconnection of her relationship with her husband.

For instance, Simon describes the conflicts she has with her husband who is very visually oriented. Through the renovation process, she forces herself to become more aware of visual aspects, and therefore experiences a new area of growth.

Simon wrote the bestselling memoir Riding the Bus with My Sister. This same sister, Beth, is also lovingly portrayed in Building a Home With My Husband.

This book is about forgiveness, insights, memories and love. It will appeal to many readers including those of us who have experienced the grueling process of a renovation. I loved her flowing writing style and laughed out loud often as I read this book.

Susan LosCalzo, Lofty Notions, Rutherfordton, N.C.  


Hekate Liminal Rites: A Study of the Rituals, Magic, and Symbols of the Torch-Bearing Triple Goddess of the Crossroads
Sorita d’Este and David Rankine
$22.99 QP, 9781905297238, Avalonia, www.avaloniabooks.co.uk

Hekate, a figure in the Orphic mysteries, is “the goddess of the crossroads, of thresholds, of dreams and oracles, of the realms of life and death.” Sources that give recognition to her can be traced back to the ninth century BCE. She is mentioned as a matter of course in Homer’s Odyssey, later in dramas by Aeschylus and Euripides, and still later in Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Her worship dates from much further back and is now becoming a part of some contemporary ceremonies. The authors cite 98 literary references and use over 150 sources to bring together “a collection of material which relates specifically to devotional practices, symbols and magical techniques recorded as being associated with the goddess Hekate.” They explain that she is portrayed as the triple goddess with triple images and triple shrines, and that she is both a light bringer and, as queen of the restless dead, the ruler of ghosts.

Although the book draws its material from scholarly studies, it is written for the general reader. Its 30 brief chapters include sections on images, charms, initiations, herbs and poisons, angels, oracles, hymns, animal forms, necromancy, and fusions with other goddesses. It is a good source of background material for anyone involved with modern or ancient rites and rituals, or indeed for anyone simply interested in exploring the mysteries surrounding the worship of the triple goddess Hekate.

Richard D. Wright, Tranquil Things, Derby Line, Vt.  


Drawing Down the Spirits: The Traditions and Techniques of Spirit Possession
Kenaz Filan and Raven Kaldera
$18.95 QP, 9781594772696, Destiny Books, www.destinybooks.com

This book is a must for anyone considering experimenting with possession or who may have been possessed. As the authors state, you are not crazy if you are possessed. However sometimes mental illness and possession are closely linked. Both authors are believers in the reality and sacredness of spiritual possession. If you can’t accept that possession is real, they say, this book is not for you.

Much of the focus is on possession by deities in shamanism and voodou traditions from around the world, but lesser known types of possessions are included—those by deceased relatives, the Holy Spirit, animals, fairies and elementals. Lest anyone doubt the reality of possession, the authors cite (among other examples) an illiterate Japanese woman who, in 1892, in a state of possession, wrote 200,000 pages of text, none of which she could read! 

The book is divided into five parts: The Past (a history of spirit possession); The Present (the how and why of the authors' experiences with possession); The Spirits (types of spirits); Possession (what happens before, during and after a possession and risks involved); The Community (safety tips for those attending possession rituals and tips to help the reader recognize fakes); and The Future (the future of possession in the neo-pagan community.)

Author Kenaz Filan of New York City is managing editor of new-Witch magazine and author of The Haitian Voudou Handbook and Voudou Love Magic. She began life as a male and is now female. Raven Kaldera of Massachusetts is a Northern Tradition Pagan shaman who began life female and is now male. Among the more interesting discussions is the effect of gender on whom a spirit chooses to ride. Kenaz found that after estrogen therapy, the macho god, Ogou, was no longer interested in her.

Drawing Down the Spirits is an excellent overview on spirit possession. For the serious student, there are numerous references for future reading, but the most important message of this book is the seriousness of possession. Anyone who has been a “horse” (ridden by a spirit) either spontaneously or intentionally, or who is considering “horsing” or attending a possession ritual needs this book. As the authors warn, Gods/Goddesses are not all love and light. Our ancestors knew that and approached them with fear and respect.

Arlene Shovald, Ph.D., Fresh Start Therapies, Salida, Colo. 


The Earth Chronicles Handbook: A Comprehensive Guide to the Seven Books of The Earth Chronicles
Zecharia Sitchin
$24 HC, 9781591431015, Bear & Company, www.bearandcompanybooks.com

This is an arm-chair guide to the archaeological studies and religious/philosophical beliefs that Zecharia Sitchin uncovered and presented to us in his series of seven books comprising The Earth Chronicles: The 12th Planet, The Stairway to Heaven, The Wars of Gods and Men, The Lost Realms, When Time Began, The Cosmic Code, and The End of Days. Arranged in alphabetical order and presented as an encyclopedia, this work allows us to easily understand included terms by coding them according to origin: whether Sumerian, Akkadian, Canaan, Hebrew, or Egyptian. The Earth Chronicles Handbook explains succinctly the meaning behind each entry and sometimes mentions in which of Sitchin’s many books one can find more details. These links include references to: Genesis Revisited, Divine Encounters, The Lost Book of Enki, The Earth Chronicles Expeditions, and Journeys to the Mythical Past, all authored by Sitchin. 

 In his introduction to The Earth Chronicles Handbook, Sitchin eloquently refers to the seven books of The Earth Chronicles as possibly being the Seven Pillars of Ancient Wisdom, but I found that to be a somewhat of an overstatement. However, Sitchin is foremost a Sumerian scholar as well as being an eminent Orientalist who now lives in New York. The descriptions are easy to read and can provoke interest in many of Sitchin’s ideas and books. Fans of Sitchin will greatly appreciate this condensation of information; those unfamiliar with his work may discover ideas of interest to explore further. For instance, under the entry “Eaglemen” we find this definition: “An epithet for Anunnaki astronauts, often depicted as gods with human bodies, eagle or bird heads, and one or two pairs of wings.” Open this book anywhere and begin to dream.

David Paulsen, Ekaha Enchantments, Keaau, Hawaii

Visions of the Cailleach: Exploring the Myths, Folklore and Legends of the pre-eminent Celtic Hag Goddess
Sorita d’Este and David Rankine
$19.99 QP, 9781905297245, Avalonia, www.avaloniabooks.co.uk

Although the Cailleach is a figure of power most commonly associated with pagan Celtic lore, literary references to her go back to ancient Greece and early priestess cults. The areas of her worship and stories about her includes Spain, Scotland, the Isle of Mann, Ireland, England, Wales, Jersey, Brittany, and Scandinavia. Visions of the Cailleach orients the reader to her paradoxical qualities, including earth shaper, spirit controller of forces of nature, ancient earth goddess, and winter hag, and show also how she has been both revered and demonized by the Christian overlay given to her.

The book’s 11 chapters cover a wide variety of material: Origins, Earth Shaper, Water Witch, Crone of Winter, Oldest Spirit, Lady of the Beasts, Shapeshifter, Bestower of Sovereignty, Seer and Foreteller of Doom, Malevolent Cailleach, and a summary of Possible Cailleach Derivatives. Each chapter begins with an orientation to that particular aspect and is followed by tales, poems, and accounts from a variety of locations (mostly from the British Isles) and sources both ancient and modern that link the Cailleach with such forms as Bride, the Lady of the Beast, Black Annis, and The Old Woman of the Mountain.

The book is well-researched, with a bibliography of more than 90 sources, and contains 110 textual footnotes. Although brief, this book offers a good overview of an ancient goddess figure whose wide-ranging forms and spheres of influence are found from antiquity to modern times.

Richard D. Wright, Tranquil Things, Derby Line, Vt.

Bringing Your Soul to Light
Dr. Linda Backman
$16.95 QP, 9780738713212, Llewellyn Publications, www.llewellyn.com

Dr. Linda Backman, a licensed psychologist, saw a need for more training in grief therapy after the premature birth and death of her second child. That incident was the inspiration for Bringing Your Soul to Light.
Many of life’s seemingly insurmountable difficulties become understandable following past-life and between-life regressions which take the client into the core of the soul existence to communicate with guides and obtain answers to the “whys” of life.

The book discusses why one would want a past life/soul regression, how it is done, how one can benefit from it, and resources for the lay reader or therapist interested in training. The reader attracted to this book is likely to be a highly evolved soul. As the author states, a “junior soul” would not be interested in regression. He/she may be just getting into metaphysical studies or be on a long path of study, but likely will have had some recognition of the world beyond time and space, such as a premonition or after death communication. He/she meaning the "junior soul" or the highly evolved soul?

The book describes what one might expect to encounter and learn during regression therapy where, in the between life space, we get to choose from a virtual supermarket of body types, personality and intelligence for our next incarnation. The book prepares the reader for a soul regression and information on where to get one and how to select a therapist. Most importantly, the author goes into extensive detail on how part of us, as humans, always remains in the spiritual realm. At times, we may even be split, at the soul level, living parallel existences and not always on planet Earth.

Having done more than 8,000 between-life soul regressions, the author can attest to the fact that the soul does progress and sometimes the most advanced souls are the ones who experience the most traumas on earth.
For those who enjoy case studies, the book contains numerous first-hand accounts from Backman’s files. For the lay reader, Bringing Your Soul to Light offers a wealth of information on soul regression and why things happen as they do during the human experience. For the therapist, it provides a valuable “second opinion” that will provide either new insight or confirmation about aspects of this fascinating topic.

Arlene Shovald, Ph.D., Fresh Start Therapies, Salida, Colo.

Gateway to the Divine Tarot
Ciro Marchetti
$27.95 QP and Card Deck, 9780738715650, Llewellyn Publications, www.llewellyn.com

This book is packaged with an extraordinarily beautiful and captivating tarot deck, but it is far more than an “obligatory” instruction booklet. Written like a science fiction novel, with the velvet touch of Ursula LeGuinn, metaphysical myth and wisdom is interlaced with Ciro Marchetti’s personal tale of dreams, synchronicity, and the Legacy Project.

The author considers himself to be neither particularly spiritual nor an expert in tarot, but his self-proclaimed novice eyes see a new truth which is both illustrated and discussed in his book. After recounting the adventure that led to this new deck, he talks to us about the history and significance of tarot cards in general. By the time he gets to individual discussions of each card, he has invited four modern tarot experts to join him. There is a how-to section at the end of the book so that the package is self-sufficient; it is, however, the author’s growing relationship with tarot that makes this book a standout.

This book and deck set should wow tarot aficionados. It’s also a good starter deck for the younger, Harry Potter/Lord of the Rings generation.

Anna Jedrziewski, Spirit Connection New York, New York, N.Y.  


Wise Mind/Open Mind: Finding Purpose & Meaning in Times of Crisis, Loss & Change
Ronald A. Alexander, Ph.D.
$17.95 QP, 9781572246430, New Harbinger Publications, www.newharbinger.com

Dr. Ronald Alexander first began to ponder the connection between creativity and transformation as he came of age in Boston in the late 1960s. By the mid 1970s, he was a mind-body psychotherapist and educator, helping people and companies reinvent themselves. “When change is not your choice, you can’t avoid suffering, but you can choose to view the change as an avenue to personal evolution.”

He has pulled information from Buddhism, psychology, and creative process to form a three-step system for moving out of reactive living and into a life which is self-directed and self-sustaining. The book contains simple instructions for learning meditation as well as a discussion of its benefits and the challenges to practicing it, as well as the psychological dynamics surrounding its practice. Alexander explains the hidden payoffs many of us get for resisting change/transformation. Effects of childhood trauma, fear of failure and success, and feelings of guilt are a few of the challenges that may surface from the subconscious while meditating. The author explains how sustained Buddhist mindfulness practice can help to manage these things as they come up.

The book never strays into complex philosophy but instead gives us the basics with clear examples of how those can be applied to everyday living. There are understandable explanations of the Buddha’s Four Noble Truths and Eightfold Path, and basic psychological theories are referenced in relation to many of the instructions being given.

The book is a valuable tool to access the powers of the brain without becoming involved in the external trappings of specific schools of meditation or psychology.

Anna Jedrziewski, Spirit Connection New York, New York, N.Y.  


True Ghosts: Haunting Tales from the Vaults of FATE Magazine
Andrew Honigman, Editor
$15.95 QP, 9780738715865, Llewellyn Publications, www.llewellyn.com

FATE magazine was created in 1948 to share accounts of the supernatural which were experienced by real people. Since then, the magazine has continued to relate these eyewitness accounts of the unknown. Andrew Honigman has been its editor for the last decade.

Do you know the difference between a ghost and an environmental recording? Which types of ghosts are most commonly sighted? How do ghosts communicate with the living? How do you differentiate between a “normal” dream and a visitation dream? Can you learn to travel out-of-body? Do the ghosts of children cling to the earth plane longer than other ghosts? Are certain locations portals to other-worldly phenomena? These are questions that Honigman answers as he introduces each of the 12 sections in the book. The introductions are followed by real-life accounts of ghostly waitresses, loving relatives visiting from the grave, phantom train whistles, interventions by spirit helpers, etc. The stories are intriguing, briefly-told, and organized to flow easily.

The author’s earlier book, True Tales of Ghostly Encounters, will make a good shelf companion for this one. Expect these tales to trigger interest in the paranormal events described. They could be a good way to draw in new customers and expand their interest in the items you regularly sell.

Anna Jedrziewski, Spirit Connection New York, New York, N.Y.  


Dancing Otters and Clever Coyotes: Using Animal Energies the Native American Way
Gary Buffalo Horn Man and Sherry Firedancer
$14.95 QP, 9781602396371, Skyhorse Publishing, www.skyhorsepublishing.com

The basic philosophy behind Dancing Otters and Clever Coyotes is that “every individual person, as well as every stone, plant, and animal, has a place in the Sacred Circle of Creation.” The authors explain that their intention here is to offer “ways to think about your encounter with animals—physically and spiritually—that you may not have considered before.” The book looks at 58 wild animals of North America, first giving a brief overview of the animal’s behavior and habitat and then following with suggestions about how that animal’s medicine gift can help us and also how that animal can warn us of danger. For example, an appearance of the coyote, thought of as just a trickster, may tell us to pay attention to lessons we have been avoiding but need to look at and learn from, and may also warn us that the attention needs to be really close. A wide variety of living creatures are included, so that in addition to those more familiar—bee, crow, deer, beaver, rabbit, and wolf, the book includes others less familiar—butterfly, jellyfish, rat, shark, skunk and weasel.

The authors also include their personal accounts of contact with animals, two original stories of human and animal interplay told in the Native American style, and the details of how to conduct a smudging ceremony. The book, which is well-designed and beautifully illustrated, should appeal to a wide range of readers interested in human-animal relationships and Native American spirituality.

Richard D. Wright, Tranquil Things, Derby Line, Vt. 


Tantric Techniques
Jeffrey Hopkins, edited by Kevin Vose
$32.95 QP, 9781559393201, Snow Lion Publications, www.snowlionpub.com

It is impossible not to fall in love with a book that has as many references to Carl Jung as to the Dalai Lama. What a treat to open up a work that brings together the profound thinking of a great psychologist with that of the embodiment of Tibetan Buddhism. As though the aforementioned was not enough, Hopkins stitches through his text, the effects of Thomas Kuhn’s 1962 classic work on paradigm shifts The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Like a cherry on a sundae, we have the studied insight of Hopkins himself to illuminate our way.

The author makes it clear that the two systems of yoga are the Sutra and Mantra (the latter also known as Tantra) and that the Tantra is understood to be the deity yoga, a meditation practice that uses one’s imagination as though they were a deity to idealize the features of compassion, wisdom, and altruism. While the focus of the author’s topic is Tantra (Mantra), both types of meditation are examined in order to demonstrate Hopkin’s thesis that a disciplined person must move from Sutra to Tantra to achieve effective empowerment of the mind. By citing Jung’s admonition about imagining oneself a deity (to achieve profundity), and exploring the consequences of thinking like a god, Hopkins enables the analytically inclined Westerner to enter a portal to the world of Tantra. Likewise, the process of passing from one system of yoga to the other mirrors the paradigm shift which Kuhn speaks of.
This fine work is divided into three parts, with the chapters of part 1 providing a dialectic and discussion about the subtleties of meditation that involve a delicate balance between imagining oneself a deity to achieve perfection, and the issues, which Hopkins calls “inflation”, that revolve around such potential self-aggrandizement. These are fascinating give-and-take passages and interpretations by the author and the reader can see the nuances of a fine mind at work. In the end, Hopkins feels the action Tantra path does not succumb to “inflation” because of the built-in safeguards and moral tone of the capable meditator. This sets the stage for an examination of the function of “calm abiding” whether upon a single object (Sutra method) or multiple objects (Action Tantra), which in turn takes us through concentration with and without repetition as well as his prescription for practicing. The seminal steps are: equality, recognizing friends, appreciating kindness, returning kindness, love, compassion, total commitment, and altruistic enlightenment. The end-game of these steps is a return and stabilization of “calm abiding,” or mental balance coupled with the bliss of mental and physical pliancy.

The remainder of the book focuses on an examination of the differences as espoused by three masters of Tibetan Buddhism: Bu-ton Rin-chen-drup, Long-chen-rap-jam, and Tsong-kha-pa. Hopkins’ preference for Tantra is backed up by the first as he describes it as “swifter, having easier and more methods, and having greater skill in means.” By taking the reader through the journey of discussion and point-counter-point of each of these great masters, by the end of Tsong-Kha-pa’s “Reasoned Analysis,” we have the author’s commentaries as guide to understanding the world view of Tantra and the power and efficacy of its techniques. The reader that still has unanswered questions will appreciate the chapter “Controversy Over Deity Yoga In Action Tantra.” Herein we see the paradigm shift, the earlier analogous references to Jung’s cautions and Kuhn’s explanation of how revolutionary thought can create a new approach, in this instance being that of Tantra as a superlative practice. The final 36 pages further examine the four Tantras and contain some interesting commentary. An appendix of 25 pages contains a work of the First Panchen Lama that students will find fascinating. Hopkins’ text contains a highly valuable 23-page bibliography and a 12-page index. This book, with its deeply colorful cover belongs in our Philosophy, Psychology, Religion, Buddhism, and Spirituality sections, prominently displayed.

Thomas Peter von Bahr, Pacific NorthWest Group, Lopez Island, Wash.   


The Practice of Mahamudra: The Teachings of His Holiness, The Drikung Kyabgon, Chetsang Rinpoche
Robert Clark (Translator), Edited by: Ani K. Trinlay Chodron
$15.95 QP, 9781559393232, Snow Lion Publications, www.snowlionpub.com

This is a revised, re-published edition of The Practice of Mahamudra first printed in 1999. It has a beautiful piece of cover art and should attract attention given the number of Mahamudra practitioners around the planet. Each chapter carefully details in handbook-style the discipline: “Mahamudra is described as freedom from elaboration, non-duality, without subject or object” within the tantra system. The Mahamudra practice is appealing in its direct simplicity. It involves perfect mental quiescence wherein the mind is focused powerfully on a single point; while the second aspect is the state of perfect insight where the mind sees the very aspect of ultimate reality. The practice in its fivefold elements attracts meditators as it is methodical and progressive. As we move through the outline of Mahamudra, through the preliminaries, and the two Tantric phases of deity generation and perfection or accomplishment, we manage to achieve a measure of realization. When this text was written, it was assumed that a guru or lama would provide guidance to those deemed qualified to proceed. Times have changed, of course, and not only has Tibetan society been fractured, but genuine teachers may be difficult to come by. So, as a handbook, it is understood that ability, sharpness of faculties, and dedication may vary from reader to reader, from a “lower level” to a “middle level” to a “high level” to a “supremely high level.” In times past, this was three-year process. With or without a guide it is fortunate that this little tome has been re-published since a three-year hiatus is not possible for many in our current civilization.

Chapters surround key points of Mahamudra and then are followed by three sections of questions and answers. Basics of meditating are covered by topics early on, such as posture and breathing and their effects on the stabilization of the mind. An important Q&A can be found on page 69. Understanding the nature of things implies that there is an absence of inherent existence in all phenomena. Many people without deep meditative experience come to this realization as a sort of paradox of consciousness, but Chetsang Rinpoche reminds us that that is the point where an advanced motivated person will work at developing true compassion. When the two states of awareness are conjoined, wisdom and the path of Buddhahood can be achieved. This leads us to perhaps the most useful chapter for readers, “The Attainment of Non-Attainment.” This concise section explores the paradox of so much of ordinary reality’s grip on a person’s mind. The author uses the sky as a vivid illustration of how illusory attachments can be and how stubbornly they hang around our mind and give the impression such phenomena are real. He goes on, “taking the example of the sky, we can see that even though things like clouds appear in the sky, when they disappear, they leave no trace.” The nature of mind is like the sky: things arise like the planets, but, before one knows, they are gone again. He concludes, “when one realizes the clear light of reality, whatever may have occupied the mind before completely disappears.” In clean and crisp terms, through each chapter, we are given guideposts by which to determine whether we have traversed the Mahamudra path: 1) reality is not daily lives filled with illusions, it is the emptiness of ultimate reality; 2) attaining Buddhahood does mean leaving the life we are given to live; we still have to go on and live with beneficence; 3) we have to be sure we understand that while we may transcend mind, we cannot live without its attributes; and 4) emptiness and appearances have to be allowed to co-exist; we simply cannot forget that while we may earn enlightenment we are still in and of this world.

The conclusion of Chetsang is painstakingly precise: “If you are able to generate a clear awareness of impermanence and death, then you will have learned to be a meditator.” But, there is an admonition: whet your appetite on Buddhahood and you will forever satisfy your wish and fulfill the path through the practice of helping living beings. How can one go wrong with a softly offered piece of advice and reward of a lifelong desire for nirvana? This special book belongs on our Spirituality, Buddhism, and Religion shelves.

Thomas Peter von Bahr, Pacific NorthWest Group, Lopez Island, Wash.

Tibetan Logic
Katherine Manchester Rogers
$39.95 QP, 9781559393157, Snow Lion Publications, www.snowlionpub.com

Based on the Ge-luk-pa school of Tibetan Buddhism, this extensive examination of the role of logic in the social and religious life of those who follow the “Path of Reasoning” is a groundbreaking work. It is a superb exploration of the process of sound thinking that requires students of logic to utilize an 11-page “Detailed Outline.” This is really a de facto table of contents, and it is necessary to consult it because of the complexity of the subject matter and the cross-references that aid in understanding Pur-bu-jok’s handbook of “Signs and Reasonings”. Unlike Western texts or handbooks on symbolic logic, there is much about Tibetan logic that is not explicit, so the reader needs to familiarize oneself with a considerable “conceptual framework” before unraveling an adequate comprehension of the topics covered by the author.
The intent of logic texts, be they Eastern or Western, is to build a mind that can truly perceive the genuine in Nature; to see phenomena as they are. Of course, Buddhists consider such a state of seeing as enlightenment. So the importance of logic to the overall aims of Buddhism cannot be understated.

Katherine Rogers is so thorough an elaborator no doubt because, as she notes in the lengthy 32-page introduction, not only has she studied “valid cognition” for decades, but she has spent months in active debate on topics of logic. A subject must be grasped and in order to achieve that, we must understand its “definition; be able to give an illustration; and place it within its own mode of proof.” Comprehending the vocabulary of Tibetan Logic takes time and study. A casual reader of this text will not have an easy time of it, but it will be of considerable help to pay attention to the fact that the book is divided into two parts and that chapter 4 of part one and chapters three and seven of part two will be critical to refer to over and over. These chapters contain the essentials of reasoning and logical debate. Similar to Western symbolic logic, Buddhist logic revolves around definitions of those items that are familiar in the tangible world around us. A “golden” thing that is “bulbous, flat based, and able to perform the function of holding water” not only describes a pot, but also provides the basis for much more complex logical thought. The reader should not be lulled into assuming that such descriptions are word games and keep in mind that training the mind to think clearly is part of the path of enlightenment: skyscrapers are not built on sand. Indeed, Rogers makes it clear that one builds on such fundamentals, which leads us to, for example, the “category of non-observance”; that is, “phenomena about which one can know very little. These are objects inaccessible in space, time, and entity-which include the deepest spiritual qualities of others.” 

Why is this book an essential read for those untrained or only nominally interested in the intricacies of esoteric logical argument and discovery? Here is a passage to ponder: “a factually concordant subsequent cognition that ascertains it are, individually, objects designated as the predicate of the negandum in the proof of that.” The value of the first part of Rogers’ book is in the explanation of how humans can discern differences between appearance and reality. While we may acknowledge that much, if not all, is illusion of one sort or another, common sense tells the being within an infant body that some aspects of their field of perception are more real than others. Temperature, sound, distance, the effects of love or attention and many other signs are intangible but perceivable. Such perceptions build the world around a child, often with assumptions being made which are subtly erroneous and which require adjustment and correction as we mature. Through abundant examples and annotated translations, the author provides, like a ride in a high-rise elevator, any number of floors along the way where we may stop and examine our surroundings—and assumptions and come to a better understanding of what makes sense and what we have assumed that is ephemeral. There is an appended three-page bibliography; eleven pages of end notes; and a useful concise eight-page index. This book is a must-have addition to our Philosophy, Religion, and Buddhism sections within our stores.

Thomas Peter von Bahr, Pacific NorthWest Group, Lopez Island, Wash. 


Priestesses, Pythonesses & Sibyls: The Sacred Voices of Women Who Speak With and for the Gods
Sorita d’Este, Editor
$24.99 QP, 9781905297214, Avalonia, www.avaloniabooks.co.uk

This book contains brief contributions from 18 modern pagan priestesses. It draws together their strands of experience and research while also covering a wide range of ancient and modern spiritual traditions from around the world. The editor makes clear that the one aspect they have in common in their roles is their use of trance states, achieved through a wide variety of methods. Three preliminary essays serve as orientation, covering a general background regarding priestesses who speak with and for the gods, the role of the priestess of Delphic Apollo, and women of power in the early Christian church.

Each contributor explains her unique manner of invoking the presence of specific deities. According to one of the writers, once they are present, “Each one has Her own feel, look, way of holding Herself, way of expressing Herself, but still, there is something similar about the process, as an Otherworldly comes into me,” to which she adds, “Entering into that state is not difficult. The ritual leads up to this point, paving the way to the right mindset.” Commenting on the use of ritual, another writer observes, “It really does not matter if deities have an objective external existence or not, as long as the practice itself is psychologically and spiritually beneficial.” The essays make clear that the ritual, no matter what it is, allows three things to fall into place: the metaphysical perspective, the appropriate ego preparation, and the readiness to work with both light and dark aspects of self. The priestess is then able to become a vessel for the incarnation of whatever presence is being invoked.

Priestessess, Pythonesses, & Sibyls is useful as a guide for those wishing to know more about the range of practices currently used by modern priestesses and the traditions from which they have developed. As noted by one of the contributors, “The myriad forms of life, the Divine essence of which is personified as Gods and Goddesses, teach us something of the nature of Divinity which we may find within ourselves and in all things.”

Richard D. Wright, Tranquil Things, Derby Line, Vt. 


Shining Moments: Finding Hope in Facing Death
Georgia Lang Weithe
$15.95 QP, 9780979034312, Reflections Press, www.shiningmoments.net

This is a wonderful, very personal story of one woman’s journey from her fear and confusion concerning death to being able to face it squarely, without backing down and without losing herself in the process. It is a travelogue of her voyage, in bare detail, of the ups and downs, successes and setbacks of having to be present for a dying parent while coping with one’s own fears, judgments and insecurities.

Georgia Weithe is able to accomplish her task through her courage to openly look at what is really true. I know from my own experience as a hospice pastoral volunteer that oftentimes when faced with death, we get lost in what we want or hope to be true, rather than just being with what is true. Through journaling and writing down what inner wisdom came forward to her, she was able to land in a space of compassion, insight, and deep peace.

One thing I enjoyed about Georgia’s book is that she mentions a couple of specific events that had an impact on her relationship with death that many of her readers no doubt also directly experienced. I remember vividly the drama unfolding of the little girl that fell down, and became trapped in, an abandoned well that captured a nation’s attention. I also saw the exact same issue of People magazine, published many years ago, outlining the lives of conjoined twin girls and all the challenges that they, and their parents endured. I did not, however have a direct encounter with them as Weithe did. But I do remember my reactions to these and as I read her words felt a kinship with her. Weithe’s candid, authentic vulnerability in laying out for all to read her process in dealing with what these girls brought up in her and how she was able to reach a level of inner awakening around life and death is inspiring. This is a powerful book that will help you befriend death and even look at life differently.

David A. Cronin, Changing Times Books & Gifts, West Palm Beach, Fla.

The Tao of Now: Daily Wisdom from Mystics, Sages, Poets, and Saints
Josh Baran
$16.95 QP, 9781571745842, Hampton Roads, www.hrpub.com

In the introductory section, Josh Baran, a former Zen priest, explains that for him forced meditation seemed to be a useless practice, and so he took to heart the idea that it is best to “simply let be in naturalness without technique, without artifice.” He now identifies his spirituality as “focusing on relaxed effort in the present moment, without trying to achieve anything or make something happen,” and his book The Tao of Now contains 372 pages of brief quotes from over 260 sources, all designed to help guide the reader toward understanding the present moment, with freedom from both the past and the future.

Many of the selections are from mystics such as Rumi, Thomas Merton, Krishnamurti, Kabir, the Buddha, and Meher Baba, while others are from more worldly sources such as Alice Walker, Jack Kerouac, Samuel Beckett, Leonard Cohen, Woody Guthrie, and Eugene Ionesco. All focus on the significance of being present to reality as it is and discovering the power of enlightenment contained in the most mundane everyday experiences. Ken Wilber, for example, invites the reader to find “that which exists only in the timeless now,” and Einstein says of truth that “Its hour is now—always.” Pema Chodron urges the reader to rest completely in the in-between state, the groundless state, and poet William Stafford asks, “What can anyone give you greater than now, starting here, right in this room, when you turn around?” John Berger speaks of Van Gogh’s “capacity to love, suddenly at any moment, what he saw in front of him.”

The book’s selections are quite varied, but within their common theme they offer the reader the invitation and encouragement to be alive and present to everyday matters in the here and now.

Richard D. Wright, Tranquil Things, Derby Line, Vt.

The Courage to Feel: Buddhist Practices for Opening to Others
Rob Preece
$14.95 QP, 9781559393331, Snow Lion, www.snowlionpub.com

The waggish aphorism that “life’s a bear, and then you die” is an obvious overstatement of how a Buddhist would acknowledge the states of suffering on this plane. Rob Preece is more concerned with making this “hell’s kitchen” of samsara a territory through which an awakened mind can navigate. Where Western stoics hunker down in the face of impediments, a bodhisattva’s response would be to take it all in, to encourage an expansion of awareness and focus on a vision of wholeness. The enrichment of consciousness results in a vision of great power and inspiration rather than closing down or becoming discouraged, or even clinically depressed. The stoic might gain “an intellectual understanding of the qualities of the vision,” but that would not necessarily carry with it inspiration. Preece’s contention is that “our visions of wholeness connect us to what is healthy and positive in our nature,” but he distinguishes between the state of being of a bodhisattva and having attained the Buddha state which provides a totality of vision on the nature of reality. For readers versed in the psychology of Jung, “The Courage to Feel” is a very valuable addition to understanding. Feeling alienated “from the root meaning in our [lives]” is akin to losing touch with the “archetype of wholeness.” When we are consistently aligned with all aspects of our self, we know who/what we are and we function at what is most true to our authentic nature. Preece posits a state of being where we are able to experience the courage to fully feel, we are as life warriors, awakened to heart and mind, and engaging life wholeheartedly. At this stage, we are as a bodhisattva, if not more advanced that that.

Much of Preece’s writing requires an understanding of what he says about a healthy self-image. “Image” is not meant to reflect any superficiality. He makes it clear that the desired state of happiness (not suffering) we all seek comes not from self-cherishing, but from cherishing and being of service to others. Along with coming to terms with one’s self-worth is the need for equanimity of thought about others, that is, practicing compassion and loving-kindness and suspending judgments and prejudices. In many aspects, the author offers the reader a course in open-mindedness. He gives examples of how a feared stranger can become human by exerting ourselves to consider positive projections rather than seeing them as “a potential threat to our safe, familiar world.” Preece references Jung’s use of anima and animus to make clear that such an investment of our “inner life onto an outer person [is] inevitably tied to projections.” That is not necessarily to be condemned, however.

In the chapter “Finding the Capacity to Care” it becomes clear that if one wants to be able to embrace others with compassion, one way to do so is to look at others with the kindness so many of us found in our mothers. While there is a psychopathology of infant-mother relationships that can manifest and persist for many stages of human development and growth, there is also clearly a huge life lesson. The Buddhist view of this would be to “recognize all beings as having been our mother,” and that is a great idea whether or not we fully embrace the tenet of reincarnation. The beauty of this book is that it requires the reader to cease looking through its pages for the answer, and rather engage the dilemma of self-interest and concern for others by living with it, not avoiding it, and striking a balance. This approach might be termed ‘mothers as bodhisattvas.’ Reinforcement for this understanding of self and others and maintaining a balance between taking and giving can be found in the chapter “The Practice of Tonglen.” Compassion is often at the root of the paradoxes we experience in life, and Preece acknowledges that “in love there can also be pain.” The point of this observation is that hard knocks accompany even the expression of a force as powerful as love, and just as Jung suggested, the shadow of the antithesis of such a power is never far away. By practicing Tonglen meditations, Preece offers, we can develop over time an understanding deep enough to perhaps resolve this apparent enigma.

The Courage to Feel ends with a gift from Preece. A short two-and-a-half-page reflection on the wholeness and interconnectedness of the world is a statement of the value of the book [Our Place in the World] in that it illustrates how we can be more compassionate and less anxious; more happy and less stressed. There are three pages of notes and three pages of bibliography and this testament to a harmonious awakening belongs in our Religion, Buddhism, and Psychology shelves.

Thomas Peter von Bahr, Pacific NorthWest Group, Lopez Island, Wash.

Introduction to Emptiness: As Taught in Tsong-Kha-Pa’s “Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path”
Guy Newland
$14.95, 9781559393324, Snow Lion Publications, www.snowlionpub.com

While this book alludes to the Tibetan concept of emptiness, the title could just as well be “Wisdom as a Balancing Act.” Inasmuch as Tsong-kha-pa is thought to have written his Great Treatise in 1402, it should be no surprise that there is a moralistic tone to some parts of it. Confusion, offers Guy Newland, is the opposite of wisdom and arises from “bad company, laziness, incuriosity, and thinking you already know things.” Instead of such qualities taking the fore, he suggests “all virtue everywhere can be traced back to the mental practice of reflecting on facts with an undistracted mind.” Meditation clarifies, stabilizes, and concentrates the mind which leads to serenity, which then eliminates a plethora of mental afflictions. Newland makes clear that emptiness is not a certain spacey-ness, but rather it is reality as it is. For most people, that vision is beyond ordinary perception, and indeed it is, according to Tsong-kha-pa, unattainable without both stabilizing and analytical meditation practices. Once a person identifies their misconceptions, they can (perhaps with a teacher) practice deeper concentration wherein they are utterly absorbed in the object of their focus. These meditative practices enable a person to come to hold “a philosophical view of emptiness that is not dogmatic.” This is especially important because holding a view that was so opinionated would likely obstruct a meditator’s ability to achieve enlightenment and further complicate the Madhyamaka middle way which “avoids the extremes of existence and non-existence.” In reading and writing about emptiness, a person might not grasp that the emptiness of Tsong-kha-pa is a metaphor, figure of speech, or even a point in time or space. Newland explains that emptiness simply exists; it just is. It does not depend on anything else for its relationship to ultimate truth. In reading through the several chapters he devotes to imparting a sense of this concept and that of intrinsic nature, this reviewer was reminded of Plato’s "realm of ideas" and how advanced was the thinking and philosophical examination of Tsong-kha-pa. The nature of reality is thoroughly examined in both linguistic and dialectical fashion and no Western modern-day Historian of Philosophy could find fault in the exposition and Newland’s presentation.

As a companion book to Western logic, one could not ask for a better demonstration of Buddhist logic than Tsong-kha-pa’s Madhyamaka system. Consider this: “we usually suppose that the world is already and always fully real, independent of our minds … [when] in fact our minds are actually collaborating in the creation of the world, moment by moment.” Also, “there is a fully functioning external world, a world that exists outside of our minds … utterly dependent upon [our] consciousness.” But, Newland does not let the topic rest without further elucidation. In the chapter “Who Am I, Really,” he requires his reader to think even more profoundly when thinking of ‘self,’ “how things really are—flowing, ungraspable, intermingling—and how we usually think and talk about them.” As found in Tsong-kha-pa’s Great Treatise, Newland reminds us the venerable author uses a stock character to represent or mouth a perspective; how Socratic! Of course, this character, “Ha-shang” by name, holds any number of false notions not the least of which is that the way to liberation is a “spacing-out” and not properly, a “rigorous meditative analysis that breaks through false appearances.” But, “too much analysis weakens one’s serenity” and like a flicker of flame in a breeze, the concentration can be broken and become unfocused. The aim, to quote from one of Newland’s bullet points in the appendix, “when analysis itself spontaneously induces serenity, this wisdom in which the powers of discernment and serenity are fused is called insight. Insight is a fully empowered and activated analytical mind, penetrating its object with steady and laser-like focus.” The 13 pages of chapter bullet points provide an innovative outline.

There is a 13-page glossary in this revised edition, followed by a brief two-page section of suggested reading. This fine work with its Zen-like cover belongs stocked in Buddhism, Philosophy, and Religion sections.

Thomas Peter von Bahr, Pacific NorthWest Group, Lopez Island, Wash.