Labyrinths from the Outside in (2nd Edition)


Book Description

The user-friendly, interfaith guide to making and using labyrinths--for meditation, prayer and celebration--updated, revised and expanded A labyrinth is a circuitous path that people have used as a form of prayer and meditation for thousands of years--a path that is being rediscovered as a spiritual tool in our own day. There are now thousands of labyrinths in North America, made of stone, cement, sunflowers, grass or canvas; indoors and outdoors; in Christian, Pagan and even nonreligious settings; and adaptable for use by people of all spiritual backgrounds. This guide explains how the labyrinth is a symbol that transcends traditions, and how walking its path brings us together. Here is your entry to the fascinating history and philosophy of the labyrinth walk, with directions for making a labyrinth of your own or finding one in your area, and guidance on ways to use labyrinths creatively for: Prayer - Stress reduction - Meditation - Commemorating personal or family milestones - Faith rituals - Celebrations of all kinds Labyrinths--a twenty-first century method of approaching the sacred--are a spiritual practice more ancient than Stonehenge or the ruins of Troy. This practical and inspiring guide will help you to explore them.




Pilgrimage—The Sacred Art


Book Description

Explore the many dimensions of the pilgrimage experience and change your orientation to the world. "Pilgrimage is an opportunity for pilgrims to cultivate their inner life (or inner voice) in a way that leads to a greater sense of peace and compassion—a sense that pervades all of life." —From Chapter 6, “Preparing to Practice” Pilgrimage is a spiritual practice of nearly every major religion of the world. If you are a Christian you may travel to sites associated with the life of Jesus; Jews might visit the Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem and other sacred places in the Holy Land of Israel; Muslims participate in the Hajj, the journey to Mecca; Buddhists visit the sacred sites related to the life of Buddha. Even if you practice no religion at all you will still find that you most likely participate in this practice—the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, DC, and Lenin's tomb in Moscow are considered national pilgrimage sites. As a spiritual practice, pilgrimage transcends religious, national, cultural and linguistic boundaries. This fascinating look at the sacred art of pilgrimage integrates spirituality, practice, spiritual formation, psychology, world religions and historical resources. It examines how the world’s religious pilgrimages evolved as central spiritual practices and the relationship between pilgrimage and transformation. It explains what makes a place holy, and why and how some sites are so compelling that they attract thousands, even millions of pilgrims each year.




Silence, Simplicity & Solitude


Book Description

From the best-selling author of God Is a Verb, the classic spiritual retreat guide that enables anyone to create their own self-guided spiritual retreat at home. The ancient mystics looked to spiritual retreat as a way of cleansing the body and healing the soul. In Silence, Simplicity & Solitude, David A. Cooper traces the path of the mystics and the practice of spiritual retreat in all the major faith traditions, sharing the common techniques and practices of the retreat experience for beginner and advanced meditators alike. Cooper shows the way to the self-discovery and discipline of the spiritual retreat experience and clearly instructs how to create an effective, self-guided spiritual retreat in your own home. Silence, Simplicity & Solitude teaches that not only is silence a great healer, but that inner spiritual retreat can provide life-changing insight into deeper spiritual truths




Journeys and Destinations


Book Description

Journeys and Destinations: Studies in Travel, Identity, and Meaning brings together scholarship from diverse fields all focused on either practices of journeying, or destinations to which such journeys lead. Common across the contributions herein are threads that indicate travel as a core component — as a concept or a practice — of the fabric of identity and meaning.




Walking a Sacred Path


Book Description

The author explores the history and significance of the image of the labyrinth and explains how readers can use the ancient imprint in the art of meditation, leading them to new sources of wisdom, change, and renewal. Reprint.










Dams and Appurtenant Hydraulic Structures, 2nd edition


Book Description

Dams and Appurtenant Hydraulic Structures, now in its second edition, provides a comprehensive and complete overview of all kinds of dams and appurtenant hydraulic structures throughout the world. The reader is guided through different aspects of dams and appurtenant hydraulic structures in 35 chapters, which are subdivided in five themes: I. Dams and appurtenant hydraulic structures – General; II. Embankment dams; III. Concrete dams; IV. Hydromechanical equipment and appurtenant hydraulic structures; V. Hydraulic schemes. Subjects treated are general questions, design, construction, surveillance, maintenance and reconstruction of various embankment and concrete dams, hydromechanical equipment, spillway structures, bottom outlets, special hydraulic structures, composition of structures in river hydraulic schemes, reservoirs, environmental effects of river hydraulic schemes and reservoirs and environmental protection. Special attention is paid to advanced methods of static and dynamic analysis of embankment dams. The wealth of experience gained by the author over the course of 35 years of research and practice is incorporated in this richly-illustrated, fully revised, updated and expanded edition. For the original Macedonian edition of Dams and Appurtenant Hydraulic Structures, Ljubomir Tanchev was awarded the Goce Delchev Prize, the highest state prize for achievements in science in the Republic of Macedonia. This work is intended for senior students, researchers and professionals in civil, hydraulic and environmental engineering and dam construction and exploitation.




Prescription for Herbal Healing, 2nd Edition


Book Description

The definitive source for choosing the optimal herbal therapy- thoroughly revised and updated. Millions of Americans are turning to herbal therapies to heal what ails them-either as an alternative or as a supplement to traditional medicine. From the most trusted name in natural healing, Phyllis A. Balch's new edition of Prescription for Herbal Healing provides the most current research and comprehensive facts in an easy-to-read A- to-Z format, including: Information on more than 200 herbs and herbal combination formulas, ranging from well-known herbs, such as ginseng and St. John's Wort, to less familiar remedies, such as khella and prickly ash Chinese and ayurvedic herbal combinations Discussion of more than 150 common disorders from acne to yeast infection, and suggested herbal treatment therapies




Spider Web, Labyrinth, Tightrope Walk


Book Description

Spider Web, Labyrinth, Tightrope Walk explores the shifting functions of the network as a metaphor, model, and as an epistemological framework in US American literature and culture from the 19th century until today. The book critically inquires into the literary, cultural, philosophical, and scientific rhetoric, values, and ideological underpinnings that have given rise to the network concept. Literature and culture play a major role in the ways in which networks have been imagined and how they have evolved as conceptual models. This study regards networks as historically emergent and culturally constructed formations closely tied with the development of knowledge technologies in the process of modernization as well as with an increasingly critical awareness of network technologies and infrastructures. While the rise of the network in scientific, philosophical, political and sociological discourses has received wide attention, this book contributes an important cultural and historical perspective to network theory by demonstrating how US American literature and culture have been key sites for thinking in and about networks in the past two centuries.