Spirit Animals and the Wheel of Life


Book Description

Though our ancient ancestors had a deep spiritual connection to the natural world, most modern humans have lost that connection, resulting in ever-increasing ecological assaults on our planet. As environmental quality continues to worsen, we must find a way to spiritually reconnect with Mother Earth--before it is too late. "Ecospiritualism" is a form of spirituality that embraces, and takes responsibility for, the natural world we live in. One of the most practical, enjoyable, and simple ways of reclaiming our ecospiritual connection with Mother Earth is journeying with the spirits of animals just as our ancestors did thousands of years ago. Animals, most intimately connect with Mother Earth, are the perfect guides to the ancient wisdom we have lost. Mole, eagle, badger, wolf, bear, mountain lion--each animal has its place on the sacred medicine wheel; each has knowledge vital to the future of our Earth and to rediscovering our rightful place in it. In Spirit Animals, author Hal Zina Bennett offers an accessible form of "spiritual orienteering" in which personal power animals are the guides and teachers, and shamanism is the means by which we work with and learn from them.




Shamanic Journeying


Book Description

Shamanic journeying is the inner art of traveling to the invisible worlds beyond ordinary reality to retrieve information for change in every area of our lives from spirituality and health to work and relationships. With Shamanic Journeying, readers join world-renowned teacher Sandra Ingerman to learn the core teachings of this ancient practice and apply these skills in their own journey. Includes drumming for three shamanic journeys.




An Abecedarian of Animal Spirit Guides


Book Description

Almost every person has owned a pet at one time or another in life or known someone who has. In all world religions, animals serve as spirit guides; there is spirituality to animal and human dialogue. Animals have the ability to help us reach wholeness if we learn their wisdom and integrate it into our lives. This abecedarian--a book whose contents are in alphabetical order--explores the spiritual growth that is possible by reflecting on the wisdom of creatures, which serve as spirit guides in all world religions and help humans experience the divine. The author explores animal spirit guides in the Bible, The Quran, The Dhammapada, The Rig Veda, The Analects of Confucius, stories from Aesop and Grimm, and much more. In these pages you can explore bears and bees, eagles and elephants, ravens and roosters, tadpoles and turtles, and many more. For each of the thirty-two entries, the author presents a text identifying the animal spirit guide, a reflective study, a question for journaling or personal meditation, and a concluding prayer. The spiritual life can be nourished in many ways; in this book it is enhanced by animal spirit guides.





Book Description




Lessons from a Sheep Dog


Book Description

CLASSIC More than 200K in print In a modern-day parable about a man and his transforming love for his dog, Lass, best-selling author Phillip Keller paints a vivid picture of God's love for the unlovable. What you see is not always what you get - and this true story of a man and his dog is no exception. Woven just under the surface of this simple parable, Keller presents profound spiritual truth. It is the story of Lass, a worthless animal thought to be untrainable, who becomes a magnificent and valuable sheepdog - not terribly unlike how God's love can transform our worst characteristics into blessings that serve to further His Kingdom. Allow yourself to see Biblical truth in this classic tale of what can happen when you yield to the Master.




Shamans of the Foye Tree


Book Description

Drawing on anthropologist Ana Mariella Bacigalupo's fifteen years of field research, Shamans of the Foye Tree: Gender, Power, and Healing among Chilean Mapuche is the first study to follow shamans' gender identities and performance in a variety of ritual, social, sexual, and political contexts. To Mapuche shamans, or machi, the foye tree is of special importance, not only for its medicinal qualities but also because of its hermaphroditic flowers, which reflect the gender-shifting components of machi healing practices. Framed by the cultural constructions of gender and identity, Bacigalupo's fascinating findings span the ways in which the Chilean state stigmatizes the machi as witches and sexual deviants; how shamans use paradoxical discourses about gender to legitimatize themselves as healers and, at the same time, as modern men and women; the tree's political use as a symbol of resistance to national ideologies; and other components of these rich traditions. The first comprehensive study on Mapuche shamans' gendered practices, Shamans of the Foye Tree offers new perspectives on this crucial intersection of spiritual, social, and political power.




Pocket Guide to Spirit Animals


Book Description

Following the publication of the popular and best-selling Animal Spirit Guides, several people commented that they would like to see a smaller pocket-sized version—one they could carry in their purse, handbag, or car. Those requests have now resulted in this condensed edition, where you’ll find all the spirit animals from the original edition plus some new ones in a format that makes it even more user-friendly. Just as our ancestors and indigenous peoples knew, when an animal comes to you in an unusual way or repeatedly, whether in physical or symbolic form, they are serving as spirit guides attempting to get a message to you. This convenient pocket guide will help you understand and discern these messages whenever this occurs by offering several possible interpretations for the animal you encounter. This is a book that you will enjoy and find useful for many years to come.




Women and Indigenous Religions


Book Description

This book examines the critical and often undervalued contributions of women to the culture, well-being, and subsistence of their communities as active, powerful, and wise ritual specialists. From the Dalit midwives in India to the women of the Nahua region in the state of Morelos, Mexico, from the indigenous nations in Turtle Island in Canada to the shamans (male and female) of South Korea and Vietnam, there are still many vital indigenous cultures around the world in which women often hold positions of religious authority and leadership. Women and Indigenous Religions addresses specific issues in the study of religion, such as the multifaceted tensions between indigenous traditions and gender and the genealogy of positions of authority in religion or spiritual matters. A close examination reveals that native religions, with their women specialists, are still a source of inspiration for millions of men and women even in the "advanced" areas in the world. This fact challenges the opinion that indigenous cultures are becoming extinct.




Ysengrimus


Book Description

The "Ysengrimus" is the first fully-fledged medieval beast-epic, and the poem in which Reynard the Fox makes his first appearance on the stage of world literature. It thus occupies a key position in the long and fertile tradition of medieval beast-literature, but it also claims attention as a masterpiece in its own right, the work of one of the most daring and original satirists of the Middle Ages. Despite its importance, the "Ysengrimus" has been comparatively neglected because of its linguistic difficulties. Jill Mann eases these difficulties by presenting an English translation alongside the Latin text, and accompanying it with a detailed commentary. A full- length introduction offers an original account of the poem which shows how literary structure and historical dimensions are fused into an original satiric vision of compelling power. This book will not only interest medieval Latin specialists, but will make this major text accessible to those working on the related vernacular traditions. Its analysis of the poem's allusions to contemporary persons and events will also be of considerable interest to historians of twelfth-century Flanders.




Something More


Book Description

Have you ever wondered if there might be something more to life? When Siobhan Curham decided to write a book about happiness there was only one small problem, which became a massive problem as soon as she sat down to write - she wasn't truly happy. Not wanting to be a fraud, Siobhan set out to discover the secret to true and lasting happiness. Her quest took her on an unexpected path deep into the heart of the world's spiritual traditions. Something More is a funny and moving account of Siobhan's journey, as she found religion - and promptly lost it again - then went on to develop her own spiritual 'pick and mix' of practises from Buddhist chanting, Irish yoga, Jewish philosophy and Reiki healing, to connecting with her inner goddess and finding her shamanic spirit animal (who, it turns out, was a large, black, talking horse). Full of brutally honest anecdotes and age-old wisdom, Something More is for anyone who has ever thought about exploring their spiritual side, and those who might feel disillusioned by organised religion but still crave that elusive 'something more'. After all, who wouldn't want to find inner peace and everlasting happiness?