"Shower of Stars" Dream & Book


Book Description

A tradition of intentional and initiatic dreaming connects the sufism of Ibn Arabi and the Owaysi Order, medieval Kabbala, Taoist scriptures, Afro-Brazilian spirit-cults, Siberian shamanism, and early Christian "angel alphabets." This book deals with specific methods for inducing prophetic or "veridical" dreams, because this book has a purpose: the experimental achievement of non-ordinary consciousness through autonomous openings ("Initiations") to the world of the imagination




Alexandria 5


Book Description

"In ancient Egypt, the city of Alexandria was a flourishing cultural center where philosophical, spiritual, and cosmological teachings flowed together to create vital new syntheses. Today, Alexandria provides a meeting place for everyone who is interested in ancient and modern cosmological speculation, and how the humanities may contribute to contemporary life"--Page 4 of cover.




High Weirdness


Book Description

An exploration of the emergence of a new psychedelic spirituality in the work of Philip K. Dick, Terence McKenna, and Robert Anton Wilson. A study of the spiritual provocations to be found in the work of Philip K. Dick, Terence McKenna, and Robert Anton Wilson, High Weirdness charts the emergence of a new psychedelic spirituality that arose from the American counterculture of the 1970s. These three authors changed the way millions of readers thought, dreamed, and experienced reality—but how did their writings reflect, as well as shape, the seismic cultural shifts taking place in America? In High Weirdness, Erik Davis—America's leading scholar of high strangeness—examines the published and unpublished writings of these vital, iconoclastic thinkers, as well as their own life-changing mystical experiences. Davis explores the complex lattice of the strange that flowed through America's West Coast at a time of radical technological, political, and social upheaval to present a new theory of the weird as a viable mode for a renewed engagement with reality.




Baby Shower


Book Description

IT'S RAINING CATS AND DOGS! PIGLETS AND BABY BEARS, TOO! Just the right weather for a girl who wants a pet and just the right book to celebrate a new arrival. Zoe wants a pet more than anything in the whole world. Then on the night before her aunt Ellie’s baby shower, it actually starts raining cats and dogs . . . and ducklings and piglets, too. Or does it? This charming book by a favorite author and illustrator is the perfect gift to celebrate a new arrival—human or otherwise.




The Stuff Between the Stars


Book Description

An inspired biographical picture book about a female astronomer who makes huge discoveries about the mysteries of the night sky and changed the way we look at the universe Vera Rubin was one of the astronomers who discovered and named dark matter, the thing that keeps the universe hanging together. Throughout her career she was never taken seriously as a scientist because she was one of the only female astronomers at that time, but she didn't let that stop her. She made groundbreaking and incredibly significant discoveries that scientists have only recently been able to really appreciate--and she changed the way that we look at the universe. A stunning portrait of a little-known trailblazer, The Stuff Between the Stars tells Vera's story and inspires the youngest readers who are just starting to look up at the stars.




The Forest of Souls


Book Description

Take a Magical Mystery Tour. Join celebrated Tarot author, artist, and scholar Rachel Pollack on a magical walk through the mysteries, archetypes, and dream-like images of the Tarot. In the tradition of Carl Jung and Joseph Campbell, Rachel draws upon symbols, myths, and folk tales both ancient and modern, to illuminate the spiritual truths behind the Tarot's symbols. The Forest of Souls unfolds like a dream, in a series of musings upon the confluence of the sacred and the mundane. How can a simple deck of 78 cards become keys unlocking life's greatest secrets? While the most common use of Tarot is for divination, Rachel shows how to use the cards for readings of an entirely different nature. Asking improbable, even impossible questions, she plays with the sacred possibilities and answers that the Tarot gives us. What nourishes my soul? What is soul? What is Tarot? What plan did God follow to create the universe? We now know that the Tarot was almost certainly not originally designed to include Kabbalistic and other occult correspondences. Yet such systems can greatly enhance our understanding of and relationship with the cards. Embracing paradox and non-linear thinking allows us to push the boundaries of the known and venture into the unknown. It is in that sacred space that we open ourselves to wonder and mystery.




ABC Dream


Book Description

This stunning and innovative alphabet picture book will dazzle little ones and engage the adults who share it with them! Each page is dedicated to a letter, and clever alliterations are packed into each ink-and-watercolor spread. This gem comes to us from Kim Krans, the creator of The Wild Unknown—a lifestyle website offering prints, calendars, and more.




American Gurus


Book Description

By the early twenty-first century, a phenomenon that once was inconceivable had become nearly commonplace in American society: the public spiritual teacher who neither belongs to, nor is authorized by a major religious tradition. From the Oprah Winfrey-endorsed Eckhart Tolle to figures like Gangaji and Adhyashanti, there are now countless spiritual teachers who claim and teach variants of instant or immediate enlightenment. American Gurus tells the story of how this phenomenon emerged. Through an examination of the broader literary and religious context of the subject, Arthur Versluis shows that a characteristic feature of the Western esoteric tradition is the claim that every person can achieve "spontaneous, direct, unmediated spiritual insight." This claim was articulated with special clarity by the New England Transcendentalists Bronson Alcott and Ralph Waldo Emerson. Versluis explores Transcendentalism, Walt Whitman, the Beat movement, Timothy Leary, and the New Age movement to shed light on the emergence of the contemporary American guru. This insightful study is the first to show how Asian religions and Western mysticism converged to produce the phenomenon of "spontaneously enlightened" American gurus.




Glamorous Rooms


Book Description

Glamorous Rooms showcases the elegant eclecticism of renowned designer Jan Showers's interiors, including many projects unpublished until now. Illustrated with dazzling photography, Showers's accessible and useful design tenets will inspire readers to create their own luxurious yet relaxed homes. Showers's attention to detail seamlessly blends Hollywood high style, midcentury modernism, and classic 18th-century French styles with the local flavors of St. Barth's, Paris, and Rome. Her modern and timeless interiors, never overdone, have earned her a dedicated fan base of top designers, celebrities, and power brokers from Palm Beach to Del Mar. A must-have addition to any design enthusiast's library, Glamorous Rooms is sure to be an instant classic. Traditional Home October 2009 Lucite and tufting and mirrors, oh my! Love shimmering elegance? You'll thrill to the work of Jan Showers, a Texas pro. Veranda November-December 2009 Texas-based designer Jan Showers strikes just the right balance between restraint and high visual impact. Her superbly detailed rooms gain unique presence through a mix of styles, such as Hollywood Regency, eighteenth-century French and mid-century modern. Like her spaces, her furnishings-including her 1940's-inspired Venetian glass lamps-exude American glamour. House Beautiful November 2009 Jan Showers tells all, Dallas style. The how/why of glamour, one gorgeous room @ a time. Read the captions! Luxe Fall 2009 Over 200 dazzling photographs of Showers' design, which seamlessly blend Hollywood high style, mid-century modernism and classic 18th century French style.




Ploughing the Clouds


Book Description

The Rig Veda, written in India about 1500BC, praises a holy plant called Soma, which is sacrificed and consumed, granting the drinker an experience of enlightenment and ecstasy. The late Gordon Wasson identified Soma as a "magic mushroom," Amanita muscaria, and he and his followers discovered that such Indo-Europeans as the ancient Greeks, Iranians and Norse had also used a Soma-type plant. In Ploughing the Clouds Peter Lamborn Wilson investigates the probability of a Soma cult in ancient Ireland, tracing clues in Irish (and other Celtic) lore. By comparing Celtic folktales, romances, epics and topographic lore with the Rig Veda, he uncovers the Irish branch of the great Indo-European tradition of psychedelic (or "entheogenic") shamanism, and even reconstructs some of its secret rituals. He uses this comparative material to illuminate the deep meaning of the Soma-function in all cultures: the entheogenic origin of "poetic frenzy," the link between intoxication and inspiration.