Books (OTHER)

Cosmos and Psyche by Richard Tarnas

From a philosopher whose magisterial history of Western thought was praised by Joseph Campbell and Huston Smith comes a brilliant new book that traces the connection between cosmic cycles and archetypal patterns of human experience. Drawing on years of research and on thinkers from Plato to Jung, Richard Tarnas explores the planetary correlations of epochal events like the French Revolution, the two world wars, and September 11. Whether read as astrology updated for the quantum age or as a contemporary classic of spirituality, Cosmos and Psyche is a work of immense sophistication, deep learning, and lasting importance.

World history is vast and confusing. How to find coherence? Tarnas thinks the answer lies in astrology. Possessing a tremendous amount of historical knowledge, the author correlates human history's big events and personalities with the orbits of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. Why only Pluto, but not Pluto-size objects (or, for that matter, extrasolar planets) recently discovered, should reign over us goes unexamined, but be that as it may, Tarnas discusses charts, planetary alignments, and archetypal personality traits embodied by the planets so aligned. Reaching into mythology and Jungian psychology, Tarnas associates history makers with, for example, a Neptune-Pluto conjunction. Averring an empirical basis to his research, Tarnas proves a determined writer whose fortress of connected dates, historical trends, and philosophical thought defies would-be challengers to his cosmic viewpoint. Casual astrology buffs and readers of the daily horoscope may find this volume heavy going. This is a book for those who are as intrigued by and as convinced of astrology's validity as Tarnas. Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Richard Tarnas was born in 1950 in Geneva, Switzerland, of American parents. He grew up in Michigan, where he studied Greek, Latin, and the classics under the Jesuits. In 1968 he entered Harvard, where he studied Western intellectual and cultural history and depth psychology, graduating with an A.B. cum laude in 1972. For ten years he lived and worked at Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California, studying with Joseph Campbell, Gregory Bateson, Huston Smith, James Hillman, and Stanislav Grof, and later served as director of programs and education. He received his Ph.D. from Saybrook Institute in 1976. From 1980 to 1990, he wrote The Passion of the Western Mind, a narrative history of Western thought which became a best seller and continues to be a widely used text in universities throughout the world. He is the founding director of the graduate program in Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco, where he currently teaches. He gives many public lectures and workshops in the U.S. and abroad.

Why do we spend so much time indoors, which is not our natural habitat? Why have trends such as forest-bathing become so popular? The answer to the last question lies in the proven benefits we obtain from our connection with nature – from increased productivity to feelings of happiness and an enhanced sense of wellbeing.

For millions of years, humans developed in natural environments, in close contact with sunlight, vegetation and fresh air. But most of us spend 80-90% of our time indoors far from the environments for which we are naturally suited and in which we evolved. Skogluft’s mission is to bring a natural living environment back into your home and workplace.
Based on years of research data on the impact between nature and people, gathered together by a Norwegian mechanical engineer, Jorn Viumdal, Skogluft reveals how installing a wall of easily available plants in your home environment can dramatically improve health, strengthen the immune system and increase productivity. The plants are easily available, cheap to buy and simple to look after.
Here is a low-tech solution to a problem created by our increasing dependence on a world dominated by high technology. Learn the simple techniques to beautify your world and create air you can live with all year around and experience the health and wellness effects for yourself.

An entertaining and enlightening compendium of the world's most amazing and bizarre plants, revealing their secrets, history, and lore

What happens when you give a plant a polygraph test? Can a flower really turn a human into a zombie? What gives the gingko tree its stink? The Big, Bad Book of Botany holds the incredible answers to all of these questions and more. From absinthe to zubrowka (a popular ingredient in Polish vodkas), award-winning author Michael Largo takes you through the historical and agricultural evolution of hundreds of plant species, revealing astonishing facts along the way. You'll be introduced to magic mushrooms, superfoods, and toxic teas. You'll learn about plants so valuable they have started international wars, so evolved they can trick animals into helping them survive, and so deadly a single taste of one will kill you. Featuring more than one hundred and forty illustrations, this fascinating and fun A-to-Z encyclopedia for all ages will transform the way you look at the natural world.

Featuring more than 150 photographs and illustrations, The Big, Bad Book of Botany is a fascinating, fun A-to-Z encyclopedia for all ages that will transform the way we look at the natural world.

Prayers of Honoring Voice is the second book in Pixie Lighthorse's prayer trilogy. It focuses on the voice, as a sacred instrument worthy of honoring. These prayers encourage us to love and speak the truth, to build relational empowerment, to care about our impact, and to find the courage to say aloud what needs to be said.Each poem-like prayer is a powerful spark for intimate conversations with The Source of Life As You Understand It. They are meant to gentle our self-talk, to inspire and encourage us to take more responsibility for our voices. With compassion and devotion, Pixie guides us to make space for our emotions, to see things as they really are, and to fall in love with dialoguing with the Divine.Each of the books in the Prayers of Honoring series is designed to be a companion, to carry with you on your life's journey. They are designed to be marked up, drawn on, journalled in, personalized, and shared.-28 prayers, 7 for each cardinal direction.-Space to the left of each prayer to journal, collage, and draw-Journal prompts at the end of each section and space to write-Foreword by Elena Brower

Prayers of Honoring was written for sharing from the heart in community. In western culture, we keep many things to ourselves. Prayer, among other things, has become a private practice for those of us who don't congregate for spiritual purposes. Our language for connection to something greater than ourselves has become truncated to basic iterations and generalized affirmations. These prayers were written to honor the things which are easy to celebrate, and also those things which require more practice. It was written as a reminder of the process of honoring, which is to show high respect. It's my thought that respect and reverence have all but gone missing from western culture. To cultivate these things through the rhythm of prayer is to demonstrate devotion to the unfathomable energies which suspend us between the divine energies of Earth and Sky every day and night. It's my belief that creating our own family practice of prayerfulness brings us closer as we travel forth.

"Prayers of Honoring has supported my personal practice and allowed me to ground in an entirely new way." - Trace K.

"Prayers of Honoring was a gift from a fellow yoga teacher in Montana. I've carried it with me around the world and continually seek comfort in the beautiful words and phrases. I am so grateful that you are sharing your heart song, it's beautiful." - Emily S.

"Love Prayers of Honoring. As I entered my shamanic path, these prayers really helped with all of the energy I was calling in, and the energy I was letting go. I felt it was one of my strongest tools, especially when my closest cousin left earth side during it all. Thank you." - Leigh

With gorgeous full-color illustrations, ornate decorative elements, lettering in metallic ink, and engaging text, The Language of Flowers: A Fully Illustrated Compendium of Meaning, Literature, and Lore for the Modern Romantic is a treasure for flower lovers. A sumptuous, contemporary anthology of 50 of the world's most storied and popular flowers, each of its entries offers insight to the meaning associated with the flower, and is a fascinating mix of foklore, classic mythology, literature, botanical information and popular culture. 

Following an introduction that provides a short history of the language of flowers, a fad which reached its peak during the reign of Queen Victoria, each uniquely illustrated and designed entry is an enjoyable read full of history and little-known facts. Here is the story of Tulipmania; how the pansy got its "face," and why the most particular pollination process of a certain orchid has made the vanilla bean a very dear commodity. You'll also dicover how Christian Dior's passion for lily of the valley inspired his classic perfume Diorissimo and its extraordinary bottle; why Oscar Wilde had a penchant for wearing green carnations in his lapel; and how Greeks and Romans believed snapdragons could ward off witchcraft, so they planted them at entryways to their homes.

With more than a dozen two-page paintings evoking the romance of noteworthy Victorian gardens and symbolic bouquets, a cross-referenced index of flowers and meanings, and suggestions for further reading, this book is a must for lovers of floriology and Victoriana.

Prayers of Honoring Grief is the third book of prayers by Earth Medicine Educator, Pixie Lighthorse.Prayer is a means of connecting to our elevated natures during times of transition. It is during hardship that we can look both deep within and to the cosmic outskirts for guidance and wisdom. Prayer can connect us immediately and intimately to what we feel, what is current, and where the challenges are. It allows us the secure and quiet space to be able to honor what we value.To honor is to acknowledge and celebrate. While it may feel counter-intuitive to celebrate pain, what you can celebrate is your ability to access your feelings. Your feelings function is a sense that is like a muscle, asking you to consciously exercise it. The brain is a complex, plastic organ, and it is becoming ever more apparent how it can become hyper-vigilant, triggered by trauma, confused, disorganized, and overwhelmed. To thicken the plot even more, our nervous systems are operating at warp speed, and we are not yet fully equipped with the tools being modern requires in order to navigate through the obstacles of life.Numbing out feelings due to overwhelm turns them off, and we become accustomed to moving through the world unconsciously, detached, and dissociated from them. As natural feelings of suffering and pain are acknowledged, your body will rejoice at its ability to be in the world as it is. The body is a magnificent thing. When its systems come back online, it can bring a feeling of relief as it begins again to do its job as nature intended. The task is to create space for the deeper processes to take place.We are routinely cultured to "get on with it" from an early age, instructed not to waste time lingering in negativity. When the alternative is avoidance we actually become more fragile, though we are taught to believe the opposite. Grief remains in the systems of the body, informing our lives in subtle and subversive ways in the form of fear, anxiety, and depression. The whole map of our lives changes when grief is stored away silently. It directs our decisions, impairs or inflates our willingness to take risks, and continues to have its way with us. Toxic, amputated, dishonest, denied, neglected, mutated grief causes disharmony in the body and spirit.Grief doesn't bite. It is a natural and normal way of dispersing energy through the body's systems. It is not dangerous unless it is acted out in harmful and neglectful ways. Our thoughts around what grief should look like are the most surprising thing of all. How could it possibly be harmful to be honest about how one is feeling? It is simply the confession of what it was really like then and what it feels like now. It is not the plague of darkness it is made out to be. What a relief Prayers of Honoring Grief walks the reader around the compass of life through 28 distinctive modes of suffering to help the reader gracefully navigate the inner territory of what life is really like, rather than what it is idealized to be.The book includes:

• Foreword written by Jennifer Houston
• Suggestions for how to use the book as a personal companion for healing grief as well as ways to bring it into your classes and curriculum
• An introduction to each of the Four Directions and properties associated with grief
• 28 prayers, 7 for each of the Four Directions
• Blank pages on the left side of each prayer for note-taking, collaging, and making the book your own
• One page of journal questions for each section
• Lined pages at the end of each section for recording your thoughts, personal prayers, and notes about your own spiritual awakenings

Blossoms and Bones by Kim Krans

Visionary artist and New York Times bestselling author of The Wild Unknown Kim Krans returns with a decadently illustrated and incredibly raw graphic memoir that chronicles her multi-layered search for truth and recovery from an eating disorder and infertility in the throes of a health and wellness-obsessed culture, touching on the healing potentials of creativity and spirituality. 

With pen and paper as her trusted allies, revered visionary artist, spiritual seeker, and bestselling author of The Wild Unknown, Kim Krans chronicles her deeply personal journey of recovery through drawing.

After cancelling her flight home to wellness-obsessed Los Angeles, where Krans had been secretly experiencing a debilitating eating disorder, she finds her way to an ashram and seeks spiritual and creative refuge. For forty days she relies on “drawing the feeling” as a way to realign her relationship to food, addiction, fertility, perfectionism, and the endless messaging of “never enough” echoing throughout current culture. She makes the ashram her home and embarks on the healing process through intricately hand-drawn narration of both her inner and outer worlds, cancelling forthcoming high-profile teaching obligations and international travel. Radical simplification, meditation, community, and creativity bring her through the darkest chapter of her life. 

What emerges from Krans’ deeply personal undertaking is a raw and beautiful never-before-seen artists’ document that explores what it means to prioritize truth and self-discovery in a world of relentless expectations and distractions. A memoir at its heart, Blossoms and Bones is a lifeline of light and beauty, a call to embrace our creative power, and a courageous example of realigning with one’s destiny.