Book Review From Kuan Yin to Chairman Mao by Xueting Christine Ni Anyone who has sat down in a restaurant and ordered a dish of phoenix (chicken) or dragon (lobster) has experienced a taste of the poetry of Chinese language and culture. The richness of the cultural imagination, built upon millennia of continuous civilization, has created an incredible breadth of cast that makes the Chinese pantheon easily overwhelm the outsider looking for an easy entry point. When we look at the mythology of the Western world we are often encountering the pantheons of long past civilizations. Sifting through the strata of history, we encounter pieces of Roman, Nordic, Egyptian, or…

We have two calendars to review for the New Year: The Day of the Dead 2019 calendar and A Magickal Year 2019 calendar, featuring beautiful artwork by visual artist Lilla Bolecz (https://lillabolecz.com). Both are 16-Month calendars going from September 2018 through to December 2019. Day of the Dead 2019 Calendar Day of the Dead 2019 calendar is a glossy calendar featuring Mexican Day of the Dead sugar skulls in various designs and colors. The colors are vivid and alive and patterns are varied enough throughout the calendar that no months look alike. I can get picky with sugar skulls and it often takes me a while to find one that…

Review: 2019 Lunar & Seasonal Diary (Northern Hemisphere) by Stacey DeMarco Rockpool Publishing ISBN: 978-1-925682-13-7 List Price: $21.95 USD / £16.99 GBP The 2019 Lunar and Seasonal Diary is a beautiful, spiral-bound calendar, richly illustrated with pleasing sepia color pages. As one would expect, it tracks the waxing and waning of the moon and the lunar eclipses of the coming year. It also provides the astrological house of each new and full moon and features the eight annual festivals of the wheel of the year. I reviewed the Northern Hemisphere edition of the Seasonal Diary. Both Stacey DeMarco and Rockpool Publishing are based in Australia, which is why special care…

Book & CD Review – In The Light of Meditation by Mike George In Short: Helpful meditation primer – yes; authentic vedantic teaching – no. Meditation was first introduced to the West from the yogic traditions of India. Even before The Beatles courted the teachings of Indian gurus, vedic philosophy had been brought to the Europe and America by Theosophists in the mid-19th century and yogis such as Paramahamsa Yogananda promoted vedic meditational practices (in the form of Kriya yoga) to westerners in the 1920s. However, a look at most literature on meditation today will reveal a strong dominance of a Buddhist or indeed a secular approach. Especially Eastern Buddhist…

    Since childhood H.P. Anuj Elvis was attracted to spirituality and occultism. He used to think of it as some deep hidden art that very few can learn and practice. His questions started in earnest when he was 13 soon after he succumbed to jaundice. His state became so severe that the doctors gave up his recovery, but leaving no stone unturned Anuj’s mother took to mystics, contacting a local yet powerful Tantra practitioner who claimed that he could bring her son back to health. Soon after Anuj did indeed recover, and when the young Anuj Elvis went back to this tantra practitioner and thanked him for his recovery,…

One Year Wiser: A Gratitude Journal Mike Medaglia ISBN-13: 978-1910593219 As the calendar year comes to a close and a new witches year begins, you may find yourself thinking about appropriate gifts for friends and loved ones. Some people are easy to please, but some people seem to already “have everything” or at least have no need for more possessions to weigh them down. What to do with those people? Well, what better than a gratitude journal? One Year Wiser is a journal interspersed with reflections by the author on finding balance and gratitude of each moment of each day. Quotes from Kahlil Gibran to Maya Angelou and the Dalai…

Start Where You Are: A Journal for Self-Exploration   By: Meera Lee Patel Paperback: 128 pages Publisher: Perigee Books (August 11, 2015) Language: English New on the shelves this August past is Meera Lee Patel’s book Start Where You Are. Start Where You Are is a skillful combination of beautiful and playful watercolors, inspirational quotes, and exercises or prompts to help express yourself. The art is cute and kept simple, working perfectly in combination with the selection of quotes. Ranging from Ayn Rand to Yogananda, I found some of the quotes to be rather bland, but even then Ms. Patel’s brushwork succeeded in elevating the words to the height of their sentiment. It is in…

Buddhism for Couples By: Sarah Napthali Paperback: 248 pages (tentative) Publisher: Jeremy P. Tarcher / Penguin (June 2015) In The Miracle of Mindfulness, Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh tells the story of a father who struggled to balance his Buddhist practice with his daily responsibilities of being a father and a husband. After the finite hours of his day were divided between work, wife, daughter, and son, there was barely any time left for himself. It was only when he changed his idea of “free time” or “his time” to include running after his children and shopping with his wife that his days opened up and he found he had…

Trance-Portation: Learning to Navigate the Inner World By Diana L. Paxton, 2008, Weiser Books. ISBN: 9781578634057 If there is still someone on your yuletide shopping list who needs – do we have a gift suggestion for you! One of the more notable books out this year is Diana L. Paxson’s Trance-Portation: Learning to Navigate the Inner World. A thorough guide to trance and shamanic journeying, it is written specifically for those of us who have trouble “letting go” and reaching trance. Better known for her works of fantasy, which include the well loved Westria series and the classic Avalon series (with Marion Zimmer Bradley), Paxton’s skill with words shines through…