Caroline Myss, Ph.D., is a worldwide authority on how the mind affects
health. She's also a medical intuitive: she's accurately diagnosed people
with cancer and other serious health problems by merely talking to them
over the phone. Her bestselling "Anatomy of the Spirit" explains
how the body's energy fields--and therefore health--are affected
by one's beliefs. It's given her a huge following that includes, among
others, Oprah Winfrey. Her most recent book, "Why People Don't Heal and
How They Can"--just out in paperback--tells how the chronically ill can
overcome mental blocks to becoming well.
"Why
People Don't Heal and How They Can""Anatomy
of the Spirit"
"The
Best Spiritual Writing 1998" edited by Philip Zaleski: What makes
this anthology of essays and poems especially welcome and refreshing is
its contemporary spiritual context. When Leonie Caldicott writes about
the deaths of Princess Diana, Mother Teresa, and Dr. Victor Frankl (author
of "Man's Search for Meaning") all in the early weeks of the fall of 1997,
she makes the spiritual links that many longed for at the time but were
too numbed by media hype and grief to comprehend. Francine Prose writes
about witnessing her father's spiritual integrity as a pathologist in the
old morgue of Bellevue Hospital while handling the dead victims of AIDS.
Simultaneously, this is an anthology that promises a lengthy shelf life.
Natalie Goldberg's Buddhist insights after being severely bitten by a dog
in France offer timeless gems of compassion and self-deprecating humor.
And Madeleine L'Engle's never-before-published essay, "Into Your Hands
Lord I Commend My Spirit," reads like a nightly Christian prayer. The anthology's
editor Philip Zaleski (senior editor of Parabola magazine) has obviously
taken painstaking effort to select the finest and the freshest that the
year 1998 had to offer.
"Whole
Heaven Catalog: A Resource Guide to Products, Services, Arts, Crafts &
Festivals of Religious, Spiritual & Cooperative Communities" by
Marcia Kelly and Jack Kelly: The husband and wife team who compiled
"Sanctuaries: A Guide to Lodgings in Monasteries, Abbeys, and Retreats"
have collaborated again to present a comprehensive database listing heavenly
products and services from over 250 religious, spiritual, and cooperative
communities. Find out about Ghost Ranch retreats in Abiqua, New Mexico--the
same terrain that Georgia O'Keefe haunted for years. Other unusual discoveries
include sacred recipe, mail-order caramels from the Catholic Trapistine
sisters in Dubuque, Iowa, and bicycle trailers from Cerro Gordo Community
in Cottage Grove, Oregon. The calendar of annual events makes it possible
to tap into a festival, pilgrimage, or celestial meditation any season
of the year. A permanent catalog for dreaming, scheming, and year-round
gift shopping.
"Art
of Pilgrimage: A Seeker's Guide to Making Travel Sacred" by Phil Cousineau
"Centuries of travel lore suggest that when we no longer know where
to turn our real journey has begun," writes author Phil Cousineau. "At
that crossroads moment, a voice
calls to our pilgrim soul." Many have embarked upon a pilgrimage, but
few have understood its mysteries and possibilities as well as Phil Cousineau
does (author of "Soul Moments" and "The Hero's Journey"). On one level
this is a highly useful guidebook packed with great ideas for
enlightened traveling--tape recording local voices, music, and sounds;
asking contemplative questions to waitresses and bookstore owners; lighting
a traveling candle every morning;
making an offering to the local deity. But most compelling is Cousineau's
ability to expertly map the interior landscape of a pilgrimage--the sights
that lead to insights and the borders that lead to breakthroughs as we
trek the exterior landscape of our plane
"The
Spirited Walker: Fitness Walking for Clarity, Balance, and Spiritual Connection"
by Carolyn Scott Kortge: Mindless exercise may improve circulation
and trim fat, but what does it do for the being within the body? Instead
of zoning out (reading magazines on the treadmill, planning shopping lists
while jogging), Carolyn Scott Kortge encourages readers to zone into the
exercise through mindful walking. Like yoga, spirited walking is a form
of meditation in motion, offering physical rewards as well as mental and
spiritual benefits. The wonderful irony of conscious exercise is that by
giving the mind a steady focus, you get the rest you seek, writes Kortge.
Kortge, who has extensive journalism experience, offers clarity and personal
anecdotes, as well as specific advice. Topics include breath work, affirmations,
how to structure a meaningful walking routine, maintaining motivation,
and embarking on a walking pilgrimage.
"Feeding
the Body Nourishing the Soul: Essentials of Eating for Physical, Emotional,
and Spiritual Well Being" by Deborah Kesten: It's not what
you eat, but how you eat, according to nutritionist Deborah Kesten. By
exploring the food rituals of numerous cultures, Kesten reveals how food
feeds the spirit as well as the flesh. We learn that in order to make soul
food, one must learn the art of cooking from feel. Kesten also delves into
useful advice on eating disorders, food-mood connections, and specific
how-tos of enlightened eating.
"Goddess
in the Kitchen: 201 Heavenly Recipes, Spirited Stories & Saucy Secrets"
by Margie Lapanja: When Margie Lapanja was just a wee child playing
with her Susie Homemaker light-bulb oven, she imagined that she was casting
magic spells with her fluffy concoctions. Over 20 years later, Lapanja
found herself doing just that as a professional baker and covert kitchen
goddess. What do goddesses do in the kitchen? They heal the wounded spirit
with Magic Double-Fudge Brownies, daydream with Mango Tapioca Pudding,
comfort the downtrodden with Chipped Beef and Saffron Biscuits; and cast
love spells with Casablanca Cheesecake. Lapanja shares all these recipes
as well as numerous goddess tips such as: never cook in a bad mood; keep
your life full of the freshest ingredients; and delete the words "fat free"
from your vocabulary and replace them with "fear free."
"The
Grace in Dying: How We Are Transformed Spiritually as We Die"
by Kathleen Dowling Singh: Right from the start Kathleen Dowling
Singh proclaims: "Dying is safe. You are safe. Your loved one is safe.
That is the message of all the words here." True to her promise, Dowling
Singh walks us through the final stages of death with complete honesty,
yet she manages to quell the ultimate fear of dying. Speaking of the "Nearing
Death Experience," Singh has discovered a sequence of phases or qualities
that signals when a dying person is entering the final stages of spiritual
and psychological transformation. She names them as relaxation, withdrawal,
radiance, interiority (a time of going inward), silence, sacred, transcendence,
knowing, intensity, and perfection--all of which she explains in great
detail. A hospice worker and worldwide lecturer, Dowling Singh is being
touted as the next Kubler-Ross. Time will tell. One thing is for certain:
this is an astonishingly intelligent and engrossing book about consciously
surrendering our bodies and our egos to death. There are 500,000
hospice patients in the U.S. and 5 million hospice workers worldwide. And
every one of them would probably find profound comfort in this breakthrough
book on dying.
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