New Age Alternative Belief Books

This book is less than a hundred pages, but it is quite unusual regarding books relating to the druids.

The first section is an introduction to the Colloquy of Two Sages, and a description of the current state of Celtic studies as relate to the Druids.

The second section is a translation of the Colloquy of Two Sages with translated glosses and additional notes.

The third section is an appendix with additional information. Generally this is one of the few books which has through its scholarship has given me a reason to revisit some of my views on the Druids.

this is a wonderful bookare you getting ready for your intitation, maybe a handfast this book shows you rituals to celebrate all kinds of events in life

I'm a huge fan of the Campanelli's books. I really enjoy the imagery Pauline's writing evokes. Its like being transported to the season or place being described. Another bonus is that while its certainly applicable to followers of the Wiccan Path, it is also very useful for solitary generalized Pagans like myself. My only wish is that Pauline was still with us writing such wonderful Pagan books. I would recommend getting your hands on a copy of this out of print book. It is full of ritual outlines for many changes and phases of life, and they are presented in conjunction with time of life being celebrated to each Sabbat.

... like many good books they go in and out of print but this book is must have!!! ...good imfomation and outlines on rites.

Blessed Be

5 years ago, I picked up this book in a bookstore, and was entranced by a way of life that celebrates the seasons of life just as it does the seasons of the year.

This book relates the simple folk customs that have been performed all over the world for different turning points of life, as well as more contemporary Pagan practices, and suggestions from the authors. Eight turning points have been chosen, which have been subtly associated with the 8 seasonal festivals (although they may not occur in this order in your life :) ).

- Birth (Yule)
- Coming of Age (Imbolg)
- Initiation (Ostara)
- Handfasting (Beltane)
- Midlife (Litha)
- Priesthood (Lughnasa)
- Elderhood (Mabon)
- Death (Samhain)

For a single book, it has an amazing range of content, with various tidbits from and about the practices of ancient cultures, and the whys of many customs.
Some examples of variety of content:
From the birth chapter - Egyptian charms for both before and during the birth, an Italian charm for protection of the baby, excellent suggestions for magickal gift-giving (useful for us non-parents out there!), and baby naming.

An aside -
I was drawn to this book 5 years ago - it was the first* book I read on Paganism - and in retrospect it is still one of a very few books that could have opened me up to the Pagan path.
Although the 'How to' books are very useful, this provided me the initial 'Why to'. A way of life which celebrates, and is never very far from, the sacred.
And, as far as the 'How to' goes, the single chapter on Initiation was more useful than many Pagan/Wicca 101 books I've read (although that also says a lot about some of those 101 books...)
It was an overview to be sure, but like the rest of the chapters, it has some really good useful information and it was a good base to start from, with things such as:
A "year and a day" of study Dedication, suggestions as to skills to learn, the whys of keeping a Book of Shadows and Magickal Journal as well as a suggested layout & a consecration ritual, explanations and mythology behind the different tools, magickal names, etc.

If you are looking for a book about any of the Rites of Passage covered in this book - this really is an excellent resource.

A possible improvement to the book for future editions would be an index, as if you are like me, you will probably be referencing it often.

-- Additional Info --
This IS the same book as "Rites of Passage : The Pagan Wheel of Life" - with a new cover.

Pauline and Dan Campanelli are both artists, you may have seen some of their prints around!

The Campanellis books are always a treat. Not only is this book cocked full of ideas for Pagan rites of passages; it is full of lore and history as well. Far from the "fluff" bunny books on Pagan topics, this book is useful and down to earth. I adore the Campanellies poetic gentle style of writing, and the pencil drawings are lovely. There are ritual ideas for the coven or for a solitary witch. All useful Pagan libraries should have a copy of this book.

I have read numerous books on the Native American Medicine Wheel, seeking to understand this Old Way of relating to the Earth and all upon it.

This book gives excellent information as well as clear instruction on that subject.

Many people have lost touch with what brings peace and harmony to their lives. They are also concerned with what's being done to individuals, animals, and the Earth itself in the name of technology. They're looking for help with spiritual development and finding their own centers.

Hal Zina Bennett offers practical help in Spirit Animals and the Wheel of Life, his twenty-third book. In it he continues to explore how we can incorporate universal love in our daily lives. He has chosen the wheel because it has no beginning or end and thus "teaches us how to work with the limits of human knowing and how to find peace with our apparent human differences."

Bennett believes that people are searching for ways to become closer to Earth, and finding the solutions in ancient practices, such as shamanism. He describes "nature-based spiritual practices" that emphasize the connection between Earth and all its inhabitants. Some of these practices involve looking at characteristics of certain animals and using them as models for our own behavior.

He says, however, that animals are not just symbols. They are living creatures. We learn from observing them in their natural environments. Since not everyone can do this, Bennett describes the powers of the seven primary animals with the most to teach us. These are correlated with the seven chakras, for those who find it easier to think in those terms. He provides complete instructions for setting up and using an "ecospiritual wheel," which helps to establish rituals for learning from animals.

Bennett says that he "offers Spirit Animals and the Wheel of Life as a way to begin reclaiming your own ecospiritual connection with our planet--not just as a philosophy but as a practical spirituality and a way of mapping your own path back to the center." Readers will find that he has provided the knowledge and guidance they need to make their own sacred connections.

This Book is a gem to have if you want to get in touch with your inner self. I just started using the book's exercises and THEY WORK! The mirror exercise on page 35 & 36 greatly helps to put one in an altered state QUICKLY-- At least it happened for me very fast. Want to develop your psychic self and intuition( especially artistically) GET THIS BOOK and it's cd companion(i have this too). I love them.

Hope this helps everybody in some way to decide. IT really is a very good book on psychic art. Great Stuff June-Elleni. Hope you come out with a home study course soon on psychic art and manifestation.
Keep up the GOOD work!


Yannick

I have just read The Art of Being Psychic by June Elleni Laine and thought it was brilliant. The book explains how our left and right brain are involved in Psychic development, giving loads of insights in to the blocks and doubts we can encounter when developing our psychic ability.
June Elleni gives us tuition from her wealth of experience of teaching others to develop their psychic ability through her Five Step Technique. She explains the importance of Perception,Awareness, Acknowledgement, Validation and Intention.
I really enjoyed the style of this book and the different aspects of pyschic development I discovered through reading it!
The portraits on her web site are amazing http://www.psychicartworks.com/index2.html

The first book I read on this interesting subject of psychic art. I tried a few of the exercises that she mentions and they really do work; how to open up the right side of your brain the creative and psychic part. She attended courses on spiritual development and psychic portraiture in a spiritual college in London, England. She relates her experiences of drawing spirits of deceased clients or guides while in an altered state while she was learning to do that and after she started practicing with clients. Instructions are also given of how we can do this. All this material from what I understand is the one she uses in her classes. Very nice book. I wish there was also a dvd available with it it would be very helpful. I hope she makes one in the future.

Doreen Virtue's work and "Angel Wisdom" is great! However, The CD Angel Medicine is a great tool for meditation and peace of mind. I recommend this for anyone that wants to learn meditaion as a start to healing.

Doreen Virtue has created an exquisite reference book for healers.
Her Angel work is inspired and inspiring.
She opened up a whole new world for me with previous books and the Goddess deck.

Angels Medicine CD is such a great tool! That women is amazing! This meditation opens up points of energy in the body, soul and mind, in a magical but yet certain way. I can not believe this! I feel more alive, got more ideas, more open to great things to happen, to receive, enjoy more, be creative and loving. News ideas are coming to me in my business and personal life and I am excited about delivering on them. Thank you.
Lilou Mace, Founder MpowerU.com

The historical as well as mythological references of this book are amazing. The book ties together the cultures of the Mayan and The Aztec into a purly hypnotic mix of mythological splendor as well as historical fact. Both the cultures of the Maya and the Aztecs are well presented with work done on beliefs, rituals, and folktales. The book also has many beautiful pictures and explanations for the myths of the cultures as well as in-depth comparisons to other culture of today and yesterday. The book also does an amazing job of integrating the effect that these gargantuan cultures had on the societies of today.

I would highly recommend the rest of the "Myth and Mankind" series to anyone who loves both myth and the historical facts behind it.

I found it to be a beautifully written book that was also very educational. I would recommend it highly to other people interested in nature/the natural world/sustainability.

Jesse Wolf Hardin and Loba own and operate a 'wilderness retreat' called "The Earthen Spirituality Project and Sweet Medicine Women's Center' in New Mexico. This center forms the basis for this book, in their connection with their land, their very strong feelings for the earth and earth based spirituality, the sacredness of all things and the sacredness of self.

What connects all pagans is their love and respect for the earth. Mr. Hardin can be considered a very 'extreme' pagan in his dedication to the protection of the environment and his teachings of respect for all things.

This book outlines the retreats they hold at their New Mexico center, and combines their practices with their teachings and presents us with a path that is as inviting as it is intriguing.

This is not just about the land. Respect is for all things. The retreats focus on self in relation to your inner being, your connection with all things natural and taking the time to stop and smell the sage. Exercises in self indulgence, respecting and appreciating your food, proper and natural diet, and pursuit of your own personal spirituality are the focus of these retreats. Each step is a magical journey in reconnecting yourself to the land.

Mr. Hardin includes questions to explore your own personal beliefs and life style, discusses his ideas and teachings regarding personal growth, sexuality, and of course, our responsibility to the earth and his ideas of maintaining Gaia.

Mr. Hardin has a way with words, and it enables us to experience not only the taste of his center, but also his ideas, his teachings and his personal path. He is very eloquent in his descriptions of his concepts, from his ideas on sexuality to the smell of fresh baked bread. The book is very well written. Like his excellent pen and ink drawings which grace some of the pages, verbal details awaken the senses as you read through the material.

Mr. Hardin includes many diverse topics for discussion, from his own personal ideas on sexuality to war and its effects on the planet and ourselves. Some of this can be disturbing, we may not agree with all the thoughts presented by Mr. Hardin, and some will seem extreme. These are his teachings, and are meant to provoke thought on the topics.

But do not let that stop you from savoring the ideas and rolling them around in your mind. Extremes can be a wake up call. Do we respect ourselves, our own personal piece of the earth, or our own spirituality? Can we adjust our daily lives a little at a time so we can enhance our own personal experience? And do we respect Gaia enough that when we refer to ourselves as 'pagan' we mean it?

Though provoking, intelligent, subtle and sexual, this book covers all that Mr. Hardin and Lobo consider 'Gaia Eros' and their form of natural magic and spirituality. boudica

As I began to read this book, I was puzzled by the title. Gaia Eros? What does that mean? I looked at the chapter titles, and discovered that each of them stands alone very nicely; there's no need to read doggedly from front to back. This is not a textbook, where each chapter builds on the instructions from the one before. Then it hit me, after I began to reread Wolf's words. This is no mere compilation of essays.

Perhaps this volume could best be described as a collection of love letters; some serious, some whimsical, some practical, some esoteric, but always spiritual. To the Great Mystery that is Mother Earth, the author passionately, eloquently, and tirelessly conveys his love, commitment, and reverence. As Wolf invites us to develop our sense of belonging to Gaia, to honor and care for the earth, he explains in inspired and picturesque language the how and why of New Nature Spirituality.

Calling upon his two decades of experience care taking and "rewilding" a stretch of river canyon in New Mexico, Wolf gives us lessons from Nature through the eyes of the bobcats and the roots of the red willows. He builds an indelible image upon the mind's eye of his Sweet Medicine Sanctuary. In "Lessons of the Furry Buddhas" he writes:

"To be wild is to be "willed:" true to our authentic needs and nature. Never pretend to be anything but what you are."

In "The Sacred Ground," Wolf writes of our "holy Gaian beings." He elaborates on the substance that forms us, feeds us, shelters and then ultimately reclaims us, then gently chides us for our foolish obsession with washing off any evidence of its existence.

Gaia Eros calls each of us to new levels of awareness and activism, to become teachers and healers. To recognize and honor the eternal Earth Mother for her gifts and blessings, and to seek to reverse the harm that mankind has wrought.

This book belongs on every bookshelf, not just those of us Pagans and Earth-centered Spirituality types. It is for everyone who is aware of, or wants to be, --or even is just willing to entertain the possibility of-the ultimate sacred interconnectedness of all things on the living goddess planet we call Gaia. It should be read over and over, until we get it.

This book is not an easy read. I would have found a dictionary close by to be a big help. Wolf uses words like loci, indigenous, inspirited, sentience. Nor is this some "fluffy bunny" New Age eco-philosophy guide. (reviewed by Windweaver)

If you are already familiar with Nature-based spirituality, this book isn't going to tell you anything you don't already know. Mr. Hardin fills up the pages of his book with flowery words, elaborates on every minute detail, and gives no practical down-to-earth advice for living close to the Earth.
I think this book was written for entertainment purposes only. If you expect to learn anything from it, forget it.

Gaia Eros: Reconnecting to the Magic of Spirit and Nature by Amelia Raymond July 28, 2004

As a child, perhaps you felt that every tree was a living being, and that the wind brushed against your skin like a living wing. You might have been sure that fairies lived beneath a certain rock, or caused the flowers to open in the morning so they could arise from their bed of petals. You may have grown up to lament the destruction of forests, or of your favorite romps as developers transformed windswept oceans of grass into walled off tracts of exclusive homes. As you matured and your days were spent trying to make a living you began to accept these things as necessary. As the separation between you and the natural world deepened, you may have even have come to regard environmentalism as a youthful indulgence, abandoned now that you're out in the "real world." Or, perhaps you wondered whether you were the only person on the planet who knew that the Earth was a living being. Maybe the only way you could relieve that incredible loneliness was by going out to be alone with the Earth, far from highway noise and the chatter of those who seemed to not notice the miracle of madrone trees climbing the canyon cliffs above emerald-green waters. Perhaps you live in a city and your last truly spiritual experience was to honor the brave dandelion that found its way to bloom through a crack in the seemingly endless concrete.

If so, you're not alone. Jesse Wolf Hardin's latest work, Gaia Eros: Reconnecting to the Magic of Spirit and Nature is all about reconnecting. As emissary of the enchanted, ambassador of Gaia, the living Earth, Wolf brings us back to the essential truth we knew as children: that we are but one of myriad life forms that comprise this vital and fragile organism we call Earth. Reminiscent of Kahlil Gibran's sage classic The Prophet, the 210-page collection of beautiful and devotional essays is a Song of Solomon for the Earth. Written with unyielding commitment to the truth, these essays tell us that to fully experience this love, one must emerge from the illusion that we are somehow excused from attending life as a creature of the Earth.

Topics include eco-activism, the nature and essence of art, and the definition of being rich. Chapter 26, "Gaia River", is the story of the Sweet Medicine River, named after the indigenous people who last inhabited the land that is now home to Wolf, Loba and other entities that chirp, swoop, howl and prowl the canyon country. The author acquaints the reader with the realities of taking care of the beloved Earth by documenting the damage done by
"more than a century of overgrazing by immigrant Texas cattle. Elder cottonwoods
lost to the occasional flood were no longer being replaced, as the sprouts of alamo and
willow alike were gobbled up by the voracious cows. The river no longer channelized,
but wandered from one side of the canyon to the other, as if trying to avoid its tormentors.
...We were literally the first protectors in a thousand years, fencing off parts of the
river, replanting and restoring its banks until at least one section of the canyon was
a riparian forest again."

As the title suggests, the erotic principle is addressed, not as commercial culture's idea of eroticism but as the true meaning of Eros, the Life Force: that which connects us to one another, to our deepest selves, and to the interlaced network of all living things. Eros is touching one's lover with every sense awakened. In Chapter 9, "Gaia Eros: Sacred Sexuality, Sacred Earth," the Eros is revealed as the cooing of doves, as "giant cottonwood trees rub together their pollen-laden branches", and "the mating of canyon moon and purple mountain spires." We are urged to adopt the attitude of our forebears, that the "Earth is a Spirit-embodied being, sexually charged and reproductive." It is interaction on this level that we reinhabit our true sentient natures. We infuse our human sexuality with the Eros of the Earth, and become whole. For the entire nature of Jesse Wolf Hardin's relationship to the land is one of eroticism. He explains his contract with his canyon home as

"a marriage contract, bound by love rather than law. I've stood before these orange
and purple cliffs many times and repeated my vows. That I'll do everything I can to
restore her and make her all she can be, to never bend her to my will, to always serve her,
touch her, stroke her hair of grass. To revel in the sensation of my bare feet on her naked
Earthen body."

Jesse Wolf Hardin is more than a storyteller. To experience the procession of images that flow through Gaia Eros' pages is to see the life of Gaia pass before your eyes. The storyteller's craft is evidenced by the power he has to awaken the reader's personal acceptance of the natural, wild self. Throughout this book, his devotion to the earth resonates like the heartbeat of a lover or the rhythm of a sacred song. The mind opens to nature. As I was preparing to write this review, a flock of cliff swallows whooshed over my house as if casting a blessing for the work I was about to begin.