Have you spent your life feeling everyone's emotions? Have you been bombarded with every thought, every feeling from those around you and from the world itself? Are you ready to scream? You are not crazy; you are an empath. There is a reason you feel all that you do. This valuable guide will help you understand what it means to be an empath, why you feel what you feel, and how to share the wonderful opportunities the gift of empathy offers you to heal yourself, those around you, and the world. With this book, readers learn to discern the truth when people's words do not match their emotions, to use fearlessness to protect yourself, and to tap into the vibrational energy of love. You will also learn to discern how energy works and how it can be used for healing, accessing the past, present, and future, manifesting responsibly, and much more. If you suspect you are an empath or know someone who may be struggling with that gift, this book is a must read.
Tracing the magical roots of "hoodoo" back to West Africa, the author provides a history of this nature-based healing tradition and offers practical advice on how to apply hoodoo magic to everyday life.
Brought up on stories and myths of the Kalahari Bushmen, Rupert Isaacson journeys to the dry vast grassland -- which stretches across South Africa, Botswana, and Namibia -- to find out the truth behind these childhood stories. Deep in the Kalahari, Isaacson meets the last groups of Bushmen still living the traditional way, caught between their ancient culture and the growing need to protect and reclaim their dwindling hunting grounds. Little by little he is drawn into the fascinating web of ritual and prophecy that make up the Bushman reality. He hears of shamans who turn into lions, sees leopards conjured from the landscape as though by magic. He attends trance-inducing dances and witnesses incredible healings. But he also sees the heart-wrenching social problems of a dispossessed people. What follows is an adventure of an intensity he could never have predicted. The Healing Land records Isaacson's personal transformation amid these extraordinary people, and his passionate contribution to their political struggle. It captures his enchantment with the character, corruption, kindness, and confusion of a place that has wrenched itself from the Stone Age into the new millennium.
The essential resource and guide to African American spirituality and traditions. This is a fabulous resource for anyone who wants to understand African American spirituality, shamanism, and indigenous spiritual practices and beliefs. It is designed to be informative while providing hands-on recipes, rituals, projects, and resources to help you become an active participant in its wonderfully soulful traditions. Inside you will find: 1. A celebration of healing, magic, and the divination traditions of ancient African earth-based spirituality 2. An explanation of how these practices have evolved in contemporary African American culture 3. A potpourri of recipes, rituals, and resources that you can use to heal your life Among the topics covered: African spiritual practices of Santeria, Obeah, Lucumi, Orisa, and Quimbois Hoodoo—and how to use it to improve your health Ancient healing rituals and magical recipes of Daliluw Talking drums, spiritual dancing, clapping, tapping, singing, and changing Power objects, tricks and mojo bags, and herbal remedies Previously published as The Big Book of Soul.
An award-winning collection of poems that vividly capture the astonishing emotional range of an entire romance from beginning to end. Jimmy Santiago Baca introduces us to a man and woman before they are acquainted and re-creates their first meeting, falling in love, their decision to make a family, the eventual realization of each other’s irreconcilable faults, the resulting conflicts, the breakup and hostility, and, finally, their transcendence of the bitterness and resentment. Throughout the relationship we are privy to the couple’s anguish of loneliness, the heady rush of new love, the irritations and joys of raising children, the difficulties in truly knowing someone, the doldrums of breakup, and so on. It is impossible not to identify with these characters and to recognize the universal drama of human connection. As he weaves this story, Baca explores many of his traditional themes: the beauty and cruelty of the desert lands where he spent much of his life, the grace and wisdom of animals, and the quiet dignity of life on small Chicano farms. An extraordinary work that “expresses both bliss and heartache with lyric intensity” from one of America’s finest poets (Booklist). “Baca is a force in American poetry . . . His words heal, inspire, and elicit the earthly response of love.” —Garrett Hongo “[Baca] writes with unconcealed passion . . . what makes his writing so exciting to me is the way in which it manifests both an intense lyricism and that transformative vision which perceives the mythic and archetypal significance of life-events.” —Denise Levertov
Soul is the ultimate expression and experience of African-American culture. The Big Book of Soul is the first popular reference book to provide an in-depth examination of the source of soul in African culture and how soul finds its expression today. Author Stephanie Rose Bird takes readers on a breathtaking journey of soul by examining the spirit of animism and how it evolved in contemporary African-American culture. She explores spiritual practices related to diet, dance, beauty, healing, and the arts, and provides readers with ancient healing rituals and practices they can use today. Filled with fun facts, practical advice, and ancient spiritual wisdom, The Big Book of Soul is for any reader who wants a genuine, rooted experience of soul today.
“France’s conversion is deeply touching . . . This is religious discovery for a postmodern generation.” —Philip Zaleski, Los Angeles Times The tiny, arid Greek island of Patmos is one of the most sacred places in the Christian world—a place of bewitching power, where people come for a brief summer visit and end up returning, year after year, for the rest of their lives. They respond to an unexplainable force that they can find nowhere else. Perhaps it is the invigorating “Greek light” that infuses the Holy Island’s rocks and hills with a breathtaking sharpness and clarity, dating back to the time when Zeus raised the island from the bed of the sea. Or perhaps it is Patmos’s incredible history. Almost two thousand years ago, Saint John was exiled here, and lived as a hermit in the cave of Revelation, where he experienced a vision that led to the most famous piece of apocalyptic literature, the Book of Revelation. In A Place of Healing for the Soul, BBC commentator Peter France—who arrived on the island a hardened skeptic—tells how he came to change his life perspective. Learning from the island’s gregarious inhabitants and its religious eccentrics—hermits, ascetics, monks, and nuns—he discovered the pleasure and security of living simply and doing without, in a timeless realm where history, myth, and spirituality are endlessly alive. “France, an erudite and amiable companion, who spices his writing with self-deprecating wit and thoughtful commentary on the eternal mysteries of the universe, has created a delight for open, even if skeptical, minds.” —Booklist
A “treasure trove” of insider accounts of the movie business from its earliest beginnings to the present day—“exceedingly savvy . . . astute and entertaining” (Variety). The Grove Book of Hollywood is a richly entertaining anthology of anecdotes and reminiscences from the people who helped make the City of Angels the storied place we know today. Movie moguls, embittered screenwriters, bemused outsiders such as P. G. Wodehouse and Evelyn Waugh, and others all have their say. Organized chronologically, the pieces form a history of Hollywood as only generations of insiders could tell it. We encounter the first people to move to Hollywood, when it was a dusty village on the outskirts of Los Angeles, as well as the key players during the heyday of the studio system in the 1930s. We hear from victims of the blacklist and from contemporary players in an industry dominated by agents. Coming from a wide variety of sources, the personal recollections range from the affectionate to the scathing, from the cynical to the grandiose. Here is John Huston on his drunken fistfight with Errol Flynn; Cecil B. DeMille on the challenges of filming The Ten Commandments; Frank Capra on working for the great comedic producer Mark Sennett; William Goldman on the strange behavior of Hollywood executives in meetings; and much more. “A masterly, magnificent anthology,” The Grove Book of Hollywood is a must for anyone fascinated by Hollywood and the film industry (Literary Review, London).
A practical guide to understanding and using Mexican healing traditions in everyday life Arranging ofrendas. Brewing pericón into a healing tea. Releasing traumas through baños and limpias. Herbalist and curandera Atava Garcia Swiecicki spent decades gathering this traditional knowledge of curanderismo, Mexican folk healing, which had been marginalized as Chicanx and Latinx Americans assimilated to US culture. She teaches how to follow the path of the curandera, as she herself learned from apprenticing with Mexican curanderas, studying herbal texts, and listening to her ancestors. In this book readers will learn the Indigenous, African, and European roots of curanderismo. Atava also shares her personal journey as a healer and those of thirteen other inspirational curanderas serving their communities. She offers readers the tools to begin their own healing--for themselves, for their relationship with the earth, and for the people. The Curanderx Toolkit includes more than 25 profiles of native and adopted plants of Baja and Alta California and teaches you to grow, know, and love them. This book will help anyone who has lost connection with their ancestors begin to incorporate the herbal wisdom and holistic wellness of curanderismo into their lives. Take the power of ancient medicine into your own hands by learning simple herbal remedies and practicing rituals for kinship with the more-than-human world.