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Flower Essence Repertory    by Patricia Kaminski, Richard Katz

This flower essence manual covers definition and history of flower essences as a therapeutic modality. It includes sections on energy research, vibrational plant studies, clinical cases, mind-body relationship, holistic views, health care, beneficial effect, preparation, and selection. Flower Essence Repertory is a must-have resource handbook for both home and professional use. It is a tremendous help to the student striving to fully understand and identify the purposes of flowers in bringing about balance and healing. Flower essence practitioners will turn to it in finalizing essence selections in formulating flower blends / therapies for their clients.

Prayers   by Miguel, Don Ruiz, Janet Mills

It's inspirational. He tells us to pray with authority-- ”like the wolf howls to the moon”.
If you haven't read his other books, we recommend them as well.

The Hidden Messages in Water  Dr. Masaru Emoto

is an eye-opening theory showing how water is deeply connected to people's individual and collective consciousness. Dr. Masaru Emoto describes the ability of water to absorb, hold, and even retransmit human feelings and emotions.He found that water from clear springs and water exposed to loving words shows brilliant, complex, and colorful snowflake patterns, while polluted water and water exposed to negative thoughts forms incomplete, asymmetrical patterns with dull colors. Emoto believes that since people are 70 percent water, and the Earth is 70 percent water, we can heal our planet and ourselves by consciously expressing love and goodwill... .

Fujiwara Dam Water, before offering a prayer

Fujiwara Dam Water, after offering a prayer

Speaking Peace  by Marshall Rosenberg

Connecting With Others Through Non-Violent Communication.

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Special thanks to Nowik Gray, the father of Nashira Birch, our teenage mascot, for selecting these books:

Survival, Wilderness, and Health

The Inheritors--William Golding
Golding (author of Lord of the Flies) has taken the age-old mystery of the Neanderthals a step further. He has entered the mind and soul and nascent "culture" of a species of proto-humans, at a time and place of first contact with the true humans--those we would likely call today, the Cro-Magnon. In the balance, we are left to wonder more deeply than ever before, what is it to be "truly human"?

The Tree Where Man Was Born--Peter Matthiessen
Africa in the sixties is the scene of this early Matthiessen journey. How stark and poignant are the beauty of the land and people in the face of an eroding way of life: a process familiar now to every continent on earth. Of particular interest here is the archeological significance of East Africa in the search for human origins--and the author's portrayal of the living remnants of the most ancient races of humankind.

The Heart's Code: Tapping the Wisdom and Power of Our Heart Energy--Paul Pearsall, Ph.D.
A book which can help you reorient your life energy to the pulse of your heart, when it might be on a disaster course following the chaotic demands of a restless and insecure brain. Pearsall has wide experience with heart transplant patients, and shares many case histories demonstrating the transfer of various kinds of memories along with the transplanted heart. He surveys current research in the field of cardio-energetics and helps us attune to a new self-definition that widens our boundaries and offers a way out of our constrictive habits of head and heart.

Conscious Eating--Gabriel Cousens, M.D.
...Cousens has that rare ability to hold a radical view--Eat Live Foods for Better Health!--with humor and compassion for those he aims to convince. This book contains a wealth of research supporting his program, and an open minded reader cannot ignore the power of the author's personal experience with the diet he recommends. You may not change your eating habits tomorrow--but you will certainly think about them, during and after reading this book. Your eating, for better or worse, will become conscious. The rest is up to you!

Bioenergetics--Alexander Lowen
...This student of Reich (himself a ground-breaking student of Freud) outlines with a comprehensive and experienced view, the importance of body-consciousness. The way we hold ourselves, the way we move, our locked-in fears and habitual armoring: all are subject to healing change through awareness, movement, energetic release.

Desert Solitaire: A Season in the Wilderness--Edward Abbey
...Literary man turned wild man, via a stint as park ranger in Utah canyonlands desert. Pithy natural description, impassioned diatribe against civilization and comic caricature of 60's tourists, heart-to-heart confessional of man on earthÖcowboy stories and survival scrapes, rafting and rock-scrambling and humble wandering/wondering under the bleak blissful starry sky.

Somatics: Reawakening the Mindís Control of Movement, Flexibility and Health--Thomas Hanna
...Crucial insight into the mind-body connection for resolving back pain and associated dysfunction. Teaches awareness of muscle tension, with exercises to increase flexibility and natural relaxation.

Kauai Trails--Kathy Morley
...Every trail on the island, it seems, is covered here: a bit overwhelming before ever setting foot on the "Garden Isle," but useful as a reference once the trekking begins. Includes a wonderfully informative capsule history of Hawaii, copious plant identifications, and interesting local legends attached to places.

Minding the Body, Mending the Mind--Joan Borysenko
...An early work by the noted doctor and writer, outlining twelve key strategies and principles for healing the body-mind-spirit.

Ageless Body, Timeless Mind--Deepak Chopra
...Just when I was thinking Leonard Orr was off-the-wall with this immortality stuff, along comes the talk-show doctor to give us respectable evidence that our life, health, and even our so-called death, are really up to us: at least to a far greater degree than we usually imagine.

You Can Heal Your Life--Louise L. Hay
...the classic self-help book lists affirmations for every ailment. Donít believe it? Read Hayís short biography at the end and think again.

The Dynamic Laws of Healing-Catherine Ponder
...It's all within our (greater) power. Really a SpiritWorld selection, but the focus here is health and its roots in spritual outlook, attitude and practice.

Wilderness Man: The Strange Story of Grey Owl--Lovat Dickson
...Archie Belaney's editor gives a sympathetic, behind-the-scenes look at the Englishman gone native. A tantalizing glimpse of a world just before the conquest, in this century.

Northern Bushcraft--Mors Kochanski
...this man knows bushcraft, lives and teaches it, writes clearly and illustrates well. What to read on How to survive in the wilderness.

Vital Dust: Life as a Cosmic Imperative--Christian de Duve
...noted scientist provides overview of evolutionary miracle

Touching the Void--Joe Simpson
...fantastic, true account of survival despite broken leg on Andean peak

Mutant Message Down under--Marlo Morgan
...learning what the oldest humans have to tell us

LifeStyle/Success

Why Time Begins on Opening Day--Thomas Boswell
...Washington Post columnist shows breadth and depth of insight, cogent analysis, and telling anecdote to illuminate Major League Baseball in its essence. The most articulate writer on this beat. This 1984 collection of essays is still captivating for any baseball fan.

Think and Grow Rich--Napoleon Hill
...the classic of success literature; Hill chronicles methods of Carnegie and others and gives anyone access to them. Vision becomes reality.

A Year in Provence--Peter Mayle
...humorous engaging style, with an irresistable taste of a culture grounded in the basics: good food and drink.

Beyond Success: 15 Secrets of a Winning Life!--Brian Biro
...motivational trainer studies philosophy of legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden, applies lessons to business and life success. Keyword: teamwork.

October 1964--David Halberstam
...the end of the Yankee baseball dynasty symbolized change in the game and American culture at large.

Wishcraft: How to Get What You Really Want--Barbara Sher
...putting the power of visualization, planning, and group synergy to work for you in reaching your goals

John Barleycorn--Jack London
...an alcoholic autobiography, full of piss, vinegar, sea spray, booze and powerful writing

Wired Magazine
...the cutting edge, in quintessential punk-flavored digitalese

Down and Out in Paris and London--George Orwell
...think you've got it bad? Try the Paris sculleries 100 hours a week.

Letters at 3AM: Reports on Endarkenment--Michael Ventura
...lifestyle, language, culture, poetic insight: by any label, this guy's a master

Being Digital--Nicolas Negroponte
...expert insider covers ever-evolving scene of technical change

Shadows in the Sun: Essays on the Spirit of Place--Wade Davis
...powerful, eloquent accounts of natural peoples and places

Relationship

Sexual Secrets: The Alchemy of Ecstasy--Nik Douglas and Penny Slinger
All is bared in this popularization of the sacred texts and lore of the East. The core teachings are Taoist and Tantric, with liberal references to the Kama Sutra and other texts. Lavishly illustrated, this compendium of higher sexual practice has everything you're missing if you're only messing with mainstream sex.

Getting the Love You Want: A Guide for Couples--Harville Hendrix
This book is one of the best in its ever-popular field. Hendrix has been through it all and presents here a no-nonsense approach that works. We are encouraged to see, through a series of exercises, how our partners reflect the positive and negative traits of our own parents, and of ourselves. The exercises also lead us into constructive ways of communicating and caring for each other in the ways that count most.

Labyrinth of Desire: Women, Passion, and Romantic Obsession--Rosemary Sullivan
The Governor General's Award winner spins a fascinating and original tale--part personal, part philosophical, part fiction, part nonfiction--exploring both the tragic obsession and the redeeming depth of woman's dance with sex and romance.

Challenge of the Heart: Love, Sex, and Intimacy in Changing Times--John Welwood, ed.
...In researching a book on this bottomless subject, Welwood assembled a stellar collection of writings to share. Scott Peck, Alan Watts, D. H. Lawrence, Chogyam Trungpa, Robert Bly, Wendell Berry, R. M. Rilke--along with women writers who are less "household names" but, of course, carry half the show.

On Love--Alain de Botton
...a philosophical, analytical, ironical (of course) and arch treatment of love, through one manís journey there and back. Chapter titles ("Romantic Fatalism," "The Subtext of Seduction," "The Fear of Happiness,") suggest the themes treated literarily yet in character.

Embracing Each Other--Hal Stone and Sidra Winkelman
..."The fairy tale version of romantic love teaches that once one finds the right mate, there is a marriage and then the two live happily ever after. Somehow the relationship magically brings out the King or Queen in each of us; therefore, our task in life is to find the correct mate so that we can be truly ourselves. In contrast to this, many of us now have a real fear that we will lose ourselves if we "give in" to a relationship and make the adjustments that are necessary in order for it to work, that the changes demanded of us by relationship are a weakening or a
lessening of who we are."

This is a book that comes at the right time: and in (or out of)
relationship, any time is the right time. Especially helpful is
the advice on taking care of one's [inner] "vulnerable child":
1. Recognize its presence
2. Develop an awareness of its personality, needs and reactions
3. Separate far enough in trigger situations to evaluate
4. Speak up for it in an objective, relaxed fashion

Embracing Ourselves: the Voice Dialogue Manual, by the same
authors, provides hands-on tools for healing.

Tantra, Spirituality and Sex--Osho
..."While making love to a woman, you are really making love to existence itself. The woman is just a door, the man is just a door. The other is just a door for the whole; but you are in such a hurry you never feel it. If you remain in communion, in deep embrace for hours together, you will forget the other and the other will just become an extension of the whole.
"in human life the sex act is the only act in which you come to feel a nonduality, in which you come to feel a deep oneness, in which the past disappears and the future disappears and only the present momentóthe only real moment--remains.
"Sex is just the beginning, not the end. But if you miss the beginning, you will miss the end also."

The Future of Love--Daphne Rose Kingma
...This book is deceptively simple and repetitive: yet powerful in the breadth and depth of its message: so many forms are possible, they are all okay when we undertake to pursue our relationships with our focus instead on the growing spirit, the spirit of love.

The Inner Lover: Using passion as a way to self-empowerment--Valerie Harms
...Takes a long look at some lesser-known aspects of relationship: loving yourself first; embracing loveís suffering for the growth it brings; nurturing an unattainable relationship through fantasy rather than through destructive sex; and realizing that our attractions often mirror our own desires, and embody the lessons we need to learn in our lives. "Things donít get better; they get deeper."

Emotional Resilience--David Viscott
...complete exploration of causes and characteristics of emotional debt and toxic nostalgia, with cogent principles and truths of natural therapeutic healing. A cornucopia of useful one-and-two-liners: "How you see your past is how you feel about yourself." "If you accept yourself as you are and pay attention to the road, you will get where you want to go." "Just believe you are good. Everything else will follow." "You are the answer. Spend your life defining the question."

Adult Children: The Secrets of Dysfunctional Families--John Friel and Linda Friel
...Are we all in this leaky boat? It appears so. These therapists tell it like it is: truthful, readable, straight talk. What do you use to cover your past and present hurts?

Healing the Child Within--Charles L. Whitfield
...expert in Inner Child work covers field with broad and deep strokes, outlining pathways to personal evolution and intimacy.

My Uncle Oswald--Roald Dahl
...the childrenís book writer turns to adult fiction: very adult, very funny.

Adult Children of Alcoholics--Janet Woititz
...a leader in the field gives insight and perspective by profiling what to expect and how to move on.

Conscious Loving--Gay and Kathlyn Hendricks
...strategies born of vast counseling experience, to open up to honesty and full expression to each other.

Getting to Yes--Fisher and Ury
...the definitive handbook on negotiation without giving in. You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometime, you get what you need...

The Bridges of Madison County--Robert James Waller
...a perfect novel of an affair, with completeness and simplicity, showing the ultimate tragedy of our dual-hearted dilemma. Great on video too, with Meryl Streep and (gasp) a well-aged Clint Eastwood.

SpiritWorld

Shamanic Voices: A Survey of Visionary Narratives--Joan Halifax
Fascinating collection of first-hand accounts and interviews with aboriginal shamans from around the world. Most depend on psychoactive aids as they enter dream states and trances to heal their people. Most accounts also include stories of the shaman's own training and initiation, as well as the mythological context of their culture.

Layayoga: The Definitive Guide to the Chakras and Kundalini--Shyam Sundar Goswami
"Definitive" is right. This exhaustive and scholarly work is a compendium of ancient teachings viewed in the light of the western scientific search for the chakras in the physical body. It combines a common-sense and practical approach to spiritual discipline with a deep grasp of the principles involved. For the serious student of yoga.

The Web of Life: A New Understanding of Living Systems--Fritjof Capra
A challenging read but worth it, as Capra opens our perspective of living systems beyond conventional definitions, to include microscopic and macrocosmic patterns and processes of self-regulation and evolution.

The Tao of Chaos: Essence and the Enneagram--Stephen Wolinsky
Wolinsky examines the concept of chaos as it comes to us from quantum physics, compares it to a Taoist philosophy of emptiness, and then completes the picture in a novel way with the human dimension of psychology. The framework he uses for this last aspect is the Enneagram, the ancient Sufi system for classifying human personality types. Wolinsky has the rare insight to see the common element in all nine types: a fear of going back to, or a denial of the reality of, an original state of emptiness/fullness experienced in the womb. If we can manage to overcome this block with clear awareness, we can free ourselves from addictive distractions and come face to face with the underlying peace of the void, knowing our present unity with all creation.

The Camino--Shirley MacLaine
Shirley is flakey and homespun by turns, delving into Lemurian lore here, dealing with diarrhea under a chestnut tree there. An engaging and candid self-portrait of the famous actress as she sheds her layers of fame and becomes a pilgrim walking the historic trail to northwestern Spain.

My Best Self: Using the Enneagram to Free the Soul--Kathleen Hurley and Theodore Dobson
An original and in-depth use of the ancient personality system, the Enneagram, to aid modern readers in doing soul-work. The emphasis here is on seeing and recovering the energy of the repressed center to help balance the excesses of the dominant center. (The three centers of intelligence are the Creative, the Intellectual, and the Relational). One's "Original Wound" in early childhood can then be brought into active healing and can give us an avenue toward greater wholeness.

The Other Bible--Willis Barnstone, ed.
Over years of exploring various aspects of alternative spirituality, I've found bits and pieces to compare and synthesize, but I never saw them compiled in one handy reference book like this. If looking to original texts is your cup of tea, The Other Bible will surely help. Alternative--usually censored and repressed--scriptures of mainstream religions do exist; it's just a matter of keeping them alive.

Tantra: The Path of Ecstasy--Georg Feuerstein
... In all the welter of new age theories and out-of-this-world channelled knowledge, there is really nothing new, when we dig deep enough into the roots of ancient Vedic and Buddhist teachings. The Tantric path--so easily misrepresented in the popular Western view as mere sexual technique--is here illuminated as a spiritual tradition in the highest sense. Not for everyone, perhaps; but I think that's because the teaching is so pure, the Unity at its heart, so all-encompassing. How many of us are ready to go so far through and beyond the limited human scope, to identify with universal oneness, with the radiant interplay between matter and energy that makes up suns and our own enlivened cells? True, our kundalini energy is the way we are given to experience such dynamic force in its immediacy, and it happens that sexuality--when both primal and fully conscious--is the starter motor for that cosmic engine of procreativity.

Breathing--Michael Sky
When it comes right down to it, what practice of spiritual, physical, or emotional healing is more central than breathing. From the ancient spiritual traditions to rebirthing and the new age, Michael Sky gives us a powerful insights into this most basic life function. From Buddha to LeBoyer, his sources are right on the mark, and through the clear, compelling writing--full of practical exercises we can do even as we read--we can more fully grasp, first hand, the importance of our first and every breath.

Maya Cosmogenesis 2012--John Major Jenkins
...This book is a challenge and a delight. Jenkins does a thorough job of scholarship in astronomy and mythology to solve long-standing puzzles about the Mayan view of the cosmos. Famous for their timekeeping, the Mayans now can be understood to have had a visionary grasp of the galactic year, the 26,000 year cycle of precession, and to have imbued it with the significance of religious meaning. Jenkins does not presume to lay out in concrete terms what the event of 2012 portends: but he does paint a clear picture of how celestial events will line up over ancient Mayan monuments, and how this display corresponds to the mythological tradition. With the additional influences of hallucinogenic substances, and the mystery of the black hole at the center of the Milky Way, we are in the realm of speculation and imagination. Jenkins does his part well here, too; but ultimately we can only look to the winter solstice of 2012 with a sense of increased wonder and readiness for a transformation of consciousness. If nothing else, the turning of a new galactic year gives us a sign saying, "Now is a time of rebirth, of starting over. Are you ready to move forward with us, your mothering stars, into a new cycle, a new beginning?"

Madouc--Jack Vance
...concluding volume of the stellar Lyonesse trilogy. The headstrong young princess has an excuse: she's half fairy. Here's but a tiny jewel from this invented world of old Europe, a mere footnote in the marvelous text:

sklemik:

*Untranslatable: a fairy word signifying (1) passionate receptivity or involvement with each instant of life; (2) a kind of euphoria induced by close attention to unpredictable changes in the perceived surroundings as one instant metamorphoses into the next; a dedicated awareness to NOW; a sensitivity to the various elements of NOW. The concept of sklemik is relatively simple and quite bereft of mysticism or symbol.

Playing in the Zone: Exploring the Spiritual Dimensions of Sports--Andrew Cooper
...intriguing look at what makes top athletes tick, and how we more ordinary mortals can reach deeper to perform better

Breaking the Death Habit: The Science of Everlasting Life--Leonard Orr
The father of rebirthing pulls out all the stops in this tribute to Babaji, Jesus and the other immortal yogi masters. Down to earth prose reads easily--and there are simple practices outlined to enable anyone to join the ranks of the living for as long as we're having fun. For an early glimpse at the rebirthing movement Orr pioneered, see Rebirthing in the New Age, below.

The Power of Flow: Practical Ways to Transform Your Life with Meaningful Coincidence-Charlene Belitz and Meg Lundstrom
...A comprehensive primer on synchronicity and flow, with techniques and exercises to inspire us to give ourselves further to these currents of deliverance. Nothing new here, but a good job of covering what is, after all, the most important ground to walk on.

Liquid Light of Sex: Kundalini Rising at Mid-Life Crisis--Barbara Hand Clow
...Fills a fascinating niche between tantra and astrology, cover such topics as the chiron square and outer-planet transformation points. "The point of life on earth is growth and experience, not adult control of all realities."

Synchronicity: Science, Myth and the Trickster--Allan Combs and Mark Holland
...Wonderfully comprehensive survey of the intellectual currents surrounding synchronicity. Erudite yet readable. Covers physics, neuroscience, psychology, myth, divination, famous case histories.

The Mayan Oracle
...This western hemisphere answer to the I Ching has always told me what I most needed to hear, just when I most needed to hear it. My new favorite book of personal prophecy and just plain universal wisdom.

Something in this Book is True--Bob Frissell
...A student of Leonard Orr and Drunvalo Melchizidek, Frissell follows his cult classic Nothing in this Book is True with this patchwork sequel. His laziness is apparent here as he throws together correspondence aimlessly tacked with personal anectdotes, tapes of conversation, workshop notes, quotes from other writers. Still, it is profound and well written in terms of explaining key and interlinked concepts and fields of thought. And all about the most important things to write about these days: earth changes, soul changes, dealing with our emotions. Whether we call them our emotional body or our shit, we have it seems to be the consensus among the helping professions to wade through it to get relief from it. Frissell does engage us with a personable presentation of heady stuff, core stuff of contemporary and ancient wisdom. Who cares if itís mostly second-hand? We thank Frissell for doing his homework for us, keeping up with the hottest trends, and putting it all together in a good read that we can find, to be honest, difficult to put down. Keywords you might find here include: spiritual, psychological, self-help, new-age, personal development, neurolinguistic programming, prosperity consciousness, rebirthing breathing, conscious breathing, present time, now, Be Here Now, perfection of all that is, vajrayana, flow, timelessness, quantum theory, parapsychology, holographic principle, chaos theory, fractal geometry, unity consciousness, universal mind, flower of life, forgiveness, integration, transformation, original joy

Rebirthing in the New Age--Leonard Orr and Sondra Ray
...A classic by the founders of a worldwide movement of breath therapy, prosperity consciousness, release from parental disapproval, and belief in physical immortality. Told with vivid personal recollection and searing, experienced insight.

Focusing--Eugene Gendlin
...A no-nonsense, step-by-step approach for contacting a "felt sense" of emotion and its causes in present time.

The Way of the Lover: The Awakening and Embodiment of the Full Human--Robert Augustus Masters
...This book is written to knock socks off at every point, and to keep them off. The spiritual heat is on: can you handle the fire?

Jewel in the Lotus: The Sexual Path to Higher Consciousness--Sunyata Saraswati and Bodhi Avinasha
...A complete yet readable course in Tantric practice and Kriya Yoga: the best Iíve seen on the subject. Accompanies a set of 3 videos.

Journey of Awakening: A Meditatorís Guidebook--Ram Dass
...A compendium of spiritual practices and approaches to truthful living. No one could have done it better than the author of Be Here Now.

The Last Self Help Book Before Getting Results--Jerome Lund
...the simplest, most effective and liberating approach to self-help Iíve seen, redefining "spiritual" in sensible and practical terms ("universal mind and power") and empowering us with our connection to it.

When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times--Pema Chodron
...Buddhist nun brings teachings to everyday language and life; when things are tough, we can embrace the opportunity to get real. Every sentence strikes to the heart of truth.

Crow Dog: Four Generations of Sioux Medicine Men--Leonard Crow Dog and Richard Erdoes
...from Wounded Knee I to Wounded Knee II. First-hand stories of one family integral to native struggles for survival, with lessons for us all.

Time and the Art of Living--Robert Grudin
...an ambitious topic: handled with mastery, grace, and great insight

Close Encounters of the Fourth Kind: Alien Abduction, UFOs, and the Conference at MIT--C.D.B. Bryan
...spiritual? Maybe not; but you'll be sleeping watchfully after reading this

Storming Heaven: LSD and the American Dream--Jay Stevens
...traces the pschedelic movement's origins, peaks and crash: an expert view

The Five Tibetans - Christopher S. Kilham
...best concise book on yoga and meditation I've seen

Nothing in This Book is True, But it's Exactly How Things Are - Bob Frissell
...rewrites the definition of out-there to include what's in-here. This book satisfies the left-brain's wish to know; for the right-brain sequel, see Something in this Book is True, above.

The interesting thing about Nothing is, there's a lot about aliens and so on which does strain credulity. But there's also a strong core of chapters in that book about "sacred geometry" which is undeniably, graphically true to our left-brain brand of knowing. From that core you can believe whatever you like about the rest--and in this book it's all there laid out in plain view.

For a pricier but more original handling of all this material, you can go to Bob Frissell's mentor Drunvalo Melchezedek. Drunvalo has a new book out called The Ancient Secret of the Flower of Life.

Neurospeak - Robert Masters
...exercises to enhance body-mind awareness

Hyperspace - Michio Kaku
...an almost understandable tour of the higher physics

Warriors of the Rainbow - Willoya and Brown
...The original retold legend that inspired Greenpeacers

Legend of the Rainbow Warriors - McFadden
...priceless interviews with native elders and visionaries

Providence - Daniel Quinn
...behind the scenes of Ishmael; Quinn's own spiritual odyssey

The Quickening - Stuart Wilde
...irreverent guide to spiritual freethinking

Emerson: The Mind on Fire - Robert Richardson
...complete biography by one who knows Emerson inside and out

Creativity

Effortless Mastery: Liberating the Master Musician Within - Kenny Werner
Weber is an accomplished jazz musician but speaks as the friend and mentor of the musical beginner or performer alike. Take it easy, he says. Relax. Get in touch with what this magic called music is really about. Listen. Get out of the way, enough to hear what the music wants to say, where it wants to go. If you can do this--feeling your musical "I" to be as large as time itself--then you can say with confidence, "I am a master."

Mande Music - Eric Charry
A definitive and scholarly study of West African music--its origins, its instruments, its language and technique.

Maps to Ecstasy: Teachings of an Urban Shaman - Gabrielle Roth
...She writes like her music dances: rich, sensuous, uncompromising, systematically therapeutic in leading us to the stage of the fully human.

Drum Circle Spirit - Arthur Hull
...A handbook of drum circle etiquette, sensitivity and technique, mostly for facilitators or those who would take on this role in part or full-bore. The most useful section for me listed some core "universal grooves" to depend on in any situation. The first night I tried one, a 6/8 bell pattern over a campfire drone, it set the tone into a higher trance of group spirit. This stuff really works!

If You Can Talk, You Can Write - Joel Saltzman
...keeps it simple, and inspires anyone with anything to say to go for it in prose; bringing also the more erudite of our ilk down to earth with advice to get real.

The Fiction Editor, The Novel, and the Novelist - Thomas McCormack
...light-hearted but precise advice for those in the writing trade.

A Writer's Time - Kenneth Atchity
...bogged down in big projects?--inspiring and practical advice here

Becoming a Writer - Dorothea Brande
...classic from 1934, just as valuable today for aspiring writers

Faces in the Crowd: Players and Writers - Gary Giddins
...insightful and authoritative portraits of the great in the New York arts scene

  The Artist's Way - Julia Cameron

...get on track to positive, creative energy

The Unfinished Universe - Louise Brown
...universe evolving, in our creative energies

Living Without a Goal - James Ogilvy
...between extremes of goal-worship and nihilism: Do what you love . . .