Philosophy and Religion

n this book, Rupert Spira distills the message of all the great religious and spiritual traditions into two essential truths: happiness is the very nature of our self or being, and we share our being with everyone and everything.

This classic collection, newly revised and with a foreword by classicist Spencer Klavan, includes the famed original introduction by Russell Kirk, the full text of the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, the complete Enchiridion of Epictetus, and key selections from Seneca and Hierocles of Alexandria in one compact volume.

Madame Blavatsky was a pioneering woman, and not only as a traveller, writer and spiritual teacher. She was an inspiration to men and women around the world in Victorian times who desired to follow an independent path.

"Thoughts are things, and they shape our lives." This quirky, candid, and totally useful book helps us vocalize what we want and manifest it. Carole Lynne created the affirmations, prayers, and chants in this book and CD so that we might "create the sound of the life we want." Readers will turn to Heart and Sound every day for consolation, guidance, and help from the Creator of All That Is.

The Goddess represents a divine spirit that is as old as Earth herself. She is the source of all creation. When you call on her, she will help you draw from her infinite power and wisdom to create a brighter, more loving life for yourself. Goddess Bless!

These are Zen meditations for modern times -- cold comfort, maybe, for some of us who might want platitudes and the promise of peacefulness being handed to us on a silver platter. Because, as Shaw points out, conflict is a part of life. Zen Buddhism was even founded in conflict. No one can give anyone else peace. Peace comes to those who seek it -- in the moment and for the moment only.

Eleanor Wiley and Maggie Oman Shannon have taken an ancient practice and made it new. A String and a Prayer recounts the history and symbolism of prayer beads, teaches basic techniques for stringing beads and a host of other objects into prayer beads, and offers a variety of prayers and rituals to use those beads on a daily basis. Beads have appeared throughout history.

A Greenpeace activist, Wiccan High Priestess, and proud Soccer Mom, Francesca Howell has been involved in magical traditions and wildlife preservation since childhood. In this one-of-a-kind book, she shares her everyday suggestions for spiritual renewal through connecting with nature.

Altar (noun): an elevated surface upon which one displays meaningful objects. Any surface can become an altar. Geddes and Cunningham, with beautiful, inspirational photos and text that's both instructive and poetic, show us how. For women, they say, an altar can become a sacred space upon which to place symbols of her true self.

A heartfelt combination of spiritual discovery, environmental observations, and journal writing, The Wise Earth Speaks to Your Spirit offers readers a 52-week cycle of themed essays and related questions about the natural world. Entries on night and sky and parakeets, wind and mud and rain, snakes and tea and thistle, among others.

Nirvana is not to be found in the fulfillment of endless desires, the analysis of profound thoughts, or even hours, days, or years of meditative contemplation. In fact, it is the very act of seeking to obtain happiness, peace, and enlightenment that keeps them out of reach.

In this powerful book Martin Lowenthal leads a journey to the very heart of spirituality, a journey of acceptance and aliveness through affirmation. By affirming what is in our hearts, writes Lowenthal, we embrace our aliveness and the reality of life in the moment. And only through acceptance, openness, and affirmation can we ever really be present and complete.

Imagine a woman who's part Mae West, part Dear Abby, with a scoop of Glenda, and a large dollop of Kali energy, who tells it like Janis Joplin might. Cal Garrison is that woman, a professional witch and astrologer, who in her first book, The Old Girls' Book of Spells, invited women of a certain age to use her spells to enliven their love lives, find their car keys, and prevail at work and at home.

Kitchen witches of yore, are you too busy with job, travel, and family to gather all the specific ingredients and measure and concoct the proper potions for your spells? Here's Cal Garrison to the rescue with a book to match your new on-the-go lifestyle. "When your life is full," Garrison writes, "you don't have time to honor the Great Mother in the traditional ways any more.

These twenty-five words are the bedrock prayer of the worldwide Alcoholics Anonymous movement, a movement that has saved and improved millions of lives. When Barb Rogers first heard this prayer a quarter of a century ago, she could scarcely credit it and hadn't the ears to believe it. It all begins with "meee, meee, mee," she writes. As in, Why is God doing all these things to meee?

In this truly inspiring book, Mark Nepo offers us all an invitation to stand by the courage of our convictions in challenging times. Through the stories of ordinary people, political activists, artists, writers, spiritual teachers from a variety of traditions, Mark Nepo shows how we too can discover our own inner courage.