There is many a fine book available in the field of health and healing in which the author reveals the stresses and experiences that led to the discoveries set down therein. Each of these books is priceless to readers whose lives, thanks to reading them, have been changed for the better. One of the most prevalent conditions affecting modern life, statistics tell us, is clinical depression, a state that can all but eclipse the sufferer. For this reason, the book I'm about to introduce is of preeminent importance. Letters of thanks and recommendation that pour in to its publisher make abundantly clear that its great value, along with keys for recovery, is that the author is one who has "been there."

I want to tell you the inspiring story of Anthony J. (Tony) Schwarz, the author of PHOENIX RISING: 12 Golden Keys to Unlock Your Depression.

I first met Tony here in hometown Chicago ... articulate, intelligent, a successful businessman; inventive, creative, loving, quick-witted; fiercely loyal to the play of spirit in his life. Then increasingly, he began to make strange and disastrous decisions that were costly financially and socially. Friends and family were at a loss to know what was happening to the man they had known. In the years that followed, those close to him watched as the course of his life was taken over by five separate episodes of depression alternating with mania, a condition known as Bi-Polar Disorder. Tony's story does not end here. In a very real sense, this is where it begins.

When Tony sent me his manuscript for commentary, he included a silvery coin he had struck for family and friends, with the picture of a rising phoenix bird and four impressive words. If you know clinical depression personally, or of someone whose life has been slowed all but to a halt, you recognize the raw courage these words convey: "And still I rise."

The Foreword of Phoenix Rising consists of letters to the reader from Tony's former wife and his grown children. Their recollections and comments are a fitting beginning for this intensely personal yet strongly practical handbook for sufferers and those who love and care for them.

Vita, his former wife, writes, "Tony Schwarz aspired to accomplish something that would benefit mankind. Little did he know that his greatest efforts would be created through his own suffering with Bi-Polar Disorder. Tony studied, tracked and recorded his own mental roller coaster so he could better describe to other sufferers and their families what it would take to rise out of severe depression. He realized it was critical to focus on the keys necessary to unlock the disabling hold that depression inflicts on its victims. What kept him on track was his sheer will and determination to give this gift to humanity."

Tony writes: "Your life is not over. Depression can be regarded as a temporary interlude to teach you what you need to know to survive better than ever. For the rest of your life. This is the promise of this book.

"The Phoenix Rising program will help you survive perhaps the most difficult era of your life. You will discover that you can become the Director of your own recovery.

"You may be confused, but you are not "crazy." You may be disabled, but you are not helpless. You still have the power within to determine what is best for you. So, do it."

As in many books, the final page is devoted to About the Author. From the last paragraph: "Tony took control of his own life by developing a holistic and healthy lifestyle. These practices enabled him to finish Phoenix Rising despite many physical challenges. Unfortunately, he suffered from a heart attack while his manuscript was in editing. His family has lovingly completed the publishing of his book in his absence." That Tony endured despite extreme difficulties and, further, wrote this book as a legacy to others, is a crowning achievement.

The 12 Golden Keys that Tony gives us are fleshed out as only one who has actually been there can do. The step-by-step process is spelled out in sections titled:

1. Discover a Higher Power that Makes Sense to You
2. Take a Personal Health Inventory
3. Decide Whether Hospitalization is Right for You
4. Form Your Own Professional Support Team
5. Learn How to Handle Your Depressed Emotions
6. Develop an Effective Diet and Nutrition Program
7. Perform Physical and Spiritual Exercises Every Day
8. Perform Activities Outside Your Home Every Day
9. Plan Your Activities Every Day
10. Attend Depression Support Group Meetings
11. Discover the Positive Reasons for Your Depression
12. Grow Where You Are Planted -- One Day at a Time

Part of Phoenix Rising consists of a guideline for Depressives Anonymous meetings, based on the Twelve Steps program that has proven so successful.

For recommendations for Phoenix Rising from doctors who suggest the book to patients and from others who find themselves involved in the challenges the conditions present, go to www.tpgpub.com. You can order the book there or find it at any local, national or online bookseller. (Approximately 164 pages, $15.95, The Phoenix Group.)

*****

Remember the exhilaration and delight you had as a kid when you weren't sure what would happen next but suspected it would be something very, very good? E. Johannes Soltermann has revived that sense of innocence with THE GATE, a book of prose and poetry accompanied by a simple, progressive drawing on each facing page.

He tells us in the Foreword that he set out to write a book of poetry but that it turned into a parable, an account of a farmer who meets a most unusual stranger. The stranger surprises him by asking completely unexpected questions, perplexing him, throwing him off his center, causing him to doubt what he has believed to be true.

Finally, the farmer sees that the encounter has changed his life wholly for the better. And how can this be? Because now he knows his own power, recognizes a connection with the promptings of his inner guide. At night when the farmer goes to sleep and wakens into a dream, the stranger, a stranger no more but a dear friend, waits for him on the other side. Together, Soltermann writes, "we travel together to worlds that are close to God's heartbeat, worlds where one is endlessly washed by love."

The Gate, in its simplicity, can open up truths that may have been riddles for a long, long time. It has taken its place of honor on my shelf of very special books. (Approx. 108 pages, $15, SunShine Press Publications, Inc. Available from local, national and online booksellers.)

*****

About PRACTICING THE PRESENCE OF THE GODDESS, its author, scholar-priestess Barbara Ardinger, Ph.D., writes, "As the modern pagan community enters its fourth decade, it seems to me that we need to know where we stand and what we stand for. This book, therefore, goes back to the basics." It was Ardinger who invented the term "unencumbered ritual" when she wrote A Woman's Book of Rituals & Celebrations in 1990, "to describe ritual that does not require an elaborate setup." Here in Practicing the Presence ..., you'll find that Ardinger's easy-to-read, conversational tone provides an underpinning of understanding of the sacred personified by the Goddess. "I originally wrote this book and its rituals to be used by a woman at her private altar in her private space. That is still its primary purpose. The little rituals are personal and unencumbered; they're mystical poetry intended to touch both heart and mind and help Everywoman practice the presence of the Goddess in her everyday life." The rituals may be "little" but they're powerful, and many possess great beauty for the woman--or man--who practices them. (Small hardcover, approximately 140 pages, $16, New World Library.)

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June Rouse is a published author and poet, free lance editor and rewriter, writing class and workshop facilitator, and the editor of The Monthly Aspectarian.

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