Inprint - New Books of interest

We are in the fortunate position here at the Aspectarian of receiving many newly published books each month. They cover the areas of self-help, spirituality, healing, philosophy, metaphysical fiction, and more. In order to share a greater number of books with you, we've decided to highlight several of the more interesting titles in this column each month.

Science and the Sacred: Eternal Wisdom in a Changing World by Ravi Ravindra. (September 2002, 0-8356-0820-4, $21.95 pb, Quest Books, Theosophical Publishing House)

Science and religion don't have to be at odds with one another. As Ravi Ravindra points out in his book, some of the greatest scientists—Galileo, Newton, and Einstein—understood their work as an approach to the sacred. So how and why did the two become so conflicted in our culture?

In clear and eloquent prose, Ravindra answers this and addresses other important questions about science/technology and its relationship to both Eastern and Western spiritual traditions. He affirms scientific exploration while also addressing its current failure to deal with inner realities and warns against the dangers to the environment, to family and social values, and to a sense of relatedness with the cosmos when technology is allowed to reign unchecked. Furthermore, he underscores the necessity for science to reclaim and assert its sacred nature.

Remembering Our Journey Home, The 12 Keys for Awakening the Memory of Who You Are and Why You Are Here by Karon Korp. (0-9715946-0-0, $22.00 pb, Magic Mountain Press)

With insight and humor, Karon Korp takes readers on a journey of awareness as she examines events in her own life and relates them to the meaning of the 12 Keys. Her approach is simple, straightforward and easy to digest. As instruments for change, they bring a greater realization of how our behavioral patterns, relationship issues and choices manifest themselves as opportunities for healing. For more information go to www.the12keys.com.

With over forty different sources quoted,

from Socrates to Ghandi, Einstein to Goethe, Remembering Our Spiritual Journey Home answers the age-old question each of us have asked while looking up at the night sky...Who am I and why am I here? This book puts the "what" with the "why" and explains the "how". It's that simple.

Emotional Yoga: How the Body Can Heal the Mind by Bija Bennett. (October 2002, 0-684-86277-8, $15.00 pb, Fireside)

For years, yoga has been prized for its benefits to the body, providing healing, rejuvenation, overall toning, and solutions to a host of other physical problems. Recently, however, author Bija Bennett has brought yoga back to its basics, inspiring instructors and practitioners alike to rediscover the emotional and spiritual wellness that yoga can bring.

Drawing on her extensive training in yoga therapy, dance, and meditation, Bennett has created a groundbreaking yoga program that takes full advantage of the body-mind connection. Based on the classical eightfold path of yoga, Emotional Yoga offers a broad range of simple body-mind techniques that can positively affect our emotional well-being, including the dynamic interplay of movements, breathing exercises, meditations, lifestyle skills, rituals, gestures, and healing sounds. Each technique is presented in a way that is true to her background in the tradition of Viniyoga, which allows the reader to adapt the program to his or her specific needs.

The Egyptian Book of Living and Dying by Joann Fletcher, Ph.D. (October 2002, 0-00-765375-1, $22.95 hc, Thorsons)

This book by Joann Fletcher reveals the mysteries of the ancient Egyptians' fascinating and amazingly diverse belief system, with its emphasis on ritual funerary cults. It displays a wealth of quotations from ancient Egyptian sources, including intriguing spells from the Book of the Dead and mystical ritual incantations. It also unfolds the rich tapestry of ancient Egyptian myth, from the powers of the gods and pharaohs to the journey in search of the eternal paradise.

In addition to the astonishing cultural legacy of artifacts and burial sites the ancient Egyptians left behind, there is also a rich body of compelling writings about the quest for immortality and humankind's progress from birth to death and into the mysterious realm of the afterlife. This superbly illustrated full-color book (more that 900 photographs and 40 color artworks) traces the stages of life from conception to the life beyond the tomb. This cycle is set against the backdrop of the cosmos—the gods, the movement of the sun, the symbolism of the stars and the great battles of Hourus and Seth. At the heart of the book are key themes of creation, magic, ritual, and eternity, each treated in a series of superbly illustrated explorations. The result is an illuminating work for all those who wish to move one step closer to the spirit of the ancient Egyptians.

Prophecies: 4,000 Years of Prophets, Visionaries, and Predictions by Tony Allen. (October 2002, 0-00-765373-5, $19.95 hc, Thorsons)

Whenever people have felt anxious about the future, they have turned to prophets, seers, and visionaries for guidance on what is to come. Prophecies have inspired calls to arms and popular uprisings, frenzied religious revivals and mass movements of populations. Tony Allen has written a pioneering overview ranging across all continents and 4,000 years of history, from diviners consulted by Chinese emperors at the dawn of history to modern visions of catastrophe.

Discover how accurate past visions of the future have turned out to be and explore the continuity of the prophetic tradition. This anthology of amazing and curious stories describes how the great predictive systems work, including the I Ching, the Mayan prophecies, the Aztec calendar, the Tarot, and West African divination. Special coverage is given to such prophets and visionaries as the Delphic Oracle, Merlin, Joan of Arc, Nostradamus, John Dee, Tezcatlipoca, Sitting Bull, Jacques Cazotte, Edgar Cayce, Leonardo da Vinci, Jules Verne, and H.G. Wells. Throughout its compelling text, Prophecies investigates the accuracy of past predictions, and considers those still to be fulfilled.

From Scratch and on a Shoestring: How Absolutely Anyone Can Build an Outstanding Practice by Arthur Leidecker. (1-55212-972-1, $19.97 pb, Trafford Publishing)

Arthur Leidecker has written this book for practitioners in the helping/healing professions. It gives readers a step-by-step guide on how to set up and run a successful practice and how to do it on a shoestring investment. Up until now there has been no reliable textbook creating an economical success strategy for alternative or complementary modality practitioners. In fact, the strategies are so effective that they can be applied in any business. Even established, conventional medical practitioners can greatly enhance their practices by following this book.

Leidecker's direction helps the reader avoid a multitude of expensive mistakes during the first difficult years of practice development. He details how he turned a ten dollar investment for business cards into fifty-two million dollars in just four years.

Galactic Alignment: The Transformation of Consciousness According to Mayan, Egyptian, and Vedic Traditions, by John Major Jenkins. (August 2002, 1-879181-84-3, $18.00 pb, Inner Traditions Intl.)

John Major Jenkins, author of Maya Cosmogenesis 2012, now extends his groundbreaking research to demonstrate that the widely discussed "end-date of December 21, 2012 does not signal the end of time but rather the beginning of a new stage in the evolution of human consciousness. This Galactic Alignment is a rare astronomical event that brings the solstice sun into alignment with the center of the Milky Way every 12,960 years.

Jenkins reconnects us with our own ancient origins and recovers the common thread in the galactic vision of the Maya, Egyptian, Greek and Vedic cosmologies. His work presents a powerful and compelling synthesis of lost wisdom once common to ancient cultures that can help us understand the significance of this coming transformative cosmic milestone.