Inprint - New Books of interest by Jeanne Spiro

Messiah’s Handbook by Richard Bach.. (Hampton Roads, $12.95, Hardcover.)

Richard Bach, author of Jonathan Livingston Seagull and Illusions, has released the book his fans have been waiting for. Messiah’s Handbook was referred to in Illusions by Donald Shimoda, the reluctant Messiah. He carried a small, suede-covered book with that title. Previously unavailable, the book is now here.

Messiah’s Handbook can be used as an inspirational text or, in the words of Donald Shimoda, “You just open it and whatever you need most is there.” Bach’s writing is known for its accessibility and wit. True to that tradition, Messiah’s Handbook will give readers what they are looking for—insight into themselves and the universe. Its convenient pocket size lets you take it everywhere. From the Handbook:

• The biggest reason you don’t get answers is that you haven’t asked the questions.
• You gave your life to become the person you are right now. Was it worth it?
• Life tells you nothing, it shows you everything.
• The original sin is to limit the is. Don’t.

Spiritual Business: The Amazing and True Story of Magical Blend Magazine by Michael Peter Langevin. (Hampton Roads, $14.95, Paperback.)

Magical Blend magazine has been around for 25 years. It is sold in major bookstore chains, and has subscribers in all fifty states and 33 countries. It has published an impressive list of authors, artists and celebrities. But it began as the cooperative project of a small group of visionaries, spiritual pilgrims, poets, artists, and writers.

Publisher Michael Peter Langevin was there from the beginning. In fact, the first issues were put together in his apartment in San Francisco. In Spiritual Business, he tells the whole tale, full of idealism, conflict, perseverance, expensive lessons, ingenuity, blind faith—and sex, drugs, and rock and roll.

The founding members who set out to provide an outlet for the creativity they saw all around them were kids, knowing nothing of business and little of self-discipline. For years they fought the odds, each other, and the economic system. Along the way, the magazine encountered—and overcame—massive staff changes, debilitating illnesses, and bankruptcy. In the process, their youth became maturity, and visionaries became business professionals. Magical Blend’s history demonstrates that you can fulfill your dreams and achieve your highest vision, even if you have to go into business to do it.

The Death of the Mythic God: The Rise of Evolutionary Spirituality by Jim Marion. (Hampton Roads, $14.00, Paperback.)

The ancient world believed God was a physical being who lived high above the stars in heaven while watching over his kingdom. Heaven was a material place, often pictured above in the clouds, where the pious went after they died. Hell, too, was far below the flat earth where sinners would suffer in flaming pits for all eternity. But the world has changed and people are searching for a new spiritual framework. The myths that once dominated religion just don’t work for many of us.

As we recognize the changing of the times, and the death of the old-world God, we find ourselves in a profound spiritual crisis. But despite dwindling church attendance, the pain of war and terrorism has led to an influx of people seeking an authentic spiritual path. According to Jim Marion, a former monk, it is not God who has died but only a particular conception of God (a conception that had prevailed for about 3,000 years).

Those in search of a religious awakening or a new connection to God are in pursuit of something that speaks to the modern spiritual seeker, and Marion provides this new breed of seeker with a roadmap for navigating the post-religion future.

The Spiritual Traveler: Chicago and Illinois by Marilyn J. Chiat. (Hidden Spring, $22.00, Paperback.)

This unique guidebook introduces hundreds of churches, synagogues, mosques, meetinghouses, Eastern temples, and sacred Native American sites. It lists landmarks that rank among America’s oldest and finest works of architecture and that contain treasures of spiritual art and history. It describes beautiful gardens, parks, cemeteries, and other peaceful places, as well as the natural beauty of Illinois’ prairies, hills, forests, rivers, and lakeshores.

Written for readers and seekers of every faith or none, The Spiritual Traveler reveals the stories behind these extraordinary sites and places of spiritual power and takes you to the soul of the nation’s heartland. Its first chapter presents a historic overview of the religious and spiritual life in Chicago and Illinois, and includes brief descriptions of selected faith traditions that provide a perspective on a sacred building or site. Chapter two discusses what to look for in a house of worship and includes descriptions of various architectural styles, building plans, symbolic and decorative artifacts and motifs. The remaining chapters focus on sites in Chicago, broken down by neighborhood, and covers the state by region by region.

GMO Free: Exposing the Hazards of Biotechnology to Ensure the Integrity of Our Food Supply by Mae-Wan Ho, Ph.D., and Lim Li Ching. (Vital Health Publishing, $10.95, Paperback.)

More than six hundred scientists from 72 countries signed an “Open Letter from World Scientists to All Governments” initiated in 1999, which called for a moratorium on the environmental release of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), a ban on patents on living processes, organisms, seeds, cell lines and genes, and a comprehensive public enquiry into the future of agriculture and food security.

Scientific and other developments since then have confirmed concerns over the safety of genetic engineering, genetically modified crops, and food security. At the same time, the successes and benefits of the different forms of sustainable agriculture are undeniable. The evidence makes a strong case for a worldwide ban on all environmental release of GM crops to make way for a comprehensive shift to agroecology, sustainable agriculture and organic farming.

Learn the potentially irrevocable consequences of the decisions major multinational corporations and our government are now making, and begin to take the future of your food supply into your own informed hands.

Trust Your Vibes Oracle Cards by Sonia Choquette. (Hay House, $15.95, Card Deck.)

Take the guesswork out of your decisions and use your sixth sense instead. This card deck by vibrational healer and teacher Sonia Choquette, the author of Diary of a Psychic and Trust Your Vibes, is designed to activate your psychic voice and show you how to live the six-sensory life. Each of the 52 cards in this deck is a creative tool for using your psychic muscles. The cards will give you access to your Divine support system and deepen your connection to your Higher Self.

Use the card deck and the accompanying guidebook daily, and you’ll learn to trust your vibes and experience the ease and flow of six-sensory living.