Inprint - New Books of interest by Jeanne Spiro

God Wears Lipstick: Kabbalah for Women by Karen Berg. (Kaballah Publishing, $17.95, Hardcover.)

In God Wears Lipstick, Kabbalist and international teacher Karen Berg takes women on a journey from before the beginning of time to the end of time, in an exploration of women’s unique spiritual role on this planet.

Based on the secrets of Kabbalah, she explains the spiritual advantage of women, the power of soulmates, and the true purpose of life, and conducts a no-holds-barred discussion of everything from managing relationships to reincarnation to the sacred power and meaning of sex.

Karen Berg says she was a wild child with a crazy childhood. Here she talks about how she overcame her upbringing while never losing a molecule of her feisty street smarts—and how she went on to bring to millions of women a wisdom forbidden to them for 4,000 years.

The Translucent Revolution: How People Just Like You Are Waking Up and Changing the World by Arjuna Ardagh. (New World Library, $16.95, Paperback.)

There is a growing phenomenon happening throughout the world, a gentle but profound revolution in human consciousness. It is something that has been experienced directly by millions of us from all walks of life and the numbers continue to multiply exponentially. The breakthroughs experienced are startlingly similar and are marked by a new sense of well-being, increased joy in life, diminished fear, and a natural impulse to serve and contribute to the world in a real way.

For more than a decade, Arjuna Ardagh has studied this worldwide advance in human consciousness marked by what he calls “translucents”—individuals who have undergone a spiritual awakening deeply enough that it has permanently transformed their relationship to themselves and to reality while allowing them to remain involved in ordinary life. According to conservative estimates, millions have shifted in this way, and while the breakthrough moments themselves don’t guarantee sustained transformation, their increased frequency is remarkable.

The Translucent Revolution draws on the author’s dialogues with thousands of writers, teachers, and workshop participants around the world whose lives emanate “translucence.” He blends observation, anecdote, and research, including commentaries from leading pioneers in the field of human consciousness to offer simple, concrete strategies for cultivating a translucent way of life. He offers a blueprint for positive change and an optimistic perspective on these uncertain times.

The Power of Belief: Essential Tools for an Extraordinary Life by Ray Dodd. (Hampton Roads, $14.95, Paperback.)

We each create our reality simply by what we agree to believe. Sometimes, what we create holds us back from getting results we desire in our personal lives, workplace, and community. In the The Power of Belief, Ray Dodd, former apprentice of Muguel Ruiz, M.D. (author of The Four Agreements), reveals how hidden beliefs create barriers to success and true happiness. Based on everyday wisdom, it offers four simple steps to recreate any belief that stands in our way.

Dodd says our beliefs are not only what we think, but are a multi-dimensional filter through which we experience life. What we believe is hidden from our conscious awareness, but has a major impact on our relationships, finances, and the way we work. He states that what you believe bends your virtual reality and so changing any belief that holds you back is often not simply a matter of changing your thoughts, but addressing and modifying all the elements that created the belief in the first place. In simple terms, he outlines what beliefs are, how we came to them, what they may be creating in our lives and how to change them. He proposes that awareness of what you actually believe is 90% of the process of change, and that true awareness is often the solution itself. Perhaps changing limited beliefs and shifting faith is not such an easy task, but Dodd inspires one to take the leap and deeply examine the power of what we believe.

Happiness Is Your Creation by Swami Rama, compiled by Padit Rajmani Tigunait, Ph.D. (Himalayan Institute Press, $12.95, Paperback.)

When Swami Rama lay on his deathbed, he spoke the following words to Padit Rajmani Tigunait: “You are a creation of God, but happiness is your creation. You are equipped with everything you need to live a happy life. Your only job is to discover the source of happiness within and infuse your surroundings with that inner happiness.” In Happiness Is Your Creation, Tigunait delves deeper into this insight and other lessons he learned from this master.

How do you start down the path to happiness? The tools needed to accomplish this feat are outlined in clear, understandable language. You will learn that the mind is the source of all misery and happiness. It provides both bondage and liberation. But before you can free your mind, you must master your body. Tigunait offers a wealth of insights on how mind and body work together and what you can do to ensure that the two aspects support and nurture each other.

The Secret Lives of Elves & Faeries: From the Private Journal of The Rev. Robert Kirk by John Matthews. (Thorsons Element, $16.95, Hard Cover.)

Lovers of fairy lore know of Reverend Robert Kirk’s astonishing description of life in the fairy hills and courts of the parish of Aberfoyle, Scotland, where he was vicar. But how did Kirk collect this information, and what happened to him when he disappeared on May 24, 1602?

The Secret Lives of Elves and Faeries is the fantastic imagining of Kirk’s private journal, in which he recorded his visits to the fairy realms. This volume chronicles his fairy adventures and also reveals why he disappeared from this world, never to return—a mystery that has never been solved. It takes us along on Kirk’s amazing adventures into the Otherworld and gives a wholly original and delightfully engaging account of the fairy peoples, their history, magical powers, and relations with mankind.

The Zen of Crativity: Cultivating Your Artistic Life by John Daido Loori. (Ballantine Books, $15.95, Paperback.)

This is an introduction to a long overlooked but essential aspect of the Zen tradition: the creative spirit. John Daido Loori is the founder and Abbot of Zen Mountain Monastery—the largest Zen training center in the West and the only one to merge arts training and Buddhist teachings. The Zen of Creativity shares the story of his life and the spiritual path that brought him to Zen through the arts. It provides lessons for integrating the Eastern and Western mind.

The Zen of Creativity offers practical exercises and visual tools to guide us to the recognition and cultivation of our own creativity using the ancient practices of calligraphy, poetry, brush painting, and the tea ceremony. Loori also describes the seven qualities present in the Zen aesthetic, showing how our spiritual and creative lives spring from the same source. Exercises at the end of each chapter help to awaken the creative spirit within. Along the way, we learn of Loori’s own spiritual journey from corporate executive to Buddhist monk, as well as his growth as an artist.

Aura-Soma: Self-discovery Through Color by Vicky Wall. (Healing Arts Press, $16.95, Paperback.)

Aura-Soma is an innovative approach to soul therapy that relies on bottles of dual-colored liquids that incorporate plant extracts, essential oils, and the energies and extracts of precious and semiprecious stones. The energetic properties found in the liquids interact with an individual’s aura to help support equilibrium in the body, mind, and spirit.

The practice of Aura-Soma was developed by Vicky Wall, who drew upon the mystical traditions of the Kabbalah and the medicinal and healing qualities of living plants that she learned from her father. Clairvoyant from childhood, she was able to perceive the subtle energies surrounding an individual. As an adult, this clairvoyant ability was amplified as her physical sight diminished and was eventually lost. Having been apprenticed to a pharmacist in an earlier phase of her life, her understanding of the importance of combining substances resurfaced as she created the first dual-colored Equilibrium bottle. At first she did not know the significance of what she had discovered, but it soon became clear that the oils, extracts, and essences contained in these bottles had remarkable qualities to facilitate perception and self re-remembering.