"Call her Our Lady, La Nuestra Señora, Holy Mother-or one of her thousands of other names," says Dr. Estés. "She wears hundreds of costumes, dozens of skin tones, is patroness of deserts, mountains, stars and oceans. Thus she comes to us in billions of images, but at her center, she is the Great Immaculate Heart."
With Untie the Strong Woman, Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés invites us to reconnect with "the fierce and loving Blessed Mother who is friendly, but never tame-she who flies to our aid when the road is long and our hearts are broken, ever ready to rekindle the inner fire of our creative souls."
In her first book in more than a decade, Dr. Estés illuminates Our Lady through blessings, images, and narrative, including:
Stories of connecting with the Blessed Mother, including "Meeting the Lady in Red," and "Untie the Strong Woman"
Blessed Mother's many images from around the world, including "Litany of The Mother Road: A Chant of Her Incandescent Names;" "A Man Named Mary;" and "The Marys of Mother Africa"
The wild side of her love, including "Massacre of the Dreamers: The Maiz Mother;" "Holy Card of Swords Through the Heart;" and "Guadalupe is a Girl Gang Leader in Heaven"
"The Blessed Mother is often 'Friend to the friendless one' and Mother to all-yet too many of us have been estranged from her for far too long."
Untie the Strong Woman opens a channel to this sacred and nurturing force-"breaking through walls that have held us back from her presence, and instead, inviting us to shelter under her starry green mantle."
This wry memoir tackles twelve different spiritual practices in a quest to become more saintly, including fasting, fixed-hour prayer, the Jesus Prayer, gratitude, Sabbath-keeping, and generosity. Although Riess begins with great plans for success ("Really, how hard could that be?" she asks blithely at the start of her saint-making year), she finds to her growing humiliation that she is failing--not just at some of the practices, but at every single one. What emerges is a funny yet vulnerable story of the quest for spiritual perfection and the reality of spiritual failure, which turns out to be a valuable practice in and of itself.
Describing the heartache, confusion and passionate love that belong to the mystical journey, this series of personal writings explores a central paradox: what belongs to the individual who makes this journey, and what belongs to God? This primary question is discussed in detail, drawing from the author's own experiences and the context of the Sufi tradition. The featured passages are personal, heartfelt, and full of the contradictions the author has endured, demonstrating how the Sufi path is lived today within the heart and soul of a contemporary mystic. Delving beneath the surface into the heart of the mystical relationship with God, this intimate memoir illustrates how challenging and rewarding living this love affair can be.
The fertile land of the five rivers (Punjab in Persian) has persistently stirred the imagination of its peoples. Its story is the story of invasion. In 326 BCE Alexander the Great marched through the Hindu Kush, conquered the verdant plains now divided between India and Pakistan, and stamped Greek cultural and linguistic influence on the region. Over the centuries the lure of the Punjab attracted further waves of outsiders: Scythians, Sassanians, Huns, Afghans, Turks, Mughals, and - closer to our own times - the British. Many savage battles were fought. But at the same time, as different ethnic and religious groups came together and melded, the collective psyche of the Punjab was colored by vibrant new patterns, new worldviews and new languages. Punjabi poetry is the dynamic result of these cross-cultural encounters.
In her rich and diverse anthology, Nikky-Guninder Kaur Singh makes a major contribution to interfaith dialogue and comparative literary studies. Covering the entire spectrum of writers, from the artistic patterns of the first Punjabi poet (Baba Farid, 1173-1265) to feminist author Amrita Pritam (d. 2005), the volume serves as an ideal introduction to the three faiths of Sikhism, Islam and Hinduism. Whether focusing on Sikh gurus or Sufi saints, it boldly illuminates the area's unique character, linguistic rhythms and celebrations, and will have strong appeal to undergraduate students of religion, literature, and South Asian studies, as well as general readers.
A stirring call to move beyond religion for the guidance to improve human life on individual, community, and global levels—including a guided meditation practice for cultivating key human value
Ten years ago, in his best-selling Ethics for a New Millennium, His Holiness the Dalai Lama first proposed an approach to ethics based on universal rather than religious principles. Now, in Beyond Religion, the Dalai Lama, at his most compassionate and outspoken, elaborates and deepens his vision for the nonreligious way. Transcending the mere "religion wars," he outlines a system of secular ethics that gives tolerant respect to religion—those that ground ethics in a belief in God and an afterlife, and those that understand good actions as leading to better states of existence in future lives. And yet, with the highest level of spiritual and intellectual authority, the Dalai Lama makes a claim for what he calls a third way. This is a system of secular ethics that transcends religion as a way to recognize our common humanity and so contributes to a global human community based on understanding and mutual respect.
Beyond Religion is an essential statement from the Dalai Lama, a blueprint for all those who yearn for a life of spiritual fulfillment as they work for a better world.
Deepak Chopra’s New York Times bestselling Buddha, Jesus, and Muhammad are now available together for the first time in this collectible paperback box set. Chopra’s inspiring and revelatory Enlightenment Series is more captivating than ever in this handsome matched gift set, ideal for fans of Chopra’s bestselling works, such as The Seven Spiritual Laws of Superheroes, and perfect for readers of other spiritual leaders and scholars, such as the Dalai Lama, Thich Nhat Hanh, Noah Levine, or C. S. Lewis.
Seven landscapes of prayer, both classic and modern, are explored in this beautifully illustrated, contemporary book
The garden, the desert, the cave, the urban jungle, the mountaintop, the seashore, and the forest—all are fruitful areas for self-discovery, inviting us to connect with the mystery of God in our lives. Prayer is often perceived as a difficult, abstract exercise in which we close our eyes and seek God beyond our everyday experience in an invisible, ethereal realm. Here, concrete connections between the world of prayer and our physical reality are made—allowing us to revel in both the physical and spiritual worlds simultaneously, and become that much closer to God in the process.
Exploring the Hebrew Bible, Midrash, and other rabbinic writings, the Rabbi Timoner uncovers surprising insights about how God as spirit influences Jewish ideas of creation, revelation, and redemption. Written with an accessible and engaging voice, full of stories and relevant teachings, Breath of Life speaks to lay readers and scholars alike, as it pursues a new perspective on Judaism’s sacred texts. This book promises Christian readers meaningful insights on their own notions of God as Holy Spirit while giving Jewish readers a new look at their own tradition.
Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg informs her literary analysis of the biblical text with concepts drawn from Freud, Winnicott, Laplanche, and other psychoanalytic thinkers to make a powerful argument for the idea that the creators of the midrashic commentary, the medieval rabbinic commentators, and the Hassidic commentators were themselves on some level aware of the complex interplay between conscious and unconscious levels of experience and used this knowledge in their interpretations.
In her analysis of the stories of Adam and Eve, Noah, Jonah, Abraham, Rebecca, Isaac, Joseph and his brothers, Ruth, and Esther, Zornberg offers fascinating insights into the interaction between consciousness and unconsciousness as she enhances our appreciation of the Bible as the foundational text in our quest to understand what it means to be human.
Forgiveness is about more than just letting go. It’s about healing wounds and wiping away scars. It’s about feeling better—physically and emotionally. It’s about living your life with purpose and truly moving forward.
In Unconditional Forgiveness, Mary Hayes Grieco offers the Eight Steps to Freedom, a simple, effective eight-step program that teaches readers how to completely forgive in order to achieve both emotional and physical well-being. This step-by-step method incorporates emotional, energetic, and spiritual components that are accessible to everyone and offer lasting success.
Here is a fascinating overview of history, belief and culture, from all the major tribes of the American Indians, from the Apache to the Zuni. At the heart of the book is a treatment of Native ritual and ceremony that illuminates the expression of the spiritual and the sacred in such forms as personal and communal ritual, initiation rites and curing ceremonies. Myth and symbolism are also the focus of major attention, and there is coverage too of such topics as war, prayer, totem poles, maize, hunting, dreams, funerary rites, the great migrations, the sacred landscape, ancestors, trees, the vision quest, the sweat lodge, healing, and the afterlife. A major theme is the reverence shown by Native Americans towards the land - from which we can all learn lessons today. The substantial quotations that punctuate the book include eloquent prose, sublime poetry and stirring speeches by Native American Indians - often moving, sometimes unexpected, and always profoundly connected with earth and spirit, as well as with the ancestral past. As well as an Introduction and an invaluable Documentary Reference section, the book has chapters on the following themes: Tribes & Territories; The Life of the Spirit; Symbol, Myth & Cosmos; Ritual & Sacrament; and The Survival of the Sacred.
