Fine Print – June 2019

All things metaphysical continue to trend. The body-mind-spirit publishers are building on the foundations of the past 50 years and are leading the charge into new territory. I’m calling this the New Metaphysics. Broadly speaking, the New Metaphysics is more straight-forward, more science-friendly and, overall, focused on being inclusive and transparent. What was talked about in hushed voices, in small esoteric circles, is now accepted to be common knowledge that needs to be available to all who seek it. It is truly the dawning of a new age, and nowhere is that more evident than in the world of body-mind-spirit literature. What follows is a diverse selection of New Metaphysical books.

High Vibe Crystal Healing: Crystal Frequencies That Will Rock Your World!

Jolie DeMarco (Publication Date: May 2019 – $19.99 P – ISBN 9780738760698) Llewellyn Publications

www.llewellyn.com

Learn the fascinating art of using crystal frequencies to release negative baggage, heal from ailments, and balance your energy. Featuring 26 crystal body layouts and 66 individual crystals and gemstones, High Vibe Crystal Healing is a groundbreaking book that helps you discover the properties of crystals for healing, fun, and wellness. Explore stone combinations that bring focus and purpose to your life. Discover how to use crystals to go out of body and visit past or parallel lives. Jolie DeMarco also includes a convenient guide to finding which crystals and stones best align with specific ailments. Whether you’re just getting started or are an advanced master healer, this book will help you create harmony and positive vibes.

Queering the Tarot

Cassandra Snow (Publication Date: May 2019 – $14.95 P – ISBN 9781578636488) Weiser Books

www.redwheelweiser.com

As a straight, middle-class Baby Boomer, I admit to being slightly uncomfortable with the word “queer.” It is also true that I have made up my mind not to die of mental rigidity. So a few years back, I began consciously trying on other people’s perspectives and I have come to understand that the LBGTQ+ community speaks the word clearly as a powerful badge of honor. For the moment, as Beth Maiden points out in her brilliant foreword to this book, the queer experience is substantially different from the hetero experience. Both from that perspective, and from the perspective of a long-time student of all things tarot, I herald the release of this book and the new dimensions that it adds to the magical symbolism of the cards. In the page-and-a-half “Word” that follows Maiden’s “Foreword,” Cassandra Snow says that the word “queer” has come to mean the intention to create a community where “others” (all those who need a safer space) are welcomed with open arms. I can think of no better definition of the symbolism of the tarot. Snow is asking The Fool to “walk in another man’s shoes” along the path to enlightenment. The lessons learned are invaluable.

Wild Mercy: Living the Fierce and Tender Wisdom of the Women Mystics

Mirabai Starr (Publication Date: April 2019 – $16.95 P – ISBN 9781683641568) Sounds True

www.soundstrue.com

Writing with her trademark down-to-earth lyricism, Mirabai Starr is tapping into the rising acceptance of the feminine aspect of divinity and putting it into context in the modern world. She shares what she has learned from sages like Teresa of Avila, Mary Magdalene, Hildegard of Bingen, the ecstatic poet Mirabai, and the Sufi saint Rabia Basri, then adds the energies of Kuan Yin, Tara, Kali, Sophia, and the Shekinah. She tells us that she has woven it into a tapestry, making a “flying carpet” that will carry contemporary mystics into a contemplative life. It is not, however, a book about disappearing. It is a book about showing up and seeking out what is holy in the realities of everyday experience. (Chapter 11 is entitled “Dying: The Ultimate Spiritual Practice.”) She writes from the foundation of her personal experience of sexual abuse. She writes for all the women (and men) who are struggling to find their way out of that jungle and into a place of spiritual comfort. She writes about leaving behind the razzle-dazzle of paranormal phenomena in order to bless the ordinary. What she says, and how she says it, is comforting in a real-world way.

UNlearn: 101 Simple Truths for a Better Life

Humble the Poet, a.k.a. Kanwer Singh (Publication Date: April 2019 – $19.99 H – ISBN 9780062905161) HarperOne

www.harpercollins.com

Originally published in Canada as a crowd-funded self-published work, UNlearn has just been released in the U.S. with a new foreword by the author. Written by a rapper and spoken-word artist, the book is powerful in the way that the best of social media is powerful and directly simple in the way that street art is directly simple. Singh was also an elementary school teacher. He is masterful at making the minimum amount of words possible communicate volumes to a moving target. He offers readers wisdom without asking to be considered wise. He offers readers alternatives without making them feel judged. Your customers can probably take any of the self-help books they have at home and find a two to three page synopsis of it in one of Singh’s 101 Simple Truths.  Don’t Let Someone Else Write Your Story; Embrace Your Challenges; If People Don’t Like You for Who You Are, Change the People Not Yourself; Words Are Weapons If You Allow Them To Be; Baby Steps Add Up; Validation is a Helluva Drug; Labels Are Dehumanizing; Nobody Fits In; and Put That Heart on a Leash are just a few of the nuggets Singh elaborates on in the book. It’s all meant to help readers recognize the scripted messages that were implanted in them in childhood. It’s meant to help us break free of self-imposed limitations and claim the dream life that we crave and that Singh believes is possible for us.

The Life-Changing Power of Sophrology: Breathe and Connect with the Calm and Happy You

Dominique Antiglio (Publication Date: March 2019 – $16.95 P – ISBN 9781608686131) New World Library

www.newworldlibrary.com

Widely followed in Europe, sophrology was created 60 years ago in Spain by professor Alfonso Caycedo. The system relies on “dynamic relaxation” to instill breathing techniques, gentle movements and visualizations in order to develop an awareness that will allow readers to overcome stress, decrease anxiety, and help users reach their full potential. While it has much in common with mindfulness practice and many forms of yoga, it differs from all of them in that it is designed to fit easily into a busy lifestyle. The exercises can be used any time and in any place. Perhaps most important, it is adaptable. Users are encouraged to alter the instructions to suit themselves. Swiss-born osteopath and sophrologist Antiglio learned Sophrology at the age of 15. With this well-organized and information-packed book, she is hoping to introduce the system to an American audience. The carefully-thought-out, step-by-step exercises are interwoven with case studies so readers can more easily assimilate what’s being discussed. Customers who are experienced in yoga-like protocols will find new ways to approach the healing and relaxation that they are cultivating. Novices can easily start at the beginning and achieve results.

Field Guide to the Spirit World: The Science of Angel Power, Discarnate Entities, and Demonic Possession

Susan B. Martinez, Ph.D. (Publication Date: March 2019 – $20.00 P – ISBN 9781591433323) Bear & Company

www.innertraditions.com

When I was initiated into the world of spiritualism, I was taught that protection was the most important thing when contacting disembodied spirits. I was also told that a majority of people in mental institutions might be there because they are “oppressed by negative entities.” Now Susan Martinez, who has a doctorate in anthropology from Columbia University, has written this book about encounters in the spirit world that run the whole gamut from selfless helpers to those trapped by their attachment to the material world (I would call them lower astral plane entities). She tells us that a “negative psychic” is one who is “open but not developed, not schooled in vetting psychic input.” She backs it all up with an extensive bibliography. Particularly heart-wrenching are the sections on war veterans, made vulnerable to dark forces by trauma in battle, and then diagnosed as defective by those seeking to avoid the consequences and their care. (John Kerry, in talking about the emotional toll men were carrying as they returned from Vietnam said, “The country doesn’t know it yet, but it’s created a monster …”) More and more people are consciously opening to the energetic realms. It is time for us to have a serious conversation about what that entails. I am grateful to Susan Martinez for beginning the dialogue in such a knowledgeable and caring way.

How High Can You Soar: Eight Powers to Lift You to Your Full Potential

Jennifer Adams (Publication Date: March 2019 – $18.99 P – ISBN 9781582706832) Beyond Words

www.beyondword.com

Adams first dream was to earn money picking strawberries in the fields near her rural home in Oregon. It might seem like an impossible path from there to a degree from Harvard Business School and a successful interior design business. It is, however, the path that Adams walked and her gift is that she was acutely aware of every step she took and able to ascertain how each step brought her closer to the success she claims today. She recognized eight powers that were transformational tools that she, and many other people in all walks of life, used to bring their dreams to fruition. In this very readable book, she describes each of the eight powers in detail. She includes boxes labeled “power moves” throughout as directives for putting her ideas into action. While there is great certainty about what she is communicating, there is always something humble in her writing. One has the sense that she genuinely wants her readers to be successful. The guidance in this book goes a long way toward making that yet another dream that has come true for her.

Dancing with Raven and Bear: A Book of Earth Medicine and Animal Magic

Sonja Grace (Publication Date: September 2018 – $12.99 P – ISBN 9781620558140) Findhorn Press

www.innertraditions.com

Sonja Grace is an intuitive healer who channels Earth medicine and expresses it through her artwork and her gentle story telling. With both Native American and Norwegian heritage, she naturally merges the two spiritual traditions as she offers readers teaching stories about Raven and Bear. The fables are followed by insightful musings about the lessons offered and specific exercises to help readers incorporate the lessons into their daily lives. The earth holds powerful healing energies. Animal magic is meant to bring those into the awareness of those of us who are currently inhabiting the earth plane so that we can reconnect with Earth medicine. This is a magical book which hugs readers like Bear to remind us of the joy of life in its pure form, and then removes the layers of misguided conceptions so that we can fly free with Raven.

The Book of Herb Spells

Cheralyn Darcey (Publication Date: September 2018 – $19.99 P – ISBN 9781925682267) Rockpool Publishing

www.redwheelweiser.com

This beautifully designed book is a stunning compendium of herbal magic. In addition to the 60 herbal spells which are carefully detailed, Darcey has included concise, yet complete, information on both biological protection (from poisonous plants) and psychic protection (from negative energies). She has also provided botanical meanings of magical herbs, a glossary of terms, as well as correspondences for moon phases, days of the week, time of day, colors, and crystals. There are instructions for growing and harvesting herbs for magical work (and for obtaining magical herbs if you can’t grow your own). The book will be accessible to novice practitioners and a handy, compact reference for those experienced in the magical power of plants. It will make a beautiful gift for gardeners and/or spellcasters.