Overview: Astrology’s Magical Nodes of the Moon: Releasing the Past & Embracing the Future will guide you in learning the basics about astrology, the importance of the moon’s nodes in your birth chart, and your soul’s higher purpose.

Verdict: The Nodes of the Moon serve as your passport to understanding your past lives. This dynamic polarity reveals the best ways to integrate past-life energies into harmony and creative success. Embracing the energy of your north node, for instance, will help you master your soul mission in this lifetime.

In Astrology’s Magical Nodes of the Moon, you will be shown how to take the shadow away from your past-life influences and learn ways to channel this powerful energy into alignment with your current life goals.

The authors of this book will discuss the nodes that you were born with, and guide you through a customized approach to find the love and success you want to attain.

As we soon learn from this enthralling new book from authors Carmen Turner-Schott (an author, licensed clinical social worker, psychological astrologer and teacher) and Bernie Ashman (author of several astrology books), The North and South Nodes, also known as the Lunar Nodes, are celestial points that not only reveal your purpose in this lifetime but also the forces driving you toward it: The North Node is where you’re going, and the South Node is where you came from.

Furthermore, every year and a half, the lunar nodes change signs. In our birth charts, the different placements and signs show us our past and current destiny.

OK, so for those still not following along at home, they represent the points in space where eclipses could happen — spots that hold the potential for eclipse action, if you will. It’s also important to note, I feel, that they are not actual physical objects, but when both the sun and moon simultaneously orbit near the nodes, that’s when eclipses occur.

So what both authors do here is go through, and fully explore, every possible nodal sign or house configuration, revealing informational tidbits, chunks of pertinent knowledge, that will quite clearly show the reader the overall importance of of the nodes of the moon and how they do indeed connect us with the past, even how karma fits in, whilst at the same time help us see the path to our future, and of course, our present life soul’s purpose.

Simply put, this book will inspire you instantly to put the information to work to fulfill your current life dreams, for it is an easy to follow, and wholly compassionate guide that you have unknowingly been waiting for your entire life to read.

About the Authors - Carmen Turner-Schott, MSW, LISW, is a practicing licensed clinical social worker, astrologer, writer, and teacher with a national and international clientele. She has worked with victims of trauma for over 25 years. Since 2010 she has managed several Facebook Astrology groups which have over 50K members from all over the world. She lives in Troy, Illinois.

Bernie Ashman is the author of several astrology books. He has written two bestselling past life books, and his most popular book, How to Survive Mercury Retrograde, is considered by many to be the best book written on Mercury Retrograde cycles.

Bernie is a professional astrologer serving clients internationally. His insightful interpretations have also been utilized for astrology software programs used worldwide and now produced by Cosmic Patterns in the U.S. He lives in Durham, NC.

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Overview: When we are young, we think little about growing old. But time soon catches up with us: the first gray hair, a buckling knee, the purchase of reading glasses, or when a heart attack at the age of 56 rattles your world and reminds you that none of us gets out of here alive.

In this meditative and intimate personal narrative on the act of aging, David W. Berner discovers how to accept and revel in the present, when the days that remain are fewer than those that have passed, and offers a path for celebrating life’s final chapters.

Verdict: Through the lessons of seasonal change, the natural world, literature, and spirituality, Berner gives us a kind of instruction book on the art of growing older, challenging us to accept aging’s transformative powers. As a keen observer of the world, he forms a guiding philosophy on how to discover joy in the time we have left and nourishment in life’s remaining seasons.

In what is a very highly personal reveal behind the curtain by the author himself, David W. Berner shines a light on what, I think, we all fear: growing old and the signs, hazards, and actual joys that can accompany such a time of ones life.

Thus, what his new book Daylight Saving Time: The Power of Growing Older does it not only bring into view a clearer picture of the transformations that come with this stage of our lives, but written in such a way, also lovingly guides us through our hopes and fears, whilst at the same time answering a lot of our burning questions.

A written guide, shall we say, about ones journey of self-discovery and acceptance, it encourages us all to find meaning and purpose in the later stages of life, and not just sit and worry them away.

As noted above, the prose is very personal to the author, as he brings forth his own stories, personal insights about what he himself has already encountered and what he next expects to, but it also informatively explores the collective wisdom found in literature, spirituality, and the natural world.

In closing, what Daylight Saving Time: The Power of Growing Older truly succeeds in doing is unearthing the true significance of growing older and the lessons it brings, whilst at the same time basically telling us to explore the transformative power of living fully in the present moment.

About the Author - David W. Berner is the author of several works of memoir and fiction. He is also an award-winning broadcaster and journalist, and lives outside Chicago with his wife, Leslie, and dog, Sam. David has been honored by the Society of Midland Authors, the Chicago Writers Association, and the Eric Hoffer Book Awards. He’s also been the Writer-in-Residence at the Jack Kerouac Project and at the Ernest Hemingway Birthplace Home and Museum.

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Overview: Soul Connection with Horses: Healing the Mind and Awakening the Spirit through Equine Assisted Practices by author Suzanne Court, is a book that reveals that horses can teach humans healthier ways of being, deepening innate wisdom and enabling soul-to-soul connections.

Verdict: Working with horses as equal partners in the equine-assisted space while respecting their intuitive wisdom leads to life-changing psycho-spiritual understandings, learning and healing, is what author Suzanne Court has not only done, but has brought forth her findings on here within this incredible new book.

Soul Connection with Horses: Healing the Mind and Awakening the Spirit through Equine Assisted Practice introduces concepts of awakening and spaciousness as understood in many spiritual traditions and demonstrates that horses effectively model awakening for humans. Through this approach horses help re-establish natural bonds and intuitive ways of knowing that have become obscured by conditioned thought and ineffective individual narratives.

Horses show us that we can trust our intuition and learn how to live from the soul while making meaningful connection with ourselves, other people, animals and the natural environment. By considering how horses experience the world through their senses, how they process emotion and how they express their needs, we see that they live through the same social, psychological and spiritual paradigms as humans.

Following equine assisted therapy and learning practices through to their logical conclusions, horses naturally lead us to questions of “who am I?” and “what is life?” They help us transcend non-functioning personal stories as we step out of ineffective ways of thinking and being and discover connection and wholeness.

Given my family grew up with horses, I have always know that equine-assisted services (EAS) - a term used to refer to various services in which professionals incorporate horses and other equines to benefit people - have been made readily available for time immemorial.

But this service goes a lot further than just being some terminology used for animal-assisted services or interventions, for when undertaken, it’s primary focus can also be of equine-assisted therapy (EAT) - which is about addressing mental health challenges and emotional well-being - while equine-assisted learning (EAL) primarily focuses on educational and personal development goals.

Author Suzanne Court, PhD, is a qualified equine assisted therapist and mental health practitioner with over 30 years’ horse experience and ten years’ experience working professionally with horses in the mental healing and spiritual space, and so who better to bring forth such an in-depth and highly informative prose on the subject to hand.

But for all those interested, the book also covers other animal-related therapy, albeit briefly, and thus makes the whole subject matter seem more generously rounded to me. Sure, horses are the main focus here, but the book is really good at being easy to read, easy to pick back up (the chapters are not long and far from arduous to get through), and therefore provides an easy-to-follow guide for anyone looking to either get into this profession, or benefit from it.

In closing, this book invites equestrians, equine assisted practitioners and seekers of spiritual connection, to walk in the hooves of the horse, to experience the horses’ worldview and to access your own soulful wisdom.

About the Author - Suzanne Court, PhD, is a qualified equine assisted therapist and mental health practitioner with over 30 years’ horse experience and ten years’ experience working professionally with horses in the mental healing and spiritual space. She teaches group and individual courses and gives lectures on Equine Assisted Therapy. She comes from a musical and academic background, having been a performing classical guitarist and a professor of music. She has published widely in historical musicology, and this book is her first regarding horses. She lives in Waikato, New Zealand.

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Overview: Creating a Happy World: Cultivating Happiness through the Transcendental Meditation Program by author Patricia Anne Saunders details how according to global reports, sadness is increasing, but with the Transcendental Meditation program, happiness can expand far beyond our current expectations.

Verdict: Since stress, worry, and sadness appear to be on the rise, Creating a Happy World examines two paths to combat these and create a happy world - the path of the individual, which can be transformed through achieving higher states of consciousness with the Transcendental Meditation program; and the path of society, which can be transformed through the impact of Transcendental Meditation on collective consciousness.

For those still wondering, Transcendental Meditation [TM] is a simple mental technique, practiced silently with the eyes closed, sitting in any comfortable position. TM is basically a technique for avoiding distracting thoughts and promoting a state of relaxed awareness. The method became popular due to its association with the Beatles, but TM continues to be studied and practiced today for its health benefits.

According to supporters of TM, when you meditate, the ordinary thinking process is “transcended.” It’s replaced by a state of pure consciousness. In this state, you achieve perfect stillness, rest, stability, order, and a complete absence of mental boundaries. The end goal is to achieve a state of relaxed awareness.

Thus here in Creating a Happy World: Cultivating Happiness through the Transcendental Meditation Program, author Patricia Anne Saunders details how she believes we can all begin to not only care more for ourselves, but for others also, and ultimately, the future of humanity.

So if you have lived a life devoid of any genuine happiness, or maybe you have lived, laughed and loved, but now, in your latter years, you are feeling alone, disillusioned and just overwhelmed at how your life is ebbing slowly away without a kernel of joy seemingly to be found, I implore you to buy this book. As it will not only shine a light on different ways to encourage and grow personal happiness within you, but will also generate the want to see that happiness acquired by others around you also.

And so, by the time readers have finished reading, the author hopes they will feel more happiness in their own lives, a greater belief that life has a purpose, and increased optimism for the future of humanity. I know I did.

About the Author - Patricia Saunders studied music before training as a teacher of the Transcendental Meditation technique. She is now a Ph.D. researcher in the department of Maharishi Vedic Science at Maharishi University of Management, researching into consciousness and Vedic sound from the perspective of the Vedic tradition of knowledge. She lives in Fairfield, Iowa, USA.

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Overview: This is the story of America’s zaniest presidential candidate - who wants to turn the whole population into cyborgs! It’s a true story… stranger than fiction!

Verdict: “Don’t stand there!”

Zoltan almost stepped on a landmine. He was in Vietnam, reporting for National Geographic. If his guide hadn’t warned him -- he’d be dead. Zoltan didn’t want to die. Who does?

But Zoltan realized something else just then. He didn’t want to die ever… In fact, he didn’t want anyone to die ever again. It’s an idea he’s been pushing now for years. He’s a leader in the “transhumanism” movement, which wants to merge humans with machines.

Zoltan drove a bus shaped like a coffin across the US, to teach people about the new frontiers of science that mean death is not inevitable. His presidential campaigns have attracted global attention. Imagine there were no diseases, because science had cured them all. Imagine storing your mind in a computer. Living longer than you ever expected -- for hundreds of years!

This is the extraordinary story of Zoltan’s war on death and from start to finish Transhuman Citizen by author Ben Murnane is engrossing, informatively sculpted, freshly original, and above all, an enticing read that is hard to put down at any time (I read it cover to cover in just three sittings).

You see, the author isn’t simply Ben Murnane, he is actually Dr. Murnane, and thus has a grasp on futurist issues and libertarian philosophy, so much so that their collective worlds collide here rather nicely.

Brought forth through the mind of a person who himself has battled a rare genetic illness, Falconi anemia, which itself comes with a low life expectancy, Murnane’s views on posthumanism, politics, longevity and thoughts on life extension all come to the fore here, in such a way as to push the limits of the human boundaries - both mental and physical - to allow us a little insight into a deeply personal life thus far lived, and that now bleeds its way onto these pages in a way to proffer hope to us all for longer lives to possibly come.

About the Author - Ben Murnane writes on culture, travel, health, technology, and politics. He is the author of five books, including a memoir of life with a rare genetic disease, Fanconi anemia. He holds a PhD from Trinity College Dublin, and his work has featured in various newspapers and academic publications. He lives in Ashford, Ireland.

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Overview: Inner Space Philosophy by author James Tartaglia is a unique philosophic fantasia, using imagination and drama to argue for philosophy’s vital importance to the human future.

Verdict: Inner Space Philosophy is both a work of original philosophy and an entertainment package, since Tartaglia believes imaginative presentation to be a crucial feature of our philosophical traditions, one which has been neglected to our detriment in the drive to model philosophy on science.

Arguing for the utmost importance of philosophy to the human future, such that we must eventually become a philosophical people, Tartaglia discusses topics such as the meaning of life, idealism, materialism, determinism, video games and existential threats.

These discussions transpire through ethereal encounters with philosophers from throughout world history, some from the distant future and prehistoric past, as well as a cosmic battle between Lady Luck, Fate and Philosophy, and a biography of Gambo Lai Lai the Cynic, a philosopher from Trinidad who flourished during the golden age of calypso music.

Ergo, this is a book which amazes, challenges and provokes deep reflection in equal measure and one in which I myself dived into head first and nearly managed to read all the engaging prose written between the covers in the one day.

It truly is that an appealing, enticing subject matter to me and millions of others, and thus I hope even the random passerby’s can find some form of intrigue here to grip onto and therefore delve deeper into the world of Inner Space Philosophy, told here through the educated, informatively sculpted mind of James Tartaglia.

For what Tartaglia has done is take the subject of philosophy and make it an engaging experience for all that open the pages of this most wonderful new book on the subject matter to hand. So now, for all intents and purposes, Inner Space Philosophy has humor, wit and insight free flowing within it, which can only spark debates, and our very own thinking on the subject to expands in the most gloriously unusual, and contemplative of ways.

About the Author - James Tartaglia is a British philosopher who tries to write original philosophy books that might interest both the general public and professionals. He defends existential nihilism, metaphysical idealism, and the view that the discipline of philosophy is unified by the question of the meaning of life. He is also a jazz musician who makes Jazz-Philosophy Fusion. He lives in Sutton Coldfield, UK.

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Overview: Science and religion study the same phenomenon - the cosmos itself - but an impenetrable barrier seems to separate them. Author Tim Garvin removes that barrier and offers a resonant handshake.

Verdict: Instead of sitting across from each other in opposition, scientists and seekers can sit at a table made round by wonder. As Everything Makes Sense dives into the nature of knowing and existence, it reveals a mutuality in humankind unimagined by theology or biology, a mutuality in the nature of being itself.

From there, Everything Makes Sense develops an explanation of existence by employing the thought and insight of the inner world’s two most penetrating cartographers, Aurobindo Ghose and Meher Baba, whose work and a close-notice of life itself reveal the deep purpose of creation.

Having now read this book twice through, and via back-to-back sessions no less, I can testify to the fact that Everything Makes Sense is a generously thought-provoking book that will have you second-guessing your own long held opinions on existence, life and consciousness therein, whilst at the same time challenging any prevailing notions about the nature of intelligence and the limitations of physicalism.

Effortlessly veined with an erstwhile heartfulness, a desire to protract a response from any and all readers, whilst at the same time offering a deeply thought-provoking prose on the subject matter to hand via a rather spirited form of narrative, the book invites us in, encouraging us to immerse ourselves in some brilliantly deep existential questions about personal meaning and about our very own place in the universe.

Simply put, Garvin carefully guides us on a journey of self-discovery throughout each and every one of these carefully crafted pages, and hopes that all open-minded readers will find a treatise that confronts the deep issues of life with a spirit of wonder and a sincere desire for truth. I know it did for me, and I can only hope that it does for you also.

About the Author - Tim Garvin studied philosophy in college, became dissatisfied with its emptiness, and began to prowl the library for books about the inner world. Eventually he discovered the work of Aurobindo Ghose. A year later, in 1969, he was introduced to Meher Baba. He traveled to India more than a dozen times to visit Meher Baba’s tombsite and speak with his mandali, those who lived their entire lives under his direction. He lives in Durham, NC.

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Overview: Waking Up to Your Self: A Guide to Living Your Truth by author Patrick Marando is a spiritual self-help book about awakening — remembering who you really are — by following a step-by-step guide to living from the true self.

Verdict: Drawing on more than 20 years of experience as a spiritual teacher and psychologist, Patrick Marando has written a guide to remembering who you really are - teaching how you, too, can live from the state he calls the true self.

Patrick bridges the gap between spirituality and modern psychology, describing how we become disconnected from our true self, providing a guide to remembering your truth and fully awakening to who you are. The result will be a life of well-being, peace, and fulfillment.

Patrick also discusses how the mind develops and functions, how it doesn’t always align with the true self; he explains how to utilize our minds to help - instead of limit - us. He thoroughly describes our common emotions and tells us why we have them, how to manage and utilize them to help align with the true self.

In what is both an enlightening and thoroughly interesting read, and from start to finish, Waking Up to Your Self: A Guide to Living Your Truth has proven to be a big hit here in this house, of that you can be assured.

Marando, who is not only an author, spiritual teacher and psychologist, but with over 20 years of experience has grown his spiritual teachings to revolve around bridging the gap between spirituality and psychology, which has enabled him to use his studies in Zen Buddhism, Taoism, Non Dualism, New Age philosophies and modern psychology, has obviously put his heart and soul, his dedicated spiritualism into this prose and it shines abundantly through.

Thus here within these pages you will find a plethora of useful and informative prose of reading materials on the subject matter to hand, along with ways to help yourself find, and then become a better version of yourself. Chock full of informatively creative, self-sculpted life tips, all of which are very easy to put into practice, there are even some hidden gems about life and the way we live it sprinkled throughout (so read slowly and absorb everything).

In closing, and simply put, with his clear explanations and practical exercises, Patrick Marando has created a step-by-step guide to being human and overcoming the barriers to living your truth.

About the Author - Patrick Marando is a spiritual teacher and psychologist from Sydney, Australia with over 20 years of experience. His spiritual teachings revolve around bridging the gap between spirituality and psychology using his studies in Zen Buddhism, Taoism, Non Dualism, New Age philosophies and modern psychology, and focus on living from a state of truth. He had his first awakening experience at the age of 28 and since that time his awakening has grown deeper and deeper.

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Overview: Early Jazz: A Concise Introduction, from Its Beginnings through 1929 by author Fumi Tomita, is an overview of the beginnings of jazz from its nineteenth-century roots through 1929, when elements of the Swing Era began to emerge. It is the first book on early jazz history in over fifty years and fills a compelling need for an update that reflects recent research.

Verdict: With a broad definition of jazz that encompasses the artistic and the commercial, the book’s inclusive tone allows for a wide spectrum of musicians, including not only pioneering African American and white musicians but also those who are commonly skipped or skimmed over in jazz history textbooks -- lesser-known sidemen, prominent instrumentalists, entertainers or novelty performers, women, vocalists, and American jazz musicians who introduced jazz on their travels around the world.

Twenty songs are analyzed in depth, but no musical knowledge is required to understand or to read Early Jazz. The book is written as an introduction for fans, students, musicians, historians, scholars, and anyone who is interested in this fascinating era of jazz history.

Here in this rather wondrous new book, the Associate Professor of Jazz Pedagogy and Performance at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Fumi Tomita brings forth an informatively impassioned deep dive into one of the most fascinating, and yet highly unobserved prose wise, eras of jazz history.

Now, admittedly, Tomita considers this new book to be an updated version of Gunther Schuller’s own text re: Early Jazz: Its Roots and Musical Development, his book having provided the basis for his own, and has freely divulged that he has also drawn on more recent books and articles that explore this music, but let that not take away from the fact that this prose might well be nearly as old as Schuller’s book, the research has always been professional, written by authoritative figures in their respective fields, and in many cases, still relevant today.

Hence why the book is enthralling and genuinely mesmerizing with regard its exploration on the studies of the early jazz that not only shaped the world we now know and love, but this book also, of course.

Citing other early jazz artists that helped create this book, such as Richard Sudhalter, the Thomas Brothers, Court Carney, Thomas Hennessey, and even Brian Harker’s study of Louis Armstrong’s Hot Five and Seven, what we get here swerves the usual jazz history that we have all now grown accustomed to reading, and instead chooses to focus on an individual jazz era.

Hence we are graced with Early Jazz – A Concise Introduction, From Its Beginnings Through 1929, where Tomita studies some really early, but nonetheless influential jazz, whilst recognizing the musical significance of lesser-known players who just didn’t seem to get the fully deserved recognition that they oh-so fully deserved.

During the early 1900s, jazz was mostly performed in African-American and mulatto communities due to segregation laws. Storyville brought jazz to a wider audience through tourists who visited the port city of New Orleans. Many jazz musicians from African-American communities were hired to perform in bars and brothels.

However, jazz didn’t really come into its own until the mid-1920s. Indeed, many consider the 1920s the start of the jazz age since that’s when it first became broadly popular in the US and Europe.

Furthermore, it was the novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald who termed the 1920s The Jazz Age. With its earthy rhythms, fast beat, and improvisational style, jazz symbolized the decade’s spirit of liberation. At the same time, new dance styles arose, involving spontaneous bodily movements and closer physical contact between partners.

In this new book, the first couple of chapters outline these very same musical roots and beginnings of jazz, whilst the third chapter focuses on the development of jazz in New Orleans through the first recorded white bands from the late-1910’s and the early-1920’s.

Chapter four then centers on King Oliver and Jelly Roll Morton, African-American New Orleans musicians in Chicago. Chapters five through seven focuses on different aspects of jazz in New York, including the white studio jazz scene, stride piano, and an overview of important dance bands.

Chapters on Louis Armstrong and Bix Beiderbecke (eight and nine, respectively) cover two of the most important soloists in the history of jazz and chapter ten acknowledges those who are pioneers and leaders on their individual instruments, whilst chapter eleven broadens the scope of early jazz beyond New Orleans, Chicago and New York with an overview of territory bands, particularly those in the Southwest.

Chapters twelve and thirteen focus on those traditionally neglected groups within jazz history including vocalists and pioneers around the world. This thirteenth, and final chapter focusing more on pioneering American musicians whose travels around the world helped introduce and popularize jazz.

About the Author - Bassist, composer, and educator Fumi Tomita was active in the New York jazz scene for over fifteen years, having performed with Sheila Jordan, Steve Davis, Christian Sands, Luis Perdomo, Dave Liebman, Jeff Coffin, Steve Wilson, Felipe Salles, and others.

He has recorded two CDs under his name, “Untold”, a set of original compositions, and “Impromptu”, a piano trio set performing standards. His newest recording, “The Elephant Vanishes: Jazz Interpretations of the Short Stories of Haruki Murakami”, was released by Origin Records in 2019.

As a researcher, he has presented his work at the Jazz Education Network, BassEurope, Massachusetts Music Educators Association and the National Association for Music Education. His article on bassist Charlie Haden, “As Long As There’s Music: Spirituality in Charlie Haden’s Performancle and Solo on ‘Irene’”, was published in Jazz Perspectives.

His book “The Jazz Rhythm Section” was published by NAfME in conjunction with Rowman & Littlefield and was released in 2019. His other research interests include musical instrument technology and the history of jazz, early jazz bass history, and the music of Doug Hammond. He is currently the Assistant Professor of Jazz at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

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Overview: In the Grasp, a realm on the threshold of enlightenment, the dactyli guard the fading embers of their ancient brotherhood, dedicated to the pursuit of absolute truth. Lovelace and Gunnar, two of the order’s last rangers, find themselves on the precipice of a changing world.

Verdict: When the order faces a fatal threat from within, Lovelace and Gunnar embark on a dangerous ranging, whereon they discover that more than the welfare of the order is at stake: a rogue dactyli named Alev amasses an army of those he calls the Burned Ones, mercenaries wielding elemental forces. Lovelace and Gunnar are forced to grapple with the unimaginable implications.

Meanwhile, the Grasp languishes under the oppressive rule of Osbert, who exploits the recent advent of the printing press to smoor the fires of budding enlightenment. A young woman named Kylene undertakes a journey to find her missing father, a prominent printer wanted for sedition. Her path leads her to the kapnobatai, a mysterious group of outcasts with whom Kylene takes up refuge and the mantle of her father’s fight for freedom.

In the mountains of Droch Fhortan, Lovelace and Gunnar encounter a feral young woman, Cora. Her mere existence uproots an age-old belief and puts to ground a new truth: magic can be awakened, magic can be taught. As their paths intertwine, a shared purpose emerges - to expose Osbert’s tyranny, thwart Alev’s dangerous plot, and rekindle the flame of enlightenment.

So begins the battle for the minds of the Graspish people, and a quest for the heart of magic itself.

In what is an engrossing read from start to finish, author Maressa Voss not only brings forth a secret society beset by evil, one that is dutifully, and at time magnificently rich in textured prose, that is both engaging and entertaining, but at the very same time it provides an atmospherically tender coming of age tale for the generations.

Instilled with the most unlikeliest of heroes, along with swirls and twirls of magic and fantastical endeavors, we are brought into a world where nature has been stripped of its resources and there is an overbearing sense of corruption and big brother overshadowing everyone.

But what ebbs and flows throughout the book is a genuine sense of prevailing compassion, and moreover, what can be done when heroes rise to the occasion within this fast-paced, enjoyable, and at all times empoweringly magical new novel.

About the Author - Maressa Voss lives with her husband and son in California, between the mountains and the sea. She holds a degree in Classics from UCSB with an emphasis in Language and Literature. When Shadows Grow Tall is her debut novel. She is currently working on “writing what she knows” with a dys/utopian novel set in a near-future alternative Southern California.

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Overview: This book will take you on a journey to awaken a spiritual relationship with the seal, familiarizing you with the seal’s anima as well as its history with the Gaelic ancestors of the British Isles.

Verdict: The Clan of the Seal on North Uist, and the traditional oral storytellers, were the transmitters and custodians of folklore, who told tales about the kindly selchie and revered seals as sacred, akin to their own family.

The gentle seal will help reclaim what is lost within as we remember our Celtic heritage and identity in this fragile world. Seal lore teaches valuable lessons in integrity and kindness, and ignites our imagination, leading us to the seal’s inner landscape of presence and peace -- inevitably towards our own inner peace.

This is the magic of the seal; not lost, but found.

As we all most likely know, Seals are pinnipeds, a group of animals with three separate families—phocidae (eared seals), otaridae (non-eared seals), and odobenidae (walruses)—that are the only mammals that feed in the water and breed on land.

Seals are found along most coasts and cold waters, but a majority of them live in the Arctic and Antarctic waters. Harbor, ringed, ribbon, spotted and bearded seals, as well as northern fur seals and Steller sea lions live in the Arctic region.

But what we get here in this brand new book The Magic of the Seal: Ocean Messengers from author Melanie Godfrey, is moreover a revealing of just how magical, how legendary and how soulful Seals have been and continue to be for our planet.

Inclusive of generous bouts of folklore, scientific facts and historical mythology, we learn from the off that seals and humanity have had a long, and complicated relationship for thousands of years, and so what the author does here is explore their folklore, through both an historical and scientific lens, so that we might all become better sea life enthusiasts.

Dedicated to Elizabeth and all the wild seals who wander the oceans, who need our compassion, protection and understanding, The Magic of the Seal: Ocean Messengers is an incredible read, and one that we can only hope brings new, inspired, forward-thinking thoughts to all those who have a devoted love for these most wondrous of God’s creatures.

About the Author - Melanie Godfrey was born in Cheshire but grew up in Cornwall, the Land of Saints. Melanie is a qualified Therapeutic Counsellor with the Counselling and Psychotherapeutic Central Awarding Body UK, a Spiritualist Healer with The Healing Trust UK, and currently studying Druidry with the Order of Bards, Ovates, and Druids. She lives in Cornwall, UK.

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Overview: Spells are something that almost every magical practitioner utilizes. Often when stepping into the world of magic and spellcasting for the first time, it can be difficult to understand how to navigate crafting your first spell and what steps to take towards building your own personal practice. Spellcraft and Spellwork is a practical guide on the inner and outer workings of spellcasting.

Verdict: In short, this book brings the reader back to the basics, and introduces everything you need to know about crafting and working spells. The way in which each magic worker will craft their spell will vary greatly.

Author Ariana Carrasca provides explanations of the foundations of spellcasting in a way which highlights the practitioner’s own personal experience and to help them build a craft which is truly unique to them.

In what is not your atypical so-called spell book, what we have here in Pagan Portals - Spellcraft and Spellwork: A Guide to the Magical Practice of Spells is a magical set of eight chapters and a conclusion that tells it like it is from the start.

Opening by telling us that magic is a truly enigmatic, ancient force, that it is indeed something amazing, she continues with the fact that since humans have lived and connected to their environment, the practice of magic has captivated many.

Thus here within these 90 odd pages, we are lovingly guided through a most wondrous, enthralling, engaging world where as we walk, we are also given the tools to create your own connections to the magical practice of spells.

Informing us from the onset that a large majority of modern witchcraft consists of stems from European histories of witchcraft, and in particular, British witchcraft, the book is insightful, sensitively tremendous, and Ariana’s disciplined approach here is amazingly guided and profoundly spoken.

Not only is this book really well researched, but this most generous of teachers is a pure genius at taking us by the hand and walking us through this most colorful, and impassioned of magical, spellbinding landscapes.

About the Author - Ariana Carrasca, also known as The Oak Witch, creates educational witchcraft and paganism content as a creator on YouTube and writer. She is an ecologist, English folk witch and pagan, who has been in the craft for over a decade and hails from East Anglia, UK.

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Overview: Within each woman there is a Goddess waiting to bloom. How can crystals help you connect with you inner Goddess so that you can transform your life for the better?

Verdict: Crystals for Your Inner Goddess combines energetic healing properties of crystals with personal growth insights. You will learn how to use crystals to awaken and maintain your inner Goddess powers - to uplift, inspire, nurture and heal yourself.

From heartbreak and rejection to reaching a place of self-love, higher awareness and fulfillment, crystals help you step into your power and attract abundance, success, true love or anything else your heart desires.

For your inner Goddess is deep within you ready to bloom. She might be in a deep sleep, if you haven’t given yourself the attention and love you deserve, or she might be half-awake, if you have already begun walking your soul path and listening to your heart.

Your inner Goddess is the part of you that knows how to flow with the currents of life. She knows when to hold on and when to let go, and when the timing is right to take a leap of faith. She is the wise old woman with wrinkled skin and cracked teeth; she is the sweet teenage girl, the innocent lover, the fiercely protective mother, the career woman and the witch, all in one.

She has seen you suffer, and she knows you have been disrespected, rejected, ridiculed, and your heart broken many times, only to start all over again. Just when you are close to giving up, she whispers in your ear Believe in me. I will never let you down!.

In short, your inner Goddess embodies the most empowered version of yourself and thus this new book features beautiful photos of crystals and simple crystal rituals to enhance your emotional well-being and inner peace, which is what I myself found very helpful when not only learning about new crystals (to me) but visualizing them also, all in a way that shows you how you can use crystals to awaken and maintain your own inner Goddess powers.

Indeed, what author Elina Allais has brought forth here is an easy to read, easy to follow, thoroughly informative, wholly engrossing work of collective prose that with such a high, and in today’s society, ever growing demand for empowerment through crystals, everybody should be picking up a copy of.

For it is not only just a brilliant coffee table book to be kept laying around for your guests to pick up and peruse, but, and moreover, it is both highly empowering, and spiritually uplifting; let alone I should also state that it is masterfully well written also.

About the Author - Elina Allais is a crystal healer and a writer. Her articles about crystals, spirituality and personal growth have inspired readers all over the world. When she isn’t writing or working with crystals, Elina expresses her inner Goddess through pole dancing.

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Overview: The Infinite Pickle is a collection of 14 playful mathematical pickles. Each pickle is a whole family of puzzles - the baby bear ones have been play-tested in classrooms of seven and eight-year-olds - the big mama bear ones are difficult for the most experienced puzzlers.

Verdict: So, why would you be curious enough to invest your hard earned into purchasing this book? Well, maybe because you won’t get these puzzles in any other book, they’re uniquely flexible and fun and will get the kids in your classroom loving maths! Oh, and because they’re fun for you to try out too!

Within the pages of this thoroughly engrossing new puzzle book you find puzzles of all shapes and sizes, and more importantly, they will all help you think and connect with your inner intelligence.

For beginners and those of us that are advanced thinkers, the book and the puzzle container therein are very worthwhile to undertake, clever, delightful and aside from being a great gift for all math lovers, each pickle is a whole family of puzzles, in and unto themselves.

The baby bear ones have been play-tested in classrooms of seven and eight year olds, whereas the big mama bear ones are difficult or even the most experienced of puzzlers!

Most puzzles require general rules and unique hints, such as like in Sudoku, where only one number goes in each square, or today’s crossword puzzle has the hint 26 Across: Greek god of hunting, and so forth.

The book contains a table of puzzles, with such categories as Uncut Spaghetti, Jumping Frogs, The Greedy Pickle Monster, Glue, Wiggle Wiggle Wiggle Worm, and both Bubbling Cauldrons and Banyan Tree, and you can take it from me that each and every puzzle is not only creative, but wholly innovative.

And I don’t use that word innovative lightly, as here you will experience puzzles that, perhaps, do not even have a solution, or they have one but it is hidden, or perhaps there are multiple solutions to the one puzzle!

Preparing children for algebra along with the concept of existence within analysis, many of the puzzles also involve - indirectly or directly - graph theory, an area of math that isn’t part of the K12 curriculum, but is nonetheless important to a growing, curious mind, I think you will agree.

In short, The Infinite Pickle: Math Puzzles for Everyone! by author Gordon Hamilton is a most wondrous exploration and discovery of patterns and solutions for everyone to enjoy, no matter what age you may be. Participation is the key throughout and with the problems being, at times, deep, it invites real mathematical inquiries to be made of them all.

About the Author - Gordon is a father of two teenagers - professionally he is best known for the board game Santorini and being the founder of MathPickle.com. He lives in Calgary, Canada.

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Overview: Fairy Herbs for Fairy Magic, the first book to cater exclusively to fairy-related herbalism, gathers in one volume more than 40 fairy-specific herbs, and details their uses in fairy magic.

Introducing its reader to fairies, their mercurial nature and relationship to people, this book gives insights into the roles and attributes of fairy witches and seers - from olden times to the present day - and also into the role of fairy familiars.

As a practical resource, Fairy Herbs for Fairy Magic is complete with ideas for rituals, charms, and spells.

Verdict: Much as the title suggests, Pagan Portals: Fairy Herbs for Fairy Magic by author Daniela Simina invites the reader into a rather unique exploration of the world of Fairy and their associated herbs.

But trust me when I say that there is much more to this book than just that, for the lore of countries associated with fairies, such as Romania, Ireland and even Norse sources are delved into here.

And with everything written and therein brought forth in a dedicated, very thoughtful, and at all times highly instructive way, this mix of scholarship and personal esoteric knowledge of spiritual truth comes beautifully forth, leading us gently by the hand into this world of enchanted enchantment.

For contained within these most assuredly impassioned pages are prose on just how plants and fairies work together, but herblore, in general, is fascinatingly revealed, allowing even the most causal of passerby to the subject to become gradually hooked to what is brought forth within this most captivating book on the subject.

Opening on an examination of the fairy faith, fairy magic, and fairy familiars, and how throughout the history of partnerships between humans and fairies, various kinds of herbal knowledge was offered by fairy familiars, it also details how exactly such knowledge was imparted and so forth.

Then we learn about what qualifies an herb as fairy herb, and as we progress, we get some guidance about harvesting and harnessing plant energy, followed by a collection of practical recipes and so much more.

About the Author - Daniela Simina is a practitioner of energy medicine, fairy witch, and author focusing fairy lore and traditions. She researches, writes, and teaches various classes on esoteric subjects related to energetic healing, yoga, and of course, fairies. She lives in Alpharetta, GA.

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Overview: Near-Death Experiences and Sacred Scripture: The Parallel Messaging examines striking similarities and parallels between messaging found in accounts of those who have written about their near-death experiences and in accounts contained in the sacred scriptures of the world’s great religions.

Verdict: Near Death Experiences and Sacred Scripture: The Parallel Messaging by author Douglas Hodgson brings forth symmetrical and mutually reinforcing messaging, showing that it is timeless in nature, and is arguably more relevant today than in any previous period in human history; as humanity continues to face existential threats to its survival.

In an era of rampant materialism and consumerism, armed conflict, environmental degradation, species extinction, global warming, as well as an obsessive preoccupation with self rather than others and a devaluation of the life’s sanctity, it is timely to spark a revived interest in, and knowledge of, God and the afterlife, and in seeking answers to life’s larger religious, spiritual, philosophical and metaphysical questions.

Ergo, this brand new book will provide assurance and solace to those who are terminally ill or fear the death of their physical body, for those who are suffering a difficult bereavement, and for those who feel lost and confused about the meaning and purpose of life and what lies ahead of them.

Having now read it twice through, back to back, I have to honestly say that although it wasn’t really on my must read’s of 2024 before it arrived for review, it is now, and quite simply put, a MUST HAVE book for all of us worried about where we, the world, and our existence is currently headed.

For many of us rarely consider, if only ever fleetingly, and seldom profoundly, a small amount of life’s larger questions. Such as Does God exist? What happens when I die? Is there an afterlife? Does Heaven exist and, if so, what is it like? What other spiritual realms and dimensions exist?, and so forth.

Having come across a veritable treasure trove of material associated with near-death experiences online, people’s testimonies therein, what they described in their written accounts, but went well beyond, mirrored what can be found in the sacred scriptures, and this struck a chord with Hodgson.

For these accounts all contained vivid descriptions of Heaven and the higher spiritual realms, what interconnectedness/oneness means, the nature and liberation of the soul-consciousness, the gift of Free Will and its purpose, the nature of soul agreements, the Universal Laws of Attraction, Reincarnation and Cause and Effect, and amongst others, the the nature of positive and negative energy.

And so here in the final installment of his spirituality trilogy, Hodgson examines the striking similarities and parallels in respect of the messaging to be found in the accounts of those who have written about their near death experience and that contained in the scriptural passages of the world’s mainstream religious and belief systems.

For it would seem that the eternal message has not changed; only humanity.

About the Author - Douglas Hodgson’s involvement with legal education and university administration has spanned over four decades in Canada, England, Australia and New Zealand. As a lawyer, teacher, researcher, author and human rights advocate, his interest in religious discrimination and religious fundamentalism issues motivated him to engage in the study of the scriptures of the world’s religions, ultimately inspiring him to write Transcendental Spirituality, Wisdom and Virtue: The Divine Virtues and Treasures of the Heart. He lives in Perth, Western Australia.

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Overview: Sometimes we encounter something extraordinary, something so different and unusual that we don’t know what to make of it. That is the case with Maya Mire: A Spiritual Journey into Cosmic Truth and the Dawning of a New World.

Is it true, or is it fiction? Clearly the author believes it all to be true. In this regard, Maya Mire is the story of Paul Nugent’s own spiritual quest to discover the universal journey we are all making--and have been since the beginning of time--embracing alien worlds, higher and lower dimensions of reality, and living galaxies.

Verdict: Maya Mire: A Spiritual Journey into Cosmic Truth and the Dawning of a New World by author Paul Nugent is a compelling story told by a close disciple of the Western master of yoga, George King, who founded The Aetherius Society in London, England, in 1955.

George King was a contactee for intelligences existing upon the higher dimensions of other planets within our solar system. In over 600 “cosmic transmissions,” they outlined this timeless odyssey that humanity--and all of Creation--is making with ever-expanding consciousness back to the ultimate Source from which we all sprang billions of years ago.

In what is a most compelling, engrossing and thoroughly impassioned new prose from author Paul Nugent, this 17 chapter book begins in Maldek, a long, long time ago (over 18 million years, to be nearer the factual point) and it marks the point when,m if nothing else, we shied away from the evolutionary path and fell into a very deep chasm of cosmic darkness.

Time, as we knew it, ended. The consequences were not good. Sleep, to all intents and purposes, was better than being awake, or so it seemed.

Having been noted in quite a few of my own personal conversations on the subject down the years, if you’re into conspiracy theories, you may well have heard of Maldek — a planet that supposedly existed in our solar system before it was destroyed by a cataclysmic event.

Indeed, according to these aforementioned conspiracy theorists, of which, for the record, I am not one of, Maldek was located between Mars and Jupiter and was home to an advanced civilization. But, as the story goes, Maldek was destroyed in a war with another planet, leaving behind only a belt of asteroids and debris known as the asteroid belt.

Now, of course, this theory is not new as it’s been around for decades, with many different variations. But what’s interesting is that it’s not just fringe theories for some experts in the field of planetary science have also weighed in on the possibility of a lost planet in our solar system.

So here in Maya Mire, Nugent describes his very own spiritual journey as well as expounding on the cosmic philosophy of The Aetherius Society - a worldwide spiritual organization dedicated to spreading and acting upon teachings of advanced extraterrestrial intelligences.

About the Author - Born in Cambridge, England, in 1958, Paul Nugent was brought up in the Church of England, culminating in regular worship and charitable work for the homeless at London’s famous St. Martin’s in the Fields church in Trafalgar Square.

Having completed a business degree in 1980, he later embarked on a four-year study of Eastern Philosophy at London’s School of Economic Science, as well as spending two periods at the New Age spiritual community of Findhorn in the north of Scotland. He has been a director of The Aetherius Society since 2001. He lives in Los Angeles, CA.

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Overview: In The Enigma of Consciousness, Dean Graves delves deep into the mysteries of creation, exploring its origins and the structure that govern it, examining the purpose of creation and the role that the human mind plays in shaping it.

Verdict: The Archetypical Mind, the blueprint that guides the Earthly experience, is examined in detail, revealing the intricate web of connections that tie all things together. This is called the Law of One, and it is the one irrefutable truth.

The Enigma of Consciousness explores the spiritual environments of human experience, from the physical realm to the highest levels of consciousness, and examines mankind’s purpose in the universe and the specific steps necessary to achieve the highest enlightenment.

Through a combination of philosophical inquiry and spiritual introspection, this book offers its reader a comprehensive understanding of creation and the human experience. It reveals the interconnectedness of all things and the power of the human mind to shape reality.

Within this quite astoundingly brilliant new book, we are told that the first Age of Enlightenment was a cultural and intellectual movement that emerged in Europe during the 17th and 18th centuries.

It was characterized by a focus on reason, empirical evidence, and a belief that individuals were capable of improving society through their efforts. One if the key characteristics of the Age of Enlightenment was the emphasis on rationality and scientific inquiry.

Enlightenment thinks sought to understand the natural world through observation and experimentation, and they believed that reason and evidence should guide all aspects of human life, including politics, religion and mortality.

The vestiges of the Age of Enlightenment prevail today but the hegemony resulting from this transformative age is indicative of a single elementary stepping stone in humanity’s consciousness evolution. It is now time, or past time, to humanity to take the next step and move beyond the Age of Enlightenment’s limitations.

Thus the Age of Consciousness provides essential information that can aid humanity with a fundamental understanding of itself, its purpose, and a guide to take the next step forward along the evolutionary path but it’s incumbent upon the reader to assume the responsibility and enact the necessary changes in themselves to effect a significant change in the population.

In closing, Enigma of Consciousness: A Spiritual Exploration of Humanity’s Relationship to Creation is a justifiably essential read for anyone seeking a deeper understanding of the nature of the universe and humanity’s place within it.

For it not only offers practical guidance for those seeking spiritual growth and enlightenment, as well as a roadmap for achieving a more profound connection with the universe and all that it encompasses, it extremely well written, educated in its prose, and is a comprehensively engaging read.

About the Author - Dean Graves is an experienced spiritual teacher, author, and podcaster with over 20 years of experience in meditation and mindfulness. He has conducted workshops and group sessions on self-healing and personal growth, produced an internationally successful spirituality podcast, and written three books on self-development.

He is a devoted student of a 6th Density creator-being entity, and his latest manuscript promises to be a ground-breaking exploration of the universe and human experience. He lives in Memphis, TN.

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Overview: Infinite Perception: The Power of Psychedelics for Global Transformation is an anthology of voices from the front line of the Psychedelic Renaissance, co-edited by journalist Ocean Malandra and neuroscientist and Harvard researcher Natalie Dyer, PhD.

Verdict: After being culturally dormant for decades, a new mainstream global psychedelic revolution is upon us. This pioneering anthology takes the reader on a renewed journey through the cultural, social, and personally transformative power of psychedelics.

Thus, here in Infinite Perception: The Role of Psychedelics in Global Transformation by authors Ocean Malandra and Natalie Dyer, PhD., we quickly discover unique perspectives from indigenous healers to scientists, anthropologists, artists, and activists.

From this multidimensional exploration, the reader will gain a comprehensive new understanding of psychedelics and their impact that’s not found in other books. Which kind of makes this new prose a rather stunning, quite brilliant new anthology of timeless wisdom for these changing times we all are constantly facing.

Humankind is now facing major existential threats. The emergence of global consciousness is absolutely required to solve these threats.

So what is Global Consciousness, I hear you ask? Well, “We are all connected” is a phrase that we all tend to hear a lot in movies, on our small screens, even see it in the written word and, perhaps even, have it said to us in our daily lives. It gets tossed around a lot, but what does it really mean? We are all connected. But how?

Well, biologically, human beings are all a part of the same species. That connects us. We all live similar experiences in our lifetimes, though by no means are our experiences identical. But what about metaphysically? Have you ever thought about the concept of there being something intangible that exists out there that connects us all together?

I’m talking about a global or collective consciousness, if you will. You probably already know that the Monroe Institute’s basic tenant is “you are more than your physical body.” What I’m talking about is slightly adjacent to that.

It’s a topic that has come up time and time again throughout history. Though first brought up by Emile Durkheim in 1893 as an idea of societal morality and understood behaviors, the idea evolved over the last hundred years to be thought of more as an intangible force of energy that connects all living beings together.

It was explored further by South African zoologist Lyall Watson with his colleague Lawrence Blair in the 1970s using Japanese macaque monkeys and later in human beings by Professor Daryl Bem. Many of these scientists were impressed enough with their findings to believe in a global consciousness.

In fact, in 1998, the Global Consciousness Project (GCP), an experiment to try and physically prove this metaphysical topic, came about to detect this unseen force (though trying to prove through physical means that something intangible is real is much harder than it sounds and has since been very controversial).

So, needless to say, if you’ve wondered about this topic before, you are not alone. In fact, you may be onto something. And so here in this new book, we learn that first,you must harmonize with the universe, and as we progress, then learn more about how psychedelics can foster emergence and therein positively contribute to individual, societal, and cultural transformations.

In conclusion, this volume includes contributions and interviews from prominent voices such as Dennis Mckenna of the Mckenna Academy, Rick Doblin of MAPS, Zoe Helene of Cosmic Sister, and Rick Strassman of the Spirit Molecule, as well as indigenous shamans from the Amazon rainforest to the Arctic Circle.

About the Authors:
Ocean Malandra is a widely published freelance environmental journalist and travel writer that divides his time between Northern California and South America. His work has appeared in over 30 different media outlets including Vice, Lonely Planet, USA Today, Mongabay, Earth Island Journal, High Times Magazine, Parabola Magazine and Paste Magazine, where he wrote the environmental column EarthRx. He is also the author of the Moon Travel Guide series to Colombia. He lives in Eureka, CA.

Dr. Natalie L. Dyer, PhD, is a Research Scientist with Connor Whole Health at University Hospitals, President of the Center for Reiki Research, and serves on the board of the Scientific and Medical Network. She has published many scientific papers and book chapters on postmaterialist science, psychedelics, and the therapeutic effects of integrative medicine practices, including yoga, acupuncture, mindfulness, and energy medicine, and is co-editor of the book Expanding Science: Visions of a Postmaterialist Paradigm. She lives on the east coast of Canada.

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Overview: Reconnect to your authentic expression. Learn to trust your wild and untamed nature. Find the courage to be fearlessly you. A howl from the deepest parts of the forest signals the wolf within, rising. Wolf is calling all those who are ready to reclaim their sovereign place as students of wild embodiment and self-empowerment.

Verdict: Wolf is an inspirational guide for deepening your spiritual connection to wolves, exploring practices and embodiment tools for personal empowerment. It offers solace to all those who, like wolves, have ever felt different, an outsider, made wrong, bad or ugly.

It invites you into the warm, cozy den of the wolf to learn that you are not alone in craving belonging and the rightness of self. With the wolves, you will bravely leave self-doubt behind and courageously reclaim your self-worth.

Simply put, this book is your reminder that you are worthy, you are powerful, and you are of value exactly as you are. Through an exploration of wolf wisdom, mythology, legend, gods and goddesses, this guide will lead you on the hunt for self-acceptance and self-actualization.

Through guided connection to Wolf Spirit and the Wolf Council, you will increase your self-confidence, learn to honor your unique self and celebrate all the ways in which you are and can be Wolf - untamed, courageous, and wildly free.

Journey with Grand Mother Wolf, the elemental wolves and the great Wolf God Fenrir to learn what it means to be part of the wolf pack and to finally trust your innate abilities and purpose. Wolf will support you in the most powerful reclamation and liberation of your authentic self.

As I think we are all aware of by now, both positive and negative things happen every day. It’s how you choose to approach those moments. Which wolf you decide to feed that matters.

Human nature hasn’t changed much since, well, Native American fables were created a long, long ago. We all have impulses and habits, some for the better and some for the worse. Our inner wolves, so to speak. What has changed is that in this modern information era we are uniquely barraged with information and imagery, much of it disturbing and upsetting, that over and over again feeds a particularly angry wolf.

So what can be done? For starters, we can decide to feed the healthier wolf in ourselves more often. For me, in part that means reading the Sports and Arts sections first most mornings, because later I’ll listen to National Public Radio in the car, and at the office read news on the Internet. There’s an expansive middle ground to explore between ‘well informed’ and ‘force feeding an angry wolf until it consumes everything around it.’

Another way of finding this less-charged space is through the practice of mindfulness. When we attend to feeding a healthier wolf for at least a period of time daily, we loosen the grip of negativity for a few minutes. Also to consider is the fact that doing altruistic things may improve our own state of mind.

Some people sustain a daily gratitude or compassion practice as a reminder to focus on positive experiences in life, and in the world around us. For our ongoing inner wrestling matches, setting aside these moments builds an advantage for the clear-sighted wolves in our lives.

What author Rachel S. Roberts does here within her new book Wolf: Untamed. Courageous. Empowered. An Inspirational Guide to Embodying Your Inner Wolf is bring forth a wholly impassioned mythological, archetypal, spiritual and cultural wisdom of the Wolf to empower those men and women who feel they have lost control of their essential natures.

For her, her inner she-wolf began to howl her teenage years, around the time she became a belly dancer teacher and started reclaiming the sovereignty of her womanhood. Here though she invites you to why wolf has called you, and what part of you is wanting or needing the wolf?

About the Author - Rachel is a writer, sacred dance teacher and women’s empowerment coach. Rachel’s passion is to facilitate the awakening and empowerment of women through movement, nature alchemy and embodied mythology. She is the founder of Wolf Woman Rising mystery school and holds a bachelor’s degree and Post Graduate Qualifications in History, Heritage and Religion. She lives in North Wales, UK.

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Overview: In this book, author Lynne Sedgmore integrates presence, climate activism, and the alleviation of climate anxiety in an innovative and unique synthesis and new term - Presence Activism.

Verdict: By offering a profound solution with new perspectives, Presence Activism is steeped in a presence that moves activism beyond metaphors of war, enemies, and destruction, as well as the illusion of separation, into the visceral knowing of presence and interconnection, thereby making presence an important part of the way forward for current and future activism.

The book also introduces new processes of the Presence Flower and the Anxiety Flower to solve the anxiety issues we face, and to develop and expand our own personal internal coping mechanisms, responses, and capacities.

The result of thousands of years of the systematization of a lack of presence in our culture, institutions and economics, the crises we now all find ourselves within is a dangerously real one, and one that both spirituality and humanity, as a whole, needs to take stock of right here, right now.

And so author Lynne Sedgmore has brought forth a defining prose of profound wisdom, compelling and passionately structured, practical knowledge to help navigate the challenges of overwhelm, despair and hopelessness through a deep sense of connection, direct awareness and compassion.

Climate peril affects people deeply. It can feel like a massive responsibility, a huge burden, yet it can also be a wonderful opportunity to rethink who we are and how we choose to live.

Chapter 4 of this quite wondrous book dives into the nature, symptoms and scope of climate anxiety. It introduces the Anxiety Flower, the counterpart of the Presence Flower, to illustrate different types of anxiety, and how they can be dissolved by presence.

Presence Activism itself, is intended for both anyone new to the practice and concept of presence as well as someone already familiar with presence. It is an invitation to live and act from within the sacredness and preciousness of life.p> To be an activist from the direct visceral knowing of presence, being deeply present to what is emerging, and discerning how a deeper wisdom is asking us to show up, engage and act.

And so this profoundly engaging new book is a compendium of different perspectives and experiences of presence, as well as a powerful conceptual and thoughtful analysis of the fields of presence, climate anxiety, and climate peril.

About the Author - Dr. Lynne Sedgmore CBE is an activist, executive coach, non-executive board member, priestess, interfaith minister, published author, poet and former chief executive. She Chairs the Glastonbury Town Deal investment of £25 million. She has been involved in environmental and feminist campaigns and numerous protests since the 1970s. She bridges mainstream organisations and spiritual communities. She coaches individuals and senior teams in charities and organisations that inspire her. She lives in Glastonbury, UK.

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Overview: Conquist: A Novel, by author Dirk Strasser, tells the story of how this time they invaded a new world that refused to be conquered!

Verdict: Capitán Cristóbal de Varga’s drive for glory and gold in 1538 Peru leads him and his army of conquistadors into a New World that refuses to be conquered. He is a man torn by life-long obsessions and knows this is his last campaign.

What he doesn’t know is that his Incan allies led by the princess Sarpay have their own furtive plans to make sure he never finds the golden city of Vilcabamba. He also doesn’t know that Héctor Valiente, the freed African slave he appointed as his lieutenant, has found a portal that will lead them all into a world that will challenge his deepest beliefs.

And what he can’t possibly know is that this world will trap him in a war between two eternal enemies, leading him to question everything he has devoted his life to - his command, his Incan princess, his honor, his God.

In the end, he faces the ultimate dilemma: how is it possible to battle your own obsessions . . . to conquer yourself?

In what is one of the most incredibly captured prose landscapes that I have seen captured in well over a decade or more, Dirk Strasser’s epic Conquist is a book for the ages, in my humble opinion.

One that finds our lead character unraveling a linked story of conquest, magic and redemption, the book not only paints this most glorious prose backdrop to a world set far apart from anything we have ever known, whilst at the same time instilling a beating heart within it that can only allow the reader to challenge their very own beliefs and worldly assumptions.

Stacked with deeply rounded out characters, this simply riveting, enchantingly magical odyssey not only acts as a heartily entertaining, and devilishly satisfying read, but this intriguing fantasy series has quickly become a must-read for all fans of this genre.

About the Author - Dirk Strasser’s fantasy trilogy The Books of Ascension (Zenith, Equinox and Eclipse) was published in German (Heyne Verlag) and English (Pan Macmillan), and his short stories have been translated into several European languages. ‘The Doppelgänger Effect’ appeared in the World Fantasy Award-winning anthology, Dreaming Down Under (Tor).

Dirk was born in Germany but has lived most of his life in Australia. He works in educational publishing, has trekked the Inca trail to Machu Picchu, and studied Renaissance history.

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Overview: Fenella’s Fair Share: A Novel by author Chris Chalmers tells the story of Fenella Woodruff who shares with housemates half her age to stay young — then the arrival of handsome divorcee Martin changes everything.

Verdict: It was fear of missing out on life and succumbing to cats that drove 49-year-old Fenella Woodruff into a house share with young, free singletons. Juggling her job at a gallery with the demands of an invalid mum, the arrival of a handsome new housemate near her age throws Fen into a spin.

For Martin, who radiates a certain woodland charm, she is keen to act as sounding board over a bottle of wine while his divorce plays out.

As the younger housemates embark on carnal adventures of their own, things look hopeful, until Fen is dragooned into accompanying her parent on a Norwegian fjord cruise. Onboard ship, her focus switches to Mother, who voices strong opinions on her daughter’s life while refusing to let infirmity dictate her own, and to an enigmatic gentleman they meet in Bergen.

Normal service resumes when Fen returns home, ready to turn things up a notch with Martin. But a horrid surprise awaits, for some more than others, and yet, and the handsome divorcee is front and center.

This novel is chock full of delightfully memorable characters, moreover they be female, but regardless, they are three dimensional and at all times we can close our eyes and picture them right there on the page.

Author Chris Chalmers’ lead comedic firecracker has no real issues in her life, pretty much has all her angles covered mothering (or, as she herself calls it, cat-herding) all her half-her-age female housemates, and yet in the blink of an eye, well, their safe little haven has suddenly been infiltrated by divorcee Martin.

And yet she, perhaps even they, only have themselves to blame, as they already had in place the unwritten constitution of No. 4, The Ridge, that the presence of all housemates was required to vet potential new residents!

And yet, here we are. A cock in the henhouse, as they say.

Freeflowing with a warm, charmingly playful, and easy to read prose throughout each and every chapter, Fenella’s Fair Share is highly recommended for an afternoon or two’s lazying around the house. Whether it be on the bed or the sofa, the sunshine beaming down atop you as Spring gives way to Summer, or Summer gives way to Fall, it is the most perfect novel to pick up and read at any of those times.

About the Author - Chris Chalmers writes contemporary fiction when he’s not freelancing in the world of advertising. As well as visiting 45 countries and swimming with iguanas, he’s been the understudy on Mastermind and kept a diary for 40+ years without ever missing a night. He lives in London, UK.

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