Reflecting on his experience in the clinical trenches, a pragmatic existential therapist offers a provocative study of power, erotic influence, and illusion in the clinical relationship. Written in a conversational style that makes a challenging subject accessible to specialists in the clinical professions, teachers and students of the psychological disciplines, and scholars in the humanities and social sciences, Enchantments of the Clinic introduces readers to interesting ways in which language, ideas, and speech as well as illusions of the clinical station enable therapists to cast an unintentional spell that captivates and charms unsuspecting patients. Exposing this suggestive underworld of clinical experience, where the high-stakes game of persuasive dialogical therapy is often won or lost, critical attention is focused on the erotization of the clinic, the erotization of the clinician, and the erotization of clinical confession. Using dramatic examples from clinical practice, Carl P. Ellerman challenges prevailing dogmas of the therapeutic to demonstrate his thesis that enchantments of the clinic facilitate psychological healing if managed well, but if mismanaged, these volatile erotic enchantments may undermine the struggle against emotional illness in the clinical trenches. This ambitious study of the clinical relationship also addresses the disturbing fact that we are dwelling in a postmodern era in which clinical nihilism is flourishing. Ellerman conceives the dialogical therapist as a potentially dangerous, ethically vulnerable therapeutic artiste, whose strategic encounters in the postmodern clinic may be likened to aesthetic experiences in which an education to reality and a love of truth are obsolete or irrelevant, notwithstanding a clinical masquerade that reinforces in spellbound patients a blind trust in the phantastic therapist's honesty, truthfulness, and intellectual integrity. Embracing the Socratic mystique, Ellerman offers a vigorous philosophic critique of clinical nihilism while warning readers of the communal risks involved in surrendering the perennial quest for truth.

She’ll do anything to protect this baby When TV personality Ashleigh Logan became pregnant by artificial insemination of her deceased husband’s sperm, she ignited a media frenzy and attracted a stalker. So she’s sequestered herself in the mountains of New Mexico, under the watchful eyes of the midwives of The Birth Place. Here she can be safe until the baby arrives. And so will he Greg Glazier doesn’t have an easy time tracking down Ashleigh. And when he finally finds her, he can’t tell her his news—not until she’s further along in her pregnancy. Because what he’s got to say might come as a bit of a shock—he’s the real father of her baby.

Through interviews with British herbalists, the importance of hidden experiences of meetings with plants is explored alongside how such 'enchantment' has influenced the narrative of their lives. Some herbalists have visible entryways into studying, such as personal experience of taking herbal medicine, a search for a new career or a love of nature. Other entryways are more hidden, with many noting 'crossings' and 'callings' with plants at a young age. This sensual ability of herbs raises questions about the agency of living plants and of herbal medicines, and about how the relationship between herbalists and plants may be reconceived. Meetings with plants and herbal medicines allow herbalists to draw easily from a diverse range of influences that others may see as incommensurable."This fascinating, original and challenging book convincingly explores modern-day herbalists understanding of their place in the complementary health world, against the backdrop of encroaching professionalisation, legitimacy and scientism. In his case study interviews with herbalists, Guy Waddell draws our attention to the enchanting power of plants and their agentic qualities. In his quest for greater understanding of their sensual power, the author rejects the conventional modernity/rationalisation thesis, seen both in the sensual- affective energy that herbalists draw upon and in the ontological implications of human/nonhuman crossings. This book is an excellent contribution to our understanding of Western herbal medicine and contemporary thought." - Dr Stuart McClean, PhD. Associate Professor in Public Health (Health and Wellbeing), University of the West of England"In the field of herbal medicine, few seem to know their history and the lessons it teaches us. In The Enchantment of Western Herbal Medicine, Dr Guy Waddell not only provides the reader with a detailed history of the trials and triumphs of British Phytotherapy, but also travels into uncharted territory looking at how herbalists come to find their passion for plants and the use of them to help heal others. This is a new area of research and exploring the entryways to practice though interviews and clinician narratives is both a fascinating undertaking and a unique way of understanding our own motivations and experiences as herbalists." - David Winston, RH(AHG), DSc (hc), author of Adaptogens; Herbs for Strength, Stamina and Stress Relief"Both compelling and challenging, Guy Waddell's unique book is filled with the voices of herbalists and makes essential reading for anyone on their own journey into herbalism or those interested in human- plant relationships. Here is a much-needed roadmap for all who are exploring the diverse choices between ancient and modern, science and tradition, evidence and intuition, and human and nonhuman agency. My congratulations to the author for so brilliantly signposting the fundamental unity that resides at the heart of herbal practice." - Phil Deakin. President of the National Institute of Medical Herbalists

Re-Enchanting Art Therapy is written for art therapists, supervisors, students, and colleagues in related fields who seek to approach their work as a living, artistic practice but struggle to do so in the often toxic work environments where art therapy is most needed. Asking “What kills creative vitality?” research uncovered core images that art therapists associate with toxic work and the elements of re-enchantment. Author Lynn Kapitan relates, in stories and images of art therapists, how re-enchantment is a cycling process that requires an unambivalent relationship with creative power. Chapter One uses the myth of the dragon to tell stories of art therapists awakening creative energy in a constantly changing, postmodern world. Chapter Two explores transformation in the symbol of the begging bowl held out to accept whatever is placed within as the materials for creative renewal. Using the research method of “collaborative witness,” Chapter Three offers transformative stories of several disenchanted art therapists who discover their disconnection from the primordial source of their creativity in the imagery of water. A community intervention in Chapter Four, the “Reflective Circle of Peers,” presents issues and methods that art therapists use to transform their practices. In Chapter Five, Lynn Kapitan addresses fears and yearning in the toxic work environment, where such practices as playing with wolves and painting in the crossroads teach her the values of the threshold space and the fierce hearted embrace of her creativity. Re-Enchanting Art Therapy challenges art therapists to transform the practice of art therapy with creative vitality.

The fiction is an environmental thriller cum romantic drama set in an enchanting atmosphere. SWAPNA: Any good news! VIJAY (blissfully): Yes. Clinched a new exciting project. SWAPNA: Wow! Fantastic. She gives a high five to Vijay, and both of them get into the main hall. Hariharan and Mythili look cheerful seeing their would-be son-in-law. VIJAY: Uncle, going to do a prestigious documentary film project on Jharkhand. The project came out of the blue. HARIHARAN: Great! Beautiful state. Nature’s paradise. VIJAY: The client is UCBPP. HARIHARAN: Oh! Fantastic! Going to do a big project for a world-famous organization. Cheers, Viji. Keep it up.

A groundbreaking conception of interactive media, inspired by continuity, field, and process, with fresh implications for art, computer science, and philosophy of technology. In this challenging but exhilarating work, Sha Xin Wei argues for an approach to materiality inspired by continuous mathematics and process philosophy. Investigating the implications of such an approach to media and matter in the concrete setting of installation- or event-based art and technology, Sha maps a genealogy of topological media—that is, of an articulation of continuous matter that relinquishes a priori objects, subjects, and egos and yet constitutes value and novelty. Doing so, he explores the ethico-aesthetic consequences of topologically creating performative events and computational media. Sha's interdisciplinary investigation is informed by thinkers ranging from Heraclitus to Alfred North Whitehead to Gilbert Simondon to Alain Badiou to Donna Haraway to Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari. Sha traces the critical turn from representation to performance, citing a series of installation-events envisioned and built over the past decade. His analysis offers a fresh way to conceive and articulate interactive materials of new media, one inspired by continuity, field, and philosophy of process. Sha explores the implications of this for philosophy and social studies of technology and science relevant to the creation of research and art. Weaving together philosophy, aesthetics, critical theory, mathematics, and media studies, he shows how thinking about the world in terms of continuity and process can be informed by computational technologies, and what such thinking implies for emerging art and technology.

From the author of the “luminous [and] gorgeous” (Susan Wiggs) Haunting Jasmine comes a glorious new novel that reaches straight into to the heart to celebrate the resilience of the human spirit… “I wonder how my carefully planned life could have tipped so far out of balance?” Into the quaint town of Fairport on Shelter Island comes Lily Byrne, a young widow who is not so much running from the old but rather edging toward something new and indefinable. Here in the peaceful Pacific Northwest, newly engaged in her vintage clothing boutique, she hides from the world. But Lily knows that solitude can’t sustain her forever. Somehow, somewhere, something’s got to give. It does, with the unexpected arrival of an exuberant little cat. As Lily searches for the cat’s true home, she embarks on a journey just as unpredictable—one of healing and renewal that opens up a whole new world in this small island community she now calls home. Saved by the hidden graces of others, she even allows herself to fall in love again. But how much of this is serendipity? How much is destiny? As Lily starts looking at herself, and her life, in an enlightening new way, she can’t help but also wonder, how long can such good fortune last?

Some incidents happen as if they are scripted by God. Suhas comes across Havisha under such circumstances during his holiday in Shimla and Manali. She becomes friends with him, but he has feelings towards her which are more profound. He seeks the permission of both their parents to express his love, but knowing that she has taken a stance against marriage, he doesn’t confess it to her. Instead, he leaves her a letter with her parents and departs from Shimla. What made her take a stance against marriage? Will she read his letter and understand his love? Will they chance upon each other again?

About the Book: A young girl named Lilly goes to an amusement park with her amputee father and finds that some rides are not suitable for her age. Her father tried to convince her but he could not, he was irritated, finally, he was harsh with her. Lilly was hurt by her father’s harsh words, she tried to reach home early and boarded the wrong bus. Will she reach her home? Whom does she meet along in her journey who are willing to help Lilly reach her house and will they be successful in doing so? About the Author: Krishna Chaitanya Cheerladinne has been passionate about storytelling since his childhood. He believes that stories have the potential to change one’s life; stories have the potential to make one question one’s morality and guide one on the right path; stories have the potential to enlighten one’s soul and make one wise. He believes that stories can heal wounds that cannot be seen; stories can provide courage for the heart; and stories have the potential to bring different people together. He is willing to dedicate his life telling the stories that influence and change one’s life for the better.

Silvia Federici is one of the most important contemporary theorists of capitalism and feminist movements. In this collection of her work spanning over twenty years, she provides a detailed history and critique of the politics of the commons from a feminist perspective. In her clear and combative voice, Federici provides readers with an analysis of some of the key issues and debates in contemporary thinking on this subject. Drawing on rich historical research, she maps the connections between the previous forms of enclosure that occurred with the birth of capitalism and the destruction of the commons and the “new enclosures” at the heart of the present phase of global capitalist accumulation. Considering the commons from a feminist perspective, this collection centers on women and reproductive work as crucial to both our economic survival and the construction of a world free from the hierarchies and divisions capital has planted in the body of the world proletariat. Federici is clear that the commons should not be understood as happy islands in a sea of exploitative relations but rather autonomous spaces from which to challenge the existing capitalist organization of life and labor.