• Presents interviews with ten contemporary practitioners of spirit marriage, exploring how the relationship developed and the opportunities and challenges • Discusses the author’s own spirit marriage, including her awakening as an erotic mystic and her encounters with her Faery beloved • Explains how to cultivate a spirit marriage, sharing precautions and practices to spiritually prepare yourself and navigate the potential challenges of spirit marriage Exploring the phenomenon of the spirit spouse or spirit lover--an entity to which a human is psychically bonded--Megan Rose, Ph.D., examines the practice and purpose of spirit marriage around the world, presenting transcultural evidence of this form of sacred union in anthropological research, religious literature, mythology, folklore, and the oral tradition. She shares her in-depth interviews with ten contemporary practitioners of spirit marriage, including a Faery Seer, a Shakta Tantric, a West African Shrine Keeper, a New Orleans Voodoo Mambo, Haitian Vodou practitioners, and a ceremonial magician. Through these respectful interviews, the spirit-marriage practitioners tell their stories of initiation and of having a spouse who is both otherworldly and able to assist in waking- world activities. They offer intimate insight into this growing global practice and its larger evolutionary purpose. We learn about their experiences of first contact, the decision to marry, how the relationship is upheld by their community, and the impact on their other relationships. We also learn about the risks and challenges as well as one example of divorcing a spirit. Sharing her personal experience, the author discusses in detail her own spirit marriage, including the erotic nature of being “spirit filled” and her encounters with her Faery beloved. She explains how to cultivate a spirit marriage, sharing precautions and practices to spiritually prepare yourself, interpret your paranormal encounters, and navigate the potential challenges of spirit marriage. Presenting the first study of the transcultural, shamanistic practice of spirit marriage, this book shows how bonded relationships with spirits are needed now more than ever to assist with spiritual evolution.

To navigate the inevitable ups and downs of our spiritual lives, countless souls have found comfort and guidance in St. Ignatius of Loyola���s Rules for Discernment. For the past forty years, popular retreat master and author Fr. Timothy Gallagher has been at the forefront of making St. Ignatius���s Rules understandable and applicable to hundreds of thousands of Catholics seeking greater sensitivity to the "movements��� of th

ONCE UPON A TIME… Marriage was forever. It was a covenant that knit one man and one woman together. This weaving made both stronger, nobler, and more vibrant expressions of who they were created to be. They were better together than either had been on their own. The wedding ceremony was but a beginning. It was the gateway to build their happily ever after. Each choice and action was designed to construct the life their union represented. Husband and wife walked into the great unknown with hearts, hands, and voices intertwined to express the love of their Creator. How did we lose touch with this profound love story? In The Story of Marriage, John and Lisa Bevere invite you to rediscover God’s original plan. Whether you’re married, single, or engaged, your story is a part of His. Interactive book includes: - Daily devotionals - Questions for group discussion - Tools for mapping your dream marriage - Steps for writing your story well

God intends marriages to be filled with love. Why are so many faltering with distrust, anger, and contempt? The authors of Love After Marriage believe that the Holy Spirit is ready to pour out healing and anointing on couples who seek God for themselves and their family. Using the book's proven strategies, based on the successful Love After Marriage workshops, couples can bring an atmosphere of loving transparency and vulnerability into their relationship and develop a beautiful God-designed intimacy that can last throughout their life together. Couples will find clear teaching on God's perspective of marriage, as well as methods for listening to the Holy Spirit and tools to develop the breakthroughs the Spirit brings to their marriage. They will be refreshed by the knowledge marriage can be deeply enjoyable even if it is a little hard work.

"As a paradigm patterned after the chaste union of Mary and Joseph, spiritual marriage upheld Christian doctrine; as a spontaneous practice, however, it aroused the suspicion of the very church authorities who extolled its virtues. Through this union women could achieve a measure of spiritual and physical autonomy, which threatened not only their husbands' authority but also that of the clergy. Elliott shows how spiritual marriage could be manipulated by male-dominated institutions as well: it enabled early medieval kings to mask their unilateral repudiation of infertile wives, the church to establish the roots of a ritually pure priesthood, and the late medieval clergy to underline female submission to patriarchal authorities. Far from being a curiosity peripheral to the study of Christian sexuality, spiritual marriage emerges as far-reaching in its implications and long-lasting in its influences."--BOOK JACKET.

The Marriage of Spirit is a handbook for spiritual awakening. It directly addresses how we can experience divine presence in our lives and offers simple, powerful exercises for creating balance and harmony. First published in spiral-bound form in the mid-1990s, it has blossomed organically over the decades, primarily by word of mouth, into a worldwide best-seller and has become a classic in its field.Based in the ancient teachings of the reconciliation of opposites, these revolutionary, unique, and easy journaling techniques help us accelerate the path to unity consciousness by quickly and dramatically moving us beyond egoic limitations and overcoming negativity, anger, pain and fear. In this groundbreaking book, which has been translated into several languages and has helped thousands worldwide, Leslie Temple-Thurston shares the story of the awakenings that led to her spiritual transformation and her eclectic, yogic-influenced approach to enlightenment. Filtered through spiritual psychology, her insights and principles are based on the truth teachings of ancient mystery schools, traditions and religions, revamped and simplified for the contemporary spiritual seeker.As the author says, "We have arrived at a new and different time; we are here to enlighten the physical plane, the body, and the personality while living and working in the world. If we integrate the dualistic and polarized schisms in our personality, we can know directly and palpably the unity which we truly are, beyond the limited personality."In a world torn apart by polarization, it offers hope for a third way, the way of unity amidst diversity.

Laurie and Matt Krieg are in a mixed-orientation marriage: Laurie is primarily attracted to women—and so is Matt. With vulnerability and wisdom, they tell the story of how they met and got married, the challenges and breakthroughs of their journey, and what they've learned about how marriage is meant to point us to the love and grace of Jesus.

Here you will find thirteen doctrines that guide a marriage that will bring glory to God; humility, forgiveness, generosity, peace and prayer, to name a few. What we believe dictates how we behave, and right thinking is necessary for right living. Ephesians 5:21-33 teaches what a Spirit-filled person looks like, what a Spirit-filled wife looks like, what a Spirit-filled husband looks like, and finally what a Spirit-filled marriage should be. Included are Questions to Consider, designed to foster communication between husbands and wives.

Describes what marriage should be according to the Bible, arguing that marriage is a tool to bring individuals closer to God, and provides meaningful instruction on how to have a successful marriage.

In our postmodern, experience-oriented culture, people are longing for greater authenticity, integrity, and depth in their pastors and leaders. Board directors, church members, and staff alike are all eagerly seeking leaders who effectively integrate their spirituality and leadership. Pastors and executives, however, often struggle with knowing how to integrate their spiritual values and practices into their leadership and management roles. Designed for pastors, executives, administrators, managers, coordinators, and all who see themselves as leaders and who want to fulfill their God-given purpose, The Spirit-Led Leader addresses the critical fusion of spiritual life and leadership for those who not only want to see results, but who also desire to care just as deeply about who they are and how they lead as they do about what they produce and accomplish. Geoffrion creates a new vision for spiritual leadership as partly an art, partly a result of careful planning, and always a working of the grace of God