The Illumination Process guides the reader on a healing journey, forged by the timeless wisdom of indigenous cultures and the latest theories of neurobiology. Through various stages in this journey of initiation, we grow to understand the causes of our suffering and how to free ourselves from the pain and drama of our unhealed emotions. Life itself invites us to be initiated through many means—the possibility of love, the loss of a parent or friend, the birth of a child, or a serious health crisis. True initiation is empowered by facing personal challenges and experiencing the spiritual rebirth—or illumination—that follows. Unifying this book is the sacred process of transforming toxic emotions into sources of power and grace. The Illumination Process shows us how to bid a joyful good-bye to the people and places we have met, discovering a sacred space where the spirit inhabits, uniting the body and soul. When we learn to let go from difficult situations and problems, to accept our lives as they are, we can begin to identify with a self that is eternal. Recounting his own experiences, tracing the mythologies of an array of cultures, and expanding his inquiry into the field of neurobiology, best-selling author Alberto Villoldo shows readers how they can benefit from these sacred practices.

An expert in shamanic healing reveals how to let go of toxic emotions so you can embrace life as it is—drawing on the timeless wisdom of indigenous cultures and the latest theories in neurobiology The Illumination Process guides the reader on a healing journey. Through various stages in this journey of initiation, we grow to understand the causes of our suffering and how to free ourselves from the pain and drama of our unhealed emotions. Life itself invites us to be initiated through many means—the possibility of love, the loss of a parent or friend, the birth of a child, or a serious health crisis. True initiation is empowered by facing personal challenges and experiencing the spiritual rebirth—or illumination—that follows. Unifying this book is the sacred process of transforming toxic emotions into sources of power and grace. The Illumination Process shows us how to bid a joyful good-bye to the people and places we have met, discovering a sacred space where the spirit inhabits, uniting the body and soul. When we learn to let go from difficult situations and problems, to accept our lives as they are, we can begin to identify with a self that is eternal. Recounting his own experiences, tracing the mythologies of an array of cultures, and expanding his inquiry into the field of neurobiology, bestselling author Alberto Villoldo shows readers how they can benefit from these sacred practices.

Mack provides a practical view from both the corporate and legal perspectives of discovery response, providing real case examples on what can happen when electronic-discovery is done right or wrong in response to litigation and governmental investigations.

The criminal underworld meets the spiritual otherworld in this thrilling debut collaboration between the inspiration for television's The Ghost Whisperer and an award-winning writer/director. Anza O'Malley is in most ways a typical single mom. She lives a happy, busy life with her five-year-old son in Cambridge, Massachusetts, juggling the joys and challenges of life as a doting parent and a freelance bookbinder. But there is more to Anza than meets the "ungifted" eye: she can see and speak with ghosts. Although she's been solving cold cases for the police for years, Anza has been hoping to focus her energies on her son and her bookbinding career. But when an exquisite and priceless illuminated manuscript is stolen from the Boston Athenaeum, and when its desecration spurs the appearance of some very unhappy spirits, Anza can neither look nor walk away. With an unlikely trio of ghosts by her side–a charming butler and two medieval monks–Anza leads us on an urgent journey through Boston's winding, cobbled streets to uncover a trail of deceit, danger, and ghoulish intrigue.

Combining elements of Andrew Weil's SPONTANEOUS HEALING and Carolyn Myss's ANATOMY OF THE SPIRIT with a concept all its own, Alberto Villoldo's remarkable book, Shaman, Healer, Sage demonstrates the healing power of energy medicine - a tradition practised in the Americas for more than 5,000 years - which is finally being recognized today by the medical establishment. As he explores such subjects as the Luminous Energy Field that surrounds our bodies, Villoldo shows us how, by learning to see and influence the imprints of disease on this aura of energy, we can discover not only how to heal ourselves and others, but prevent illness as well. Here too, he explores the subject of life beyond death, navigating this unseen world with the knowledge of a scientist and the wisdom of a shamanic healer. Classically trained as a medical anthropologist and a foremost teacher of the shamanic techniques of the Inkas, among whose descendants he has studied for more than twenty-five years, Villoldo weaves together a host of illuminating stories and exercises to provide an accessible, practical, and revolutionary programme of healing.

Who were the medieval illuminators? How were their hand-produced books illustrated and decorated? In this beautiful book Jonathan Alexander presents a survey of manuscript illumination throughout Europe from the fourth to the sixteenth century. He discusses the social and historical context of the illuminators' lives, considers their methods of work, and presents a series of case studies to show the range and nature of the visual sources and the ways in which they were adapted, copied, or created anew. Alexander explains that in the early period, Christian monasteries and churches were the main centers for the copying of manuscripts, and so the majority of illuminators were monks working in and for their own monasteries. From the eleventh century, lay scribes and illuminators became increasingly numerous, and by the thirteenth century, professional illuminators dominated the field. During this later period, illuminators were able to travel in search of work and to acquire new ideas, they joined guilds with scribes or with artists in the cities, and their ranks included nuns and secular women. Work was regularly collaborative, and the craft was learned through an apprenticeship system. Alexander carefully analyzes surviving manuscripts and medieval treatises in order to explain the complex and time-consuming technical processes of illumination - its materials, methods, tools, choice of illustration, and execution. From rare surviving contracts, he deduces the preoccupation of patrons with materials and schedules. Illustrating his discussion with examples chosen from religious and secular manuscripts made all over Europe, Alexander recreates the astonishing variety and creativity ofmedieval illumination. His book will be a standard reference for years to come.

This photo-filled guide offers you all the information you need to begin the fascinating ancient art of illumination, and then to improve your skills. A short history of the art, including photos of some of the world's great medieval masterpieces, gives you context, and then you're introduced to the materials and basic techniques. First learn the proper ways of preparing your parchment, selecting pigments, gilding, and using color. Next, the five steps of illuminating are clearly taught in detail. By learning to create friezes, detailed human faces, flourishes, creatures such as dragons and elephants, and much more, you'll discover a skill that has crossed the centuries. Today, illumination can be used to add a special flair to diplomas, invitations, family trees, or a memorable event like a wedding, a birthday, or an anniversary.

Today our minds, our emotions, our relationships, and our bodies are out of kilter. We know it, but we tend to ignore it until something brings us up short--a worrying diagnosis, a broken relationship, or simply an inability to function harmoniously in everyday life. When things are a little off, we read a self-help book. When they're really bad, we bring in oncologists to address cancer, neurologists to repair the brain, psychologists to help us understand our family of origin. But this fragmented approach to health is merely a stopgap. To truly heal, we need to return to the original recipe for wellness discovered by shamans millennia ago: One Spirit Medicine. Through One Spirit Medicine, the shamans found that they could grow a new body that allowed them to live in extraordinary health. They learned how to switch off the "death clock" inside every cell, and turn on the "immortality" genes that reside in password-protected regions of our DNA. Cancer, dementia, and heart disease were rare. The shamans of old were truly masters of prevention. Drawing on more than 25 years of experience as a medical anthropologist--as well as his own journey back from the edge of death--acclaimed shamanic teacher Alberto Villoldo shows you how to detoxify the brain and gut with superfoods, use techniques for working with our luminous energy fields to heal your body, and follow the ancient path of the medicine wheel to shed disempowering stories from the past and pave the way for rebirth. Using the principles and practices in this book, you can feel better in a few days, begin to clear your mind and heal your brain in a week, and in six weeks be on your way to a new body--one that heals rapidly, retains its youthful vitality, and keeps you connected to Spirit, to the earth, and to a renewed sense of purpose in your life.

The British Library's collection of manuscripts is mined for a wealth of examples, illustrated in color, to this guide to illumination for the general reader. De Hamel (now librarian, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, UK, he's a leading scholar in the field) discusses first why then how manuscripts were illuminated. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

The visionary art of Portuguese artist Joma Sipe is all about light-not the ordinary light of day but the light of spiritual illumination, which brilliantly radiates from the over one hundred, full-color images in this stunning book. Sipe thinks of his work as sacred geometry that unites this temporal world with higher planes. Each painting thrills with the dispersion and concentration of light that seems to emanate from every line. Sipe regards it as springing from the heart of the universal Energy that shines forth in everything that exists. According to Sipe, his paintings come completely from inner inspiration. As if by their own volition, the thin silver or gold ink pen he holds will begin to move until the canvas is filled. Sipe then energizes certain points in the drawing with crystals, a process that infuses the work with spiritual intensity. Finally, he adds light and soft-color computer effects to achieve an ethereal quality. Many works in this volume are also accompanied by his mystical poetry. Since childhood, Sipe has been influenced by painters of the late nineteenth-century Symbolist Movement. He feels profoundly connected with early Theosophist H. P. Blavatsky and believes his works “not only provide an image of the nucleus of the universal brotherhood of humanity, they also mirror the laws of nature and the powers latent in humankind.” Sipe has also studied Rudolf Steiner, Eliphas Levy, G. I. Gurdieff, the contemporary Gnostics, and the spirituality of Hindu teacher Paramahansa Yogananda and Eckart Tolle, who in turn led him to A Course in Miracles. His knowledge of occult anatomy and the chakras, meditation, alchemy, and the Kabbalah contributes to the wealth of esoteric wisdom he brings to bear in his art. All helps him reflect on canvas his powerful sense of the sacred that seems to illuminate the very being of the viewer as well as of the artist and his visionary world.