A natural sequel to Some's book on ritual and intimacy, this book draws on the wisdom of the African ancestors to show how to build communities where children are not only welcomed but prized.

A renowned, respected teacher and mentor to thousands, Sobonfu Somi is one of the first and foremost voices of African spirituality to come to the West. Somi was born in Dano, Burkina Faso, a remote West African village with a population of about two hundred people. Dano has preserved the old ways of African village life, with family structures, spiritual practices, and methods of living that have been in place for more than ten thousand years. In The Spirit of Intimacy, Somi distills the ancient teachings and wisdom of her native village to give insight into the nature of intimate relationships. Somi generously applies the subtle knowledge from her West African culture to this one. Simply and beautifully, she reveals the role of spirit in every marriage, friendship, relationship, and community. She shares ancient ways to make our intimate lives more fulfilling and secure and offers powerful insights into the "illusion of romance," divorce, and loss. Her important and fascinating lessons from the heart include the sacred meaning of pleasure, preparing a ritual space for intimacy, and the connection between sex and spirituality. Her ideas are intuitively persuasive, provocative, and healing--and supported by sound practical advice, along with specific rituals and ceremonies based on those used for thousands of years. With this book, the spiritual insights of indigenous Africa take their place alongside those of native America, ancient Europe, and Asia as important influences on Western readers.

“An antidote to the veneer of perfectionism so often presented by books of its kind, Wabi-Sabi Welcome offers readers license to slow down and host guests with humility, intention, and contentment.” —Nathan Williams, founder of Kinfolk Wabi-Sabi Welcome is sharing a pot of tea with friends. It is preparing delicious food to nourish, not to show off. It’s keeping a basket of cozy slippers at the door for guests. It is well-worn linens, bouquets of foraged branches, mismatched silverware, and heirloom bowls infused with the spirit of meals served with love. In this lush entertaining manual, author Julie Pointer Adams invites readers into artful, easygoing homes around the world—in Denmark, California, France, Italy, and Japan—and teaches us how to turn the generous act of getting together into the deeper art of being together. In this book, readers will find: unexpected, thoughtful ideas and recipes from around the world; tips for creating an intimate, welcoming environment; guidelines for choosing enduring, natural decor for the home; and inspiring photographs from homes where wabi-sabi is woven into daily living.

Open Your Heart and Let the Spirit In! The Holy Spirit is the Teacher ready to personalize your individual program of growth in God. He's the Attendant waiting to take your arm and lead you to places beyond your wildest dreams. He's the Guide who loves to bring the Word alive in your life. Like the other members of the Trinity, He is real and tangible and longs to commune with you throughout your day. Sounds amazing, doesn't it? If you are hungry for deep communion with God, the Holy Spirit is ready and willing to make that happen. He only awaits your permission to be a free, active and personal influence on your heart. But how? My Heart, the Holy Spirit's Home answers your questions about the Holy Spirit and shows you how to exchange caution for certainty and weakness for power. This scripturally rich yet accessible book is your invitation to develop an intimate, daily relationship with the Spirit by opening the door of your life to His indwelling.

This long-awaited work by African spiritual leader Sobonfu Som reflects the profound developments in Som's thought and teaching since the publication of her first two bestselling books, "The Spirit of Intimacy" (1997) and "Welcoming Spirit Home" (2000). Som is a compassionate student of life who has contemplated deeply the nature of personal triumph and defeat.

In Original Thinking, Glenn Aparicio Parry delves into the evolution of Western thought to recover the living roots of wisdom that can correct the imbalances in our modern worldview. Inspired by groundbreaking dialogues that the author organized between Native American elders and leading-edge Western scientists to explore the underlying principles of the cosmos, this book offers a radical revisioning of how we think. Asking questions such as, Is it possible to come up with an original thought?, What does it mean to be human?, and How has our thinking created our world today?, Parry challenges us to consider many of our most basic assumptions. To think originally--as in thinking new thoughts that have never been thought or said before--is according to Parry, largely an illusion. So, too, is the idea of linear human progress. Most of us have traveled far from our ancestral lands, and in so doing, lost connection with place, the origin of our consciousness. Original Thinking offers a radical revisioning of how we think and what it means to be human. It invites us to reintegrate our hearts with our heads and to expand our self-imposed narrowing of consciousness. In doing so we reconnect with the living, original source--nature and her interconnected elements and cycles--and embrace the communion of old and new, rational and intuitive, and masculine and feminine. Ultimately, Parry shows us how to create the tapestry of truly original thinking and to restore thought as a blessing, as a whole and complete transmission from Spirit. Contents PART ONE (ORIGIN): Is it possible to come up with an original thought? Chapter 1. Original Thought, Time, and the Unfolding of Consciousness Chapter 2. Looking Backward to Go Forward Chapter 3. Wheels Within Wheels Chapter 4. It's About Time PART TWO (DEPARTURE): What does it mean to be human? Chapter 5. Purpose, Potential, and Responsibility of Being Human Chapter 6. Rational Thought and Human Identity Chapter 7. Re-thinking Language Chapter 8. Beyond Rationality Chapter 9. A Tale of Two Directions PART THREE (RETURN): How has our thinking created the world today, and what is emerging? Chapter 10. The Essence of Thought Chapter 11. To Make Thought Whole Again Chapter 12. To Think Without Separation Chapter 13. Re-Thinking the "Dismal Science" Chapter 14. Toward An Original Economics PART FOUR (RENEWAL): Can education promote the renewal of original thinking? Chapter 15. Education as Renewal Chapter 16. Childhood and Education Chapter 17. Higher Education Chapter 18. A New (and Ancient) Vision Chapter 19. A Vision for Higher Education

Examine the pros and cons of nontraditional adoption! Welcome Home! An International and Nontraditional Adoption Reader is an essential guide to the process, pros, and cons of adopting children from outside the United States, with special needs, and/or from a different racial/cultural background. The book documents every aspect of the adoption procedure—from working with “facilitators,” adoption agencies, and attorneys to mixed reactions over a child’s possible loss of heritage as the result of a transracial or multicultural adoption. Parents and adoptees offer unique, firsthand perspectives on the cautions and benefits of nontraditional adoption. Americans adopted more than 20,000 children from other countries in 2001, a number that reflects humanitarian motives, the desire to adopt a child from a specific country, and/or frustration with the domestic adoption system. Including a foreword by United States Representative Ted Strickland, Welcome Home! is a practical resource for anyone thinking of establishing a family or adding to their own. The book provides insight into the adoption process, open adoption, biracial adoption, adopting a special needs child, cultural attitudes, and how to handle an adopted child’s questions in later years. It also addresses specific adoption issues, including: how to verify an agency’s credentials; how an agency negotiates with the birth mother; state and country laws and practices; tax benefits; and expenses, including legal and medical costs; and includes research findings on the Northeast-Northwest Collaborative Adoption Projects (N2CAP) Welcome Home! tells the stories of: Naomi and Fred, an intermarried couple (she’s Jewish, he’s not) who adopted a Greek baby in 1962 “Tina” and “Lee,” a lesbian couple, who adopted a baby from China Marianne, a professor of child and adolescent psychiatry at the University of Lund in Sweden, who adopted babies from Iran and Thailand—several years after her divorce Pamela, a divorced mother of four biological children who has adopted babies from Viet Nam and China All of her biological children Mildred—Pamela’s mother and the children’s grandmother Karen, adoptive mother and national chairperson for Families for Russian and Ukrainian adoption (FRUA) William, adoptive father of miracle sisters from Romania and many more! Welcome Home! is an invaluable source of unusual insight for psychologists, psychiatrists, marriage and family therapists, adoption agencies, counselors, social workers, attorneys, physicians, academics, and, of course, anyone considering adoption.

A companion guide to The Complete Idiot s Guide to Wicca and Witchcraft, Second Edition(1592571115) - chock full of spells for every purpose, magical, method, tool, occasion, holiday, and more! The spells are all attached to various aspects of Wiccan belief, celebration, and practice. Information on magical tools and recipes for notions, potions, and powers accompany all spells. Learn to compose and cast spells, record spells and formulas in a personal Book of Shadows, cleanse and consecrate your tools and altar, and celebrate Esbats and Sabbats. Cast spells using candles, incense, crystals, herbs, astrology, magical alphabets and runes, and more!

• Shares seven easily accessible spiritual “medicines”--slowing down, embodying, deepening, relating, pleasure, power, and potency--so you can discover more sensual pleasure and delight in your body, relationships, and way of being as well as inner confidence, instinctual power, and aliveness • Presents reflections, practical somatic and breathing exercises, prompting questions, meditations, and energetic transmissions for each medicine • Explores body awareness, managing emotions stored in the body, the five realms of relationship, the different kinds of love, sexuality, passionate intimacy, and pleasure as a source of nourishment and healing Hidden just below the surface of ordinary day-to-day reality lies an abundance of pleasure and delight. By learning to look beyond your daily challenges, you can ease your stressed mind and body and rediscover the magic, mystery, sensuality, and joy that is possible in everyday life. Taking you step by step through a sensual journey of healing and transformation, Julia Hollenbery explores seven easily accessible spiritual “medicines” or pathways to discover more sensual pleasure and delight in your body, relationships, and way of being. Journeying through slowing, embodying, deepening, relating, pleasure, power, and potency, each medicine invites you to engage through reflections, practical somatic and breathing exercises, prompting questions, and meditations. Energetic transmissions help you reconnect body, mind, and soul in an integrated way and reclaim your innate source of pleasure. A visionary call to action to inhabit your universe of deliciousness, The Healing Power of Pleasure combines scientific fact with ancient spirituality, insight, humor, and poetry. This book presents an invitation to reawaken your body, realize the depth and web of relationships within which we live, and embrace the pleasure, power, and potency that arise when we look inward as well as confidently relate outward with the world around us.