The Lord's Prayer
An Esoteric Study

Four Lectures by Rudolf Steiner

Introduction by Judith von Halle

Softbound

$16.00

The Lord’s Prayer is at the very heart of Christianity. Over the past two millennia, it has been recited many millions of times by millions of people around the world. Here, Steiner affirms the power of the prayer given by Jesus Christ, encouraging us to understand its most profound meanings. Such understanding, he tells us, has become necessary for humanity’s continued development.

In these four lectures, Rudolf Steiner penetrates the esoteric significance of the Lord’s Prayer by relating the seven petitions in the prayer to the seven spiritual and physical human bodies. He also discusses the difference between prayer and meditation and shows how real prayer is truly selfless.

This volume features an introduction by Judith von Halle, whose work is valued for her experiential knowledge of the Lord’s Prayer and the events of Christ’s life.

The Bible's Hidden Cosmology

Gordon Strachan

Hardbound, dust jacketed

$29.95

Strachan turns back to the roots of biblical wisdom. Patterns appear repeatedly throughout the Bible and influence festivals and belief systems, but what are their bases? And, are they incidental or deliberate?

By returning to the principles of ancient cosmology, that is, how the biblical writers viewed the universe, the author reveals a new understanding of the Bible. He uses the disciplines of music theory, astronomy and astrology, numerology, and sacred geometry to uncover hidden wisdom and allow the ancient secrets of the Bible to shine through.

This book is a compelling whirlwind through the imagery and metaphor inherent in the Bible, giving the reader a deeper understanding of ancient wisdom traditions and a new respect for the implicit coding of the Bible.

The Three Virtues

Karl König

Softbound

$5.95

Karl König traces the historical antecedents of the mediaeval vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, and brings their contemporary relevance into sharp focus. Poverty today is not only material lack but also spiritual destitution. Obedience can be attained through suffering for the ego to learn humility. Chastity is much more than a vow of abstinence, sexual or otherwise.

This is a beautiful little book.

Seeing Christ in Sickness and Healing
Anthroposophical medicine as a medicine founded in Christianity

Dr. Peter Selg

Softbound

$29.50

For those who are in daily contact with people who are ill or in need, there may be a tendency to forget the larger purpose of healing because of a need to focus on the day-to-day mechanics of healthcare. Anthroposophic medicine, however, encompasses more than the physical body—it is also concerned with the soul and individual biography of patients, which brings a broader dimension to conventional medical care.

Peter Selg shows how anthroposophic therapies draw heavily on the Christian concept of healing as seen in the Christian Bible. In practical terms, he suggests that, through meditation, healers and caregivers can allow the healing power of Christ to work through them. They must come to recognize that sickness is part of a person’s destiny and that the healing process can help realize the purpose of the sickness for the person’s individual life story.

Nurses, caregivers, social workers, therapists, counselors, and doctors can all benefit from this insightful book.

Christmas
Volume 3 of the Little Series

From the work of Rudolf Steiner

Compiled by Helmut von Kügelgen

Softbound

$13.95

These little books created by Helmut von Kügelgen are just amazing - each and every one of them was compiled with an eye toward the soul needs of teachers. The outcome is that each and every one of them carries within it such warmth, such heart-opening goodness, such hope and love, that they meet not just the needs of teachers, but of all of us.

Christmas is densely packed with meditations on the meaning of the seasons, the Gospel stories of Christmas, prayers and verses of resounding simplicity and richness, even a St. Nicolas celebration for children by von Kügelgen makes an appearance.

The tenderness and depth of Christmas is of a nature that extends well beyond a time of year -- as, in fact, the original Christmas has done.

Contents:

• How to Work with This Booklet
• The Four Different Accounts of Christmas in the Gospels
• Universal Verse for the Earth
• The Gospel of St. John
• The Christmas Conference 1923/1924
• Christmas Verse
• Verses from the Calendar of the Soul
• The Etheric Body as a Reflection of the Universe
• Wisdom, Power and Love
• In Praise of Love
• The Armour of God - Verse by Angelus Silesius
• Universal Verse for Our Earth
• Freedom and Peaceful Collaboration
• Isis, Sophia and Maria Unified in Love through the Child
• Forces of Child and Forces of Eternity
• The Birth of Christ in the Human Soul
• The Christ-Impulse throughout History
• Peace on Earth
• Summer and Winter/New Year's Eve and the Holy Nights
• Verses by Angelus Silesius
• The First Gift
• The Nicholas Messenger
• Apocalyptic Advent Gospel - Gospel Texts for Advent, Christmas time, Epiphany and Beyond

Meditations on the Tarot
A Journey into Christian Hermeticism

Anonymous

Translated by Robert Powell

Afterword by Cardinal Hans Urs von Balthasar

Softbound

$21.95

This book, in my view, is the greatest contribution to date toward the rediscovery and renewal of the Christian contemplative tradition of the Fathers of the Church and the High Middle Ages.

- Abbot Thomas Keating, OCSO
author of The Divine Indwelling and many other books on Contemplative Prayer

I have to agree with Abbot Keating, and I would add more. In my experience, Meditations on the Tarot is the most comprehensive, clear and thorough articulation of the path of Christian mysticism, the esoteric path of self-knowledge leading toward a union the human will, feeling and knowledge with that Creating, Love and Comprehension which is Christ. And, it is extremely beautiful - the sort of text to be savored slowly and repeatedly throughout a lifetime.

This is the fully corrected edition, republished after Element Books (the original publishers of the English language edition) ceased to exist. It is published for the first time with an index (which is wonderfully comprehensive!) and an afterword by Cardinal Hans Urs von Balthasar.

Written anonymously (though known widely that the author was Valentin Tomberg, originally an anthroposophist who left the Society after one of the those social disasters at Dornach) and first published posthumously, the author's intention is for the reader to find a relationship with the author in the spiritual dimensions of existence. Whether or not the author/reader succeed in this goal, there is no question that the reader will gain an understanding of the Christian mystical path that will become fruitful throughout his or her life. This is an amazing book, one which I hope many, many people will read.

The author uses the twenty-two major arcana of the tarot deck as the focal points of a meditative exploration of some of humanity's most penetrating spiritual questions. That Meditations on the Tarot has attracted a nearly unique range of praise from across the spiritual spectrum is further testimony to its depth and insight.

To give you an idea of what you will find in the nearly 700 pages of this book, here is an experpt from the chapter exploring The Hermit (note: bracketed remarks are mine):

[after discussing the location and nature of the seven primary chakras of the human being the author continues:]

The disciple of Hindu yoga and tantra meditates on, or inwardly recites, "seed-mantras" (bija mantra) in order to arouse and advance the development of these centres or chakras. He inwardly vibrates the syllable OM for the centre between the eyebrows (the two-petalled lotus), the syllable HAM for the larynx centre (the sixteen-petalled lotus), the syllable YAM for the heart centre (the twelve petalled lotus), the syllable RAM for the umbilical centre (the ten-petalled lotus), the syllable VAM for the pelvic centre (the six-petalled lotus) and the syllable LAM for the centre at the base of the spine (the four-petalled lotus). Concerning the crown centre (the eight-petalled lotus) there is no bija mantra for it - this centre being not the means by rather the aim of yogic development. It is the centre of liberation.

Now, the following "mantras" or Christian formulai are those which related to these centres:

• I am the resurrection and the life - the eight-petalled lotus
• I am the light of the world - the two-petalled lotus
• I am the good shepherd - the sixteen petalled lotus
• I am the bread of life - the twelve-petalled lotus
• I am the door - the ten-petalled lotus
• I am the way, the truth and the life - the six-petalled lotus
• I am the true vine - the four-petalled lotus

Here is the difference in the choice of method: It is a matter, dear Unknown Friend, of choosing between the method of vibrating particular syllabic sounds - Om, Ham, Yam, Ram, Vam and Lam - and the method which has in view spiritual communion with the seven rays of the "I AM" or the seven aspects of the perfect SELF, who is Jesus Christ. The first method aims at awakening the centres such as they are; the second aims at the Christianisation of th all the centres, i.e., their transformation in conformity with their divine-human prototypes. It is a matter here of the realisation of hte words of the apostle Paul: "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation [KJV: . . . creature; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new]."

Here, in three short paragraphs, the author captured the essential way of Christianity - in three short paragraphs! There have been entire libraries of books written attempting to do this, and the author sums it up in three paragraphs.

The entire book is like this at every step. A life's treasure.

Paths of the Christian Mysteries
From Compostela to the New World

Virginia Sease
and Manfred Schmidt-Brabant

Softbound

$32.00

In recent decades, there has been an upsurge of interest in “the Camino,” the pilgrim’s route to Santiago de Compostela in northern Spain. But where does this fascination in the spiritual exploration of the Middle Ages come from, and what is its significance?

Virginia Sease and Manfred Schmidt-Brabant assert that we live in a time of spiritual quest, discovery, and change. Humanity is becoming increasingly sensitive, and primal memories are beginning to emerge in people’s consciousness. Within this dynamic context of inner transformation, the Camino’s historic importance is being reechoed in human souls.

Rudolf Steiner explained that people need to live not only with outer history, but also with the esoteric, hidden narrative behind it—the history of the Mysteries. Today, at the beginning of the twenty-first century, the authors suggest that it is increasingly necessary for us to live consciously with this veiled history of humanity’s continual search for communion with the divine world.

Based on long research and contemplation, the authors present a survey of extraordinary breadth and depth. Focusing on the spiritual history of humankind, they begin with the cosmic origin of the Grail Mysteries and culminate with the suprasensory Michael cultus and the being of Anthroposophia.

Topics also include:

• the school of Athens;
• early Christian art and its Gnostic impulses;
• the Grail initiation in northern Spain;
• the role of the Cathars and Troubadours in the Manichean spiritual stream;
• the Camino to Santiago de Compostela and the esoteric aspect of music for the pilgrims;
• the Music of the Spheres and the Elders of the Apocalypse;
• the Templars as emissaries of the Holy Grail;
• the initiations of Christian Rosenkreutz and his relation to anthroposophical art;
• the early Rosicrucian impulses in America and Europe;
• and much more.

The Divine Indwelling
Centering Prayer and Its Development

Thomas Keating, et al.

Softbound

$10.00

Abbot Thomas Keating can be said to have unearthed and re-articulated the Christian contemplative tradition which he termed "Centering Prayer." I think of it as "Zen meditation with a goal" - the goal being the discovery of Christ in one's own heart and throughout the world. The Divine Indwelling is a lovely way to discover Centering Prayer(or deepen your previous discovery.

These essays discuss several features of centering prayer and the contemplative outreach movement:

• Thomas Keating: The Divine Indwelling
• Thomas R. Ward: Spirituality and Community: Centering Prayer and the Ecclesial Dimension
• Sarah A. Butler: Lectio Divina as a Tool for Discernment
• George F. Cairns: A Dialogue Between Centering Prayer and Transpersonal Psychology
• Gail Fitzpatrick-Hopler: The Spiritual Network of Contemplative Outreach Limited
• Paul David Lawson: Leadership and Changes Through Contemplation: A Parish Perspective
• Thomas Keating: The Practice of Intention/Attention
  

Friend of My Heart
Meeting Christ in Everyday Life

Claire Blatchford

Softbound

$14.95

How, when, and where can one meet this Friend of every heart? My guess is that there are as many ways of meeting him as there are human beings in the world. I have heard of people who met him unexpectedly in near death experiences, during illnesses, or at crossroads in their lives. Some of these people saw and heard him, while for others the experience was less direct but no less meaningful. For example, they heard his voice or sensed his presence in the words or deeds of a friend or a stranger. I have also read of people meeting him because they earnestly desired it. Whether we are conscious or not of wanting to meet him, I believe his wish for the encounter is always present, but he never forces himself upon us. I have always felt complete respect from him for my freedom, both inner and outer" (from Friend of My Heart).

To open this book is to open yourself to the possibility of an extraordinary meeting. For this is the story of such a meeting, and it is one that can happen to anyone who wants it. The book begins as each of us must begin--with a declaration of hope, heartfelt longing, expectation. Gathered from more than twenty-five journals over twenty years, the messages in this book invite us to listen in the spirit of simplicity, openness, and faith, and then to be attentive to what stirs within. First comes the question: how, when and where can one meet this Friend of the heart? The answer comes from the author's experiences and the messages she has received inwardly. Made deaf by illness at the age of six, Claire Blatchford speaks to us about how to listen and how to hear from our own inner and outer lives.

These are primary messages, put into the context of the author's life, that enable us, in the context of our own lives, to enter into a relationship with this Being who is the Friend of every heart. Friend of My Heart leaves us with the profound sense that we can all stand truly as our own selves in the presence of love.

The Secret Stream
Christian Rosenkreutz and Rosicrucianism

Rudolf Steiner

With an Introduction, "Who Added the Roses to the Cross?" by Christopher Bamford

Softbound

$19.95

Rosicrucianism is one of the most important, and least recognized, streams of Western spirituality. The publication of the first Rosicrucian texts in the early seventeenth century created a cultural riot, the so-called Rosicrucian furore. Forced underground in the maelstrom of the Thirty Years War, Rosicrucianism was passed down secretly by alchemists, hermetists, and Masons into the nineteenth century, when it inspired new spiritual movements, including theosophy, the Order of the Golden Dawn and Rudolf Steiner's spiritual science.

This book collects from many different sources Steiner's discussions on Rosicrucianism: The Tao and the Rose Cross; the history and mission of Christian Rosenkreutz; the nature of Rosicrucian practice and experience; the meaning of The Chemical Wedding; Goethe's Rosicrucian poem "The Mysteries;" and how to meditate on the Rose Cross itself.

Edited and introduced by Christopher Bamford, The Secret Stream brings to light the hidden fraternity that has lived and worked since the fourteenth century and uncovers the Rosicrucian path that is Christian, alchemical, and profoundly modern.

The Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosencreuz
Anno 1459

A Modern Poetic Version by
Jon Valentine

Illustrations by Arne Salomonsen

Hardbound, dust jacketed, first edition*

$21.95

This is the first edition (1981 St. George Publications) of the seminal "alchemical manifesto" of the stream of esoteric Christianity known as Rosicrucian. A genuine collectors item, it is copiously illustrated throughout with lovely pencil drawings inspired by the story. This particular version was anonymously written, "Jon Valentine" being a play on the originally attributed author, Johann Valentin Andraea.

In beautifully pictorial language The Chymical Wedding tells a story of the Seven Day journey of Christain Rosencreuz to the "chymical wedding" of the King and Queen. The imagery is so deep and so true, that it has inspired mystics, artists and poets ever since it appeared, and in spite of it's being banned by the Church of the time, in 1616. Whether you read it as merely a story, as a portrait of inner development and initiation, or as the picture of archetypal cosmic marriage, you'll discover a joyous adventure to return to time and again.

*Please note that because this book has actually been in storage since 1981, it will tend to have that musty "used book" smell to it. We assure you that the book is not used and that you'll find that as it is allowed to "breathe" in fresh air, the smell will abate over time and with use. The dust jacket does show a bit of wear - the color is in places faded from prolonged storage.

Alive in God's World
Human Life on Earth and in Heaven as Described in the Visions of Joa Bolendas

Joa Bolendas

Foreword by Therese Schroeder-Sheker

Compiled, Translated, and Introduced by John Hill

$16.95

I have found enormous wisdom, insight and warmth in the visions of Joa Bolendas. Whenever I have endeavored to carry into my own life a prayer, an attitude, an awareness gleaned from her work, I have always found it to be true and valuable. Working with the world in this way is so fundamentally healing - for oneself and for the world - that my hope is that many more may become aware of her message. This is the message of life lived in awareness of the unity with the divine - and in an awareness that this is to live as a full human being.

Mit den Händen loben wir
Mit dem Herzen singen wir
Mit den Lippen beten wir

With Our Hands We Praise
With Our Hearts We Sing
With Our Lips We Pray

Vision Songs of Joa Bolendas

In German, accompanied by a complete, sensitive translation by Miram Mason

Softbound, beautifully illustrated and designed, half-tone and full-color art reproductions, large format

$39.95

In what is the most beautifully designed and artistically composed book I've ever seen, the vision songs of Joa Bolendas are presented in words and score alongside some of Joa's sketches and commentary. In an outpouring of gifts, the covers offer reproductions of four of Joa's vision paintings, chosen for their immediate connection with the songs.

Where this volume of music needs to be seen to be fully appreciated, the songs themselves beg to be heard to be . . . well, to be believed. Three of the songs presented in Mit den Händen are easily available to English-speaking audiences (thought they are sung in the original German) on Nóirín ní Riain's Vox de Nube. They are among only a very few pieces of music which have moved me to tears (and continue to do so, I might add) through the intensity of their beauty.

If you are an artist or a lover of art, you will want to see this book to discover how it is that a book becomes, in itself, a work of art. If you are a musician, you will want to see and work with these songs, to discover this modern expression of the Spirit. If you are a seeker, you'll want to see the book, discover the music, and live in gratitude with these gifts for a long, long time to come.

Heaven and Hell

Emanuel Swedenborg

Translated by George F. Dole

Softbound

$15.00

This new translation of Emanuel Swedenborg's most popular work paints a detailed picture of life in the spiritual realm. Swedenborg, a Swedish Enlightenment scientist of extraordinary accomplishment, underwent a spiritual crisis that led to an unparalleled series of paranormal experiences. He spent his last twenty-seven years in almost daily experience of heaven and hell, recording his observations and conversations, many of which are reported in Heaven and Hell. This sustained and detailed description of the nonphysical realms has left its impress on the minds of many great thinkers, including Goethe, Blake, Coleridge, Emerson, Borges and Milosz.

Dole's translation removes the barriers to understanding imposed by the ponderous translations of the past. It retains the dignity, variety, clarity, and gender-inclusive language of the original Latin, bringing Swedenborg's thought to life.

Swedenborg's classic on the afterlife, rendered into fresh and accessible language. A perfect introduction to the work of this great visionary.

- Richard Smoley
Coauthor, Hidden Wisdom: A Guide to the Western Inner Traditions

Prayers of the Cosmos
Meditations on the Aramaic Words of Jesus

Translated and with commentary by
Neil Douglas-Klotz

$12.00

If the English words of Jesus somehow don't really convey to you what you would expect from someone who says in humility and truth, "I am the Light of the World," Prayers of the Cosmos will not only confirm your suspicions that something has gone awry, but give you the cosmic truth you originally sought. The English New Testament (all translations) we know is a translation from the Koine Greek. Koine was sort of a "business Greek" and was itself used to translate the more provincial and more cosmically aware Aramaic that Jesus actually spoke. Aramaic is a language rich in its ability to convey multiple levels of human and cosmic experience. In this little book, translator Neil Douglas-Klotz gives us a Jesus who speaks in Loving Awareness of his consciousness union with Earth and All Creation. Wonderful!

The Hidden Gospel
Decoding the Spiritual Message of the Aramaic Jesus

Neil Doglas-Klotz

$14.95

Neil Douglas-Klotz has again given us a book that unveils Jesus/Yeshua as a full participant in a Middle Eastern culture whose worldview was one of spiritual interpenetration, spiritual Unity. Here God and humanity do not have the subject-object relationship that Western civilization has assumed. In the Aramaic world in which Jesus of Nazareth walked, it was so deeply known that the Father and all creations are One that the words of the language itself presumed and echoed this awareness. Unfortunately, this awareness was lost as the spoken Aramaic was translated into Koine Greek, then Latin, then German, then other modern European tongues -- all of them reflecting cultures that had long presumed a separated relationship to the divine.

What a wonder springs to life in Klotz's translations from ancient Aramaic texts! What comes forth from Jesus' words taken with deep understanding from his native language is moving, heart-opening, inspiring and healing.

As a small sample of what you'll find in this book:

Clear holy space around your Name:
let it be the center on which our life turns.

Focus your light within us - make it useful:
as the rays of a beacon show the way.

- two alternate readings of the second line of the Lord's Prayer, Matthew 6:9, from the Aramaic (KJV: "Hallowed be thy name.")

The Hidden Gospel is a well inviting us all to drink deeply.

A Beginner's Guide to Contemplative Prayer
How to Pray in the Christian Mystical Tradition

James Finley

Audio CD, 70 minutes

$15.95

I have often wished I knew more about Christian mystical practices. Specifically, I have wished I knew the how of the practices, not just the what. This 'beginner's guide' by James Finley answered so many of my questions and taught me the initial steps of how to meditate and pray in this way. This is a tremendous introduction to a practice that can open the heart as it opens doors of understanding.

You can discover for yourself Christianity's own unique tradition for experiencing God directly through meditation. James Finley, who as a young monk lived and prayed with Thomas Merton for six years at the Abbey of Gethsemani, shares the fruit of this authentic approach to prayer and its role at the center of Christian life. Beginning with a look at its meaning and origins, including the Christian mystics who first explored it, and concluding with step-by-step instructions for getting started with a contemplative practice of your own, here is an invaluable introduction to the fundamental meditations and teachings of this tradition.

The Way of Saint John of the Cross
A Guide through the Dark Night of the Soul

Susan Muto

Audio Cassettes, approx. 5 hours

$29.95

St. John of the Cross is often referred to as "a master of prayer" or "the ultimate spiritual psychologist." After meeting him for the first time through Susan Muto's gifted presentation, I now understand that here is a treasure that is seldom known outside seminaries, yet reaches into the heart of modern spirituality as though it were written yesterday. I didn't know it before I reviewed these tapes for our bookshop, but I have been longing to know what he has to teach us. I don't think I'm unique in this regard. If you are a spiritual seeker, looking for a path that is as alive and present as it is clear and well-marked, then I gladly recommend this audio presentation to you. I think you'll find as much as I did here.

Susan Muto immerses us in the transformational concepts, symbols and metaphors at the heart of St. John's writing. Drawing from his great masterpieces, The Ascent of Mt. Carmel, The Dark Night of the Soul, The Living Fire of Love and more, Muto offers a new and accesible approach to St. John's "secret wisdom of dark contemplation" - those events in our lives which stretch our faith and our endurance to the breaking point are in fact our greatest teachers.

And all does not remain darkness - just as vividly, St. John describes for us the joyful dawn that awaits us after the midnight hour; the fulfillment and peace that come after the joy; the warm heart that comes with the fulfillment and enables us to go deeper at the next midnight. John knew each and every step of the way so deeply and so intimately that his writings (early 16th century Spain - some done while a prisoner in his own monestary) continue to stand as a beacon of light illuminating the human heart.

I can't recommend this audio series highly enough. If you're uneasy about embarking on a 5 hour listening journey, I can assure you that you can easily listen in whatever few moments you have and come back for more until you are done. I listened to the entire set in 10-15 minute intervals while running errands in my car and never felt lost.

*I should tell you also that the first 20 minutes or so of Muto's presentation are so boring and stiff that I almost stopped listening altogether. I think what happened is that she was very uncomfortable creating a presentation in a recording studio and was reading from her notes in a way that betrayed no enthusiasm at all. But just in the nick of time (for me), she began to talk about John's life, and then her own flame began to burn. Once she connected not with the studio but with St. John and his work, her enthusiasm and joy took hold. The rest of the tapes are like listening to a wise and close friend tell you things you've always wanted to know.

Passion for God
The Path of the Bridal Mystic

2 Audio Cassettes

Tessa Bielecki

$18.95

These tapes are wonderful to listen to - even if you can listen only to brief bits at a time. And the technique of prayer they reveal is balancing - out of this ecstasy we can emerge as solid, clear participants in the rest of life. Very highly recommended.

Inside the great medieval monastery at Avila, Spain, one of history's great love affairs took place. Here, within these turreted stone walls, the Christian mystic St. Teresa surrendered her "ensouled body" to God. What emerged from this divine union informs our spiritual lives to this day through the ecstatic "spousal prayer" that St. Teresa embraced so fiercely.

With exuberance, humor and lively scholarship, Mother Tessa takes listeners far from the hard pews of dutiful worship and into a lush marriage chamber where God is mystically experienced as spouse. Through her enthusiasm and authenticity, you can also discover an authentic practice for achieving true sacred intimacy.

Tessa Bielecki is Mother Abbess of the Spiritual Life Institute, a Carmelite community with hermitages in Colorado, Nova Scotia, and Ireland. She is actively involved in Buddhist-Christian dialogs and international initiatives exploring world peace and planetary survival. And - she is one of the leading authorities on the life of St. Teresa of Avila and an enthusiastic practitioner and teacher of spousal prayer.

The Way of St. Francis
Teachings and Practices for Daily Life

Father Murray Bodo

Audio Cassettes, 3 hours

$18.95

I was fascinated with this presentation because it really focused on an aspect of St. Francis that I had never before considered - his spiritual practices. I was amazed to discover that St. Francis, in addition to his very radical determination to live a life of complete and true poverty, relying on the goodness of others and the grace of God, had also developed a wonderful system of meditations, prayers and teachings, all of which beautifully open the heart.

Father Murray Bodo is a Franciscan priest and a deep expert on the life and path of St. Francis of Assisi. In his extremely interesting presentation, he introduces us to the five great keys of Franciscan spirituality and teaches us out of his own experience how to use them:

• Silence - How to use inner and outer quietude to prepare a sacred dwelling place within
• Purification - True forgiveness, the secret to purifying the heart
• Openness - How to embrace your deepest suffering, and simplest joys, in the manner and spirit of St. Francis
• Response - "The Way of the Poor Christ," a life made rich through prayer, contemplation, and selfless service
• Time - How we enter the state of the timeless divine.

As a bonus, Father Bodo retells much of the biography of Francis, including many events that were new to me and broadened my understanding and appreciation of his life and mission. If you already feel a warmth in your heart for the "poor man of Assisi," or if you would like to get to know this saint in a much more intimate and practical way than is usually possible, you will love listening to Father Bodo's accounts. Highly recommended.

The Seeker's Guide to the Rosary

Liz Kelly

$11.95

I was not raised Catholic nor am I Catholic now. However, I have always been respectfully curious about the Rosary, in much the same way that I have sought to learn more about other prayer forms throughout the world.

It's too long a story to relate how I happened to focus my attention, and then my heart, on the Rosary. What I will tell you is that after all these years of study, meditation, and prayer, what I have found in the Rosary is the most invitingly, beautifully complex and deep prayer/meditation of any that I have encountered in previous seeking. My original (many years ago) impression of the Rosary was that it was a beaded prayer that simply involved many repetitions of specific prayers in a rhythmic order. What I have discovered is that this aspect of the Rosary barely scratches the surface of the gifts it holds. As one repeats the prayers, there are 15 mysteries of the Life of Christ, seen from Mary's point of view, that are remembered, visualized, relived. Standing with Mary on a ground of repeated prayer, watching as her son - now your son, for ultimately you join with her - lives through the joys, sorrows and glories of his life - can open the heart to an experience that there is no separation between sacred and profane, that heaven and earth have always been one, and that faith, hope and love are part of the air we breath regardless of what name we call God.

The Seeker's Guide to the Rosary is the best book I've found that presents the Rosary in this way. It is not written for Catholics only, but speaks to the heart of anyone wishing to explore this beautiful prayer/meditation.

*An excellent overview of using the Rosary is the article "Telling the Rosary" by Christopher Bamford, published in the Garden issue of Parabola (March 2001).

The Isenheim Altar
Suffering and Salvation in the Art of Grünewald

Gottfried Richter

Softbound - full color reproductions of the altar, paintings, and painting details

$19.95

No other painter has ever so terribly and truthfully exposed the horror of suffering, and yet kept before us . . . the conviction of salvation.

- Sister Wendy Beckett

I would like to add that, in my estimation it is also true that no other painter has so clearly painted the grace of human joy or the triumph of love over fear - Grünewald's masterpiece is a tour de force of all the possibilities of the relationship of human beings to the divine and the nature of human life and love. I have often contemplated the various panels (or the progression of the full altar) and have always come away with new insights and the renewed energy of faith, hope and love.

The real joy of this little book is that the reproducations of the Isenheim Altar are so good that they invite you to explore, contemplate, and meditate on the content, meaning, beauty of these panels. Richter's discussion of the altarpiece is an excellent introduction and offers a great deal of history and artistic insight. However, I will tell you that, as good as his essay is, it barely scratches the surface of what you will discover over the years.

Something that is not discussed in the book, but which I have found valuable in my own contemplation of this amazing altarpiece, is that the Nativity, Crucifixion and Resurrection panels encompass the 15 mysteries of Mary as meditated through the Rosary. (Notice that the Christ Child and St. Anthony are both holding prayer beads.)

The Isenheim Altar was commission by the Order of St. Anthony - a monastic fraternity that cared for the sick of their time (early 1500's). They were so aware of the healing value of contemplation and awareness of the mysteries portrayed on this altarpiece that they positioned it so that their patients could see it and benefit from its health-bestowing images.

Clearly, there is much to explore. The Isenheim Altar is a wellspring sending forth living waters.

Hildegard of Bingen
and Her Vision of the Feminine

Nancy Fierro

1 Audio Cassette

90 minutes

$10.95

I learned so much from this tape about Hildegarde's life and contributions to humanity that I recommend it with enthusiasm to anyone interested in this remarkable woman. After listening to Nancy Fierro's biographical/theological research on Hildegarde and then going back and reading and rereading some of Hildegarde's written work, I came away with the realization that Hildegarde was able to leave us with so many gifts in so many different areas of life (arts, theology, medicine, ecology, for instance) because she always spoke only from her own experience. She was someone who saw truly in part because of her innate capacities and in part because she was unfettered by a need to first learn what the "correct" thing to see was. As a result, she penetrated deeply into whatever subject she addressed and left behind a vast treasure of wisdom and insight of such lasting worth that today her work still retains living, practical value.

When you listen to this tape, be sure to take note of the way in which Hildegard of Bingen became St. Hildegard - it is so befitting of the rest of her life that you won't want to miss it!

Secrets of God
Writings of Hildegard of Bingen

Selected and Translated by
Sabina Flanagan

$17.95

Sabina Flanagan has succeeded in presenting a sampling of Hildegard's writings that allows us to not only savor her thoughts, insights, and wisdom but also leaves us feeling as though we had been in the presence of this great saint and had come to know her as a friend and guide. Flanagan's clear and beautiful translations of Hildegard's spiritual and medical writing, her poetry and letters make a wonderful introduction to this unforgettable twelfth-century author. I think you'll find, as I have, that what Hildegard had to say is so often so truth- and light-filled that it remains alive and practical over a thousand years later. I especially love her notes on different plants and animals. This is a wonderful book for anyone who loves nature and seeks the spirit!

Hildegard von Bingen's Mystical Visions

Translated from Scivias by Bruce Hozeski
Introduced by Matthew Fox

$16.00

Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179) left many, many gifts for the soul and spirit of humanity, more of which will appear on this page in the future. Mystical Visions is the gift of her encounters with and understandings of the spiritual world and our relationship to it. There is nothing half-way about Hildegard. The unflinching courage and commitment with which she pursues universal truth and self-knowledge somehow appear as the very ink in which her visions are written. Hildegard knew the way to much truth, and we are fortunate that she chose to share it with us.

Illuminations of Hildegard of Bingen

Text by Hildegard of Bingen
Commentary by Matthew Fox

Large format
$18.95

Meditations with Meister Eckhart

Introduction and Versions by Matthew Fox

$9.95

Meditations with Meister Eckhart looks like a small book. In reality, it is a vast treasure house of untold spiritual joy. Going from page to page through these verses, thoughts, and meditations is like walking through a garden that begins in indescribable beauty, with each step leading to ever increasing beauty beyond the imagination's wildest hope. As Meister Eckhart (ca 1260-1329) says, "The path is beautiful and pleasant and joyful and familiar."

Gothic High
Meditations on the Construction of Gothic Cathedrals

Goldian Vandenbroeck

Softbound, large format

$14.95

Gothic High is a book after my own heart. I have long loved the old Gothic cathedrals - those massive structures which through the heavy stone seem to miraculously escape the pull of gravity, and instead use gravity itself to support vaults that lift us to into the arms of the Spirit. Vandenbroeck's approach is just right for his subject - each page includes a photo or drawing of an aspect of a Gothic cathedral; beside it is a poetic song to the soul's awareness of what the picture reveals. This is a great book through which you can explore both an outstanding feature of Western history and your own soul's sensitivity to form.

Thoughts in Solitude

Thomas Merton

$6.95

This is a small book - designed to fit into almost any purse or pocket. However, it was written by a spiritual giant, someone whose life and work really worthy of the deepest respect and admiration. This is, then, a book that, if you carry it with you to read when opportunity presents, can vouchsafe that any time spent in a waiting room or stalled traffic will be time you can look back upon with gratitude.

In thirty-seven concise and beautifully written chapters, Thomas Merton explores the meaning of interior solitude and its necessary role in bringing every life to joyous fruition. "What is said here about solitude is not just a recipe for hermits, it has a bearing on the whole future of man and his world."

Although Merton was a Trappist monk, this book is universal in its spiritual scope. Wonderful!

A Course in Miracles
Single Volume Edition

Hardbound
$29.95

In our opinion, this is one of the most valuable spiritual treasures of the modern world. Working through the Course, you will learn to experience you higher self, your "Christ within"; you will develop your heart chakra as an organ of perception and communication; you will learn to repattern your habitual thinking habits away from separation and attack and toward active forgiveness of yourself and others (you will also learn that these are the same things); and you will learn that you and God are truly one and that you are God's beloved child. The triune reality of all creation is the foundation of A Course in Miracles.

Forgiveness
The Greatest Healer of All

Gerald G. Jampolsky, M.D.

$12.95

Forgiveness is simple, peaceful and ultimately deeply penetrating. As with all of Jampolsky's work, the outer simplicity is the result, not of superficiality, but of the depth of work the author himself has done within the subject area. This is one of those little books to which we can turn again - to find a friend, to find guidance, to locate the path out of the daily hell of unforgiveness. Powerful, direct, healing. Unhesitatingly recommended.