Collection: Spirituality & Religion

How do you find yourself when you've been given the wrong directions?

Jason is a backwoods boy with problems. Being gay in Alabama is hard enough, but God hates him and one of his classmates wants him dead. He dreams of escaping to California, but life sends him on an unexpected detour to Alaska first.

This witty, unflinchingly candid memoir steps into his uncomfortable shoes as he grows up and tries to find himself in the sinful world of sex, drugs, rock 'n' roll, and love. He travels from Alabama to Alaska to California and back, before realizing he might've been looking for the wrong person.

A Normal Person Doing Normal Things is ultimately a hilarious exploration of identity, freedom, and what it means to be a human.

Let's Ask a Bold Question: Doesn't it feel like the world could usea spiritual upgrade these days? But what would that look like? Perhaps something completely unexpected, something everyone could understand, something easy and incorruptible, something consolidating. Perhaps a symbol that doesn't even require language for it to work its wonders. In its elegant simplicity, the Infinity Wave could be just that. The Infinity Wave: Mastering the Art of Love, Compassion and Flow is both the story of how the Infinity Wave arrived and a guidebook for how to use this multi-dimensional tool to enhance day-to-day activities as well as to provide a path towards deep spiritual evolution - there are no limits to it. Before the Infinity Wave appeared, Hope Fitzgerald would have described herself as a counselor with a life-long, private devotion to a spiritual life. However, when a surprising series of visions introduced the Wave, it upended her life, boosting her into a more public arena and eventually evolving her into a psychic medium and channeler. This guidebook is her way of consolidating the basics of how to use the Infinity Wave including access to the original fundamental practices that arrived in the early days of Infinity Wave discovery. The Infinity Wave is perhaps the most brilliant and powerful tool for healing, personal expansion, and putting love into the world. This simple and life enriching practice has comforted me, grounded me, enhanced my relationships, and connected me more deeply to Mother Earth, and our Universe. I am beyond grateful. Barbara Newman, author, The Dreamcatcher Codes (2022 Nautilus Book Award) Hope Fitzgerald offers us all great inspiration in her book. Simple yet profound, The Infinity Wave can lighten our struggles in life and strengthen our courage to be true to who we are and who we have come here to be through service." Marypat E., St. Louis "As both the conduit and master technician, Hope offers all one needs to understand and use this miraculous tool. Anyone who chooses can immediately access the love, compassion and flow contained in The Infinity Wave, and see instantaneous blessings as a result." Dr Janice Seward - Psychotherapist & Metaphysical Practitioner

From erotic labor, to the rights of people who use psychoactive substances, to reproductive health and carcerality--we are living through a political moment when debates about bodily autonomy are at a fever pitch.

Body Autonomy: Decolonizing Sex Work and Drug Use is a bold and timely collection that confronts these charged issues at the intersection of social justice and public health. It reveals the histories behind the United State's ideological wars and illustrates their costs to all of us. It is a primer on healing-centered harm reduction, which presents a visionary framework and set of practical strategies to advance unity and care while working to transform conditions for communities that bear the brunt of interpersonal and systemic violence, overdose deaths, and health inequities. In the words of leading advocates, service providers, and the scholars whose lives and communities have been harmed by American neo-colonial policies, Body Autonomy offers promising, healing-centered interventions that represent a critical culture shift.

This collection features trusted voices on health and social policy reform, including Kate D'Adamo, Justice Rivera, Ismail Ali, Paula Kahn, and Sasanka Jinadasa, as well as respected healers like Richael Faithful, Amira Barakat Al-Baladi, and Mona Knotte. The articles, interviews, worksheets, and poems within are an offering to expand our collective understanding of survival, healing, and embodied freedom. Body Autonomy is a must read for anyone with a compassionate worldview, people seeking to know more about underground economies, and those who know that punishment doesn't lead to security. It is a liberatory design and a prayer for what's possible.

"Christ is Risen!" "Truly, He is Risen!" is the salutation with which Orthodox Christians greet one another following the Feast of the Resurrection. Why does the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ bring such joy, and what are the implications of His Resurrection? Why was it necessary and inevitable that the Lord rise from the dead, and what was the effect of the Resurrection on the disciples, on the Church, and on the world?

In this booklet, His Holiness Pope Shenouda III (1923-2012), the 117th Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of Saint Mark, answers these questions and many others relating to the Resurrection of our Lord, God and Savior, Jesus Christ.

The astounding autobiography of the man who transformed Rumi from a learned religious teacher into the world's greatest poet of mystical love.

A fresh, graceful translation of one of the most important and timeless classics--the foundational work of Daoism--by award-winning novelist Ken Liu, who contextualizes and demystifies this famously enigmatic text.

Laozi's Dao De Jing was written around 400 BC by a compassionate soul in a world torn by hatred and ambition, dominated by those that yearned for apocalyptic confrontations and prized ideology over experience. By speaking out against the cleverness of elites and the arrogance of the learned, Laozi upheld the wisdom of the concrete, the humble, the quotidian, the everyday individual dismissed by the great powers of the world. Earthy, playful, and defiant, Laozi's words gave solace to souls back then, and offer comfort today. Now, this beautifully designed new edition serves as both an accessible new translation of an ancient Chinese classic and a fascinating account of renowned novelist Ken Liu's transformative experience while wrestling with the classic text.

Throughout this translation, Liu takes us through his own struggles to capture the meaning in Laozi's text in a series of thoughtful and provocative interstitial entries. Unlike traditional notes that purport to be objective, these entries are explicitly personal and unapologetically subjective. Gradually, as Liu learns that true wisdom cannot be pinned down in words, the notes grow sparser until they fade away entirely. His journey suggests the only way out of struggle is to engage with texts that have survived the millennia, wrestling with ideas that gesture at something eternal, in hopes that we might eventually reach that moment of transcendent joy.

Liu's translation, by eschewing cleverness, paradoxically reveals the slipperiness of Laozi's original. The Dao De Jing has been translated countless times and will be translated countless times in the future. In that constant change and flow, we finally find our home in Dao, the eternal principle that allows us, finite beings in time and space, to reckon and reconcile with the infinite.

A once-in-a-generation translation of the definitive Ch'an (Zen) koan collection from preeminent translator David Hinton.

The Blue-Cliff Record, a collection of Ch'an (Zen) koans stemming from the eleventh century, is a remarkable masterwork of classical Chinese literature, a philosophical text of profound power, and an active practice guide in use by Ch'an and Zen Buddhists all over the world. Rendered with his trademark lyricism and philosophical rigor, this new edition from renowned translator David Hinton presents a whole new Blue-Cliff Record. Full of poetry, storytelling, and characters both zany and profound, Hinton's translation unveils the earthy insights of Ch'an's original wisdom.

Though it carries a reputation for impenetrable paradox, The Blue-Cliff Record was not meant to be a teaching tool understood only through long instruction from Zen masters. Rather, it is a finely crafted text intended to create a direct and immediate experience of awakening, a text that insists on the need to trust oneself rather than teachers for insight. Embracing this, Hinton's translation presents only the original koans and poems, free of the commentaries that usually shroud it. In doing so, he rekindles the provocative and illuminating fire of these one hundred classic koans.

An intimate mystery encompasses you and tugs upon your heart--what does it mean to follow that tug across the arc of a spiritual life?

Reflecting out of more than fifty years of practice in Zen Buddhism, Unitarian Universalism, and other contemplative traditions, James Ishmael Ford invites us into a journey through life's mysteries and the stages of spiritual development.

Lightly structured by the archetypal Buddhist oxherding images, Ford's exploration is rooted in the Zen way while being deeply enriched by various strains of world mysticism. The book, sprinkled with insights and quotes from Buddhist, Daoist, and Christian traditions, serves as a map and a companion to spiritual seekers or pilgrims--whether within one religious tradition or cobbling together a way of one's own. "Here is the most natural of all natural experiences," writes Ford. "In the midst of our suffering, our longing, our desperation, we capture a glimpse. Something touches us. And with that, if we are lucky and really notice some movement of some spirit within us, we turn our attention to the intimate way."

Renowned artist Kaz Tanahashi reveals the deep, inner spiritual connections that Zen gardens can foster, with over 75 stunning full-color photos of the masterpiece gardens of Kyōto, Japan.

Imagine yourself in Kyōto, Japan, gazing at an ancient temple garden. How would you contextualize what you are seeing? What is the history of this centuries-old contemplative art form of Zen gardening? What are its symbols and concepts?

Richly illustrated with full-color photographs, Gardens of Awakening guides you through a series of Zen temple gardens, most of which were created from the fourteenth through seventeenth centuries. Some are teeming with plants and flowing water, while others have only rocks and sand. All share in the Zen aesthetics of awakening.

Through essays and commentary on Mitsue Nagase's striking photographs, beloved Zen artist and translator Kazuaki Tanahashi presents the gardens in terms of seven qualities that arise from Zen practice: direct, ordinary, vigorous, gleaming, pivotal, nondual, and inexhaustible. Relating these qualities to the development of Zen culture and its influence on Japanese art, Gardens of Awakening invites you deep into the heart of Zen.

Humorous and heartwarming tales of resilience, self-care, and mental health from the popular webcomic War and Peas

Told in rhyming verse and delightful comic illustrations, these stories cover everything from heartache and personal growth to creative burnout and searching for the elusive perfect email signature.

While the groundbreaking Webcomic duo War and Peas is famous for their dark style of humor, they decided to try something more poetic and purposeful to inspire their millions of readers during challenging times. So they created the short story "A Job is a Job" and published it online. It got so much attention and praise that the authors decided to make an entire collection of inspirational illustrated stories for adults.

These stories of heartache, self-doubt, family conflict, and employment help turn the struggle of becoming an adult in today's world into something playful, punny, and profound. A Job is a Job will console and inspire the burnt-out professional in all of us.

Use the incredible power of bones, crystals, and curios as divinatory tools to develop a deeper understanding of your abilities, your relationships, and your future.

The casting of bones and other objects for divination has been part of many cultural traditions for millennia. When we think of bones, we usually think of animal or human skeletal remains. However, in divination practice, the word "bones" refers to all the elements that are cultivated in your own "bone-throwing kit." While most of the items will be natural, such as bones, shells, roots, and crystals, a kit may also include other baubles and trinkets--a dice, coins, a key. Creating your own bone-throwing kit allows you to build a connection to the bones you wish to include in your arsenal and create a definitive divination system based on your personal practice.

This beautifully illustrated book includes everything you need to start "throwing bones" and divining the answers to any questions you have about the future or gaining inspiration for how to work with current situations. In it you will find:

• Advice and suggestions for creating your own set of "bones"
• 20 unique casting boards with full instructions on how to use them when addressing different sorts of questions
• Other related methods of divination, including crystal divination--such as crystal scrying--and pendulum dowsing

The large, square format and layflat binding make the book uniquely practical.

A perennially popular book by a beloved author--now in an updated package with a new preface--sheds light on what the next life may have in store.

"A book about living that will help readers see more beauty, feel more power, and know more love."
-- don Miguel Ruiz, international best-selling author of The Four Agreements

If the dead could speak, don't you wonder what they would say to those of us they've left behind? What would they tell us to soothe our sorrow for their loss, calm our fears of what happens when we die, and fire us up to live the best possible lives we can right now?

These are the questions New York Times best-selling author Mike Dooley seeks to answer in The Top Ten Things Dead People Want to Tell You--and ten years after its initial release, it's still one of Mike's most popular and beloved books. In pages filled with wisdom, humor, and, yes, joy, Mike explores our most pressing and profound questions about the afterlife--and this life--by adopting the perspective of those who have made the transition to the next phase. Among the revelations and insights they share:
- We were ready; you are not.
- There's no such thing as a devil or hell.
- We're sorry for any pain we may have caused.
- Your pets are just as crazy, brilliant, and loving here as they were there.
- Nothing we say can prepare you for the beauty of the moment you arrive.

New readers are discovering The Top Ten Things Dead People Want to Tell You all the time--and this anniversary release gives the book a fresh new package and new preface from the author to frame its invaluable insights for the times we live in now.

"Mike Dooley lifts the veil between our perceptual world and the world beyond our physical sight. [He] reminds us that we're always being guided. . . . Read this book and reconnect with the love that is all around you."
-- Gabrielle Bernstein, #1 New York Times best-selling author

A Spiral-Bound New Testament, Crafted for Comfortable Study and Note Taking

The ESV Spiral-Bound Journaling New Testament was created from the ground up to facilitate in-depth note taking. It features an inviting, easy-to-read layout with generous space for notes. The spiral-bound format lays flat for comfortable reading and writing. Designed to encourage deeper interaction with Scripture, this journaling edition is ideal for recording prayers and reflections.

• Perfect for Journaling: Includes the complete New Testament with ample space for notes
• Convenient Layout: Pages lay flat to make reading and writing more comfortable
• A Great Gift for Students

A Spiral-Bound Bible Set, Crafted for Comfortable Study and Note Taking

The ESV Spiral-Bound Journaling Bible, Five-Volume Set was created from the ground up to facilitate in-depth note taking. Divided into 5 individual volumes--Pentateuch; Historical Books; Poetry; Prophets; and New Testament--this set features the complete ESV Bible text in an inviting, easy-to-read layout with generous space for notes. The spiral-bound format lays flat for comfortable reading and writing. Designed to encourage deeper interaction with Scripture, this journaling edition is ideal for recording prayers and reflections.

• Journaling Bible Set: Includes the full ESV text in 5 volumes: Pentateuch; Historical Books; Poetry; Prophets; and New Testament
• Spiral-Bound Bible: Pages lay flat to make reading and writing more comfortable
• Attractive Layout: Easy to read, with ample space for notes
• A Great Gift for Students

A groundbreaking new account of the writing of the Hebrew Bible

Who wrote the Bible? Its books have no bylines. Tradition long identified Moses as the author of the Pentateuch, with Ezra as editor. Ancient readers also suggested that David wrote the psalms and Solomon wrote Proverbs and Qohelet. Although the Hebrew Bible rarely speaks of its authors, people have been fascinated by the question of its authorship since ancient times. In Who Really Wrote the Bible, William Schniedewind offers a bold new answer: the Bible was not written by a single author, or by a series of single authors, but by communities of scribes. The Bible does not name its authors because authorship itself was an idea enshrined in a later era by the ancient Greeks. In the pre-Hellenistic world of ancient Near Eastern literature, books were produced, preserved, and passed on by scribal communities.

Schniedewind draws on ancient inscriptions, archaeology, and anthropology, as well as a close reading of the biblical text itself, to trace the communal origin of biblical literature. Scribes were educated through apprenticeship rather than in schools. The prophet Isaiah, for example, has his "disciples"; Elisha has his "apprentice." This mode of learning emphasized the need to pass along the traditions of a community of practice rather than to individuate and invent. Schniedewind shows that it is anachronistic to impose our ideas about individual authorship and authors on the writing of the Bible. Ancient Israelites didn't live in books, he writes, but along dusty highways and byways. Who Really Wrote the Bible describes how scribes and their apprentices actually worked in ancient Jerusalem and Judah.

A panoramic history of the Muslim world from the age of the Prophet Muḥammad to the birth of the modern era

This book describes and explains the major events, personalities, conflicts, and convergences that have shaped the history of the Muslim world. The body of the book takes readers from the origins of Islam to the eve of the nineteenth century, and an epilogue continues the story to the present day. Michael Cook thus provides a broad history of a civilization remarkable for both its unity and diversity.

After setting the scene in the Middle East of late antiquity, the book depicts the rise of Islam as one of the great black swan events of history. It continues with the spectacular rise of the Caliphate, an empire that by the time it broke up had nurtured the formation of a new civilization. It then goes on to cover the diverse histories of all the major regions of the Muslim world, providing a wide-ranging account of the key military, political, and cultural developments that accompanied the eastward and westward spread of Islam from the Middle East to the shores of the Atlantic and the Pacific.

At the same time, A History of the Muslim World contains numerous primary-source quotations that expose the reader to a variety of acutely insightful voices from the Muslim past.