Susan Chernak McElroy credits her astounding triumph over cancer to the love of the animals in her life. In Animals as Teachers & Healers she shares her remarkable story along with true stories from others who have been touched by the loving energies of animals.

A woman escapes an abusive relationship by observing how her boyfriend treated her two Arabian horses . . . a German shepherd cocoons its body around a toddler during a house fire . . . a coyote gives a couple wisdom about their rebellious daughter . . . a little three-legged frog imparts a valuable lesson to a frightened nine-year-old girl. Unique and compelling, Animals as Teachers & Healers invites us to reconnect with the boundless gifts of joy, wisdom, and deep healing that flow from our ageless and intimate relationship with the animal kingdom.

From woolly scarves and plump orange pumpkins to crunchy leaves and smooth wicker baskets, readers will delight in all the different textures fall has to offer. With simple, rhyming verses and sweet, vibrant illustrations, youngsters can celebrate the season with this touch-and-feel board book that's perfect for small hands.

#1 Best Seller in Religion & Spirituality, Agnosticism Want to Learn More About Moon Spells, Phases of the Moon, Wiccan Spells and Other Aspects of Wiccan Religion?Moon Spell Magic is intended to be a practical and inspirational handbook to making magic from spells for each day of the week: rituals for romance seasonal sacred energy altars secrets for money magic and, everything in between The wisdom of Wiccan religion. Moon Spells Magic contains an abundance of folk wisdom as well as many modern pagan practices that will help you learn the necessary lore and background information for creating the life of your dreams. Rituals and incantations can lead to great personal growth. Witches are the among the most devoted spiritual seekers. This book can be an important tool for gaining a deep grounding in magical correspondences, astrological associations, and the myths behind the magic. Whether you are looking to conjure up a supernatural Saturday for your coven or rid your home of negative energy and blocks to happiness, this numinous guide can help you turn your home into a personal pagan power center and have fun in the process. The moon has enormous power and celestial energy; by harnessing that, you can improve your life every day with the spells in this book. What You'll Learn Inside This Book: Features over 100 recipes for spells ranging from the everyday to special occasions and high holidays Something for every reader, from beginner level to advance students of the craft Contains many ritual resources with lunar lore, astronomical and color correspondences, plant associations, god and goddess invocations, elemental aspects for creating personal spells New takes on the basics such as spells for love, money and luck as well as many pagan practices for a modern lifestyle A fun read that is grounded in scholarship for a fresh approach to spellwork as well as invocations and rituals for wealth, health and happiness A "personal super moon" section detailing your luckiest days of the year and the best time for working, romance, prosperity and when you can access you "Lunar Super Powers"

The Power of Positive Thinking has helped millions of men and women to achieve fulfillment in their lives. In this phenomenal bestseller, Dr. Peale demonstrates the power of faith in action. With the practical techniques outlined in this book, you can energize your life -- and give yourself the initiative needed to carry out your ambitions and hopes. You'll learn how to:

• believe in yourself and in everything you do

• build new power and determination

• develop the power to reach your goals

• break the worry habit and achieve a relaxed life

• improve your personal and professional relationships

• assume control over your circumstances

• be kind to yourself

Islam through Objects represents the state of the field of Islamic material cultural studies. With contributions from scholars of religion, anthropologists, art historians, folklorists, historians, and other disciplines, Anna Bigelow brings together a wide range of perspectives on Islamic materiality to debunk myths of Islamic aversion to material aspects of religion. Each chapter focuses on a single object in daily use by Muslims-prayer beads, coins, amulets, a cistern well, clothing, jewellery, bodily and domestic adornments-to consider both generic and particular aspects of the object in question. These narratives will engage the reader by describing and analyzing each object in terms of its provenance, materials, uses, and history, as well as the broader history, variety and uses of the object in Islamic history and cultures. Temporal, regional, and sectarian variations in the styles, uses, and theological perspectives are also considered. Framed by an introduction that assesses the various approaches to Islamic material culture in recent scholarship, Islam through Objects provides a template for the study of religion and material culture, which engages current theory, subtle and nuanced narratives, and the creative and imaginal capacities of Muslims through history.

New Look for Landmark Teaching on Living the Spirit-Empowered Life In our instant-gratification culture, we consume a fleeting, shallow diet of media, relationships, entertainment, and spirituality. Our souls go hungry, longing for a fuller, more satisfying life. Bestselling author and beloved pastor Jack Hayford shows, in what has become a modern-day classic, how we can feed our deepest places with the sustaining Bread of Life. With warmth and wisdom, he reveals how we can link our souls to timeless practices and principles set forth in Scripture. He invites you to rediscover the power and blessing of these spiritual disciplines--of true Spirit-fullness. Even more, he shows how these spiritual disciplines are relevant for today and how we can practice them in our quick-paced, surface-level culture. When we take time to fast and pray, worship daily, feed on God's Word, and more, we fully enter the rich adventure of becoming an effective disciple of Christ--ensuring that our souls will never go hungry.

Although we are materially better off than ever before, surveys show that we are depressed and listless. In his revolutionary book, Buddhist monk Matthieu Ricard shows that happiness is not just an emotion, but a skill that can be developed. Free of jargon, Happiness contains simple exercises that will train the mind to recognize and pursue happiness by concentrating on the fundamental things in life, and in doing so change the way we view the world.

A coming of age memoir about growing up queer in a strict Muslim household.

Mohsin grew up in a poor pocket of east London, in a devout shia Muslim community. His family were close-knit and religiously conservative. From a young age, Mohsin felt different but in a home where being gay was inconceivable he also felt very alone.

Outside of home Mohsin went to a failing inner city school where gang violence was a fact of life. As he grew up life didn't seem to offer teenage Mohsin any choices: he was disenfranchised from opportunity and isolated from his family as a closet gay Muslim.

But Mohsin had incredible drive and became the first person from his school to go to Oxford University. At university came the newfound freedom to become the man his parents never wanted him to be. But when he was confronted by his father and a witch doctor invited to 'cure' him Mohsin had to make a difficult choice.

Mohsin's story takes harrowing turns but it is full of life and humour, and, ultimately, it is an inspiring story about breaking through life's barriers.

Jodo Shinshu Buddhism inherited many negative doctrines around women's bodies, which in some early Buddhist texts were presented as an obstacle to rebirth, and a hindrance to awakening in general. Beginning with an examination of these doctrines, the book explores Shin teachings and texts, as well as the Japanese context in which they developed, with a focus on women and rebirth in Amida's Pure Land. These doctrines are then compared to similar doctrines in Christianity and used to suggestion fruitful avenues of Christian theological reflection.

A heartwarming memoir of love and faith from Hannah Brencher--founder of The World Needs More Love Letters--who has dedicated her life to showing total strangers that they are not alone in the world. Fresh out of college, Hannah Brencher moved to New York ready to change the world. Instead, she found a city full of people who knew where they were going and what they were doing and didn't have time for a girl still trying to figure it all out. Lonely and depressed, she noticed a woman who looked like she felt the same way on the subway. Hannah did something strange--she wrote the woman a letter. She folded it, scribbled "If you find this letter, it's for you..." on the front and left it behind. When she realized that it made her feel better, she started writing and leaving love notes all over the city--in doctor's offices, in coat pockets, in library books, in bathroom stalls. Feeling crushed within a culture that only felt like connecting on a screen, she poured her heart out to complete strangers. She found solace in the idea that her words might brighten someone's day. Hannah's project took on a life of its own when she made an offer on her blog: She would handwrite a note and mail it to anyone who wanted one. Overnight, her inbox exploded with requests from people all over the world. Nearly 400 handwritten letters later, she started the website, The World Needs More Love Letters, which quickly grew. There is something about receiving a handwritten note that is so powerful in today's digital era. If You Find This Letter chronicles Hannah's attempts to bring more love into the world--and shows how she rediscovered her faith through the movement she started.

When Josh breaks the rules and plays ball indoors, he finds himself apologizing not only to his parents, but to Sammy Spider as well. A Yom Kippur story about saying, I'm sorry.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2019 WAINWRIGHT BOOK PRIZE LONGLISTED FOR THE 2019 POLARI FIRST BOOK AWARD 'This is a book to get lost in . . . A disturbing trauma narrative, it's also a work of delightfully low, pants-dropping comedy, and a learned meditation' Guardian 'A brave and beautiful book, electrifying on sex and nature, religion and love. No one is writing quite like this' Olivia Laing 'Turns the nature memoir genre upon its head . . . is a book full of poetry and pathos. More than anything it is a bold and beautiful study of how to be a true modern man' Ben Myers, Spectator At a crossroads in his life, the demons Luke Turner has been battling since childhood are quick to return - depression and guilt surrounding his identity as a bisexual man, experiences of sexual abuse, and the religious upbringing that was the cause of so much confusion. It is among the trees of London's Epping Forest where he seeks refuge. Away from a society that struggles to cope with the complexities of masculinity and sexuality, Luke begins to accept the duality that has provoked so much unrest in his life - and reconcile the expectations of others with his own way of being.

How do we find meaning in our life? This book explores how Martin Buber, one of the 20th century s greatest religious thinkers, answers this timeless question. Author Kenneth Paul Kramer explains Buber s Hasidic spirituality a living connection between the human and the divine and how it is relevant to all spiritual seekers. According to Buber, we find meaning in life through wholeheartedly letting God in." He developed this theme through six thought-provoking talks originally published as The Way of Man. In Martin Buber s Spirituality, Kramer explains the accessible practices Buber outlined in these talks, shares the stories Buber used to illustrate each point, and explores how these teachings might apply in everyday life today. The book features questions for personal or group reflection to help readers more fully explore Martin Buber s approach to spirituality, along with a glossary of key terms."

Drawing on the timeless wisdom of the torah.Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis reminds us of the principlesnecessary for living a better and more committed life.Inspirational and deeply moving. This book willtouch your heart like no other.

The life of a congregational rabbi is often seen as an ivory-tower existence - full of prayers and piety - but Jonathan Romain's has radically departed from that image. Virtually no one has ever asked him about their spiritual life and instead he has dealt with a rollercoaster of crises, emotional traumas, moral dilemmas, attempts at seduction, multiple murders, Machiavellian families, funerals that go wrong, weddings that are hijacked, and fighting his way through a maze of other people's sexual fantasies. Nothing in rabbinic training ever hinted that this catalogue of human misery would become part of his calling, nor gave any clues as to how to handle it. Luckily, his previous careers - as a radio agony aunt, prison chaplain, postman and nightclub bouncer - gave him insights that proved very useful in navigating through the human jungle, and hopefully helping some of those he has met on the way. Candid, poignant and often hilarious, this highly original and very readable book offers a behind-the-scenes glimpse into an extraordinary job dealing with timeless human scenarios.

Given its eschatological orientation and its marginal position in the Roman Empire, emergent Christianity found embodiment, as an aspect of being in the world, problematic. Those identified and identifying as Christians developed two broad responses to that world as they embraced the idea of being in, yet not of it. The first response, martyrdom, was witness to the strength their faith gave to fragile bodies, particularly those of women, and the ability by suffering to overcome bodily limitation and attain the resurrection life. The second, asceticism, complemented and later continued martyrdom as a means of bodily transcendence and participation in the spiritual world.