Experience the Transformational Power of Buddhism's Psychology of the Heart with Bestselling Author Jack Kornfield
You have within you unlimited capacities for extraordinary love, for joy, for communion with life, and for unshakable freedom--and here is how to awaken them. In The Wise Heart," " celebrated author and psychologist Jack Kornfield offers the most accessible, comprehensive, and illuminating guide to Buddhist psychology ever published in the West. For meditators and mental health professionals, Buddhists and non-Buddhists alike, here is a vision of radiant human dignity, a journey to the highest expression of human possibility--and a practical path for realizing it in our own lives.

The pilgrimage to Mecca - the hajj - is a major aspect of the Islamic religion, yet little has been written about its history or of the conditions under which thousands of pilgrims from far flung regions of the Islamic world travelled to the heart of the Arabian peninsula. This pioneering book concentrates on the pilgrimage in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, when Mecca was ruled by the Ottoman sultans. At a time when, for the majority of the faithful, the journey was long, arduous and fraught with danger, the provision of food, water, shelter and protection for pilgrims presented a major challenge to the provincial governors of the vast Ottoman Empire. Drawing on rich documentation left by Ottoman administrators and on the accounts of contemporary pilgrims, Suraiya Faroqhi here sheds new light on the trials and experiences of everyday life for those undertaking the hajj.

Everything the engaged couple needs to know about the Jewish marriage ceremony. Welcome new couples into Jewish life and your congregation. Selecting a date and location for the wedding What is a ketubah? A huppah? A step-by-step guide to a Jewish wedding Life as Jewish newlyweds The perfect gift for the soon-to-be-wed couple.

Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz renowned scholar, philosopher and spiritual guide here reveals the essence of the Jewish calendar. With a unique combination of intellectual brilliance and accessibility, Rabbi Steinsaltz probes the meaning of Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur, Hanukka, Purim, Pesah and the other Jewish holidays. His insights provide whole new ways of understanding the holidays, appreciating their depth, and experiencing them to their fullest:

"Our festivals and holidays, remembrance days and special occasions, ensure that the paths of our lives do not remain merely dusty roads lacking meaningful points of distinction These special days are the landmarks, signposts, and lights along the way openings through which we may emerge from the stagnancy and rut of life's routine. They provide us with opportunities not only to celebrate and mourn, but also to renew and change ourselves "

Honorable Mention, 2019 Barbara T. Christian Literary Award, given by the Caribbean Studies Association Winner, 2017 Clifford Geertz Prize in the Anthropology of Religion, presented by the Society for the Anthropology of Religion section of the American Anthropological Association Finalist, 2017 Albert J. Raboteau Prize for the Best Book in Africana Religions presented by the Journal of Africana Religions An examination of the religious importance of food among Caribbean and Latin American communities Before honey can be offered to the Afro-Cuban deity Ochun, it must be tasted, to prove to her that it is good. In African-inspired religions throughout the Caribbean, Latin America, and the United States, such gestures instill the attitudes that turn participants into practitioners. Acquiring deep knowledge of the diets of the gods and ancestors constructs adherents' identities; to learn to fix the gods' favorite dishes is to be "seasoned" into their service. In this innovative work, Elizabeth Perez reveals how seemingly trivial "micropractices" such as the preparation of sacred foods, are complex rituals in their own right. Drawing on years of ethnographic research in Chicago among practitioners of Lucumi, the transnational tradition popularly known as Santeria, Perez focuses on the behind-the-scenes work of the primarily women and gay men responsible for feeding the gods. She reveals how cooking and talking around the kitchen table have played vital socializing roles in Black Atlantic religions. Entering the world of divine desires and the varied flavors that speak to them, this volume takes a fresh approach to the anthropology of religion. Its richly textured portrait of a predominantly African-American Lucumi community reconceptualizes race, gender, sexuality, and affect in the formation of religious identity, proposing that every religion coalesces and sustains itself through its own secret recipe of micropractices.

The Shabbat Evening Siddur is the first siddur designed specifically for synagogues, minyanim and families striving for authenticity, sincerity and creativity in their traditional Friday night davening. Color photographs, a precise translation and inspiring commentary by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks and Rabbi Yehuda Sarna, a special study section, and an innovative graphic layout bring out the beauty, convey the power, and enrich the experience of welcoming Shabbat.

In this, his most recent work, Martin Lings discusses the significance of the pilgrimage to Mecca, made annually by several million Muslims, in the light of the tradition of Abraham. Drawing upon his own experience of performing the pilgrimage first in 1946 and then in 1978, as well referring to the traditional sources, he considers the timeless spiritual meaning of the Hajj, which was proclaimed and established by Abraham and Ishmael and renewed by the Prophet Muhammad, in the context of its long history and comes to some surprising conclusions.

30 Selected lectures The Festivals and Their Meaning collects thirty of Rudolf Steiner's most important lectures on the festivals of the year. He identifies and illumines the true meaning behind Christmas, Easter, Ascension, Pentecost, and Michaelmas, emphasizing their inner spiritual and outer cosmic aspects. Steiner shows that the festivals do not only commemorate great historical events and truths of the Christian tradition; they are in themselves--each year--spiritual events that manifest in seasonal and natural rhythms and carry a significance that grows and deepens with the development of human evolution. CONTENTS Christmas Introduction by Ann Druitt The Christmas Festival: Heralding the Victory of the Sun Signs and Symbols of the Christmas Festival The Birth of the Sun-spirit as the Spirit of the Earth: The Thirteen Holy Nights Christmas as a time of Grievous Destiny The Proclamations to the Magi and the Shepherds On the Three Magi The Revelation of the Cosmic Christ The Birth of Christ within Us Easter Easter: The Festival of Warning The Blood Relationship and the Christ Relationship The Death of a God and Its Fruits in Humanity Spirit Triumphant The Teachings of the Risen Christ Easter: The Mystery of the Future Spiritual Bells of Easter, parts 1 & 2 Ascension and Pentecost The Whitsun Mystery and Its Connection with the Ascension Whitsun: The Festival of the Free Individuality World Pentecost: The Message of Anthroposophy Whitsun: A Symbol of the Immortality of the Ego The Whitsuntide Festival: Its Place in the Study of Karma Whitsun Verse Michaelmas Michael Meditation The Michael Inspiration: Spiritual Milestones in the Course of the Year A Michael Lecture The Michael Impulse and the Mystery of Golgotha, parts 1 & 2 Michael and the Dragon The Creation of a Michael Festival out of the Spirit The Michael Path to Christ

The life and times of a treasured book read by generations of Jewish families at the seder table Every year at Passover, Jews around the world gather for the seder, a festive meal where family and friends come together to sing, pray, and enjoy traditional food while retelling the biblical story of the Exodus. The Passover Haggadah provides the script for the meal and is a religious text unlike any other. It is the only sacred book available in so many varieties-from the Maxwell House edition of the 1930s to the countercultural Freedom Seder-and it is the rare liturgical work that allows people with limited knowledge to conduct a complex religious service. The Haggadah is also the only religious book given away for free at grocery stores as a promotion. Vanessa Ochs tells the story of this beloved book, from its emergence in antiquity as an oral practice to its vibrant proliferation today. Ochs provides a lively and incisive account of how the foundational Jewish narrative of liberation is remembered in the Haggadah. She discusses the book's origins in biblical and rabbinical literature, its flourishing in illuminated manuscripts in the medieval period, and its mass production with the advent of the printing press. She looks at Haggadot created on the kibbutz, those reflecting the Holocaust, feminist and LGBTQ-themed Haggadot, and even one featuring a popular television show, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. Ochs shows how this enduring work of liturgy that once served to transmit Jewish identity in Jewish settings continues to be reinterpreted and reimagined to share the message of freedom for all.

This photographic picture book shows how Hanukkah menorahs are made step-by-step.