Thank you Thich Nhat Hanh for sharing your knowledge. The Present Moment is filled with wisdom and humour. Through his teachings people are given the tools to enable them to heal their hearts and live more joyful/lighter lives. His voice is smooth and his humour great, thus he will not put you to sleep. Thich Nhat Hanh shares ideas to help anyone who is looking to take on the path to a more enlightened life. Or as Pema Chodron likes to say, the path of a Spiritual Warrior. The Blooming Of a Lotus is a good book filled with meditations by Thich Nhat Hanh. Learning the philosophy is a part of the path. Practicing through meditation is another part of the path.

This collection is by far the best work by one of the greatest authors I have ever read. Do yourself a favor and check this out. The Present Moment goes so far beyond conventional communication that I feel very limited in my attempt to describe what you can expect from it. I envy you who will soon hear it for the first time.

What a quieting and calming perspective on the world around us. Oh, how it could be if we all only took a few minutes each day to be quiet and still.

One of the best books I have ever read. From the first page I was drawn into this world completely and never looked back. One of those rare books that I was devastated to have end, and moped around for months afterward with nothing to read because I knew nothing would be able to equal it. Miz Shange's lyrical prose is incomparable, beautiful and devastating in it's ability to make an intimate connection with the reader. I consider it a 'Must' read.
If you ever have a chance to see Ntozake Shange read in person, which I have, don't miss the opportunity. She is as rare and wonderful as her writing.

this book left a lasting impression on me, and as I was just reminded of it, I wanted to excite other people's interest in a joyous read. after and while reading about the lovely 3 sisters, my daughter and I invented 3 puppets and called them by the sister's names. Perhaps I remember and recommend this book because it is one you can enjoy with an adolescent.

A gift from Mama, one from their dead Father, and one from Santa, each found through a kind of scavenger hunt by clues left for each child under the Christmas tree, and each savored by the individual Child privately, free of "rivalries, jokes, and Christmas confusions."

What a marvellous, inventive Christmas tradition. If I had family, I would initiate this idea. The Christmas chapter is my favorite in this whole book. I also enjoy the recipes scattered throughout the book! I've tried a few and they're great!

I'm not going to analyze this book and try to guess at what the author was trying to do. Seems to me only the author could do that, anyway. All I can do is review this book based on what I got out of it. Besides a new Christmas ritual and some great recipes, what I got out of it was, a beautiful story about a mother and her three daughters, each with their own unique gifts: Sassafrass the weaver, Cypress the dancer, and Indigo the voodoo priestess/midwife. Their mother, Hilda Effania, wants the best for her girls, but she knows they each have to make their own way in the world; and when at the end of the story her three grown girls are reunited in the celebration of the newest member of the family, she lets them know that no matter what, they can always come home. I think this is a beautiful message, and I'm surprised this book hasn't become a movie by now. Not that being on video would improve the story, far be it; in fact, most movies based on books are so intent on sensationalism that it ends up being nothing like the book (think Waiting to Exhale). It's just that, if done right, it could become the type of touchy-feely message film that Touchstone films or even Hallmark should have jumped on long ago.

This is my favorite book, and I don't own/enjoy a lot of fiction. I've had this book about ten years now, my book has a better cover, and I enjoy pulling it down every Christmas just to read the Christmas day story again and again.

I'm seeing some references to this book as reading for grade schoolers. I think that may be a mistake. I wouldn't recommend this book for a young (prepubescent) child; the drug scenes and the passages involving sexuality are a little intense, I think, even though today's children are a lot more worldly about such things thanks to cable!

This is a book for anyone who wants a better life -- spriritual or not. Live Molly's journey through each of the twelve steps with real people confronting real demons supported by real angels. In my prayer group, we use this book as a study guide to challenge us on our personal faith journey. Who are my angels? What demons do I have to overcome? Who helps me? Who do I forgive?

I learned the twelve steps are universal (previously thinking the twelve steps are for those other people). Each step has a deferent spirituality that uniquely mine -- twelve times. Each step helps me live a more authentic life. Profound book!

This book presents a cogent and insightful analysis of the spirituality of AA. However, it does far more. There is something valuable and helpful in the book for anyone interested in spirituality-- insights about forgiveness, thanksgiving, gratitude, humility, peace of mind and freedom. Monahan's breadth of vision is not surprising, since she believes that all of us, at some time in our lives, are powerless over something, that alcholism stands for our human condition in its sad, lost and sorry state, and that AA can show us what God has in mind for everyone in community, love, and service. In particular, Monahan uncovers within the Twelve Steps the ancient threefold way of the spiritual life-- purgative, illuminative and unitive. While providing the reader with a better understanding of alcoholism as a threefold disease -- physical, mental and spiritual -- Monahan offers deep insights into the relationship between the 12 step program and one's search for God.

Sister Molly Monahan is a member of AA who honors its traditions and so writes under a pen name. She does not write as an spokesperson for AA, but what she hands on is its essential and impolrtant message along with some sense of what is it like to follow its program and take part in its fellowship and meetings. In passing she explains also a lot of its slogans that are called clichés but are in reality informal shorthand for big chunks of wisdom that are foundations for recovery and sobriety. People expecting an unusual story because she is a nun might be disappointed; alcoholism afflicts nuns and priests pretty much like every other kind of person, and their decline and recovery are remarkably like anyone else's. But she hands on what got and keeps her sober and it is a message worth repeating. Only at the end of the book does she touch on her Christan beliefs in any depth to show how AA has helped her come to a deeper appreciation of different elements of her faith. She has found, she says, in AA the link between the experience of being saved from her alcoholism by faith in a loving God and the truths and practices of the Catholic religious tradition. That is something she does not push on other AA's, but Christians in the program might be especially interested in that section. A good message plainly and clearly put.

Browsing a western history display in a local book store, I ran across "Sister." What an awesome book. A well written and heartfelt story of pioneer life and how common folks faced with uncommon ordeals bonded together. The writer and editors did a great job including pictures and historical research that brings the book to life. Something you should have on your coffee table or share with your grandchildren as a gift.

After a young lady was devastatedly handed her younger siblings when a tragic fire took her parents and a sister, she heroically took her fathers orders and lovingly raised an educated, hard working family. Lovable story.

A wonderful true story about a young woman who overnight became the mother of her young brothers and sisters after their parents were killed in a fire. Her father had the insight to see that she had an education and she taught her siblings as well as other homestead children in several one room school houses with sometimes only a horse for transportation. It is a heartfelt story of how the homestead women survived and raised families while their men and America were at war. The book gives an accurate history of Lusk, Wyoming during the 1930's. The author and Ms. Linford should be commended!

Kudos to Dr. Diane Plotkin for her thorough research into the lives of the women featured in this book. Her attention to detail helps transport us to the various camps where we experience dehumanization and deprivation. Through it all, however, it is interesting to see the various ways these women nurtured and tried to protect one another. This is a "must-read" book because it clearly illustrates the general differences in the ways men and women coped with, and adapted to, life in the concentration camps.

It was hard to put this book down once I started it. Although the women portrayed faced a living hell all around them, the authors elicit the courage and determination each women had to continue the daily existence in the camps. And that is what is so powerful; the daily horrors which become the backdrop for extermination are also part of the reason that each was able to define for herself a path through death.

This book was a difficult endeavor, as one never wants to face the potential raw ugliness of mankind. However, the voices of these women are invaluable in helping the world to remember a time which must never be forgotten.

As a young woman (34 years old) and a mother of three (which qualifies me as a caregiver, I guess), my heart went out to these brave women, struggling to impart some small measure of kindness or at least relief of suffering to their fellow prisoners. Women and children are seemingly the most vulnerable when society engages in chaos, but the women caregivers chronicled in this book were apparently among the most intrepid of all. I believe they gathered strength from the acts of focusing on giving aid to others in the most desperate of circumstances. Anyone who is interested in what the human spirit can endure, and indeed, overcome, should read this book.

This prequel to Voices From Cemetary Hill focuses on two Civil War sisters and their search for God in the frontier south of the mid-1800s. Letters from family archives serve as the source material for this presentation, rare in its presentation of the writings of two antebellum period yeoman class sisters. Black and white vintage photos pepper the account.

Sisters Of Providence: The Search For God In The Frontier South 1843-1858 is based on the lives and writings of two sisters, Jennie and Ann Speer, daughters of a yeoman farmer and sisters to Civil War Colonel Asbury Speer. These were two remarkable women who developed an affinity for Yankees and Yankee ideas, the rights of women, northern reform movements, and a dedicated opposition to the institution of slavery. Both sisters wrote with eloquence and grace of their observations, reflections, and opinions. Sisters Of Providence is a remarkable and much appreciated contribution to the annals of 19th Century American history.

With words, women of this era were set loose from their confining environment. In today's world, where the young can openly explore most anything, words have lost their allure. These pre Civil War women sought meaning and truth in their writings, many of which were written only to heard in the privacy of their own minds. This work should be read much like one would read an Emily Dickinson poem, taking each entry and exploring it for its many layers of meaning.

A book that will keep your child wondering if snow ponies really DO come alive when night comes along...... the kids loved it and I loved reading it with them.

Every child knows that snow is magical. Remember waking up after snow had fallen during the night and just being able to FEEL that it had snowed without even looking? Remember it's crispy crunch under your boots? Remember how brilliant and flickering the stars were on a cold winter's night with the wind hushing in the pine trees? If you can remember these things this book will happily transport you back to those magical days. If you don't have snow memories then you had better read this book and make some! Children will love this and readily relate to its magical spell because they know all things are possible with snow. The story begins as Matthew sees the first feathery flakes of a snowfall and he and his sister, Molly, speculate about school being cancelled the next morning. Sure enough, a deep blanket of snow falls during the night and school is called off. The creative kids build a pair of snow horses rather than snowmen. (From the gorgeous double spread watercolor paintings you can see how to craft these beauties yourself and there's not any heavy lifting like there is with a tall snowman.) At night, Matthew and Molly slip outside and mount their horses, holding imaginary reins. Much to their delight the horses come to life and take them on an incredible moonlit ride through the snowy wonderland of a moonlit winter landscape. I grew up in Ohio where the artist grew up and where the author currently lives and it is certainly magical the way these two have captured every nuance of a snowy winter, the sounds, silences, smells and textures, the cold and the exhilaration. They both remember childhood so clearly and we find it springing off the pages of this wonderful book, astride two snow white horses with shaggy fetlocks and flying manes and tails. Share this joyful book with your kids and get out there, if you're lucky enough, and build a couple of snow horses, too!

Molly and Matthew are delighted when it snows and school is cancelled. They make a pair of giant snowballs but instead of putting one on top of the other to make a snowman, they put them side by side and create a pair of snowhorses. Then in the middle of the night, Molly and Matthew sneak out to ride their snowhorses, only to find their creations magically spring to life and carry them off across the snow draped countryside. Constance W. McGeorge's vision of the "Snow Riders" is brought to life by Mary Whyte's paintings, which rely on impressionistic elements to make the magic of this story come alive on the page. Whether your child loves horses or snow, or even both, they will find this story enchanting.

Besides, a snowhorse is not only more beautiful than a snowman, it is also a lot easier to make!

A friend gave me this sweet little book for my birthday and I thought it was a wonderful little gift. I can't tell you if all the spells/prayers work, but I guess that is up to your own faith and ability. This book is beautifully made and a nice little inspirational gift to someone who needs some special magic in their lives.

Like the other reviewers, I too was drawn to this little book that felt so nice in my hand at the local bookstore. I expected to see candle rituals, incantations and the like from a pagan point of view. Imagine my surprise when the lovely blue and gold placemarker ribbons opened to the "Nuns' Birthday Blessing" ritual. A lapsed Catholic with decidedly pagan leanings, I took it right to the register and then home.

The book continued to surprise me with its depth of information and scope of Christian, Jewish, and Pagan traditions. How nice to see a Catholic nun bringing ancient wisdom to light in a loving, warm and accessible way. Sister Karol goes beyond the mere compilation of rituals to focus on the importance behind their purpose and function in our lives.

I like this book so much, I keep it out in my living room, where it's continually discovered by my friends and family. Pass this one on to your friends.

I bought this little book...well, I have no idea why I bought it to be honest. It was just so pretty. It sat on my shelf for some time until I whipped it out a few days ago. This woman is fabulous! She has used Catholic, Pagan, Jewish...you name as many religions or ways of seeing God/Goddess and she's used the most loving elements of each to creat a loving little book that will inspire you to ritual.

I decided to go for it and bought all I needed to do the ritual for a job I love. In her view, you are preparing your alter because you're going to call down the Angels/God/Goddess, and she suggests to have complete faith that they WILL show up. Well, I never realized just how much fun this could be, or how reverent I would feel. By the time I was ready for my ritual, I wouldn't have been the slightest bit surprised if a parade of saints marched through my house...I felt overwhelming love, respect and joy.

Isn't God supposed to fill you with this kind of rapture? Isn't faith and religion something that inspires you to love, to care about yourself and others? This precious little book opened my eyes (and most especially my heart) to something I've been longing for.

She says that things will change and while it's only been two days, I've already had two dreams of healing, experienced more synchronicities in the last few days than I've had in the last two years and, furthermore, I simply can't wait to do more. When I approach my alter, I feel such a presence. After all, I know the love and tenderness I felt creating it, but now I feel something else...a link to the Divine, right here in my little home! Of course, I've always known it exists for me anywhere at any time, but now I know it's real. I can't explain it, don't even care to.

If you believe that God is Good, that faith should inspire us to love, to open our hearts to miracles, then buy this little book. It is a gift to your Spirit!

I had already started creating my own menstrual rituals by the time I discovered this book. When I finally read it, I found that Ms. Stepanich felt the same way I did, and that she was doing many of the things I was also doing! In other words, this book was long over-due in my life!

It's an amazing fact that more than half the world's population bleeds every month, for a very natural reason, but this simple, wonderous physical and spiritual process is reviled, and shunned, and considered evil and unclean. Women go through great pains to hide their tampons and pads, to avoid staining their clothes with blood...The depth of the shame is incredible and very sad. I have felt for a very long time that the bleeding is a holy and magickal thing, a connection to the divine that only women can experience; therefore, it should be respected and untilized as the powerful rite that it is.

In this book, Ms. Stepanich discusses the wisdom that should be cultivated during this magickal time. She connects the phases of the menstrual cycle with the phases of the moon, as women probably did thousands of years ago. She encourages the reader to not be afraid of their blood; to perhaps wear red when they are menstuating..in fact, to wear certain colors for each of their cycle's four stages. She has many good ideas on how to honor the bleeding, how to use the menstrual cycle for magick, and simple herbal tinctures to help ease pain and discomfort. She also tells about the Moon Lodge, a sacred place you can build or put together, where you can be alone (or with other bleeding women) during your "moon time" to access the flowing wisdom of the bleeding time. She suggests gifts to give a young girl for her first menarche, creating and decorating a moon altar, tools you may want for your moon rites, and of course, she discusses the significance and wisdom of the menopause journey.

For the woman who has been made to feel ashamed of her bleeding, and who is perhaps a Pagan, this book is invaluable. Even though I was already doing many of the things that Ms. Stepanich suggests, I found comfort in her voice. Here is another blood sister who sees what I see, feels what I feel, celebrates the bleeding, as I do, instead of hiding it and feeling shamed of it.
It is really time for women to start teaching their daughters (and their sons!) that this magickal bleeding is, at worst, nothing to be ashamed of, and at best, an incredibly holy connection to the divine, to the very Goddess Herself. Women are mirrors of the creation of the universe; whether they decide to have children or not, women carry that magic of inspiration and creation within the wisdom of their blood. If any of this rings true to you, then find a copy of this book!

Of course, no book can ever be perfect to each individual; I did find a few things in this book that I disagree with. In fact, they were all on the same page! (page 85)...I don't like Ms. Stepanich's use of the word "cleansing" to decribe the menstrual cycle. The purpose of the cycle is NOT to cleanse! The vagina is constantly keeping itself clean on a daily basis. There is nothing "dirty" about natural functions of the vagina that would need cleansing during the menstrual cycle. I think it was careless of her to use that word; it just perpetuates the myth that having your cycle makes you "dirty".

I also took issue with her statement that: "If we choose to conceive we share the sexual fire with a mate and move on toward the conciousness of becoming a nurturer. If we choose not to conceive we take precautions, and lovingly accept ourselves for this decision." Hmm. Maybe I'm paranoid, but it seems like she is suggesting that those of us who do not want children need to forgive ourselves. She alludes to this in several other passges when she talks about women who don't conceive. It seems as if she has a bit of that attitude where women who choose not to have a baby are somehow abnormal. She seems to be suggesting that they accept themselves DESPITE this decision. As I say, maybe I'm going overboard and reading too much into it. But the last thing any woman needs is to feel guilty about making her own decisions in life. Ms. Stepanich should have been a little more sensitive about this subject. On the same page (85), she also describes the womb as "getting ready to weep" when it begins to bleed. This gives the image that a woman's body suffers because she has not conceived. Same prejudiced ball of wax that makes women like me ... off when other people look down on us for not having children. Ms. Stepanich, watch your words!

But I still love this book, and feel that every woman ought to at least CONSIDER how she thinks about her "period". This book will open new doors for you, new worlds where women don't have to be shamed of their blood. Don't miss out on the magick!

When I first saw this book years ago, I was mystified and amazed. I purchased the book and it was the first step in a major shift in awareness where my body and well-being was concerned. A book I would recommend to any and every woman. Unfortunately It is out of print, I sincerely hope it will be reprinted again sometime soon.

Buy this, for it is a classic! I own all of Kisma's book!!! Buy them all for they are all classics! Especially her Faery-Faith books!

The heart of this book is terrific. The dialogue, the description and the passion in language and emotion really distinguish this novel.

Slow Poison is by far one of the best books written, if not the best. Bosworth is a skilled and clever storyteller; she draws you in to the lives of the Cade family and won't let you go. You'll never forget her characters and you'll wish it were much longer when you turn the final pages. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to read fiction that makes you laugh, and cry, and think and makes an impact on you soul.

After reading Slow Poison, I promptly made it required reading for all of my friends and family--and they all loved it as much as I do. The quirky characters and Bosworth's humor make this a great book whose characters stay with for a long time.