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The Book of Modern Ceremony: Practices to Mark Life's Big and Small Moments
by Shari Dunbar Boyer
For those seeking connection and meaning in their everyday lives, an easy-to-follow, beautiful, and inspiring manual on performing ceremonies for all occasions and milestones, from life transitions and family gatherings to holidays and seasonal changes. For as long as humans have existed, we have performed ceremonies to mark occasions and personal transitions to create meaning and connect with the world, ourselves, and each other. Though ceremony is still a cornerstone of many cultures around the globe, modern rituals are largely confined to just three events: birth, marriage, and death. Without our ancestors' sense of frequent and intentional ceremony, we have lost the power to bring meaning to our everyday lives. The Book of Modern Ceremony is here to change that. Written by sociologist and ceremonialist Shari Dunbar Boyer, this book shares more than 30 ceremonies that can be easily incorporated into contemporary life. There are rituals for life transitions, calendar changes, and personal growth. Some celebrate familiar events, like the Untraditional Birthday or Vow Renewal ceremonies, but others mark important milestones that we often neglect, such as moving to a new home or entering menopause. And of course, there are seasonal rituals for every solstice, equinox, and moon cycle. Presented in easy-to-follow step-by-step instructions, The Book of Modern Ceremony encourages readers to leave behind the daily stressors of life and connect more deeply with themselves, their loved ones, and their own spirituality.
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Kinship Medicine: Cultivating Interdependence to Heal the Earth and Ourselves
by Wendy Johnson
For fans of Braiding Sweetgrass, The Future We Choose, and The Blue Zones, a book about the effect our relationship to nature has on our well-being and health. Our modern way of living is incompatible with our survival. Most of us intuitively know this truth, but almost everything in our society encourages us to ignore it. Dr. Wendy Johnson confronts this undeniable fact and breaks down how we think and act every day in ways that undermine our individual and collective well-being. The antidotes to many of the causal factors of poor health--loneliness, industrial diets, systemic inequality, fear of death, profit-based healthcare--are relational, with each other and with the living earth. Through evidence from public health, sociology, anthropology, human ecology, and her experience as a family physician, Dr. Wendy Johnson will show you how: We must incorporate an ecosystem perspective into modern medicineWhat you ingest and where you live can reinforce or upset your body's delicate balanceEliminating one organism in an ecosystem can affect all the othersHistories of trauma can be passed down for generationsRekindling our relationships to non-human life is essential to our well-beingBeing closer to death can release some of its power over usActions of communities will be stronger and more lasting than any individual effortsYou will leave with a clear vision of what a new society might look like, methods to accomplish this transformation, and concrete examples of where it is being done successfully.
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This Happened to Me: A Reckoning
by Kate Price
In this exquisitely rendered, transformative memoir, Price describes how she broke free of that which had defined her childhood and went on to create a purpose-driven life and family, on her own terms. Eventually returning to the same Appalachian community to use her education and advocacy to help ensure children are given the attention, protection, and services that she never received--
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| The Outward Path: The Wisdom of the Aztecs by Sebastian PurcellWhat if happiness is not the goal? Drawing on Aztec philosophy, this thought-provoking guide argues that a meaningful life begins with relationships and shared wisdom. Structured around lessons and exercises, it offers a refreshing alternative to Western individualism and is ideal for seekers of rooted, communal living. |
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Our Tribal Future: How to Channel Our Foundational Human Instincts Into a Force for Good
by David R. Samson
Winner of the 2023 Balsillie Prize for Public Policy An astounding and inspiring look at the science behind tribalism, and how we can learn to harness it to improve the world around us.What do you think of when you hear the word tribalism? For many, it conjures images of bigotry, xenophobia, and sectarian violence. Others may envision their own tribe: family, friends, and the bonds of loyalty that keep them together. Tribalism is one of the most complex and ancient evolutionary forces; it gave us the capacity for cooperation and competition, and allowed us to navigate increasingly complex social landscapes. It is so powerful that it can predict our behavior even better than race, class, gender, or religion. But in our vast modern world, has this blessing become a curse?Our Tribal Future explores a central paradox of our species: how altruism, community, kindness, and genocide are all driven by the same core adaptation. Evolutionary anthropologist David R. Samson engages with cutting-edge science and philosophy, as well as his own field research with small-scale societies and wild chimpanzees, to explain the science, ethics, and history of tribalism in compelling and accessible terms. This bold and brilliant book reveals provocative truths about our nature. Readers will discover that tribalism cannot, and should not, be eliminated entirely--to do so would be to destroy what makes us human. But is it possible to channel the best of this instinct to enrich our lives while containing the worst of its dangers?
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The Generosity of Plants: Shared Wisdom from the Community of Herb Lovers
by Rosemary Gladstar
Beloved teacher and leader in the herbal healing world, Rosemary Gladstar has curated this collection of her favorite teachings and reflections from a wide range of plant lovers and herbal teachers. Many of the quotes are original to this collection, excerpted from Gladstar's private correspondence and conversations. Her narrative voice runs through the book, introducing each theme, and the text is accompanied by stunning photographs and artwork celebrating the beauty and wonder of plants--
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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