Morning Altars A 7 Step Practice To Nourish Your Spirit Through Nature Art And Ritual

Return to the earth with beautiful photographs and inspirational text. “Morning altars” are colorful mandalas that combine nature, art, and meditation. Incorporating the natural world into the everyday encourages positive well- being, even with the simplest of the earth’s gifts, such as leaves, flowers, berries, feathers, and stones. These stunning pieces of art are a peaceful and creative avenue to express gratitude for nature, to practice mindfulness, and to add meaning to daily life. In this book, Day Schildkret guides readers through the creation of morning altars, a seven- step process that includes wondering and wandering, place meditation, clearing space, creating, gifting, walking away, and sharing his art with others. Since his first morning altar, Schildkret has built hundreds more. His work has been warmly received on social media and he teaches workshops on altar building, all with the intention of sharing the positivity and beauty they have brought to his life.

Embrace the power of ritual with simple yet “powerful” (Kim Chestney, author of Radical Intuition and founder of IntuitionLab) practices that slow us down to honor and mark the real moments in our lives—from the loss of a parent to the birth of a child, from grieving a pet to celebrating coming out of the closet. Life has many transitions: A baby is born. A child leaves for college. A marriage. A divorce. A death. We all experience moments of profound change, but what do we do to mark those moments? How do we become mindful of these events and imbue them with purpose and meaning? Could our lives be better, richer, and more resilient if we had more practical resources and rituals to honor, sanctify, and make sense of these transitions? Day Schildkret, artist and author behind the international Morning Altars movement, believes that what we need is ritual. Rituals are the rhythms and traditions that give us a sense of stability in the face of uncertainty by reminding us that there’s always something we can do, say or make that conjures awe, contentment, and gratitude. They give us a way to acknowledge through our actions that, as life changes, we too must change. Offering ways to make these moments special and sacred, Hello, Goodbye teaches you to not fear uncertainty, but instead participate fully and creatively in life’s inevitable changes, including: -Birth of a child -Moving and new homes -Divorce -Empty nesting -Retirement -Death anniversary -Health crises Containing over 75 hands-on ritual instructions, informed by hundreds of interviews, and filled with beautiful illustrations, inspirational story-telling, potent questions, and experienced wisdom, Hello, Goodbye is “certain to become a forever reference and treasured, faithful companion” (Kimbery Ann Johnson, author of Call of the Wild and The Fourth Trimester) for life’s many milestones, perfect for those looking to find meaning in change and embrace the transformative thresholds of our lives. Hello, Goodbye is a “direct and moving” (Rabbi Jill Jammer, PhD, author of The Jewish Book of Days: A Companion for All Seasons) guide we all need to navigate life’s uncertainties with grace, meaning, and intention, perfect for fans of Krista Tippet, Priya Parker, and Elena Brower.

• Explains how ritual can serve as a way to ground yourself, invite in the new, let go of what needs to be shed, and tap into your own inner powers • Shares ancient and modern rituals, ceremonies, and practices to connect with the seasons, the lunar cycles, and the five elements, as well as open your heart, dance with your shadow self, grow your intuition, and connect with your body • Offers detailed instructions for each ritual, ceremony, and transformative healing practice HEALING BALM for psyche and soul, ritual invokes a unique magic that allows us to step beyond the mundane and touch base with the sacred turning points in our life and the truth of our soul’s calling. In this evocative guide, Mara Branscombe offers potent soul-care rituals and ceremonies to purify and strengthen minds, hearts, and bodies, so as to enable us to activate our inner power. Connecting with the pagan wheel of the year, the five elements, and the lunar cycle, soulstirring rituals and step-by-step healing protocols show a path towards a deeper, heart-centered living. Transformative practices such as guided meditations and visualizations, breathwork, altar creation, and discovery of our personal empowerment mantras facilitate our healing journey. Ancient and modern ceremonies and specific spiritual formulas help us embody a loving existence, dance with our shadow self, engage with grief, grow our intuition, dismantle limiting beliefs, and heal toxic patterns to find inner strength and peace. Ritual as Remedy is an invitation to shape-shift, heal, transform, and reclaim one’s true soul purpose through powerful self-care protocols that awaken freedom, joy, and a wild, untamed self-love.

Divining the Self weaves elements of personal narrative, myth, history, and interpretive analysis into a vibrant tapestry that reflects the textured, embodied, and performative nature of scripture and scripturalizing practices. Velma Love examines the Odu—the Yoruba sacred scriptures—along with the accompanying mythology, philosophy, and ritual technologies engaged by African Americans. Drawing from the personal narratives of African American Ifa practitioners along with additional ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Oyotunji African Village, South Carolina, and New York City, Love’s work explores the ways in which an ancient worldview survives in modern times. Divining the Self also takes up the challenge of determining what it means for the scholar of religion to study scripture as both text and performance. This work provides an excellent case study of the sociocultural phenomenon of scripturalizing practices.

Learn to create altars and sacred spaces to bring magic into your daily life with The Book of Altars and Sacred Spaces.

Beck and Metrick explain the power, relevance, and need for ritual, describing the various types of rituals and their myths, symbols, and history, as well as how to prepare, perform, and complete rituals to honor each rite of passage in a truly personal way.

In the spirit of land artists like Andy Goldsworthy, the book is as much about discovery as it is about creation. Leaves shaped like lips might inspire a face; an array of rocks might be become an eclectic mosaic; winter’s first snow might be carved into glowing luminaria. Whether you love to look for heart-shaped flowers or want to make a peacock made with flower petals, readers will find great inspiration and joy in Foraged Art. Art, meditation, and nature meet in this adult focused activity book, with projects that take inspiration from the natural environment, using blooms, pods, branches, stones, and other natural elements. Divided into chapters by natural elements -- flowers, leaves, rocks and pods, and more, the book will encourage readers to forage and play outside using nature's seasonal art box. With quotes by artists on nature and creativity, the book is about making art from what you find and finding art in what you see.

The editors of this critical volume have compiled a rich group of authors comprised of professors, psychotherapists, counselling practitioners, and doctoral students, to address society’s struggle to find meaning. A rich classroom resource, this book is a particularly important contribution to the Academy given our current lived experience in research, and also for personal reflection. Still in the throes of recovering from the COVID 19 pandemic, economic challenges, environmental disasters, and conflicts in various places in our world, to name only a few of our current challenges, the search for meaning and purpose has become an important pursuit for many. Many people today are looking for an often elusive “more.” This book poses numerous questions reflecting a variety of perspectives on the connections between meaning and service. These diverse perspectives offer readers points of engagement in their own pursuit of integrating meaning and service in their own personal and professional life.