Books published by publisher Inner Traditions

Training methods for tracking and wilderness observation woven into extraordinary real-life stories of intuitive animal-reading skills. Explains technical tracking methods and observational skills such as shadowing and envisioning through the innermost thoughts of an accomplished native tracker. Reveals how to track by expanding your awareness and consciousness to become one with the animal you are tracking. Shares stories of tracking wolves, bears, deer, cougars, and many other animals. Stepping beyond the shape of a footprint and into the unseen story of the track, veteran wilderness guide Tamarack Song takes you inside the eyes and mind of an intuitive tracker, with intimate stories where Frogs show the way out of the woods, scat reveals life histories, and bears demonstrate how to find missing people. Drawing from his years of surviving in the wild, apprenticing to native elders, and living with a family of wolves, Tamarack reveals how to achieve a level of perception like that of aboriginal trackers by becoming one with the animal you are tracking, whether fox, deer, coyote, or cougar. Sharing his innermost thoughts while following track and sign, the book's adventures merge technical tracking methods with skills such as shadowing and envisioning, while demonstrating animal-reading skills considered outside the human realm. The author explains how to expand your awareness - to learn from nature by becoming nature - and tap in to the intuitive tracking consciousness each of us has inherited from our Paleolithic ancestors. Through his stories from the trail, Tamarack shows the art of tracking not simply as a skill for hunters and naturalists but as a metaphor for conscious living. By exploring the intricacies of the natural world, we explore not only our connections to the world around us but also our internal landscapes. We learn to better express ourselves and listen, meet our needs, and help others. Intuitive tracking provides a path to finding ourselves, becoming one with all life, and restoring humanity's place in the Great Hoop of Life.

Australian aboriginal people have lived in harmony with the earth for perhaps as long as 100,000 years; in their words, since the First Day. In this absorbing work, Lawlor explores the essence of their culture as a source of and guide to transforming our own world view. While not romanticizing the past or suggesting a return to the life of the hunter/gatherer, Voices of the First Day enables us to enter into the mentality of the oldest continuous culture on earth and gain insight into our own relationship with the earth and to each other.This book offers an opportunity to suspend our values, prejudices, and Eurocentrism and step into the Dreaming to discover:• A people who rejected agriculture, architecture, writing, clothing, and the subjugation of animals• A lifestyle of hunting and gathering that provided abundant food of unsurpassed nutritional value • Initiatic and ritual practices that hold the origins of all esoteric, yogic, magical, and shamanistic traditions • A sexual and emotional life that afforded diversity and fluidity as well as marital and social stability • A people who valued kinship, community, and the law of the Dreamtime as their greatest "possessions." • Language whose richness of structure and vocabulary reveals new worlds of perception and comprehension. • A people balanced between the Dreaming and the perceivable world, in harmony with all species and living each day as the First Day. Voices of the First Day is illustrated throughout with more than 100 extraordinary photographs, bark paintings, line drawings and engravings. Many of these photographs are among the earliest ever made of the Aboriginal people and are shown here for the first time.

These twenty tales have been drawn from famous legends concerning the former lives of the Buddha. Beloved by children and adults alike, they tell of people and animals moved to acts of sacrifice by the noble example of their fellow creatures. The flavor is often suggestive of Aesop, as are the lessons that are so subtly and keenly conveyed.Presented in a simplified narrative, the tales maintain the magical and timeless beauty of their Far Eastern origins. The stories are ideal for reading to children, as they tell of highly dramatic adventures that are resolved by non-violent and compassionate means. Challenging circumstances bring forth courage and the capacity to love, opening the way to solutions against seemingly impossible odds.This book will also be coveted for its exquisite illustrations by the well-known illustrator H. Willebeek Le Mair.

Presents the mystery of the Divine Mother in all her manifold aspects • Explores more than 30 different goddess aspects of the Shakti force, both beneficial and malefic • Includes Sanskrit hymns and classic verses by Sri Auribindo for each of the goddesses Shakti is synonymous with the Devi, the Divine Mother or divine power that manifests, sustains, and transforms the universe. She is the womb of all creatures, and it is through her that the One becomes the many. Our first and primary relationship to the world is through the mother, the source of love, security, and nourishment. Extending this relationship to worship of a cosmic being as mother was a natural step found not only in the Shakti cult of Hinduism but also in ancient Greek, Egyptian, and Babylonian cultures. Shakti presents more than 30 goddess incarnations of the Divine Mother that represent both the beneficial and malefic aspects of the Shakti force. From Lakshmi, Parvati, and Saraswati to Durga, Chandika, and Kali--each of the different functions of the female goddesses in the Hindu pantheon is revealed, accompanied by traditional Sanskrit hymns, classic verses by Sri Auribindo, and discussions of tantric philosophy. The author draws from the Devi Bhagavatham, which describes all the stories of Shakti, and the Devi Mahatmyam, the most powerful scriptural text that glorifies Shakti in her form as Durga. Using these texts she shows that through the power and grace of the Divine Mother we may be released from the darkness of ignorance and taken to the abode of knowledge, immortality, and bliss--the source from which we have come.

A vast reconstruction of the knowledge of the ancient Jewish priest-scientists, with vital implications for contemporary spirituality and science.• Reveals an ancient science that used geometry, sound, and number to link the finite world of human experience with the infinite realm of the divine.• Uses teachings extending back thousands of years to explicate key concepts of quantum physics and quantum cosmology. For centuries the Kabbalah has fascinated devotees of mysticism while its origins have remained obscure. Now, in her brilliant new work, Leonora Leet reveals that the Kabbalah was the product of a sophisticated, though largely forgotten, Hebraic sacred science that was the rival of any in Egypt or Greece. Not only does Leet reconstruct the secret teachings of the priest-scientists of the Hebrew temple, she also shows them to be the key to understanding both biblical and kabbalistic cosmology. Unlike previous purely historical explorations of the Jewish esoteric tradition, The Secret Doctrine of the Kabbalah resurrects this ancient body of knowledge to reveal eternal truths that can have a profound and positive impact on contemporary spirituality. New experimental methods of practicing Hebraic sacred science are explored that explain as never before the meaning of the central cosmological diagram of the entire Western esoteric tradition--the kabbalistic Tree of Life. Leet shows that the Kabbalah and its central diagram enshrine a key to the purpose of the cosmos, a key that has vast implications for modern physics and cosmology. In a final synthesis, she envisions a culmination in which the universe and its divine child, perfected humanity, achieve that unification of the finite and infinite which has ever been the secret doctrine of the Kabbalah.

Presents a revolutionary new theory that bridges the divide between science and spirituality• Discloses the ramifications of non-localized consciousness and how the physical world and spiritual experience are two aspects of the same reality• Includes contributions from Jane Goodall, Ed Mitchell, Stanislav Grof, Ralph Abraham, and Christian de Quincy, among othersWhat scientists are now finding at the outermost frontiers of every field is overturning all the basic premises concerning the nature of matter and reality. The universe is not a world of separate things and events but is a cosmos that is connected, coherent, and bears a profound resemblance to the visions held in the earliest spiritual traditions in which the physical world and spiritual experience were both aspects of the same reality and man and the universe were one. The findings that justify this new vision of the underlying logic of the universe come from almost all of the empirical sciences: physics, cosmology, the life sciences, and consciousness research. They explain how interactions lead to interconnections that produce instantaneous and multifaceted coherence--what happens to one part also happens to the other parts, and hence to the system as a whole. The sense of sacred oneness experienced by our ancestors that was displaced by the unyielding material presumptions of modern science can be restored, and humanity can once again feel at home in the universe.

Travel 2,500 years back in time to find out where many of our modern holiday traditions originated. • Charming full-color ink and watercolor illustrations throughout. • This valuable resource for teachers and parents uses hands-on activities, natural science facts, and observations to explore the concepts of measuring time, making calendars, and marking seasonal celebrations. • Shows how our popular holiday traditions are rooted in nature, beginning as the seasonal festivals of an ancient society. Children love holiday celebrations but most don't know why they wear masks on Halloween or watch for the groundhog on February 2. Now they can discover that many of our modern traditions started with the festivals of the ancient Celts. The Celts were farming people, so their festivals marked the important events of the agricultural year. Imbolc, in very early spring, celebrated the birth of new lambs, while Samhain, in late fall, celebrated the end of the growing season and the beginning of winter. If we look at our modern calendar, we'll find Groundhog Day falling where Imbolc did, Halloween where the Celts celebrated Samhain, and a host of other holiday correspondences. That's because descendants of the Celts were among the first Europeans to settle in the New World, bringing their holiday traditions with them. In a world of electric lights and store-bought foods, The Ancient Celtic Festivals can help children make the connections to nature that their ancestors did. Whimsically illustrated activity pages invite them to bake a harvest corn bread, stage a spring festival, or warm up the cold depths of winter with hot spiced cider. Teachers, librarians, parents, and children alike will welcome this book as a fun-filled resource.

An exploration of Mozart’s strong ties to Freemasonry and how its principles profoundly shaped his musical work • Reveals how Mozart structured his music on Masonic ritual and ceremony to provide a musical lexicon of Masonic symbols • Shows that Freemasonry plays the same role in Mozart’s work as Lutheran Christianity plays in that of Bach Thanks to recently discovered documents, we now have a fuller picture of the esoteric influences on the life and work of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Musicologist Jacques Henry shows that the Masonic influence on Mozart goes beyond those pieces, such as The Magic Flute, that fulfilled a ritual purpose for the composer. His works actually provide a complete musical lexicon of Masonic symbols inspired by the principles of the craft and the spirit of the Masonic quest. Mozart constructed his Masonic compositions by creating auditory correspondences to the symbols present in the rituals, choosing keys and tempos that transpose their content into harmony. His understanding of the use of symbol allowed him to create music that would lead the listener into a harmony that transcended earthly existence. A number of musicologists believe that the place of the Masonic spiritual vision in Mozart’s work is comparable to that held by Lutheran Christianity in the work of Johann Sebastian Bach. Mozart wed his deep understanding of music to the esoteric wisdom he gained as a Freemason. He shows that when we lose ourselves in the expression of pure harmony, it is the same as the symbol being lost in what it symbolizes. Jacques Henry provides a rigorous and original analysis of Mozart’s works that reveals their inner meaning as shaped by the composer’s profound embrace of the spiritual principles of Freemasonry.

A complete introduction to Sanatana Dharma, the spiritual science of the Hindu sages • Examines how many core concepts of Hinduism, including Brahman, Atman, bhakti, karma, and reincarnation, relate to modern science • Explores the scientific discoveries of the rishis, ancient Vedic sages, and how they have only recently been rediscovered by Western scientists • Reveals the concepts of quantum physics hidden within the Vedas, the Bhagavad Gita, the Upanishads, and the Puranas Called “the scientists of Hinduism,” the rishis of ancient India were the scribes of the Vedas. They developed the spiritual science of Hinduism, Sanatana Dharma, as their way of ensuring the constant renewal and progress of India’s spiritual tradition and culture. Sanatana Dharma permeates every aspect of Hindu culture, from religion to the arts to the sciences. Woven within its Vedic texts lie all of the essential concepts of quantum physics and other modern scientific discoveries. Providing a complete introduction to the science of Sanatana Dharma, Vanamali reveals how the core concepts of Hinduism, including Brahman, Atman, bhakti, karma, and reincarnation, relate to modern science and how the scientific discoveries of the ancient rishis have been recently rediscovered by the West. She examines the scientific principles within the classic stories and texts of India, including the Vedas, the Bhagavad Gita, the Upanishads, and the Puranas. Within the teachings of the ancient Puranic sages and saints such as Valmiki and Vyasa and legendary physicians and mathematician-philosophers such as Aryabhatta and Varahamihir, the author reveals great scientific truths--not those believed by the ancient world, but truths still upheld by modern science, particularly quantum physics. She explores Desha and Kaala (Space and Time), Shankara and his philosophy of Advaita Vedanta, and the Hindu sciences of mathematics, astronomy, and Vedic astrology. In illustrating the scientific basis of Hinduism and the discoveries of its sages, Vanamali provides a window into the depths of this most ancient spiritual way of life.

An extensive look at all the aspects of multi-natured Shiva• Explores the shamanic roots of world spirituality as exemplified by this Hindu god who shares many of the attributes of the Norse Odin and the Celtic Cernunnos• Looks at Shiva’s relation to contemporary culture, Tantra, and the dualistic religions of the WestTo his devotees Shiva is the entire universe and the core of all beings. Hindu myth shows him appearing at the beginning of creation as a giant pillar of fire from which this world sprang forth. Yet he is also the most approachable of gods, for he is the lover of lovers and the devotee of his devotees. Of the 1,008 names of Shiva, Pashupati, Lord of Animals, is one of the most common. His special relation to animals along with his trickster nature reveal the deep connection of Shiva to shamanism and other gods such as the Norse Odin and the Celtic Cernunnos that came out of the Paleolithic traditions.Ethnologist Wolf-Dieter Storl was first captivated by Shiva when he was in India as a visiting scholar at Benares Hindu University. In this book he invites readers to join in the lively and mythical world of Shiva, or Mahadev, God of All Gods. Shiva is a study in contrasts: As the lord of dance he loses himself in ecstatic abandon; with his consort Parvati he can make love for 10,000 years. Both men and women worship him for his ability to unite and balance masculine and feminine energies. But as the ascetic Shankar he sits in deep meditation, shunning women, and none dare disturb him lest he open his third eye and immolate the entire universe. Lord of intoxicants and poisons, he is the keeper of secret occult knowledge and powers, for which he is worshipped by yogis and demons alike. Shiva dances both the joy of being and the dance of doom--but in every aspect he breaks through the false ego to reveal the true self lying within. This is his true power.

These beautifully illustrated tales capture the mystery, enchantment, and profound spiritual teachings of India. Story-telling has always been the way that India's holy men, the saints and sadhus, taught their students the vital lessons of life. Stories provide a living environment for the lesson of each story, and they can convey sophisticated concepts in simple language. Abounding with powerful genies, scheming gods, and wise mystics, The Monkeys and the Mango Tree can be read as an exotic Aesop's Fables, as a source of classic wisdom, or as a simple and memorable introduction to the stories of the most spiritual civilization on earth. These twenty-five beautifully illustrated tales capture the mystery, the enchantment, and the profound spiritual learning that is India. Drawn from the great Indian epics?the Puranas, the Upanishads, and the Mahabharata?as well as from the author's own remarkable life, these tales put ageless Indian wisdom into the form of stories that are delights for young and old alike.