‘Spring Rain’ by Marc Hamer

Harvill Secker (2023) ISBN 978-1787303317  Reviewed by Piers Warren ___________________________________________________________________________________________ This [...]

‘Spring Rain’ by Marc Hamer2023-03-29T17:58:12+00:00

‘Sacred Nature’ by Karen Armstrong

Bodley Head, 2022 ISBN: 978-1847927101 Reviewed by Ian Mowll ___________________________________________________________________________________________ [...]

‘Sacred Nature’ by Karen Armstrong2022-09-27T10:50:21+00:00

‘In Search of Grace: An Ecological Pilgrimage’ by Peter Reason

Two vivid accounts of sailing pilgrimages the author recently undertook in his small yacht, Coral, from the southern coast of England to Ireland, and to the far north of Scotland. Yet his book is not simply a day-to-day account of things that happened or had to be done in order for him to reach various historical sacred places of interest. Its richness lies in his skill of including additional material, writers, and sharing thoughts and knowledge he has about Nature, and our interactions and relationships with her.

‘In Search of Grace: An Ecological Pilgrimage’ by Peter Reason2018-05-31T10:24:54+00:00

‘Gossip from the Forest’ by Sara Maitland

In this beautifully written book, Sara Maitland sets out on a series of walks through ancient forest and woodland in Britain seeking the symbiosis between forests and fairy stories. She expresses a deep concern that the future of these two sources of healthy life experience is endangered.

‘Gossip from the Forest’ by Sara Maitland2018-05-31T10:26:13+00:00

‘A Way to God: Thomas Merton’s Creation Spirituality Journey’ by Matthew Fox

This book is primarily about Thomas Merton (31 January 1915 – 10 December 1968), a Trappist monk in the USA. But it is also about Creation Spirituality (as articulated by Matthew Fox) and Meister Eckhart, a Christian mystic of the Middle Ages who influenced both Thomas Merton and Matthew Fox. It is a good way not only to understand Thomas Merton but also to see the strands of Creation Spirituality in Eckhart, Merton and Fox.

‘A Way to God: Thomas Merton’s Creation Spirituality Journey’ by Matthew Fox2018-05-31T14:15:33+00:00

‘Uprooted: On the Trail of the Green Man’ by Nina Lyon

This book on the Green Man—that ubiquitous but endlessly varied symbol that takes the form of a human face sprouting greenery—is impossible to pigeonhole and its message is hard to pin down in a few sentences. But the Green Man is unpindownable. Not just because his origins are so ancient and so complex but because he represents something that is still alive and real and omnipresent. Despite humankind’s efforts to ‘conquer’, ‘tame’ and ‘manage’ Nature, Nature resigns supreme—because of course we are Nature, subsumed within it, just like everything else in the living world. So what this author has produced, as a result of her journeying around the UK and other parts of Europe in search of the Green Man – and her amusing but often rambly and confusing meanderings through history, literature, folklore, religion, sex, magick, shamanism, metaphysics and endless speculative cogitation – is a book in which the Green Man is never pinned down, yet ever present.

‘Uprooted: On the Trail of the Green Man’ by Nina Lyon2018-05-31T14:46:50+00:00

‘Other Than Mother: Choosing Childlessness with Life in Mind’ by Kamalamani

The decision to have – or not to have—children, says this author, is "a private decision with global consequences." Her book is intended to help those who are involved in making the decision whether or not to remain childless and includes all genders, creeds, cultures and the different reasons for considering this. Her greatest inspiration came from Stephanie Mills’ graduation speech, during the time when the population explosion began to cause concern. Stephanie said, "I am terribly saddened by the fact that the most humane thing for me to do is have no children at all."

‘Other Than Mother: Choosing Childlessness with Life in Mind’ by Kamalamani2018-05-31T14:48:59+00:00

‘Pathways of Green Wisdom: Discovering Earth Centred Teachings in Spiritual and Religious Traditions’ by Santoshan (Stephen Wollaston) (Ed)

A panoramic view of Earth-centred teachings in different spiritual and religious traditions. 10 authors cover 10 different traditions: Christianity, Judaism, Paganism, Daoism, Hinduism, Indigenous traditions, Islam, Buddhism, Jainism and Creation Spirituality (Creation Spirituality as articulated by Matthew Fox, which helped to lay the foundations for GreenSpirit). The territory covered is so vast that each chapter is often more of a personal reflection from someone either directly involved with the tradition or who is very knowledgeable about it.

‘Pathways of Green Wisdom: Discovering Earth Centred Teachings in Spiritual and Religious Traditions’ by Santoshan (Stephen Wollaston) (Ed)2022-08-11T14:27:49+00:00

‘This Changes Everything’ by Naomi Klein

Klein's book is crammed with case studies from the frontline of the climate movement – from companies and organisations working on new ‘solutions’ to global warming to the shady coalitions and funding deals that are sealed behind closed doors. It could easily have descended into a depressing catalogue of reasons why we – and the Earth – are doomed, but the main message is one of hope It’s not too late to save the planet if we act now; but the action must be dramatic and all-encompassing.

‘This Changes Everything’ by Naomi Klein2018-05-31T14:55:43+00:00

‘Spiritual Activism: Leadership as Service’ by Alastair McIntosh and Matt Carmichael

Spiritual activism is about being both ‘spiritually active,’ i.e. inspiring others, as well as being ‘spiritually grounded,’ i.e. being a compassionate activist with protests and practical action. It has ten chapters covering a wide range of territory, each ending with a case study featuring a well-known person who has been involved in spiritual activism such as Julia Butterfly Hill, Gandhi, Muhammad (pbuh) and Desmond Tutu.

‘Spiritual Activism: Leadership as Service’ by Alastair McIntosh and Matt Carmichael2018-05-31T14:58:45+00:00

‘Reclaiming the Wild Soul: How Earth’s Landscapes Restore Us to Wholeness’ by Mary Reynolds Thompson

The thoughts and emotions that are stirred awake in us when we walk in a desert landscape have a different quality from those engendered by a walk in the depths of a forest. Different again are the ideas and images that come to mind when we marvel at a mountain peak or stand in a high place and look across a valley. And when we gaze out at the ocean or sit on the bank of a fast-flowing river or find ourselves in the middle of a grassy field, the inner scene changes again. In this unusual book, Mary Reynolds Thompson studies these deep connections between the Earth's primary landscapes and what she calls the 'soulscapes' of our inner lives and how this connection can be used for emotional healing and spiritual transformation.

‘Reclaiming the Wild Soul: How Earth’s Landscapes Restore Us to Wholeness’ by Mary Reynolds Thompson2018-05-31T15:00:11+00:00

‘Embracing Complexity: Strategic Perspectives for an Age of Turbulence’ by Jean G. Boulton, Peter M. Allen and Cliff Bowman

We have, in our western society, the god of science. So often we hear “scientists say…” in the press. And, for many people, this implies a statement of authority. But the problem is that western science is essentially value-less. This mind-set has led to such things as testing on animals, factory farming and the proliferation of deadly weapons. How did we get to this place and what can be done about it? Whilst the book covers a lot of territory, this is the key question it addresses.

‘Embracing Complexity: Strategic Perspectives for an Age of Turbulence’ by Jean G. Boulton, Peter M. Allen and Cliff Bowman2018-05-31T15:01:27+00:00
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