One With the Herd - A Spiritual Journey

The opening pages of Liz Mitten Ryan's One with the Herd: A Spiritual Journey lead us along an ancestral trail we may not yet recognize. Reading on, we are gently shown how to quiet our busy minds, surrender to silence and listen for offerings of wisdom from the herd.

Mitten Ryan decided seven years ago to leave the city and build her dream on a remote 320-acre ranch in the high country of Kamloops, British Columbia. Thus began her own leap of faith. At Gateway 2, her horses roam freely, enjoying the life of a wild herd, returning to their human support when they please. This has created a rare opportunity for Mitten Ryan to form unique relationships with the horses based on love, trust and respect. She recognizes them as spiritual equals, which challenges many of our culture's current beliefs about animals. In return, the horses invite us into their world. They are gentle, playful and extraordinarily responsive. They follow humans willingly about the paddock and require no tack when ridden.

In One with the Herd, Mitten Ryan shares the truths she learned from communing with these insightful creatures. This unusual work has broad implications for the world at large. We discover there is a way to live in harmony with all sentient beings. As we follow our heart's desire, we find we don't need power over any one.

"Animals can teach us the path to spirit because they live there, and if we allow them to contribute to the conversation, they will invite us to experience the ultimate communion in being one with the herd."

The text of One with the Herd is enriched by Mitten Ryan's original artwork, poetry, photographs and journal entries. This touching book will advance your understanding of the equine world and kindle your own unforgettable journey. It is capturing hearts all across North America. It is a winner of the Silver Nautilus Book Award and numerous independent publishing awards.A portion of book sales will benefit equine welfare groups throughout the world, including Alberta's Bear Valley Rescue and Bar NK Rescue, Thoroughbred Charities of America (Kentucky), Return to Freedom (California), and Equine Voices (Arizona).

Enjoy it soon and share it with someone you love.

Liz Mitten Ryan is a world-renowned Canadian Artist and Equine Communicator. One with the Herd: A Spiritual Journey is the first in a series of four books she has written. The Truth According to Horses will be published in late 2008.

Visit Liz and the herd at http://www.onewiththeherd.com

Carol Upton is a Writer-Editor and Publicist for Authors, Speakers and Healing Artists through Dreams Aloud Promotions. When not in front of her computer, Carol can be found playing with horses or following her dog down the beach. She lives and writes at Skookumshack, a 50-year-old Cabin on the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia. Visit Carol at http://www.dreamsaloud.ca

The Reincarnationist - Book Review

Image : http://www.flickr.com

Ancient secrets are uncovered and little by little the truth is revealed. If you have ever had a moment of wonder about reincarnation, about seeming to instantly know someone you’ve just met, I give you my highest recommendation for M.J. Rose’s book, “The Reincarnationist.” It will call to you to read its pages until you’ve frantically gotten to the last.

Josh Ryder survives a bomb’s explosion only to become haunted by flashes of someone else’s life. These flashes hit him as vividly as memories but seduce him with a desperate need for knowledge, a need to know just who lived these memories. After exhausting every medical approach to his turmoil, Josh discovers the Phoenix Foundation – a research facility that scientifically documents cases of past life experiences in children. Josh becomes an understudy and soon understands that the flashes he goes through are experiences from his own past lives. Desperate to understand the feelings of despair and urgency he feels regarding those in his previous lives, he ends up in Rome, at the heart of his memories’ settings. There he meets Professor Gabriella Chase who has just made a remarkable archaeological discovery – the tomb of a Vestal Virgin, buried alive in approximately the year 390 A.D. So how does Josh know that the tomb is the resting place of a woman named Sabina, and that she was put to death for breaking her vow of celibacy? His sense of urgency to understand grows stronger and more intense with every clue he uncovers. There is something much greater at risk than his sanity though. In her death, Sabina held tight to a treasure that is said to unlock the mysteries of reincarnation, and it was stolen. Ironically, the cost of the treasure is valued in human lives.

“The Reincarnationist” is superbly written. It is fresh and compelling, creative and intellectual. This novel is a delightful mix of psychological thriller, suspense, and paranormal, and the writing is mesmerizing in its own right. With a plot that flows around the world and through a millennium of time, the excitement doesn’t stop until the book is reluctantly closed and completed. With sophistication and class, M.J. Rose offers a novel to be remembered.

The Reincarnationist

by M.J. Rose

ISBN-10: 0778324206

Review by Heather Froeschl

Heather Froeschl is an author, award winning editor, and book reviewer, at http://www.Quilldipper.com and http://www.Bookideas.com

The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

Image : http://www.flickr.com

This is an exciting read, a hard-to-put-down book that I enjoyed even more than Brown's previous novel, The Da Vinci Code. There is one significant aspect, however, that transcends the intrigue of the story. The research that one of the characters is doing is more important than the tale itself. This is the practical spiritual message of the book.

The research lab in the story is working to prove that "human thought, if properly focused, had the ability to affect and change physical mass" (55). This suggests that concentrated thought can affect anything, such as "the growth rate of plants, the direction that fish swim in a bowl, the manner in which cells divided in a petri dish..., and the chemical reactions in one's own body" (56). These studies show that loving thoughts impact the structure of water and negative thoughts create a chaotic, disorderly form. The ideas come from ancient wisdom.

There is more to this story, of course. There is the drama about what is hidden beneath a building in Washington D.C. It would spoil the story to say more. What doesn't ruin the story, though, is the importance of Brown's research. While some of it is based in fact and some may be simply his projections of possibilities, I feel there is a significance hidden in the pages that force us, once again, to remember that the power is within us, not solely in some hidden symbol or object yet to be found. What is to be discovered may be what many already know, as Brown suggests, that the power and secrets we search for are within.

Whether these studies reflect a current reality or not, they do provide insight into our future - a future in which we can control physical reality. Dan Brown does more than just present fascinating material in a tightly constructed story. He opens a window into both our past and our future. "Modern physics can help us remember," (60) which refers to "the missing link between science and ancient mysticism" (57).

The story reminds us, as Brown has done so well before, of the importance of the past. We can't ignore events that have helped shape our lives, even those going back to ancient times. That seems to be the mystery that remains unsolved at the end of the novel. That remains our mystery, I believe. The Lost Symbol is providing a key.

Cheryl A. Chatfield, Ph. D. invites you to visit her nonprofit organization at http://NottInstitute.org to download a free copy of Seven Spiritual Books To Read For 2009. These will help in your quest for a Practical Spirituality. See the Free Material.