I never stop reading and seem to always have 2 or 3 books going at the same time. They lie scattered around the house, on my desk and next to the bed and in the stash that I go to regularly, there are always a couple of spiritual reads.
If you’ve been reading WBTW for awhile, you know that I don’t consider myself a religious person (far from it) although I am a highly spiritual one with a connectedness to the Other Side if you will, that seems to be strengthening daily.
I don’t buy into religious dogma that so often keeps people away from tapping into their inner source of knowing, which in its simplest form means that God (or Spirit or the Universe or Allah or Mohammed or Buddha or Gaia or a Stream or whatever Divine is for you) is in all of us.
Believing in something greater than yourself and certainly greater than the Earth plane of which we know in our human body form, allows us to open up to so much more than we tangibly know.
To expand upon your knowledge, here are 7 great reads I came across recently thanks to the folk sat Llewlyn Publishing whose authors I seem to gravitate to regularly.
Chinese Holistic Medicine in Your Daily Life
This very comprehensive book by Steven Cardoza, offers a wide variety of lessons which teach you all about the world of holistic practices for well-being. He covers the basics such as the principle that people who have done acupuncture know, Chinese Medicine takes a holistic approach overall. You’ll learn the differences between Chinese (Eastern) Diagnosis and Western Diagnosis.
Steven covers aspects of traditional health you’d find in a book written by a Western doctor, like diet, lifestyle and exercise (movement), however beyond this, he takes you deep into energy work.
You’ll learn all about the Concept of Qi — the Energy of Life, which includes the qualities and functions in the human body.
Also covered are the Twelve Regular Meridians, the Eight Extraordinary Meridians and how they play into Western Medicine.
He explores the Yin and Yang in the Natural World (see my article on Martial Arts and Yin and Yang balance), the four primary aspects of Yin and Yang Pairings and the western correspondences to the same.
I love how comprehensive this guide is, from understanding our organs, acupressure points, physical therapies, acupuncture, herbal medicine and tongue diagnosis. (the latter btw is something that all acupuncture practitioners do at the beginning of a session).
There’s an entire chapter dedicated to natural prescriptions for how to restore and maintain inner harmony in all aspects of stuff that comes up, from breathing disorders and the common cold to arthritis, allergies, hives, fever, dizziness and more. We love this book — find it over on Amazon.
Born Aware
Born Aware by Diane Brandon delivers stories of people who were ‘born aware’ of a spiritual knowing, right out of the womb.
I have come across spiritual healers and practitioners who knew at a very young age that they were different, perhaps had special healing powers beyond themselves (Reiki practitioners know that they are just a vessel and Spirit works through them to heal) or a clairvoyant ability that others around them didn’t possess.
Like many spiritual books who guide you how to tap into your own inner spirituality and gifts, Diane also shows you to access it within yourself.
The book dives deep into what we can learn from it (if we happen to be one of those people) or even if we don’t. She explores the implications of human consciousness and spirituality and how more knowledge, more understanding and more awareness can help humanity overall. Find it over on Amazon.
The Essential Guide to Aromatherapy & Vibrational Healing
Margaret Ann Lembo isn’t new to the world of spiritual education — she’s renowned for her work and even has some great oracle decks out. She has also written Chakra Awakening which I haven’t yet read.
This Guide on Aromatherapy and Vibrational Healing is an amazing read. She covers the historical use of Essential Oils (so you understand its ancient wisdom throughout the years), as well as the physical and energetic value of essential oils.
We are huge fans here — every night, we use an Aromatherapy dispenser and depending on how we feel, we’ll use different concoctions although our basic go to essential oil is lavender for relaxation and sleep.
I love the fact that Margaret includes the vibrational assistance and connection to your essential oils and how to use them safely.
She includes information on your chakra system, the Zodiac, Planets, Numbers and Animals, as well as how gemstones and crystals come into play. She even covers flower essences and holy water.
You’ll learn about the grades of essential oils so you know how to tell whether you’re getting a quality oil or not, as well as different extraction methods. Her appendice section is huge and includes things like Recipes for specific uses, meditation, grounding, tuning into your intuitive abilities, uses for cleaning (yes, really), and even dust mite elimination. People don’t realize just how powerful essential oils can be in your daily life. This great read can be ordered over on Amazon.
Llewellyn’s Little Book of Chakras
This useful and handy little book by Cyndi Dale is a great read for people new to the world of chakras: what they are, why they matter and how they play into our overall well-being.
She coaches you how to work with your chakras, assess them and also how to clear and heal them. Healthy chakras which are flowing allow us to step into our full potential.
When they’re out of alignment or not flowing smoothly, something will feel off, whether it’s a physical sensation, an emotional one or both.
Cyndi dives into stress relief, getting enough sleep, and manifesting what we want to truly happen in our lives.
There are illustrations throughout the book, as well as Tips, Exercises that you can do and a whole chapter on Chakra Constellations, which was new for me. Like most comprehensive spiritual books, there’s a section on protection as well.
While this guide is a small book, it covers a lot in its 200 or so pages. Buy it over on Amazon.
How To Meet & Work With Spirit Guides
I love my spirit guides — they calm my nerves when I least expect it. While I can’t access the spirit world the way some of my psychic medium friends can (I don’t hear them speak to me or see them in my third eye), I FEEL their essence and get tips and guidance in other ways.
The interesting thing about spirit guides is that they show up when we need them and will provide us clues when we pay attention to help us with decisions and garnering inner peace in our day-to-day lives.
This useful read by Ted Andrews covers the Spiritual Realm and how to better understand the other side (what we don’t know and clarifying what we do know or think we know).
He also dives into how to access the Spirit Realm, meet Guardian Angels (Metatron is coming through to me lately), work with nature spirits, how to honor spirit totems and more.
If interested in the world of guardian angels btw, including Archangels, be sure to read my review on Lucinda Gabriel’s book: How to Talk to Angels (available on Amazon) and Christine Alexandra’s book: Angel Chatter – my review here and to purchase, go here. Both are fabulous reads – I strongly recommend them.
You’ll explore the usefulness and benefits of meditation as a way forward (and within), divination, fragrances, crystals (my favorite — see this article on a Crystal Fair we attend in the Bay Area — at the bottom of the post are links to some great books on crystals) and other ways to connect to your spirit guides and other helpers on the other side. You’ll even learn a little bit about nature spirits and fairies.
Note that Ted also covers precautions that all of us should know before diving deeper into this work. This great read is available over on Amazon.
Nature Spirituality From the Ground Up
Nature Spirituality From the Ground Up is a lovely book honoring nature at its core by Lupa. I’m a huge fan of the power of nature to heal us all and have written about it on more than one occasion. We forget who we are when we get caught up in the daily grind of our busy lives.
Nature can help us reconnect to our Souls and find purpose and meaning through that time we take to listen to our Higher Voice.
I find that being in nature helps me access it easier and more seamlessly.
Lupa who is a pagan author, takes you into the basics of Bioregionalism, totems and practices for totems and yourself. There are also a few useful appendixes in the book which covers additional books on the topic, a guide to guided meditation, helpful hints and Totemic Research.
This lovely read helps you connect with totems in your own ecosystem, which is a powerful thing. From getting your hands dirty in the earth, to meditating next to a tree amidst mountains or oceans, you’ll learn to rediscover your inner calling.
By rejoining the community of nature, you will learn how to work with interconnected ecosystems of totems: plants, fungi, minerals, waterways, landforms and more. Bravo! Find it on Amazon.
Llewellyn’s Moon Sign Book
This book on moon signs, which guides you how to plan your life by the cycles of the moon, has been published annually since 1905 — yes, really. The 2018 version is out.
Inside this really great comprehensive read are the how and why listen to the moon and how to plan events and activities around them.
It will help you schedule day to day things like baking a cake and mowing the lawn, but also more important things like signing business papers or contracts, buying a new home, buying new furniture, getting a pet, getting a new car, starting a relationship, having a medical procedure and more.
It includes economic forecasts, detailed weather predictions, best dates for relationships, business, finances and even planting and harvesting. Yup, you can find out great tips for growing fruits and vegetables.
There’s even a monthly lunar aspectarian with moon tables included as well. You can find it here.
The Book of Psychic Symbols
I love symbols and finding meaning in them, whether that is a number that you connect to and see often, a shape or something in nature that you’ve always gravitated to, such as a butterfly or a seagull. Or a tree.
This lovely book by Melanie Barnum helps you interpret intuitive messages that are sent by the Universe. I’ve seen other spiritual books cover this briefly and even include a few notable symbols that are more common.
What I love about this book is that it includes a dictionary if you like, of more than 500 traditional symbols you may come across or have in the past. Perhaps they only show up in your dreams and yet you remember them vividly.
She asserts that what may seem ordinary could actually be an important message from a deceased loved one, spirit guide or even your higher self.
Melanie includes practical exercises that you can do in your life to further develop your own intuitive abilities (we all have them — Kala Ambrose’s book The Awakened Psychic is a great first read if you’d like to learn more — see my write up on Kala’s books — she has several).
From personal symbols to chakras and auras, the book explains their relevance and how to access knowledge from the Other Side. Another great Llewellyn Book, you can also find it over on Amazon as well.
Be sure to check out our Spiritual Reads section for more great book suggestions as well as Llewellyn Publishing for additional topics. We have an entire section that covers Spirituality – this includes spiritual reads, spiritual events, spiritual voices and more.
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Renee Blodgett is the founder of We Blog the World. The site combines the magic of an online culture and travel magazine with a global blog network and has contributors from every continent in the world. Having lived in 10 countries and explored nearly 80, she is an avid traveler, and a lover, observer and participant in cultural diversity.
She is also the CEO and founder of Magic Sauce Media, a new media services consultancy focused on viral marketing, social media, branding, events and PR. For over 20 years, she has helped companies from 12 countries get traction in the market. Known for her global and organic approach to product and corporate launches, Renee practices what she pitches and as an active user of social media, she helps clients navigate digital waters from around the world. Renee has been blogging for over 16 years and regularly writes on her personal blog Down the Avenue, Huffington Post, BlogHer, We Blog the World and other sites. She was ranked #12 Social Media Influencer by Forbes Magazine and is listed as a new media influencer and game changer on various sites and books on the new media revolution. In 2013, she was listed as the 6th most influential woman in social media by Forbes Magazine on a Top 20 List.
Her passion for art, storytelling and photography led to the launch of Magic Sauce Photography, which is a visual extension of her writing, the result of which has led to producing six photo books: Galapagos Islands, London, South Africa, Rome, Urbanization and Ecuador.
Renee is also the co-founder of Traveling Geeks, an initiative that brings entrepreneurs, thought leaders, bloggers, creators, curators and influencers to other countries to share and learn from peers, governments, corporations, and the general public in order to educate, share, evaluate, and promote innovative technologies.
