The Medicine Woman Tarot

Mind Body & Soul Ezine Book Review: The Medicine Woman - Inner Guidebook - A Woman's Guide to her Unique Powers Using The Medicine Woman Tarot Deck by Carol Bridges, published by U S Games Systems Inc.

I like this book very much. It begins with a gypsy story about wholeness and the origin of the tarot. Information is provided on how to use the cards, preparing for a reading, etc. This Inner Guidebook is a teaching manual which takes the user on a journey of personal and spiritual improvement. With a Native American influence, it includes ancient wisdom, Earth honouring, personal power, and spiritual responsibility and progress, which are developed through visualisations, affirmations, exercises, diet advice, colours, invocations, a consciousness map, and grounded learning. 

Designed as a bridge to a loving world and a method of healing. 

The Tarot Masters

Mind Body & Soul Ezine Book Review: The Tarot Masters - Insights from the World's Leading Tarot Experts, Edited by Kim Arnold, Published by Hay House, paperback, 156 pages £9.99 

The Magian Tarok

Mind Body and Soul Ezine Book Review: The Magian Tarok - The Origins of the Tarot in the Mithraism and Hermetic Traditions by Stephen E Flowers PhD, images by Amber Rae Broderick.  3rd Revised and Expanded Edition 2019, published by Bear & Co. Author website: https://seekthemystery.com

"To master the Fruit, know the Root"

The author, Professor Flowers has written 24 books and is a scholar of Indo-European religions and languages. He  holds a Doctorate in Germanic Languages and Mediaeval Studies from University of Texas at Austin, and studied the History of Occultism at University of Gottingen, Germany.

This dissertation takes a fresh look at the tarot work of Sigurd Agrell (1881-1937), a Swedish philologist and professor who worked in 1920s and 1930s. It traces the historical roots and mythology of the tarot to the Stoeicheia, a mysterious 22 letter Roman oracular alphabet used as a template for the major arcana, quite possibly used in Mithraism initiation and teaching of the Magi.
 A chapter is given to the Magic Disk of Pergamum.

Feminist Spirituality - The Goddess

Mind Body & Soul Ezine Book Review - Jailbreaking the Goddess - A Radical Revisioning of Feminist Spirituality by Lasara Firefox Allen, http://lasarafirefoxallen.com/ 267 pages Published by Llewellyn Books, $22.99 US

This is a fascinating and new 5 fold model to replace the traditional 'maiden, mother and crone' 3 fold aspects of the goddess.

The five new aspects introduced in this book are:

Femella - The Child
Potens - Woman of Power
Creatrix - She Who Creates
Sapientia - Woman of Art and Wisdom
Antiqua - The Ancient One

Ancient Spirit Rising

Mind Body & Soul Ezine Book Review: Ancient Spirit Rising - Reclaiming Your Roots and Restoring Earth Community by Pegi Eyers, published by Stone Circle Press. Website: http://www.stonecirclepress.com/

Academic yet readable description of outlawed Anglo Settlers/colonizers/the dominant culture oppressed native peoples of the Americas and indigenous spirituality, language, ceremonies, fashions, rituals, songs, handicrafts and traditions that were handed down through the generations.  Now, when First Nation (Native Americans) try to research and recover their valuable heritage, they find it has been badly imitated, stolen and distorted by white colonizers, without acquiring permission for Indigenous Tribal Peoples’ intellectual property rights, material owned by the Indigenous Tribes that was faithfully given to them by their Ancestors for their protection and wellbeing. To take the wisdom of these ancient and sophisticated indigenous tribes for personal gain, only repeats past colonial abuses. ‘Cultural appropriation’ takes from Indigenous tribes who were cruelly treated for generations and continues and exacerbated the violations, as is ignorant and destructive. First Nations are saying "find your own ancestral traditions" - don't take and corrupt ours!

Adventures in Eco-therapy

Mind Body & Soul Ezine Book Review: Acorns Among the Grass - Adventures in Eco-therapy By Caroline Brazier Published by: O Books Paperback price: £11.69 Kindle price: £5.14 248 pages Author’s website: http://amidatrust.ning.com/profile/carolinebrazier

Caroline Brazier is a psychotherapist and Buddhist, and author of a number of books on Buddhist psychology and Other-Centred therapeutic approaches. In her latest book she explores the possibilities that Deep Ecology and Buddhist psychology offer for healing the human psyche in nature as she writes about her experiences leading a week-long summer eco-therapy retreat in the heart of rural France, weaving into the narrative other relevant experiences both before and after this key period. She offers her book as “a scattering of acorns, thrown out by the wind into the long grass,” expressing the hope that some of them may sprout and grow.