Indigenous Cultures - Indigenous Cultures

Before Rome ruled the Classical World, gleaming stone pyramids stood amid smoking iron foundries from North America's Atlantic seaboard to the Mississippi River. On its east bank, across from today's St. Louis, Missouri, flourished a walled city more populous than London was one thousand years ago, with a pyramid larger - at its base - than Egypt's Great Pyramid. During the 12th century, hydraulic engineers laid out a massive irrigation network spanning the American Southwest that, if laid end to end, would stretch from Phoenix, Arizona to the Canadian border. On a scale to match, they built a five-mile-wide dam from ten million cubic yards of rock. While Europe stumbled through the Dark Ages, a metropolis of weirdly shaped, multistory superstructures, precisely aligned to the sun and moon, sprawled across the New Mexico Desert.

Who was responsible for such colossal achievements? Where did their mysterious builders come from and what became of them? These are some of the questions investigated by Frank Joseph in his examination of ancient influences at work on the American continent. He reveals that modern civilisation is not the first to arise in North America but was preceded instead by four high cultures that rose and fell over the past three thousand years: the Adena, Hopewell, Mississippian and Anasazi-Hohokam. How they achieved greatness and why they vanished so completely are the intriguing enigmas explored by this unconventional prehistory of our country, ADVANCED CIVILIZATIONS OF PREHISTORIC AMERICA.
· Describes the cultural splendour, political might and incredibly
advanced technology of these precursors to our modern age



· Shows that North America's first civilization, the Adena, was sparked by ancient kelts from Western Europe and explores links between Hopewell Mound Builders and prehistoric Japanese seafarers

The understanding that animals can be spiritually called upon to assist us in almost every aspect of our lives is a realisation that opens a floodgate of knowledge and power to those who seek their counsel. Ancient teachings suggest that we are capable of communing with the forces of nature and speaking readily to the animals, birds, reptiles, fish and even the insects. Each animal offers its own sacred teachings. When we take the time to learn the symbolic language of the animals and listen carefully to what they have to say, we can use the knowledge gained to manifest their qualities and wisdom into our own lives.

Featuring an in-depth exploration of the Dreamtime and of Australia's seasonal wheel of the year, as well as a guide to finding your own Australian animal totem, ANIMAL DREAMING explores the spiritual and symbolic interpretations of over 200 native, domesticated and introduced animals, birds, reptiles and fish in Australia. Renowned author and acclaimed Animal Psychic, Scott Alexander King presents these animals to his readers as totems, teachers, healers and spiritual allies, offering a wealth of ancient knowledge and spiritual insight into the ways of the animals.

Delving deep into this very misrepresented tradition, Samael Aun Weor definitively shows the beauty and majesty of the Aztec mysticism and how it is firmly based in the universal laws represented in the Kabbalah and the Tarot. It includes a powerful series of exercises that guide the reader to have their own mystical experiences.

A beautiful explanation of the Kabbalistic wisdom hidden in the Aztec Pantheon. This book was written by Samael Aun Weor for the most advanced and demanding level of Gnostic practice - therefore this book is one of the most subtle and complex that he wrote. One of the most striking features of this book is the sequence of practical exercises that build from chapter to chapter, resulting in a powerful and direct method to access personal inner experience of the superior planes of existence.

Hawaiian spirituality teaches that individuals can be truly fulfilled only if they are conscious participants in the long ancestral chain of witnessing and transmission that connects the present to the time of origins. THE CRY OF THE HUNA invokes the author's personal history as he recounts the decline of his people's spiritual tradition as a result of colonization. The breakdown of the Hawaiians' ties with their sacred land led them to forget not only the teachings of their ancestors but also the chain of na aumakua they form which connects this people to both the earth and the realm of the gods. While the na aumakua can be viewed with reverence it is not seen or worshipped as a God. Rather it is seen as a part of the chain of life that arose from one god's vision of creation. Aumakua is a compound of makua (parents) and au the endless ancestral chain that stretches through time. Each individual on earth represents a temporary end to that chain. As we age and our vision of life slowly looks toward death our descendants come forth to provide the next eyes in the chain of witnessing and transmission. THE CRY OF THE HUNA shows how the rupture of this chain has led to widespread alienation. An endless cycle of resentment and revenge is fuelled by the loss of the Hawaiians' spiritual birthright. The connection to the aumakua however can be reforged but only by untying the circular cords of revenge to allow forgiveness to occur in the present so that healing can take place in the future.

Since ancient times the Yoruba of West Africa created sacred stories - patakís - to make sense of the world around them. Upon arrival in the New World, the Yoruba religion began to incorporate elements from Catholic and Native traditions, evolving into Santería and new patakís were born, adding to the many chapters already found in the odu of the diloggún - the sacred oral teachings and divination system of the Yoruba, or Lucumí, faith. Comparable to the myths of ancient Greece and Rome and rich with jewels of wisdom like the I Ching, these Santería stories are as vast as the Hindu Vedas and as culturally significant as the parables in the Torah, Talmud and Christian Bible.

DILOGGÚN TALES OF THE NATURAL WORLD presents more than 40 patakís that shed light upon the worldview of Santería. Each story in this collection, reassembled from the oral tradition of the African diaspora, is centred on a spiritual principle in nature: the waxing and waning of the moon, solar and lunar eclipses, the phenomenon of shooting stars, the separation of sky and earth and the origins of the animals and birds who play key roles in Santería symbology. Revealing the metaphysics, theology and philosophy of the Yoruba people, this volume shows these stories to be as powerful and relevant today as they were to the ancient Yoruba who once safeguarded them.

• Includes more than 40 myths, stories and histories from the Lucumí
tradition

• Reassembles the oral fragments from the African diaspora into
coherent stories

• Demonstrates that the African peoples, specifically the Yoruba, had deep philosophies and metaphysics involving nature and the natural world

While studying Amazonian shamans who use ayahuasca and Peruvian coastal healers who use mescaline cactus to treat psychological illness, Marlene Dobkin de Rios learned about the naipes cards - fortune-telling cards similar to the tarot used as part of the healers' method of diagnosis. Immersing herself in their culture, she began telling fortunes with the naipes cards and was surprised by the intimacy it induced in the native people she was trying to study as well as the profoundly accurate results she encountered. Finding herself pulled further and further into Peruvian culture, in 1977 Dobkin de Rios was initiated into the sacred mystical order of Septrionismo, which emphasises specific techniques - such as meditation, ritual and reflection - to manage one's future rather than depending solely on fate and fortune.

Explaining how to use the naipes cards as well as examining the practices of the Septrionic Order, Dobkin de Rios explores her experiences with both traditions through the lens of her anthropological and psychological training, describing how these diverse encounters opened her mind to the powers of divination as well as taught her the means of directing her own destiny.

· Explains the fortune-telling naipes cards and how Amazonian
shamans use them to diagnose clients' ills
· Looks at the Sacred Mystical Order of Septrionismo and its
techniques for managing destiny

This is a book that picks up where The Four Agreements left off. Building on the principles found in his father's bestselling book, Ruiz, Jr. explores the ways in which we attach ourselves inappropriately to beliefs and the world.
Ruiz explores the five levels of attachment that cause suffering in our lives. The levels are:
· Authentic Self
· Preference
· Identification
· Internalization
· Fanaticism

Accessible and practical, Ruiz's exploration invites us to look at our own lives and see how an unhealthy level of attachment can keep us trapped in a psychological and spiritual fog. He then invites us to reclaim our true freedom by cultivating awareness, detaching, and discover our true selves.

In THE NEW ORLEANS VOODOO HANDBOOK, initiated Vodou priest Kenaz Filan covers the practices, tools and rituals of this system of worship as well as the many facets of its origins. Exploring the major figures of New Orleans Voodoo, such as Marie Laveau and Dr. John, as well as Creole cuisine and the wealth of musical inspiration surrounding the Mississippi Delta, Filan examines firsthand documents and historical records to uncover the truth behind many of the city's legends and to explore the oft-discussed but little-understood practices of the root doctors, Voodoo queens and spiritual figures of the Crescent City. Including recipes for magical oils, instructions for candle workings, methods of divination and even directions to create gris-gris bags, mojo hands and Voodoo dolls, Filan reveals how to call on the saints and spirits of Voodoo for love, money, retribution, justice and healing.

• Includes recipes for magical oils, instructions for candle workings
and directions to create gris-gris bags and Voodoo dolls to attract
love, money, justice and healing and for retribution

• Explores the major figures of New Orleans Voodoo, including
Marie Laveau and Dr. John

• Exposes the diverse ethnic influences at the core of Voodoo, from
the African Congo to Catholic immigrants from Italy, France and
Ireland

All religious groups have codes to guide the lives of adherents, but the Druze, Dr. Ruth tells us, are especially interesting. She has observed the Druze's special art of adjustment in all walks of life, whether religious or secular and for all people, young and old. Their key is an ancient custom called a-takiyya. During times of communal stress, the Druze refrain from accentuating their religious identity, thus reducing the possibilities of conflict with neighbouring groups and allowing them to concentrate on internal community building.

According to Druze custom, they predate the Hebrew people in the area surrounding Palestine - particularly in Syria, Lebanon and Israel. Thus, like many "native" peoples, they do not feel bound by the customs and religions brought into the area by later settlers. This, of course, has led to a long history of strife with their neighbours. Consequently, the Druze people have had to build an inner strength of individuals and community in order to survive as an identifiable ethnic group.

Through stories, personal encounters and historical context, Dr. Ruth Westheimer describes with great warmth the roots of that strength, how the story of the Druze has played out over the millennia, how they influence today's situation in the Middle East and what Westerners can learn from them and their way of life.

The beat is universal -- drumming as a way of communicating with other people, spirits, and self exists around the world and throughout time. And contemporary drumming is thriving! In the neo-pagan community, the most popular festivals and workshops are those that feature drumming circles. In healing centers, nursing homes, women's centers, and schools across the country, people are forming drumming circles. Sacred Beat honors and explores every aspect of drumming -- historical, contemporary, practical.

In Part I, Telesco and Waterhawk tell the history of drums and drumming circles and the myths, superstitions, and religions that have grown up around drumming. From West Africa to Tibet, from Siberia to England, from Vietnam to Apache territory, where Fox gave the people drums along with fire -- come stories about drums, their invention, their use up until contemporary times. People respond almost universally and profoundly to drums -- to relieve stress, to communicate, to move in rhythm with the universe, to praise their gods. A comprehensive section of practical information follows, with ideas for finding a drum and other rhythmic tools that are right for your vision, caring for and decorating your instrument, drum etiquette, and elements of a good drum circle.

The next section of Sacred Beat is all about drumming in groups -- different ways it's being done, from Native American Pow-Wows to Goddess gatherings to community centers, and how to become a part of it. The book closes with a section on creating drumming magic all your own, with meditations, prayers, and divinations to create overall well-being and spiritual awareness with drums.

The voice of the drum combines with the voice of the Ancestors, the voice of Spirit, and the voice of our own soul to create a powerful and transformational partnership.

By working with the drum, a person can support this partnership, reach out to the community, touch the earth, and nurture their own spirit.