Healthy Autumn Fruit Cobbler

I admit that I’m hopelessly plagued by a persuasive sweet tooth. Holidays like Halloween and Thanksgiving bring gastronomical temptations galore, trumping my otherwise healthy diet. You can imagine my excitement for Sweet Gratitude: A New World of Raw Desserts, a book chalk full of delicious guilt-free recipes! In honor of our current “Season of Temptation,” I’d like to share this delectable prescription for Pear, Persimmon, and Pomegranate Fruit Cobbler (from Sweet Gratitude). Good luck in your kitchen endeavors, and enjoy!

Fruit Cobbler

Makes one 9×9x2-inch pan of cobbler

WALNUT CRUST/TOPPING
3 cups walnuts
2 ounces date paste (weight)
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon liquid vanilla
⅛ teaspoon salt

Process all ingredients until walnuts are still slightly chunky. Once ready, separate the crust into two equal portions. Sprinkle one portion evenly over bottom of pan and lightly compact. Reserve the other portion for the topping.

FRUIT FILLING
8 cups sliced fruit of your choice
(any combination of fruit or berries)
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons agave syrup (optional)
1 tablespoon liquid vanilla
11/2 teaspoons cinnamon
⅛ teaspoon salt

FRUIT FILLING DIRECTIONS
Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Evenly distribute the filling on top of the crust. Then crumble the remaining crust on top of the fruit and gently press. Decorate with fresh fruit slices.

Variations: Use pecans instead of walnuts for the crust/topping. This cobbler lends itself to endless variations of fruit that can be used. Be creative—use what you love and what is in season for the best result. Some of our favorite cobbler combinations are:
Apple/strawberry, white peach/raspberry/mango, pear/persimmon/pomegranate, and berry medley cobbler (blueberry/strawberry/ raspberry/blackberry).

Storage and life span: This dessert is best on the day it is made. Over subsequent days the cobbler will begin to juice and the nuts will get soggy. Keep covered in the fridge for up to two days.

Want to try your hand at Raw Cacao Fudge? CLICK HERE for the recipe.

Meet the Author of Origins of the Tarot!

11/13 Book Signing and talk with author Dai Léon

Origins of the Tarot: Cosmic Evolution and the Principles of Immortality

Where: Mystic Journey Bookstore

1319 Abbot Kinney Blvd., Venice, California
When: Friday November 13th
Time: 7-9pm

Conventional wisdom traces Tarot cards to medieval Italy, but their roots go back much further in time and draw on a surprisingly rich variety of cultures and spiritual traditions. Combining pioneering scholarship with practical spiritual instruction, Origins of the Tarot is the first book to unveil the full range of the ancient streams of wisdom from which the Tarot emerged. The timeless principles of conscious realization and cosmological unfoldment underlying the Tarot have never been explored in a comparably extensive and detailed way.

The Tarot is about a universal procession of evolution and the soul’s quest for enlightenment. It is a unique exemplification of perennial teachings on the soul and its liberation. It was developed through teachings and practices within a tremendous range of traditions, including Kabbalah, Western esotericism and alchemy, Buddhism, Taoism, yogic disciplines, Sufism, mystical Christianity, Gnosticism, and Neoplatonism. Dai Léon masterfully incorporates and synthesizes these in his book, seminars and daily life.

“Origins of the Tarot’s profound learning and unprecedented range of references are sure to attract close study among students both of the world’s most enduring esoteric tradition and of esotericism itself.”

A lifelong student of East-West philosophy and contemplation, Dai has served for 25 years as a cultural emissary between modern and traditional, scientific and spiritual domains. Dai began his studies of esoteric ritual, yoga, alchemy and martial arts at the age of eight in France, where he was raised as a youngster. After studying the philosophies and spiritual ways of the great traditions at the University of Illinois, Dai was invited to directly study under the Venerable Gia-fu Feng, head of Stillpoint Foundation in Colorado. In the spring of 1978, Sifu (indicating monk or teacher) Dai Sealed Heart-Mind with Master Feng (a traditional method of Lineage or Dharma Transmission), who requested Dai to teach the Tao that is none other than the One of Heraclitus, Plotinus and Western wisdom through the ages.

Come chat with Dai during this Mystic Journey evening. And schedule a future reading! Adept of the Buddhist-Taoist way of insight, Dai integrates transpersonal advice with intimate and immediate realms of personal development. East meets West in what will prove to be an unforgettably insightful interaction.

Interview with North Atlantic Books Publisher Richard Grossinger

Just this past week our very own Richard Grossinger was the guest for Diet Soap’s podcast interview. For the uninitiated, Diet Soap is a Portland, OR based ‘zine that “seeks anti-capitalist fiction, gonzo and personal nonfiction, and a way out.” They have issued four paper versions in addition to their online copy and have recently begun the podcast series. Richard was the guest for their 27th episode, which can be streamed in its entirety here. The show is hosted by Doug Lain, who spoke with Richard about everything from his books Waiting for the Martian Express and The Bardo of Waking Life to President Obama, Adolph Hitler, commodity fetishism, and the hidden longings and capacities of the soul.

In the interview, Richard explains that Martian Express was originally entitled “A Critical Look at the New Age” – not an unsympathetic, but certainly a critical look – an attempt to pick through the mythologies of the movement and find what is truly transformational. Having been introduced to what is considered avant-garde literature (and specifically the Black Mountain Poets) and the New Age movement simultaneously, Richard sees the magical, alchemical, and personal transformational elements of the New Age as grounded in something like Charles Olson’s Causal Mythology, which has a critical element to it, and the poetic intelligence to this is much more hard-edged and tough-minded than its psycho-spiritual context. This perspective is at odds with a New Age counter-culture whose material arose in its own context and is thus much more boundary-less. For Richard, these two movements were always indistinguishable, and some 20 years and a dozen or more books after Martian Express, his The Bardo of Waking Life is a much more refined and precise attempt to establish these differences and champion the truly transformational.

In his new and upcoming book, 2013: Raising the Earth to the Next Vibration, Richard asserts that “by individuals changing consciousness they can change their own universes and their relationships” to the social structure:

… to make structural changes in things through very mysterious and indirect ways. … [There] is an unknown kind of collective unconscious or global transformation or Gaia or whatever you want to call it – impulse – which is driving the whole thing and making use of this sort of extant society and people’s internal workings, and kind of changing perceptions, inner phenomenologies and meanings, and changing them in such a way that almost unintentionally people change society and our collective waves pass through. And so I think you need the individual work to be able to internalize that, deepen it and give it – you know, hook it up to the larger cultural changes. I don’t think you can support the larger social structures simply structurally and through social action.

Rather than being repelled by pop culture, for instance, Richard has always tried to find in it something esoteric and meaningful. Everything is part of the seed consciousness – the fundamental consciousness responsible for all derivative forms of awareness – of humanity, and it is better, to take an extreme, to see the likes of “Hitler as a profound initiate, a magician and a shaman who completely blew it.” This line of reasoning, which Richard invokes from a book entitled The Angel of Auschwitz, follows that Hitler’s “destructive fascist demonic behavior was a failed magic which was meant actually to serve humanity and to work toward the creation of something that was sacred and humanist and that he blew it.” To turn someone like Hitler or Bush “into only serving an evil function, you lose the possibility of growth and transformation there.”

The title of his forthcoming book is itself a suggestion of positivity; while everyone talks about the impending calamities of 2012, Richard is steering the conversation to a new age that can be altered by consciousness, rather than being merely accepted according to mysticism and mythology. 2013: Raising the Earth to a New Vibration will be available in April.

CLICK HERE to listen to the entire Diet Soap interview with Richard Grossinger.

Lucy Harmer’s Shamanic Astrology Forecast – October 23 to November 21: SNAKE

“Lucy Harmer’s style is simple and her astrological information amazingly accurate… her book is an inspiration to us all.”
– Mark Woodley, schools director of the British Astrological and Psychic Society

Welcome to Lucy Harmer’s Shamanic Astrology monthly forecast for the Northern Hemisphere! Each month Lucy will share inspiration and ideas for the coming weeks from her book Shamanic Astrology: Understanding Your Spirit Animal Sign.

Shamanic Astrology is based on the study of the movement of the sun and the moon during the different seasons of the year. There are twelve astrological “signs” which are represented by twelve different spirit animals. To find out your own personal spirit animal sign (the sign you were born under), please check the table of spirit animals at the end of this article. Shamanic Astrology teaches us that inner power derives from knowing the properties, characteristics, and qualities of each spirit animal (known as their “medicine”), and applying this in our own lives.

Each month I will focus on the spirit animal for that month, and describe the “energy” of the month itself and also the influence of the moon. I will also indicate which other spirit animal signs will find this month to be particularly beneficial, and why.

October 23 – November 21: SNAKE

Month of Frosts and Transformation

Spirit Animal Sign of the Month:
Snake is the spirit animal which corresponds to October 23 – November 21 (in the northern hemisphere). If you were born at this time, your spirit animal sign is Snake and you share Snake’s strengths of being imaginative, accommodating, passionate, strong, charismatic, discerning and tender. You may also share some of Snake’s weaknesses and can have a tendency to be headstrong, jealous, secretive, hypercritical, compulsive and grudge-bearing.

Medicine: Snake’s medicine is the ability to accept change easily, to adapt, and to live each experience to the fullest. This can be used in any situation to let go and welcome change with joy.
Element: Water
Stone: Malachite and Copper
Color: Burnt Orange
Plant: Thistle

Energy of the season:
Snake’s month is the time of frosts and transformation. The sun has now lost most of its strength. Dead leaves cover the ground, starting to turn into mulch to replenish the earth; the process of death and transformation has started. Growth slows down and energy is driven inward. This month is a good time for understanding the past and taking stock of the things that matter, so as to prepare for the start of the new cycle. It is a favorable time for breaking free from old bonds, leaving the past and moving in a different direction. It is propitious for reflecting on how to use your energy and inner resources in the future.

Energy of the moon:
Snake’s new moon started on October 18th and the full moon is on November 2nd. The period from October 23rd until November 2nd is the ideal time for recharging your batteries and transforming the things that no longer work in your life. It is a good time to clear clutter and transform old patterns of behavior. After the full moon, from November 3rd until November 15th, the time is favorable for taking stock of your relationships; it is a time for releasing any emotional bonds that are holding you back. November 16th brings the new moon in Owl; this is the ideal time for designing or launching projects that you have wanted to set in motion for some time. It is an excellent time for breathing new life into existing projects, as we move from a water moon into a fire moon.

This month is particularly favorable for the following signs:

Snake:
If your sign is Snake the energy of this month is very favorable because it corresponds to the month and the moon of your birth. A new cycle is about to start in your life and this is the best time to start planting seeds. Use the sun’s energy to take stock and head off in a new direction.

Woodpecker/Wolf:
If your sign is Woodpecker or Wolf this is a very lucky month for you, with lots of harmony because you are in your own water element. A multitude of opportunities will open up for you in this period and this is the best time to give destiny a helping hand!

Brown Bear/Snow Goose:
For Brown Bear and Snow Goose people, this is a very dynamic month, full of energy which favors the conception and birth of new projects. You will feel new motivation and a renewal of your energy at this time.

Table of Spirit Animal Signs:

To find your spirit animal sign, just locate your birthday from the dates below, according to your place of birth. If you were born north of the equator (e.g., USA, Canada, Europe), then look for your date of birth in the column headed “Northern Hemisphere.” If you were born south of the equator (e.g., Australia, New Zealand, South Africa), then look for your date of birth in the column headed “Southern Hemisphere.”

© Copyright 2009 Lucy Harmer

Shamanic Astrology is available for purchase directly through NorthAtlanticBooks.com, as well as major book stores and online retailers.

CLICK HERE to learn more about courses, seminars and workshops offered by Lucy Harmer.

CLICK HERE to learn more about Shamanic Astrology.

CLICK HERE to learn more about Discovering Your Spirit Animal.

Outstanding New Books for October

This month’s titles are all about becoming aware, releasing negativity, and embracing a more positive lifestyle. To understand more about yourself, the people around you, and how we all fit together, check out Shamanic Astrology to make sense of why we behave as we do, or Slow Sculpture for a science fiction approach to human (and extraterrestrial) interaction. Need to assertively yet respectfully confront a loved one about a delicate situation? Finding the Words will help you to find the right words. The Raw Food Lifestyle will give you something to gnaw on if you’re hungry for information about the health and healing aspects of the Raw Food Movement. Or perhaps your personal or professional space is littered with negative energy. Sweep it away with Spiritual Clearings. As you endeavor to become more aware, to let go of the negative, and to dwell in positivity this month, keep in mind the newest books that North Atlantic has to offer.

To order, please visit www.northatlanticbooks.com.

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Finding the Words: Candid Conversations with Loved Ones
By Susan Halpern

Finding the Words offers principles and practical suggestions for those moments in relationships when one wants to be kind but also must discuss a sensitive matter. In thoughtful prose, Susan Halpern explains how to communicate with care in order to strengthen and increase our loving connections. The principles provided in the book—speaking from the heart, stating intentions, and deep listening—enable readers to navigate difficult encounters.

Halpern draws on her years of experience as a psychotherapist, wife, and mother to suggest possible, scripted solutions and positive outcomes for a wide range of situations. An essential book for finding one’s way back to intimacy from conflict, nagging discomfort, and anger, Finding the Words teaches methods of responding, negotiating, and compromising. While there are numerous guides to relationships, no other book presents life situations—along with actual words that can be used to cope with them—with such vitality and wisdom.

$14.95 US/ $18.95 CAN
Trade Paperback
978-1-55643-838-7
248 pages; 5-1/2 x 8 1/2
On Sale October 6, 2009

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Spiritual Clearings: Sacred Practices to Release Negative Energy and Harmonize Your Life
By Diana Burney

A blend of spiritual and practical material, Spiritual Clearings offers a comprehensive checklist of circumstances that may require ritual clearing—whether the situation involves confronting illness, feeling “stuck” in life, having trouble selling a home, or high employee turnover. Diana Burney discusses different categories of energy, its presence in the invisible world, and the unseen influences or beings that may be drawn to discordant energy. Through spiritual clearings, Burney proposes, we can release our own negativity as well as guide unseen negative forces toward the light. The book’s clearing rituals include prayers that invoke the assistance of higher beings such as archangels and Ascended Masters, incantations and chants from different spiritual traditions, the visualization of divine light and the violet flame, and the expression of gratitude. Spiritual Clearings provides readers with a clear path to fulfilling their potential and creating a personal environment of confidence, creativity, love, and acceptance.

$16.95 US/$21 CAN
Trade Paperback
978-1-55643-815-8
184 pages; 6 x 9
On Sale October 13, 2009
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The Raw Food Lifestyle: The Philosophy and Nutrition behind Raw and Live Foods
By Ruthann Russo

Ruthann Russo has been a vegetarian and vegan for more than 20 years, and in 2007 became a passionate raw-food enthusiast. She brings that passion to the pages of this comprehensive introduction to raw and live food. In simple, encouraging language, she conveys a wealth of information, from the philosophy of raw-food nutrition, to how it affects the body, to how to transition from a regular diet to one that promotes physical, emotional, and spiritual health.

Using examples from her own life, Russo lays out a practical plan for making the switch that starts with realizing the need to change one’s diet (and health), and then stresses small dietary changes to discover what raw foods work, and assessing reactions. She profiles food preparation and supplements (superfoods, vitamins, green products), and emphasizes the spiritual aspects of the movement, exploring meditation, yoga, Buddhism, peacefulness, and fasting.

$16.95 US/$21 CAN
Trade Paperback
978-1-55643-837-0
256 pages; 6 x 9
On Sale October 20, 2009

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Shamanic Astrology: Understanding Your Spirit Animal Sign
By Lucy Harmer

In this thoughtful book, Lucy Harmer shows readers how to find their spirit animal. She provides detailed descriptions of the strengths and weaknesses of each of the twelve spirit animals—for example, falcon is enthusiastic and adventurous but can be impulsive and impatient, while deer is sociable and eloquent but can be lazy and superficial. Once readers determine their spirit animal, they can better understand their relationships with family, friends, and associates. Readers will be able to uncover the hidden treasures of their personalities and their secret talents, as well as the color, plant, and totem stone corresponding to each spirit animal. For readers who want to take shamanic astrology to the next level, the book includes the first complete lunar calendar for the Northern and Southern Hemispheres to help them determine their spirit animal rising sign and discover how the moon influences their daily life.

$16.95 US/$21 CAN
Trade Paperback
978-1-55643-826-4
264 pages; 6 x 9
On Sale October 20, 2009

Click HERE for the author’s website.

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Slow Sculpture: Volume XII: The Complete Stories of Theodore Sturgeon
By Theodore Sturgeon

Theodore Sturgeon was a model for his friend Kurt Vonnegut’s legendary character Kilgore Trout, and his work was an acknowledged influence on important younger writers from Harlan Ellison and Robert Silverberg to Stephen King and Octavia Butler. His work has long been deeply appreciated for its sardonic sensibility, dazzling wordplay, conceptual brilliance, memorable characters, and relentless treatment of social issues. Sturgeon also authored several episodes of the original Star Trek TV series and originated the Vulcan phrase “Live long and prosper.”

The last in North Atlantic’s series reprinting Sturgeon’s complete short stories includes classic works such as the award-winning title story, which won both the Hugo and Nebula Awards in 1971, and “The [Widget], the [Wadget], and Boff,” a creative exploration of the human ability to achieve self-realization in response to crisis. The book includes a new Foreword, Story Notes, and a comprehensive index for the entire series.

$35 US/$43 CAN
Trade Paperback
978-1-55643-834-9
312 pages; 6 x 9
On Sale October 20, 2009