Bookstore

"Alchemist" - by Paulo Coelho
This simple, yet eloquent parable celebrates the richness of the human spirit. A young Spanish shepherd seeking his destiny travels to Egypt where he learns many lessons, particularly from a wise old alchemist. The real alchemy here, however, is the transmuting of youthful idealism into mature wisdom. The blending of conventional ideas with an exotic setting makes old truths seem new again. This shepherd takes the advice Hamlet did not heed, learning to trust his heart and commune with it as a treasured friend. Enjoyable and easy to read, this timeless story validates the aspirations and dreams of any spiritual seeker.

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Paperback
Price: $8.99
"Art of Dreaming" - by Carlos Castaneda
From Publishers WeeklyIn bestsellers like A Separate Reality and Journey to Ixtlan , Castaneda recounted his purported adventures with Mexican Yaqui Indian sorcerer don Juan Matus. Here he tells how, under don Juan's tutelage, he gained control over his dreams and used dreaming as a launching pad to a pervasive but unseen realm of ancestral spiritual forces, good and evil. He goes through tunnels, enters into the consciousness of trees, meets scouts, emissaries and form-changing blobs of energy. Aided by don Juan's companions and fellow apprentices, Castaneda penetrates a realm of "inorganic beings" who set traps for him and attack him, as if to illustrate don Juan's teaching that consciousness is compelled to grow through life-or-death confrontations. For believers, Castaneda's quest offers a tantalizing glimpse of alternate worlds beyond the rational parameters of our mundane reality.
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Paperback
Price: $9.99
"Black Elk Speaks" by John Neihardt
Black Elk Speaks is the story of the Lakota visionary and healer Nicholas Black Elk (1863-1950) and his people during the momentous twilight years of the nineteenth century. Black Elk met the distinguished poet, writer, and critic John G. Neihardt (1881-1973) in 1930 on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota and chose Neihardt to tell his story. Neihardt understood and conveyed Black Elk's experiences in this powerful and inspirational message for all humankind.

When Black Elk received his great vision, white settlers were invading the Lakotas' homeland, decimating buffalo herds, and threatening to extinguish the Lakotas' way of life. The Lakotas fought fiercely to retain their freedom and way of life, a dogged resistance that resulted in a remarkable victory at the Little Bighorn and an unspeakable tragedy at Wounded Knee. Black Elk Speaks offers much more than a precious glimpse of a vanished time, however. As related by Neihardt, Black Elk’s searing visions of the unity of humanity and the earth have made this book a venerated spiritual classic. Whether appreciated as the poignant tale of a Lakota life, a history of a Native nation, or an enduring spiritual testament, Black Elk Speaks is unforgettable.
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Paperback
Price: $9.99
"Book, The" by Alan Watts
'The book' is a fantastic introduction to key tenets of the ancient Hindu philosophy of Vedanta. Alan Watts exposits with convincing arguments the problems with our perspective of the self(the same thought that 'Hermann Hesse illustrates in Steppenwolf), the correct interpretation of the Blakean vision of 'Good and Evil being parts of the same coin', the problems that we carry through the rest of our lives because of the conditioning of the senses and intellect and finally the answers and route to salvation that this great philosophy shows. And to read this book, there is no need to know any history/jargon of vedanta which are major deterrents to people who do not want to get into sanskrit terms, chronology etc.
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Paperback
Price: $12.99
"Consciousness & the Absolute" by Nisargadatta
The Final Talks were written shortly before Nisargadatta's death in 1981 and translated directly to English with no changes. In a question and answer format the visitors and devotees accompanied this great master during his final teachings. His message uncompromisingly remained the same to the end, to dwell only on our beingness, giving it no attributes, dwelling prior to our thoughts.
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Paperback
Price: $11.99
"Great Book of Hemp" - by Rowan Robinson

Hemp, Cannabis sativa, has been called the world's most versatile plant. Materials made from hemp fiber have been discovered in tombs dating back to 7000 B.C. During the Middle Ages hemp was used to treat fevers, insomnia, and malaria. Columbus's ships had sails of hemp, and during colonial times it was universally grown because its strong fibers made superior ropes, sails, cloth, and paper. In fact, hemp was used for money in most of the Americas from 1631 until the early 1800s, and the original drafts of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were written on hemp paper.

As a food, the oil from hemp seeds has the highest percentage of essential fatty acids and the lowest percentage of saturated fats. Britain and Canada have recently lifted bans on growing industrial hemp and today it is reappearing in the marketplace in an amazing array of products: from lip-salve, jeans, salad oil, and cheese to paper products, composite fiberboard, and biomass fuel.

This illustrated, easy-to-read guide covers all aspects of hemp:

•  The history of its cultivation worldwide

•  Its role as a source of renewable energy and as an alternative for paper manufacturing and fossil fuels

•  Its versatility as a fiber

•  Its many nutritional and medicinal uses

•  Examines the physiological and psychological effects of marijuana use in recreation and therapy

•  A comprehensive resource section includes information on organizations involved in legalizing hemp, product suppliers, and an annotated bibliography.

About the Author(s) of The Great Book of Hemp

Rowan Robinson is the pen name of an author who chooses to remain anonymous. 
Praise for The Great Book of Hemp

"The Great Book of Hemp brings together a vast amount of information on all aspects of this remarkable plant in an illustrated, entertaining, easily accessible format. Readers will learn the history of hemp cultivation worldwide and its role as a source of renewable energy and as a raw material for paper manufacturing. Lost in the political discussions about marijuana usage is hemp's versatility as a fiber and its many nutritional and medicinal uses. The Great Book of Hemp provides a comprehensive resource section with information on organizations involved in legalizing hemp, product suppliers, and an annotated bibliography."

Wisconsin Bookwatch

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Paperback
Price: $19.99
"Hemp Manifesto" - by Rowan Robinson
The hemp revolution is happening, despite the efforts of politicians and law-enforcement agencies to stop it. Medical marijuana initiatives on the ballots in California and Arizona passed with overwhelming support. All around the globe this miracle plant is creating industries for food, fuel, clothing, housing, and paper that are beneficial to both humanity and the environment. Designed to fit into the back pocket of your hemp jeans, The Hemp Manifesto offers 101 ways that hemp is making a positive impact on society, and explains why in brief summaries simple enough for even congressional representatives to understand.
 
Included are all the most surprising facts about the plant--how the Declaration of Independence was written on hemp paper; how the U.S. government grows marijuana and supplies it to eight people free of charge; how hemp seeds are the most complete source of protein and essential fatty acids known in the vegetable kingdom; and many more. The Hemp Manifesto gives the people their most important weapon in the fight for a healthy future: the truth. 
 
Small and affordable--a perfect small gift.
 
Wars of disinformation are still being waged against this useful plant and its industries, and the real facts can be difficult to find. The Hemp Manifesto prints the simple truth.

Praise for The Hemp Manifesto

"A light and amusing collection of facts."

N2 Herald, August 25, 2001

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Paperback
Price: $8.49
"Holotropic Mind" - by Stanislav Grof
Grof offers this book in which he unravels the complexities of the human mind through the assessment of observations of "non-ordinary" states of consciousness (such as LSD-induced, etc.) at a time before it was labeled as "evil" by the West. The mind, according to Grof, is essentially "holotropic," that is, like a hologram wherein the whole can be reconstructed from a tiny part. After analyzing life in the womb and the painful process of birth, he moves onto a controversial theory of our "infinite transpersonal consciousness," wherein he feels we can transcend not only the time-space continuum, but visit other dimensions and parallel universes as well.
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Paperback
Price: $14.99
"Hundred Year Lie" - by Randall Fitzgerald
One hundred years ago, the promise of "better living through chemistry" was given to consumers, setting us on a slippery slope that introduced thousands of man-made chemicals into our food, water, medicine, and environment.

In HUNDRED YEAR LIE, investigative journalist Randall Fitzgerald shatters dozens of myths being perpetuated by the chemical, pharmaceutical, and processed foods industries. He shows how early advances led to a build up of industry, and how the profit motive then led companies and government regulators to ignore troubling signs of widespread illness and disease.

Are we paying too high a price in our rush for progress? What happens when we blindly rely on the government to keep us safe? What does the future hold if we continue down this path? With a firm grasp on the latest scientific findings, Fitzgerald offers a clear-eyed view of a building crisis in public health.

Like SILENT SPRING and FAST FOOD NATION, this is a book that demands change. Fitzgerald not only sheds light on the problems we face from this unprecedented chemical onslaught, he tells us how we can turn the tide.
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Hardcover
Price: $19.99
"Intoxication" - by Ronald K. Siegel, PhD

A scientific and cultural exploration of the pursuit of altered states of consciousness in both humans and animals:

• Contains studies and examples from the author's 20 years of research
• THE authority on the social and psychological effects of drug use

History shows that people have always used intoxicants. In every age, in every part of the world, people have pursued intoxication with plants, alcohol, and other mind-altering substances. In fact, this behavior has so much force and persistence that it functions much like our drives for food, sleep, and sex. This "fourth drive," says psychopharmacologist Ronald K. Siegel, is a natural part of our biology, creating the irrepressible demand for intoxicating substances.

In Intoxication Siegel draws upon his 20 years of groundbreaking research to provide countless examples of the intoxication urge in humans, animals, and even insects. The detailed observations of his so-called psychonauts--study participants trained to explicitly describe their drug experiences--as well as numerous studies with animals have helped him to identify the behavior patterns induced by different intoxicants. Presenting his conclusions on the biological as well as cultural reasons for the pursuit of intoxication and showing that personality and guidance often define the outcome of a drug experience, Siegel offers a broad understanding of the intoxication phenomenon as well as recommendations for curbing the negative aspects of drug use in Western culture by designing safe intoxicants.

About the Author(s) of Intoxication

Ronald K. Siegel, Ph.D., is a psychopharmacologist on the faculty of the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences at the UCLA School of Medicine and is a leading authority on the social and psychological effects of drug use. The author of Fire in the Brain and Whispers: The Voices of Paranoia, his research has also appeared in Psychology Today, Scientific American, and Omni as well as the Journal of the American Medical Association and the American Journal of Psychiatry. He lives in Los Angeles.

Praise for Intoxication

“Reading Intoxication one becomes conscious of the many different aspects of the drug problem, of the usefulness and dangers of psychoactive substances, and of their role and importance in medicine, in religious rituals, and in daily life. . . . Impressive . . . fascinating . . . ” - Albert Hofmann, Ph.D., author of Plants of the Gods

“Compelling . . . fact-packed. . . . The author carefully surrounds any potential pro-drug interpretation with ample (and graphic) examples of the dangers of drug abuse. . . . thought-provoking.” - Booklist

"[Ronald K. Siegal] knows more about how drugs work than anyone else alive. . .an intrepid researcher [and] cartographer of consciousness." - Omni Magazine
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Paperback
Price: $18.99
"Ishmael" - by Daniel Quinn
Ishmael is such a novel, it is filled with ideals and discussion that truly leaves you feeling enlightened about the true state of our apparently advanced civilization. Once the silliness of the psychic gorilla has been disregarded, you are left with a truly astounding book that takes you on a mental journey, challenging your pre-conceived ideas and comforts that society is the great savoir of mankind when really it is a slowly acting poison, ultimately leading to oblivion. The one overriding idea in the book is that "Why should mankind claim the right to separate itself from nature?" You may find yourself with a different opinion after reading these reasoned arguments. I found myself drawn into this book and finished it with a strong feeling that I had read something important, something different.
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Paperback
Price: $17.99
"Jesus Mysteries" - by Timothy Freke
What if...
- there was no evidence for the existence of a historical Jesus?
- for thousands of years Pagans had also followed a Son of God?
- this Pagan savior was also born of a virgin on December 25 before three shepherds?
- turned water into wine at a wedding?
- died and was resurrected, and offered his body and blood as a Holy Communion?
- these Pagan myths had been rewritten as the gospel of Jesus Christ?
- the earliest Gnostic Christians knew that the Jesus story was a myth?
- Christianity turned out to be a continuation of Paganism by another name?

This is a provocative and incredible story by a well-informed religious historian.
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Paperback
Price: $16.99
"Journey to Ixtlan" - by Carlos Castaneda
This book is really a story about a journey through the human spirit as Carlos went searching for answers to his questions about peyote, but ended up receiving much much more. Don Juan, throughout the entire story never really gets into showing Carlos where or what the peyote is, but instead teaches him about himself and how he belongs to nature, and that nature does not belong to him. Through Don Juan's teaching about death, it helped Carlos learn what he needed to live a life with peace and harmony in his soul.
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Paperback
Price: $13.99
"Kava: Medicine Hunting in Paradise" - by Chris Kilham

Kava, Piper Methysticum, is the most effective relaxing and stress-relieving plant in all of nature. This book is the tale of plant researcher Chris Kilham's investigations into this plant and his far-ranging explorations deep in the South Pacific in search of a source of kava. Kilham takes the reader on an adventurous journey through the mystical native legends, outlandish history, and exciting science surrounding this potent plant. A story replete with pulpit-pounding missionaries, kava-drinking natives, sorcerers, a mysterious Tahitian prince, and the author's own humorous outlook amidst difficult and perilous circumstances, Kava is a must-read for those who love tales of travel and adventure and those interested in plant medicine.

Kava is poised to become an important and now readily available natural alternative to stress-relieving drugs. 

About the Author(s) of Kava: Medicine Hunting in Paradise 
Chris Kilham has been involved in the field of holistic health as a writer, lecturer, and entrepreneur since 1970. He is the author of The Five Tibetans and The Whole Food Bible, as well as the founder of Cowboy Medicine Expeditions, which specializes in the research and development of plant medicines. He lives in Massachusetts.

Praise for Kava: Medicine Hunting in Paradise

"Truly exotic locales can be visited in Kava: Medicine Hunting in Paradise, Chris Kilhams's odyssey of a medical research mission on the South Pacific island of Vanuatu." - Publishers Weekly 


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Price: $12.99
"Kava: The Pacific Elixir" - by Vincent Lebot
To those in the Oceanic Islands, Kava Kava (known by at least 80 additional names in the region) is a towering, unquestionable presence. On the majority of those islands, Kava still is a major facet of religious, political, social, and economic life. Its effects as an intoxicant are singular and unique; its ability to bring a sense of peace, calm, comfort, empathy, and easy sociability to users, while simultaneously leaving their thinking clear, sharp and lucid is unsurpassed in the entire world of plant inebriants. And yet, compared with many other substances, such as alcohol and cannabis, little study of Kava has been done, few books written about this remarkable plant, its significant place in indigenous Oceanic cultures, and its potential for worldwide acceptance and use.

With Kava: The Pacific Elixir, geneticist Vincent Lebot, ethnobotanist Mark Merlin, and anthropologist Lamont Lindstrom let us in on Oceania’s best-kept secret. This thorough-yet-highly-readable text summarizes almost all major research on Kava, and will answer every question one is likely to have about Piper Mythesticum and its place in traditional Pacific Island cultures. Written with a combination of scientific precision and easy accessibility, Kava covers everything from the origin of the Kava species, to its cultural and social significance, its preparation, effects, religious and medicinal use, and its impact on the world as a whole.

As Kava Kava becomes more and more popular as an intoxicant -- and a safer, better substitute for alcohol -- in the Western world, those who hear of it are bound to have numerous questions, to wish to acquire a deeper, more complete knowledge of this extraordinary plant. No book is better equipped to answer those questions than Kava: The Pacific Elixir. For those who already are familiar with Kava, it will provide very detailed information that will enhance their knowledge; and for those who have little or no knowledge of Piper Mythesticum, well, I can think of no better place to start.
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Paperback
Price: $19.99
"Moksha" - by Aldous Huxley
Selected writings from the author of Brave New World and The Doors of Perception on the role of psychedelics in society.

• Includes letters and lectures by Huxley never published elsewhere. 

In May 1953 Aldous Huxley took four-tenths of a gram of mescaline. The mystical and transcendent experience that followed set him off on an exploration that was to produce a revolutionary body of work about the inner reaches of the human mind. Huxley was decades ahead of his time in his anticipation of the dangers modern culture was creating through explosive population increase, headlong technological advance, and militant nationalism, and he saw psychedelics as the greatest means at our disposal to "remind adults that the real world is very different from the misshapen universe they have created for themselves by means of their culture-conditioned prejudices." Much of Huxley's writings following his 1953 mescaline experiment can be seen as his attempt to reveal the power of these substances to awaken a sense of the sacred in people living in a technological society hostile to mystical revelations. 

Moksha, a Sanskrit word meaning "liberation," is a collection of the prophetic and visionary writings of Aldous Huxley. It includes selections from his acclaimed novels Brave New World and Island, both of which envision societies centered around the use of psychedelics as stabilizing forces, as well as pieces from The Doors of Perception and Heaven and Hell, his famous works on consciousness expansion.

About the Author(s) of Moksha

Michael Horowitz and Cynthia Palmer are the directors of the Fitz Hugh Ludlow Memorial Library in San Francisco, the only library in the world exclusively devoted to the literature of mind-altering drugs. Michael Horowitz was Timothy Leary's archivist and is coauthor of The High Times Encyclopedia of Recreational Drugs. Palmer and Horowitz live in northern California.

Praise for Moksha

"Moksha is more than a book about psychedelics--although it may well be the most intelligent, well-rounded one of its kind. It is also another chance to spend hours in Huxley's fascinating company as he talks about art, literature, religion, psychology, and ecology." - Los Angeles Times


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Price: $12.49
"Mystery of Manna" - by Daniel Merkur
Compelling evidence that the early Jews and Christians used psychedelics as part of their religious rites. Reveals the Bible's disguised references to this tradition and explores the idea that psychedelics have played a role in nearly all religious traditions. When Moses fed manna to the Israelites, he told them that after eating the miraculous bread they would see the glory of God. And indeed they did: "They looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory of Yahveh appeared in a cloud."

In The Mystery of Manna, religious historian Dan Merkur provides compelling evidence that this was the Israelites' initiation into a psychedelic mystery cult that induced spiritual visions through bread containing ergot--a psychoactive fungus containing the same chemicals from which LSD is made. Citing biblical material, as well as later Jewish and Christian writings, Merkur reveals the existence of an unbroken tradition of Western psychedelic sacraments, from Moses and manna to Jesus and the Eucharist. Most important, Merkur shows that this was not a heretical tradition, but instead part of a normal, Bible-based spirituality, a continuation of the ancient tradition of visionary mysticism.
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Paperback
Price: $16.99
"Mysticism & the New Physics" by Michael Talbott
Mystics and "idealist" have always propounded the idea that the world is an illusion. Now quantum physics is putting forward theories that reinforce this belief. Until recently, the empirical approach of physicists such as Newton has taught us that the world exists with or without human consciousness to observe it. But we can never be totally objective about reality. The human mind, with all its preconceived notions, and prejudices, always intrudes, even in the most scientific of experiments, making true objectivity impossible to achieve. The new physics state that reality is combination of the laws of the physical world, quantifiable and unequivocable, and the subjective viewpoint of the observer. This "omnijective view" of the universe challenges all our most deeply held scientific beliefs and could radically change the way we view reality in the future. As our constructs are amended to this shift in approach, we can anticipate monumental changes in Western thought.
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Paperback
Price: $14.99
"Siddhartha" by Herman Hesse
This classic novel of self-discovery has inspired generations of seekers. With parallels to the enlightenment of the Buddha, Hesse’s Siddhartha is the story of a young Brahmn’s quest for the ultimate reality. His quest takes him from the extremes of indulgent sensuality to the rigors of ascetism and self-denial. At last he learns that wisdom cannot be taught–it must come from one’s own experience and inner struggle. Steeped in the tenets of both psychoanalysis and Eastern mysticism, Siddhartha presents a strikingly original view of man and culture, and the arduous process of self-discovery that leads to reconciliation, harmony and peace.
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Paperback
Price: $5.99
"Spagyrics - Alchemical Preparations" - by Junius
The practice of spagyrics is the application of ancient alchemical working methods to the preparation of tinctures, essences, and other products from medicinal plants. While ordinary tinctures and infusions use only a part of the great curative potential of plants, spagyric methods “open” medicinal plants completely to reveal their more powerful healing properties.
 
Drawing on the rich imagery and symbolism of ancient source materials, Manfred M. Junius describes these methods in great detail, showing readers how to prepare plant remedies alchemically for their own use as well as imparting a knowledge of the ideological world in which alchemistic and hermetic thought flowered. Spagyrics includes the Plant Magistery of Paracelsus and the Life Elixir recipe of Andreas Libavius among its historic techniques as well as a wealth of scientific information that demonstrates the greater efficacy of alchemical methods of plant essence extraction.
 
This classic source text preserves the nearly forgotten but highly valuable methods of this true hermetic art for preparing natural remedies.
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Paperback
Price: $18.99