Based on extensive fieldwork, Nature’s Embrace reveals the emerging pluralization of death rites in postindustrial Japan. Low birth rates and high numbers of people remaining permanently single have led to a shortage of ceremonial caregivers (most commonly married sons and their wives) to ensure the transformation of the dead into ancestors resting in peace. Consequently, older adults are increasingly uncertain about who will perform memorial rites for them and maintain their graves. In this study, anthropologist Satsuki Kawano examines Japan’s changing death rites from the perspective of those who elect to have their cremated remains scattered and celebrate their return to nature. For those without children, ash scattering is an effective strategy, as it demands neither a grave nor a caretaker. However, the adoption of ash scattering is not limited to the childless. By forgoing graves and lightening the burden on younger generations to care for them, this new mortuary practice has given its proponents an increased sense of control over their posthumous existence. By choosing ash scattering, older adults contest their dependent status in Japanese society, which increasingly views the aged as passive care recipients. As such, this study explores not only new developments in mortuary practices, but also voices for increased self-sufficiency in late adulthood and the elderly’s reshaping of ties with younger generations. Nature’s Embrace offers insightful discussion on the rise of new death rites and ideologies, older adults’ views of their death rites, and Japan’s changing society through the eyes of aging urbanites. This book will engage a wide range of readers interested in death and culture, mortuary ritual, and changes in age relations in postindustrial societies.

Ivan Bunin was the first Russian to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. For his poetry, he was twice awarded Russia’s highest literary honor, the Pushkin Prize. While Bunin’s prose writing is well known, his poetry—though highly praised by critics and contemporaries such as Blok, Gorky and Nabokov—has been unjustly ignored. This collection of over 100 verse translations is the first English language book of Bunin’s poetry. Spanning a long period of poetic output (1886-1952), this selection includes both published and unpublished poems. In a variety of forms, they cover an astonishing range of topics and reveal a writer with singular artistic precision and deep humanity.

Based on extensive fieldwork, Nature’s Embrace reveals the emerging pluralization of death rites in postindustrial Japan. Low birth rates and high numbers of people remaining permanently single have led to a shortage of ceremonial caregivers (most commonly married sons and their wives) to ensure the transformation of the dead into ancestors resting in peace. Consequently, older adults are increasingly uncertain about who will perform memorial rites for them and maintain their graves. In this study, anthropologist Satsuki Kawano examines Japan’s changing death rites from the perspective of those who elect to have their cremated remains scattered and celebrate their return to nature. For those without children, ash scattering is an effective strategy, as it demands neither a grave nor a caretaker. However, the adoption of ash scattering is not limited to the childless. By forgoing graves and lightening the burden on younger generations to care for them, this new mortuary practice has given its proponents an increased sense of control over their posthumous existence. By choosing ash scattering, older adults contest their dependent status in Japanese society, which increasingly views the aged as passive care recipients. As such, this study explores not only new developments in mortuary practices, but also voices for increased self-sufficiency in late adulthood and the elderly’s reshaping of ties with younger generations. Nature’s Embrace offers insightful discussion on the rise of new death rites and ideologies, older adults’ views of their death rites, and Japan’s changing society through the eyes of aging urbanites. This book will engage a wide range of readers interested in death and culture, mortuary ritual, and changes in age relations in postindustrial societies.

"Centers on what a number of British Victorian and Edwardian women said and did in the name of nature -- what part they played in the cultural reconstruction of nature that transpired in the years just proceeding the publication of Darwin's major work and in the wake of the Darwinian revolution"--Introduction.

To be free is to escape all limitations and obstacles&—or so we think at first. But if we probe further, we discover that freedom embraces its own necessities, a set of conditions without which it could not exist. Freedom's Embrace explores these necessities of freedom. J. Melvin Woody surveys competing conceptions of freedom and traces debates about the nature and reality of freedom to confusions about knowledge, humanity, and nature that are rooted in some of the most fundamental assumptions of modern Western thought. The preemption of freedom as an exclusively human privilege with all nature relegated to mechanical necessity is a fatal error that renders both humanity and nature equally unintelligible. What distinguishes human beings from other animals is not freedom but the use of symbols, which vastly extends the range of available options and enables us to envision freedom as an ideal by which customary institutions and norms may be judged and transformed. By carefully surveying its necessary conditions and limitations, Woody reconciles the salient competing conceptions of freedom and weaves them together into a richer and broader theory that resolves old controversies and opens the way toward an ethics of freedom that can meet the challenges of relativism and nihilism that arise from recognizing the historicity and malleability of culture.

A Long Covid Guide Based on cutting edge research from experts around the globe, this step-by-step guide from bestselling author and nutritionist Lee Holmes will help shorten the duration of Long Covid so you can recover faster and get back to enjoying life.Suffering from Long Covid herself gives Lee unique experience and understanding of the condition. She has created a holistic approach to Long Covid that will not only help to improve symptoms but also get to their root cause. In her trademark warm and friendly style she translates the medical and technical information into simple steps you can take back to health. With a focus on understanding how nutrition and lifestyle changes can affect the Long Covid journey, Lee will help you commit to a practical daily plan that is tried and tested for long-term results. The guide includes a low-histamine plan plus thirty delicious recipes for healthy meals and snacks to aid your recovery.

You are invited to embark on a journey to align your chakras and unleash your full potential through nature’s gifts of essential oils, crystals and more. Discover the traditional seven chakras, plus delve into lesser-known energy centres like the soul star, Earth star, zeal, spleen and beyond. Learn simple techniques to identify overactive or underactive chakras and test their balance effectively. In this book you will explore 200 different essential oils, each specifically used to support certain chakras. You will then be able to create tailored chakra blends for yourself, others and your space through interactive quizzes and step-by-step guidance. Unveil the synergy between essential oils and chakras, harnessing the power of nature to amplify your energy work. Embrace practices in nature to nurture chakra balance, syncing with the rhythms of the seasons and astrological events for sustained alignment year-round. Whether you are new to chakras and essential oils, or looking to expand your knowledge, this accessible guide equips you with the tools to deepen your connection with your chakras, paving the way for profound selfdiscovery, healing and transformation.