Sacred Groves: Creating and Sustaining Neopagan Covens is an in-depth exploration of the role of groups within Neopagan religious practice. Specifically designed for clergy and clergy-in training, Sacred Groves seeks to provide critical guidance, exploring issues such as: historical and theological purpose of groups; stages of group development; member selection and retention; teaching and training; tradition development; working with families; multiculturalism; ethics and more. Sacred Groves is grounded in the latest theories from social, developmental, and group psychology to provide students and current clergy with a firm and practical foundation in understanding how these elements of group work operate within a religious context to ensure that group leaders care, not only for the spiritual lives of their members, but also their emotional and relational ones.

Ethics & Professional Practice for Neopagan Clergy is the first text of its kind, designed to provide an in-depth exploration of the parameters of ministerial practice and the importance of such practice being grounded within an ethical framework. Specifically providing critical guidance on such issues as: An introduction to the philosophy of ethics; the intersection between ethics & religion; discussion on values, virtues, & worldviews; professional parameters of practice; introduction to religious developmental theory with spiritual care tips; ethical issues associated with money, sex, working with children & adolescents and more...Complete with case studies, questions for contemplation, diagrams for decision-making, and ample journal activities to empower the religious professional to feel confident in their capacity to care for the spiritual and emotional lives of their membership and students.

Goddess Wheel of the Year invites each of you to explore the many ways to enrich your spiritual life in ritual celebration of yourself and the Goddess. Learn to match your own developmental, psychological, and spiritual needs with specific Goddess aspects of the Maiden, Mother, Crone and Dark Goddess. Explore ways to celebrate at Solar and Lunar rites, as well as learn how to creatively re-imagine rites of antiquity or develop a unique year of celebration that reflects your own revelation of the Goddess. Whether you are new to the Goddess path or have been a life-long practitioner, you’ll find ample ideas to inspire you and reinvigorate your life.

Vestiges and Bones marks the second volume of poetry by Kate MacDowell. Continuing her poetic style of short prose and autobiographical glimpses, Kate explores the more macabre side of life. Concerned with body, loss, and dying, she captures the unexpected and often unwanted edges of ourselves. Cutting and to the point, her poetic style is sparse and grueling.

Whether you're looking for information on blessings, the Green Man, divination, ritual components, or spellwork, you can find it all in the Encyclopedia of Modern Witchcraft and Neo-Paganism. Here is the ultimate source of information on all things Wiccan and Neo-Pagan, an indispensable tool for anyone wanting to learn about the history, traditions, and major figures of modern nontraditional religions. Organized alphabetically and designed to be both clear and comprehensive, this book provides definitions and detailed entries on a wide range of subjects -- including Witchcraft, Shamanism, Gaia theory, the Burning Times, Pagan festivals, Wiccan holidays, and much more. There are essays on Witchcraft and Paganism's influence on pop culture, including the crop of Wicca-inspired books, movies, and television shows such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Charmed, The Craft, and the Harry Potter series. From Altar to Otter Zell, and all points in between, the illustrated Encyclopedia of Modern Witchcraft and Neo-Paganism is the first and last Wyrd on nontraditional religion -- the ultimate reference for anyone interested in past, present, and practice. Book jacket.

Sacred Natural Sites are the world's oldest protected places. This book focuses on a wide spread of both iconic and lesser known examples such as sacred groves of the Western Ghats (India), Sagarmatha /Chomolongma (Mt Everest, Nepal, Tibet - and China), the Golden Mountains of Altai (Russia), Holy Island of Lindisfarne (UK) and the sacred lakes of the Niger Delta (Nigeria). The book illustrates that sacred natural sites, although often under threat, exist within and outside formally recognised protected areas, heritage sites. Sacred natural sites may well be some of the last strongholds for building resilient networks of connected landscapes. They also form important nodes for maintaining a dynamic socio-cultural fabric in the face of global change. The diverse authors bridge the gap between approaches to the conservation of cultural and biological diversity by taking into account cultural and spiritual values together with the socio-economic interests of the custodian communities and other relevant stakeholders.