Picking up where she left readers in Mystic Dreamers, the initial volume in this series, Bittner explores the efforts of holy woman Buffalo Dreamer and her warrior husband, Rising Eagle, to fend off encroaching white settlers in the Lakota tribe's Black Hills. The narrative begins in 1836 and spans more than a decade. The heart of the book is the evolving relationship between the Lakota couple as well as the fate of their children, two of whom succumb in a smallpox epidemic introduced by the settlers. Rising Eagle survives smallpox, vowing to avenge his children's deaths. Also central to the story is an Oglala woman who now lives among whites, named Florence. She once loved Rising Eagle, but married an abusive white man, became an alcoholic and gave her son, Little Wolf, to Rising Eagle to raise as his own. When Lakota warriors attack white settlers traveling across buffalo country, Rising Eagle rapes a white woman, Mary Higgins, brings her back as a slave and also captures the woman's 10-year-old blond daughter, whom he renames Yellow Bonnet. Eventually traded back to the white settlers, Mary leaves Yellow Bonnet behind, as well as a newborn son she bears to Rising Eagle, whom Florence, now married to a kind preacher, raises. Bittner's descriptions of Lakota life are impeccably researched, with impressive scenes of visions and ceremonies. But her Lakota characters are all highly idealized, to the point where Bittner justifies Rising Eagle's brutal rape and kidnapping as a culturally viable tactic of war, further portraying the rape victim as weak, hypocritical and self-absorbed. Most of the settlers are treated as one-dimensional perpetrators, while the Lakota are given full range of emotion and spiritual depth. The result is an unbalanced tale stumbling when describing interaction between white and Lakota characters, but bringing a variety of intriguing Native American characters to life. (May) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information, Inc. From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information.

Twelfth-century Rhineland mystic Hildegard von Bingen records her exquisite encounter with divinity, producing a magnificent fusion of divine inspiration and human intellect. Hildegard von Bingen’s Mystical Visions is perhaps the most complete and powerful documentation of mystical consciousness in recorded history. Now after 800 years, these visions are again available for those seeking to reawaken mystical consciousness.

The newest installment of the Westward America! series finds the next generation of Wildes attempting to build a farming empire on the prairies of Indiana. Will they have the strength--and the luck--to survive when their dreams are destroyed by the Shawnee?

DIVClassic introduction to mysticism and mystical consciousness: awakening of the self, purification, voices and visions, ecstasy and rapture, dark night of the soul, much more. /div

Based on the compelling vision of Nicolas Black Elk as written by John G. Neihardt in Black Elk Speaks, Quentin H. Young has unlocked its messages, as he clarifies each detail of the vision. A vision given for all people of the world then, now, and for the future, and explains why a vision given to a young Lakota boy in 1872 has relevance today. Black Elk Speaks: As Black Elk, the bay horse, the blacks, whites, sorrels and buckskin horses all marched; they came to a cloud shaped like a tepee with a rainbow for its door. When Black Elk looked through the rainbow door, he saw six old men (Grandfathers) sitting inside. The eldest Grandfather spoke to Black Elk in a gentle manner and said; Enter and do not be afraid. As the Grandfather was speaking, all the horses whinnied, showing their support for Black Elk. He entered the lodge and stood in front of the Six Grandfathers. They looked older than men of the earth could be. The eldest Grandfather said; Your Grandfathers are having a gathering, and have sent for you, to instruct you. Black Elk said he knew these were not just old men; they were the powers of the six directions, and he was frightened.