I found myself saying, “Nice. Really nice.” After reviewing a copy of Clea Danaan’s Voices of the Earth.

Green spirituality is on the minds of lots of pagans these days. It’s a central theme running through out our spirituality, no matter the tradition. Clea Danaan embraces this idea and vets it in practical application.

I love gardening and having my hands in the earth’s rich soil, so I have a deep appreciation for this book. But you don’t have to be a gardener to appreciate and apply the life’s lessons Danaan has for you on this path. Anyone can pick up this book and start practicing it’s common sense approach to spirituality.

One of best lessons by Danaan came early on in Voices of the Earth. In fact, I actually bookmarked it because I wanted to share it with you. It’s that important. Danaan says…

Our bodies and souls love the natural world, and only very recently have our minds disconnected fromt he natural currents of life on our planet. In our highly technological, capitalistic culture, we have largely lost touch withchanging season, the sources of our food, and the living land. This disconnect is an illness. While there is nothing inherently wrong with money and technology, when we divorce our conscious awareness from our roots, we become zombies. Instead of being controlled by an evil sorcerer, we are driven by our demons of greed, fear and narcissism. (page xiv)

When you sit back and take in what she just said, you realize the depth of the impact this statement has on our lives. Here we are as magical people who believe we can influence the outcome of events favorably, and yet most of us are totally disconnected from the very thing we hold most sacred … the land. And ultimately, that means we are disconnected from ourselves.

I liked Voices of the Earth because it was a gentle blending of herbal arts, pagan beliefs and Faery faith all rolled into one book. It’s an easy read and kind of reminded me of Scott Cunningham’s books with it’s easy to follow and easy to do exercises, practices and journaling. It’s not a hard core witchcraft book. In fact, it’s something that you could gift a friend with quite easily because the book simply preaches the common sense rituals of “being Green.” And let’s face it, all of us could use a little greening up. Get your own copy of Clea Danaan’s Voices of the Earth: The Path of Green Spirituality.

by Bobbie Grennier

I met psychic Jane Doherty by pure chance, which is to say that nothing is ever left to chance when it comes to the psychic world. Her book, Awakening the Mystic Gift: The Surprising Truth About What It Means to Be Psychic, chronicles Jane’s own psychic awakening and what it truly means to be psychic. For those seeking more information on what it means to be psychic, this book is a very compelling read.

Jane Doherty is a gifted psychic and medium of international acclaim. Many refer to her as the “real deal” because of her accuracy and sincere caring nature. In fact, Hans Holzer, known best for his many books on ghosts and paranormal activities, has named Jane Doherty as “One of the top twenty psychics in the world.”  A born teacher, Jane feels part of her own purpose in life is to teach others to open to their own psychic abilities.

Widely recognized and respected for her extraordinary psychic skills and sensitivities, Jane Doherty has been featured on Fox Network News, CNN, The Today Show, Sightings, MSNBC Investigates, WB11 and numerous publications, including The New York Times, The New York Post and The Philadelphia Inquirer. She has been named one of the top twenty psychics in Woman’s Own magazine. Reuters News Media has featured her in Australia, Austria, Germany, England, Russia, and the major Spanish network, Telemundo. She has also co-hosted a psychic call-in radio show for eight years and has been featured in three books, as well as in Woman’s World Weekly magazine.

Jane is featured on The Learn Channel’s Dead Tenants show. The Dead Tenants TV show follows the journeys of the Preternatural Research Society (PRS) — a team of paranormal investigators — through the attics, basements, living rooms and back yards of some of the most haunted houses in the country. Coming to the aid of families experiencing very unwanted ghosts and unexplainable activity in their homes, Jane Doherty and the PRS team do their best to assist the families. The Dead Tenants show weaves the historical, scientific and psychic into a rich tapestry to help the viewer better understand the hauntings.

A renowned psychic for more than 15 years, Jane Doherty works with PRS as a psychic and channeler, helping to discover ghosts at haunted locations and to communicate with them directly. She also provides individual guidance through private consultations, while also offering classes and workshops to those who are interested in discovering and developing their own psychic abilities.

Meeting Jane Doherty has changed my life for the better. Her devout belief in the power of God is very infectious. Jane uses her God-given talent to bring comfort to hearts that are hurting; hope to those who have lost all hope, and encouragement to the beleaguered and down-trodden. She has also assisted law authorities in cases of missing persons and homicides.

“There was never a question of how I would use my gift,” Jane says firmly. “I have taken every possible opportunity to help others.” Jane Doherty is the real deal. Her words are like the words of her book – so compelling, you won’t be able to put it down.

Get a copy of Jane Doherty’s  book  Awakening the Mystic Gift.

When Ghosts Speak

When Ghosts Speak is an absolute page turner for those who wanted to know what happens after you die … which means, this book is a must read for most of us!

I received my copy of When Ghosts Speak as a gift from a friend who said the book literally yelled out to her … SEND ME TO BOBBIE! Without hesitation, she bought it and shipped it off to me and honestly, when I opened it and began reading … I didn’t stop until it was finished.

Mary Ann Winkowski answered some of the nagging questions I’d been asking for years, and I am forever grateful to her for writing this book; as I’m sure are many of her readers.

And, I’m also grateful to Winkowski for setting the record straight as to what is fact and what is fiction with regard to the TV show The Ghost Whisperer, which is loosely based on the life and experiences of Winkowski.

Reading When Ghosts Speak allowed me delve deeply into many of the possible scenarios and circumstances under which ghosts consciously decide to stay earth bound. I wasn’t too surprised to hear that fear of what awaits them at the pearly gates of judgment is a primary reason for staying put.

Winkowski, while Catholic, isn’t your typical “there’s only one way” type of theology-minded individual. There’s just no way that you can have these types of experiences and not grow beyond your own religious ideologies.

I also loved that Winkowski continues to use the family folklore and heed superstitions as passed down through her Italian lineage; keeping the old ways alive. She honors her grandmother’s memory and her living relatives by using the quince seed charms to keep discarnate spirits from sucking energies from their wearer. Winkowski has a website where you can buy quince charms from her directly.

When Ghosts Speak is a very touching series of stories about compassion for souls who find themselves stranded in the wrong side of eternity. Winkowski’s abilities to see ghosts was fostered by her grandmother at a very early age; would that more families would encourage their children this way. The world would be a lot better off. This is a wonderful lesson for all families on dealing with death.

It’s ultimately a lesson for us all about what to do if we find ourselves haunted. What we should and should not do in an effort to help ourselves stay healthy, while also helping the spirit to cross-over. Winkowski says learn to make the white light or direct the ghosts to the nearest funeral home where the recently dead will have white light for them to pass over through. Brilliant! I’d never thought of it.

Personally, I loved this book so much that I went out and bought a copy for my best friend. I can hardly wait for her to read it so we can discuss it together. As for my copy, I find myself continuing to carry it around the house. I’ll most likely reread it … it’s just that fascinating. Get your own copy of When Ghosts Speak.

Voices of the Earth: The Path of Green Spirituality by Clea Danaan

Reviewed by Rebecca Laughlin, Moose Hill Farm

This book spoke deeply to me, a longtime follower of the green way. It’s uncommon to read gardening work that addresses the spiritual aspect of gardening so sweepingly; from communing with the cosmos, plant devas and power animals, to creating natural cleaning agents, Danaan covers the many ways to live in harmony with Nature from the mundane to the sublime. She teaches how to become a nature intuitive and to talk to plants, rocks, trees, rivers and wind. Each chapter begins with a personal vignette that helps to illuminate the steps on Danaan’s journey. The end of each chapter offers exercises such as mediation, journaling and art work to finely attune the seeker to a root connection with Nature. To those who find the talking to plants thing wacky, I offer the following.

I first heard plants talk to me while working in my first serious garden, in 1995. It was a memorial garden for my son Jesse who passed at 19. My mother stayed on after his service and we created his garden together. It was a place to grieve, heal and find comfort in the seasonal rhythms of Nature. It was there I heard the words in my head, “follow the plants.” Then I had a vision of myself walking down a grassy hillside to a shed, trailed by ducks. At the time I was a sales rep in New York City, living on a flat, urban tenth of an acre. Today I live on a remote country hilltop in Connecticut, trailed not by ducks but by chickens, the result of following the plants.

Susan Weed tells a similar story; the first time she heard the plants they were laughing at her for thinking they were in the right spot. She quickly moved them.

It was exciting to read a book devoted to people like me. Even though I’m living my dream, I sometimes get tired and a little lonely. Some people think I’m crazy. My husband is pushing for a hot dog cart and we miss the good money. That’s why it was so invigorating to read Voices of the Earth and get support for the path I’ve chosen and new ways to explore it. But you need not be a country dweller to appreciate this book. A vignette near the beginning describes a moment when the author is feeling slightly anxious while driving to a book signing. As she notes the trees lining the boulevard, at a stop light she takes the time to connect with those stalwarts and finds calm in their message. Nature is present in the heart of the city!

I especially enjoyed the ideas about sense of place, how one imprints on a certain geographical area, and even when uprooted from it, feels longing for that particular spot with all its flora and fauna. For Danaan, it was the evolution from her Pacific Northwest natal grounds to wife and mother of the Coloradian Rockies. For me it was traveling from my Midwestern birthplace to live my adult life in New England on Long Island Sound. After all these years, the ocean is still too vast for me and I ache for a Midwestern lake. Yet now I realize that this shift in landscape has important meaning and I’ll listen carefully to sense what it is.

The book drills down place even further; encourages you to discover where exactly you are in the vast world. For example beyond Long Island Sound, I live on a hilltop, on a ridge of a river valley, near the confluence of two rivers. I was instantly drawn to this property, three and a half secluded acres, from the moment I set foot on it. I parked, I saw, said this is it, all before I saw the house. We’re only the second owners of this house, built in 1962 to compound the very rightness of it all. Surely, this place of my vision as a grieving mother, has great significance to me now… well, because, here I am now. I’ll continue to investigate.

Finally, the last point I’d like to make is about the beauty of passing love of Nature along to future generations. The introduction of the book is all about immersing the author’s newborn daughter into the mysteries of the earth. Danaan goes on to talk about being a teacher of Nature to eager young students. I wish that I had such a simpatico childhood. Still, I’m inspired that I can continue to grow and learn in my cronehood. The education is never really over, just to let you know.

I thoroughly enjoyed Melba Goodwyn’s book, Ghost Worlds. It was an enjoyable read with easy to understand concepts presented by the author on the art of ghost hunting with a few of her ghost stories tossed in here and there for good measure.

The book’s full title is Ghost Worlds: A Guide to Poltergeists, Portals , Ecto-mist and Spirit Behavior, and the author delivered information on all of this and then some.

The book also includes Goodwyn’s thoughts and experiences with imaginary playmates, orbs, vortexes, energies and ghost hunting techniques and tools. It is a smorgasbord of Goodwyn’s experiences as a ghost hunter in the wild and woolly state of Texas. Based on the tales Goodwyn recounts for her readers, she’s had more than a few of those experiences that would simply make your head spin.

If you’re seriously interested in ghost hunting, then I think this book is a good and solid read for you. If you’d like to learn a little more and enjoy a few ghost stories in the process, this book is for you too. If you’re looking for scare the crap out me ghost stories, this isn’t the book for you because Goodwyn goes out of her way to help the reader to not be afraid of ghosts … except for the very last tale in her book … which is a be afraid, be very afraid type of ghostly experience we call possession. And oddly enough a topic that Goodwyn doesn’t address in this book save for recounting that one experience. That part kind of leaves the reader hanging at the end. But if you haven’t dealt with possession, you’re not going to be able to explain it too well.

Ghost Worlds has a chapter dealing with orbs and their existence. With regard to this chapter, I had some disagreements with the author. Goodwyn states, that it’s her own opinions with regard to orbs. Meaning that if you have a different opinion, more power to you.

Goodwyn sees all orbs as ghosts and that anything photographed that looks like an orb is an orb. Based on my own experiences, I’d have to disagree with her on this one. I’ve taken photos that appeared to be full of orbs, but in reality were in fact dust particles refracting light from the camera’s flash. That happened a lot at the last Goddess Gathering. I have photos that I’d taken in ritual space where women were stamping upon the dirt. I started getting dust particles that looked like orbs in my photos, so I climbed higher up and keep snapping photos … and whalla, the orbs were gone. But eventually, the dust rose higher into the air. So no, I don’t agree that everything that looks like an orb is an orb. Dust and flying bugs often appear to be orbs. I think a good ghost hunter has to discern the difference. Other than this small difference of opinion, I think the chapter on orbs is right on.

I really enjoyed the chapter dealing with poltergeists, which according to Goodwyn …  is not a ghost in any form of manifestation. Poltergeist activity usually appears when conflicts arise that cannot be resolved. These conflicts can be of a spiritual, emotional, physical or even psychic nature. Poltergeist activity is an awesome force generated in the subconscious mind of the agent and is a direct result of repressed emotions that conceal resentment, frustration, repressed anger or guilt, and even sexual stresses. Poltergeist activity is often misunderstood and it was blessed to have an author speak about it from a place of unknowledge and caring.

I did enjoy reading Ghost Worlds, and this book will remain in my personal library for good how-to books. Who knows maybe someday I’ll get to go ghost hunting with Melba Goodwyn and experience her otherworld ghost hunting talents in person. Until then, I’ll simply embrace her philospohies about death and the otherside. Get your own copy of Ghost Worlds: A Guide to Poltergeists, Portals , Ecto-mist and Spirit Behavior.

House of Spirits and Whispers

House of Spirits and Whispers

Well, how sweet is this recounting, as told by Annie Wilder, about the many ghosts who live in her 100 year old house in Minnesota. Annie Wilder has a real knack for writing an easy to read, well written and engaging ghost story. It’s nice to read a ghostly book that’s written by a professional writer, as it had that touch of elegance to the writing.

If you’re an aspiring ghost hunter, this book may or may not be for you. Annie didn’t spend too much time on detailed narratives with regard to the manifestations. What she did do, was share her family and her ghost family with the world.

Since I’m living in Z Budapest’s 100 year old house, I could totally relate to the bitter sweetness of these tales. Every now and again, you see a ghost and it’s no big deal. Like the spirits in Annie’s house, ours are also sort of guardians looking over us. It’s just a part of existence.

Sometimes the communications are gentle and sometimes they will cost you a few white hairs. Annie’s ghosts are no exception. Their spooky communications cost that family more than one good night’s sleep. And to top it off, Annie’s haunted abode is across the street from a funeral home. So, she gets her share of spirits just passing through.

What you get in this book is a solid story of a mother’s love for her children and in time, her respect and caring for the spirits that share her home. I like that Annie shares the course of her discoveries and resources as she grows and learns to develop her own psychic abilities. Sometimes, life sets us on a path to self-discovery that can be scary and joyous at the same time.

The House of Spirits and Whispers is a cautionary tale in the realm of the unknown that ends in the serenity of love. It’s a nice read. If you’d like to read it for yourself, then get your own copy of House of Spirits and Whispers here.

I saw the book’s title long before Llewellyn Publishing released it. The Uninvited. I instinctively knew I had to read this book. I emailed a friend of mine who works for this publishing house and asked for a review copy. She forwarded my request to the book’s publicist, and I thought good, that will be an interesting read for me. Then I forgot about it.

A few weeks ago, I ran into my friend at the PantheaCon convention. We exchanged hugs, caught up a little and then I asked, “Whatever happened to that book, The Uninvited? Did you guys publish it?”

“You didn’t get it?” She asked very surprised. When I said no I didn’t and that I was still very much interested in reviewing it, she promised she’d mail me a copy as soon as she get back to the office. Well, she kept her promise and a few days ago, I found myself starring at The Uninvited.

I knew as soon as I saw the book cover’s artwork that if the book were true to the artwork, the author, Steven LaChance, had indeed experienced something other worldly and profoundly evil. I knew this because I too have seen those glowing orange-yellow eyes that look like their molten lava from hell.

What is the chance that a man named LaChance, the chance, would chance to find himself in these circumstances of pure chance. It seems his life was cast for him at birth, which is anything but chance. LaChance talks about himself being an individual who’s life purpose is to raise three lovely children and work in the field of the paranormal; waging battle in the war between good and evil.

I would recommend The Uninvited to anyone who wanted to scare the bejesus out of themselves, anyone who wanted to understand that there’s more out there than just us, and to anyone who’s also had a similar experience with what some might call a spiritual crisis caused by demons. It’s simply written and because of it, this book can be read by teens and adults alike. Laura Long-Helbig, the English instructor who helped LaChance put this book together did a good job of organizing the author’s story.

In an odd way, I was please to read how many similar experiences I had in common with LaChance. For me, it made reading his tale all palatable. I could see where someone who hadn’t had this type of an experience might think he was just making this stuff up. You have to be your own critic, but as for me, I’m sure I’ll be writing La Chance a personal letter someday to thank him for telling his tale.

I felt very badly for LaChance in another way as well. This man has some huge woundings from the females in his life. I found myself feeling empathic towards him and wishing that his life had been easier. Sometimes I think we struggle with life when we’re not doing what we’re supposed to. I had my own set of struggles which ultimately lead me to the same conclusion as this author finally reached. There are some of us who will fight evil and that’s just how it is.

The right house, at the right price, for the right family.

LaChance’s personal nightmare begins when he moves into an atypical haunted house. There’s far more going on in the Union House than a ghostly haunting.

I have to say my favorite character in the whole tale is Mr. Winters, a personality right out of a macabre ghost story. Mr. Winter’s seems totally under the influences of the demons that occupy his land, as he intentionally seeks out families with children to occupy his otherworldly domain. The only thing that would make Mr. Winter’s more a character of doddering evil is if he also sold used cars for a living.

Like the author, I too rented a haunted house from my own version of Mr. Winters, minus the hair piece, and that should be a cautionary tale to all readers to be aware when you go into these other houses. If it doesn’t feel right, don’t rent it no matter how good the deal is. You get what you pay for!

I did find myself having lots of unanswered questions as I engaged with this book. I wanted more details on the actual investigations done in the Union House. I also would have liked the photos taken during the investigations to have been part of the book or made available online for us to go even deeper with the author’s tale. The author’s website is listed at the back of the book, and he really should take the time to provide more details now that he’s wetted our appetites for more. (www.stevenalachance.com)

What you get in this book is a solid story of a father’s love for his children and fellow spiritual warriors. It’s that love that ultimately conquers the evil influences in his life and brings him into his current life’s work.

The Uninvited is a cautionary tale in the realm of the unknown that ends in the serenity of love. It’s well worth the read. If you’d like to read it for yourself, then get your own copy of The Uninvited here.

The Goddess in the Office: A Personal Energy Guide for the Spiritual Warrior at Work

Book Description
Wise, whimsical, witty, and when it’s called for, deliciously wicked, America’s favorite witch stirs up an empowering brew for working women everywhere. www.ZBudapest.com

Great Goddess! Jeri Studebaker has hit a home run for women’s studies and the goddess beliefs community.