What happens when a former Zen Buddhist monk and his feminist wife experience an apparition of the Virgin Mary?

This book could not have come at a more auspicious time, and the message is mystical perfection, not to mention a courageous one. I adore this book.--Caroline Myss, author of Anatomy of the Spirit

Before a vision of a mysterious Lady invited Clark Strand and Perdita Finn to pray the rosary, they were not only uninterested in becoming Catholic but finished with institutional religion altogether. Their main spiritual concerns were the fate of the planet and the future of their children and grandchildren in an age of ecological collapse. But this Lady barely even referred to the Church and its proscriptions. Instead, she spoke of the miraculous power of the rosary to transform lives and heal the planet, and revealed the secrets she had hidden within the rosary's prayers and mysteries--secrets of a past age when forests were the only cathedrals and people wove rose garlands for a Mother whose loving presence was as close as the ground beneath their feet. She told Strand and Finn:

The rosary is My body,
and My body is the body of the world.
Your body is one with that body.
What cause could there be for fear?

Weaving together their own remarkable story of how they came to the rosary, their discoveries about the eco-feminist wisdom at the heart of this ancient devotion, and the life-changing revelations of the Lady herself, the authors reveal an ancestral path--available to everyone, religious or not--that returns us to the powerful healing rhythms of the natural world.

2022 Foreword INDIES Award Winner Silver: Body, Mind Spirit

2023 IPPY Award Winner Bronze: New Age/Mind, Body, Spirit

Hidden in the darkness is an ancient secret suppressed by every aspect of our light-drunk modern world-there is a Great Mother from the bottom of time who has always guided us through perils and calamities. Now is the hour of Her return.

An exigent, affecting summons to rediscover the night.--Kirkus Reviews

Is darkness synonymous with ignorance and evil? Or is it the original matrix from which all life emerges, and the Mother to whom it returns? Higher and higher levels of artificial illumination have suppressed our contact with the numinous since the Industrial Revolution, with dire consequences for society, our planetary ecology, and our souls. This mystical testament weaves together paleobiology, memoir, history, science, and spiritual archaeology to lead readers back into the lost mysteries of the dark. Not since The Teachings of Don Juan or Ishmael has a book diagnosed with such urgency and cultural coherence the problems at the heart of modern life.

In Waking Up to the Dark, Clark Strand offers penetrating insight into the spiritual enrichment that can be found when we pull the plug on our billion-watt culture. He argues that the insomnia so many of us experience as the Hour of the Wolf is really the Hour of God--a wellspring of rest and renewal, and an ancient reservoir of ancestral wisdom and inspiration. And in a powerful yet surprising turn, he shares with us an urgent message for the world, received through a mysterious young woman he calls Our Lady of Climate Change (aka THE VIRGIN MARY), about the challenges we all know are coming.

A brilliant and engaging book on haiku, and on the state of the body and mind required in the million to one shot against producing a good one -Jim Harrison

First published in 1997, Seeds From a Birch Tree introduced readers to the only form of poetry in all of world literature that makes nature into a spiritual path. Its message was simple: Haiku teaches us to return to nature by following the seasons--seventeen syllables at a time.

With its mix of poetry and memoir, fallen leaves and birdsong, Seeds From a Birch Tree awakens us to what Bashō called the life of each thing. Simple instructions guide us to the possibilities for creativity and joy hidden in plain sight in the natural world around us, giving us hope and resilience in the face of life's challenges.

This Revised & Expanded 25^th Anniversary Edition includes the complete text of the original classic, plus dozens of new haiku and an Afterword by the author discussing haiku for the 21^st century.

Strand's mystical poems to Ma Kali, the Dark Goddess of India, as occasioned by his encounters with the material dealt in depth in both Waking Up to the Dark and the Way of the Rose.

A treasure of mystical poetry, these poems pulsate with truth. -Carolyn Myss, author of Intimate Conversations with the Divine and Anatomy of the Spirit

In the early hours of June 16, 2011, Clark Strand witnessed a startling apparition of the Divine Feminine in the form of a young woman with an X of black electrical tape over Her mouth. Strand removed the tape, and She began to speak of a coming age of chaos and collapse in which the world of humankind would be severely chastened so that Her world--the world of Nature--could be renewed. Overwhelmed by the presence of One so fully Other, Strand found that love was the only language that would suffice. Drawing inspiration from Song of Songs and the Bengali mystics Ramprasad and Sri Ramakrishna, he began a series of poems to Ma Kali, the Dark Goddess of India, the words to which often came from the Great Mother Herself.

Is there more to Buddhism than sitting in silent meditation? Is modern Buddhism relevant to the problems of daily life? Does it empower individuals to transform their lives? Or has Buddhism become too detached, so still and quiet that the Buddha has fallen asleep? Waking the Buddha tells the story of the Soka Gakkai International, the largest, most dynamic Buddhist movement in the world today-and one that is waking up and shaking up Buddhism so it can truly work in ordinary people's lives. Drawing on his long personal experience as a Buddhist teacher, journalist, and editor, Clark Strand offers broad insight into how and why the Soka Gakkai, with its commitment to social justice and its egalitarian approach, has become a role model, not only for other schools of Buddhism, but for other religions as well. Readers will be inspired by the struggles and triumphs of the Soka Gakkai's three founding presidents-individuals who staked their lives on the teachings of the Lotus Sutra and the extraordinary power of those teachings to help people become happy.

Is there more to Buddhism than sitting in silent meditation? Is modern Buddhism relevant to the problems of daily life? Does it empower individuals to transform their lives? Or has Buddhism become too detached, so still and quiet that the Buddha has fallen asleep? Waking the Buddha tells the story of the Soka Gakkai International, the largest, most dynamic Buddhist movement in the world today--and one that is waking up and shaking up Buddhism so it can truly work in ordinary people's lives. Drawing on his long personal experience as a Buddhist teacher, journalist, and editor, Clark Strand offers broad insight into how and why the Soka Gakkai, with its commitment to social justice and its egalitarian approach, has become a role model, not only for other schools of Buddhism, but for other religions as well. Readers will be inspired by the struggles and triumphs of the Soka Gakkai's three founding presidents--individuals who staked their lives on the teachings of the Lotus Sutra and the extraordinary power of those teachings to help people become happy.

Beak Open, Feet Relaxed offers a poetic chronicle of one woman's journey on her way to mastering the Way of Haiku. Award-winning poet Priscilla Lignori elevates the traditional 5-7-5 form to the level of serious art, producing images that capture the essence of nature and touch the depths of the human heart. Here is the poetry of life itself, expressed in a mere handful of syllables-a collection of small, perfect miracles that only haiku can capture in words.

Winner of the 2013 Basho Award, Priscilla Lignori invites readers to join her on a path that has been lost to many modern people, following nature and returning to nature-and restoring us in the process to our deepest, truest selves.

Begin to meditate--or renew your practice--with this
straightforward guide that is free from pretension and complication.

Is there a way you can learn to slow down and experience yourself more fully, your life more deeply, and other people in the present moment without adopting a new religious or philosophical ideology? Clark Strand answers with a clear and simple yes! Short, compelling reflections show you how to make meditation a part of your daily life, without the complication of gurus, mantras, retreats, or treks to distant monasteries.

What is the proper way to breathe? Where should I meditate? What should I sit on? How often should I practice? You'll find the answers surprising as Strand breaks down modern-day stereotypes about meditation and leaves the one thing a successful meditation practice truly needs: you.

Begin to meditate--or renew your practice--with this
straightforward guide that is free from pretension and complication.

Is there a way you can learn to slow down and experience yourself more fully, your life more deeply, and other people in the present moment without adopting a new religious or philosophical ideology? Clark Strand answers with a clear and simple yes! Short, compelling reflections show you how to make meditation a part of your daily life, without the complication of gurus, mantras, retreats, or treks to distant monasteries.

What is the proper way to breathe? Where should I meditate? What should I sit on? How often should I practice? You'll find the answers surprising as Strand breaks down modern-day stereotypes about meditation and leaves the one thing a successful meditation practice truly needs: you.