The Lord's Prayer
An Esoteric Study

Four Lectures by Rudolf Steiner

Introduction by Judith von Halle

Softbound

$16.00

The Lord’s Prayer is at the very heart of Christianity. Over the past two millennia, it has been recited many millions of times by millions of people around the world. Here, Steiner affirms the power of the prayer given by Jesus Christ, encouraging us to understand its most profound meanings. Such understanding, he tells us, has become necessary for humanity’s continued development.

In these four lectures, Rudolf Steiner penetrates the esoteric significance of the Lord’s Prayer by relating the seven petitions in the prayer to the seven spiritual and physical human bodies. He also discusses the difference between prayer and meditation and shows how real prayer is truly selfless.

This volume features an introduction by Judith von Halle, whose work is valued for her experiential knowledge of the Lord’s Prayer and the events of Christ’s life.

The Healing Power of Prayer

Hans-Werner Schroeder

Softbound

$11.95

My experience of reading The Healing Power of Prayer is that it is, in itself, a taste of the grace of wholeness that awaits us if we but ask. Schroeder's little book is so awake with a warm wisdom that it becomes a portal into the world of Love, into the universe of Hope, and shows us how to walk there upon the foundation of Faith.

None of which is as easy to do as it is to percieve as possibility. Schroeder so gently but clearly makes plain the reason so few of us experience the healing that can come through prayer: we don't feel ourselves worthy to ask, we don't feel worthy to stand alongside Love. And yet, because he allows Love to answer, through his book, and with Schroeder as companion and guide, allowing blessing to be given us becomes a gift in the face of which we can bow our heads.

May this little book touch many hearts.

Sanctuaries of Childhood
Nurturing a Child's Spiritual Life

Shea Darian

Softbound

Regular Price: $16.95

Introductory Price: $14.95

St. Paul enjoined his communities to "pray unceasingly". I have come to conclude that he didn't mean to train ourselves to repeat prayers 24/7 -- rather, I believe he meant to turn everything we do into a prayer, into a way to make manifest Love on the earth, into a way to connect ourselves to that which is Divine while remaining connected to that which is of the Earth, into a gift from Heaven to Earth and Earth to Heaven.

Shea Darian's Sanctuaries of Childhood shows us how to do just that - create a life for our children and ourselves that honors the spirit as it heals the soul and nourishes the body. More, she has done it deeply and truly, but has done it in a way that will unite parents rather than divide them, and can be practiced by families of all faiths, including mixed-faith families.

This is the best, most open, most beautiful and most healing approach to this crying need of our society which I have seen. May it find its way into every heart and home who seeks what it offers.

We live in a society that makes it ever more difficult for children to find access to these sanctuaries on a daily basis. More consistently, entrance to such sacred spaces is being barred by the obstacles of busy schedules, our overuse of television and electronic media, and a lack of understanding for a child's genuine spiritual needs. Parents and caregivers can help to unbolt the doors of these sanctuaries, and make it possible for children to experience divine comfort and inspiration

As we make room in our lives for children to share with us the sacred qualities of childhood, no doubt young and old will find that within the sanctuaries of childhood, we serve one another as rabbis, ministers, and spiritual teachers. So let us open wide the doors. Let us remember what it is to be a child . . .

- the author, from the book.

Give Us This Day
The Story of Prayer

Rufus Goodwin

Introduced by Robert Sardello

$19.95

Gandhi called prayer "the key of the morning and the bolt of the evening." Somehow, we seem to know that this is true and yet, an uncertainty often lingers - what is prayer? Does it have to be done a certain way? And, more to the point, how can I pray? Give Us This Day explores these questions, looking at numerous traditions not in comparison, but as a means of getting at the essential core of prayer - the techniques, attitude, and inner workings. Godwin's exploration is deep, penetrating and highly practical, offering greater access to renewal, imagination, inspiration, and intuition - prayer's anchor to meaning in daily life. The seeds of this book are the sort that can become flowers throughout one's life. Highly recommended.

Prayers for Parents and Children

Rudolf Steiner

$14.95

Here is a lovely collection of verses and prayers by Rudolf Steiner for parents to say for their children and for children of different ages to say for themselves. There are verses for all occasions as well as prayers for morning and evening and graces to be spoken at the table. The context for the prayers is provided by Rudolf Steiner's lecture at the end of the book, which gives an insight into the larger cosmic relationships in which the individual is involved before birth, during life, and after death. A true classic.

Prayers and Graces

Compiled by Michael Jones

Hardbound, pocket-size format

Sorry - out-of-print

This is my favorite collection of prayers, verses, and blessings for daily use and for special occasions. They were composed by Rudolf Steiner and many traditional or modern authors. All of them evoke a mood of quiet receptivity and affirm our active participation in cosmic creation. Many of these prayers are our personal favorites, some our children still use as evening verses. We are very grateful Michael Jones gathered these prayers in one book.

Meditative Prayers for Today

Adam Bittleston

Hardbound
$8.95

This little book has found its way onto more night stands than any other of its kind. Whether you use them as a starting point for your meditations or as earnest petitions for guidance, these prayers have the remarkable quality of unveiling their deeper meaning in the very act of using them. The cycle of prayer throughout the year is particularly useful for coming to an understanding of the inner reality of seasonal change. This is a small treasure of inexhaustible value.

In the Light of a Child
A Journey Through the 52 Weeks of the Year in Both Hemispheres
For Children and the Child in Each Human Being

Michael Hedley Burton

$14.95

Michael Burton has created something very special for our children (and for us, as well). Taking Rudolf Steiner's Calendar of the Soul as his inspiration, he has crafted 52 verses to carry children throughout the year. Each verse touches on the feeling qualities of its particular place within the seasons of our Earth and in clear and loving language helps anyone forge a firmer connection to the natural world. At the same time, these verses also reflect the various qualities of Divine Love, as it manifests within each season. This uniting of heaven and earth within the seasonal round is poignantly beautiful - and very highly recommend for the child in all of us.

Kabbalah of Prayer
Sacred Sounds and the Soul's Journey

Shulamit Elson

Softbound

$20.00

In this remarkable, groundbreaking book, Shulamit Elson writes with eloquence and authority about our soul’s journey, our place in the universe, and our relationship to God through prayer. In beautiful and simple words, she shares the ancient teachings and the sacred sounds of the Kabbalah in ways capable of reconnecting us with the Eternal and changing our lives forever.

We learn of her journey from the closed world of an Orthodox Jewish family, on a voyage of discovery that took her into a secular life of poetry and travel throughout Europe. Then, faced with personal difficulties and waking visions, she began a path of meditation. Gifts of healing and prophecy followed. Eventually she met her Maggid, the traditional Kabbalistic “answering angel,” with whose help she developed a series of meditative “Sound Prayers” using sacred sounds made with the voice.

Elson explains the theological, cosmological, and esoteric foundations upon which “Sound Prayer” is based. We are introduced to the ancient wisdom of the Kabbalah, the “Tree of Life,” and the structure of the soul in its relationship with God. We learn the true nature of prayer, how it relates to Tikkun Olam (“Repair of the World”), and how “Sound Prayer” relates to different angelic levels of being and truth.

This is a practical book that gives individual exercises as well as offering help on meeting specific challenges, including spiritual struggles, feelings of meaninglessness, and harsh self-judgment, as well as illness, fear, and anxiety.

A Beginner's Guide to Contemplative Prayer
How to Pray in the Christian Mystical Tradition

James Finley

Audio CD, 70 minutes

$15.95

I have often wished I knew more about Christian mystical practices. Specifically, I have wished I knew the how of the practices, not just the what. This 'beginner's guide' by James Finley answered so many of my questions and taught me the initial steps of how to meditate and pray in this way. This is a tremendous introduction to a practice that can open the heart as it opens doors of understanding.

You can discover for yourself Christianity's own unique tradition for experiencing God directly through meditation. James Finley, who as a young monk lived and prayed with Thomas Merton for six years at the Abbey of Gethsemani, shares the fruit of this authentic approach to prayer and its role at the center of Christian life. Beginning with a look at its meaning and origins, including the Christian mystics who first explored it, and concluding with step-by-step instructions for getting started with a contemplative practice of your own, here is an invaluable introduction to the fundamental meditations and teachings of this tradition.

Passion for God
The Path of the Bridal Mystic

2 Audio Cassettes

Tessa Bielecki

$18.95

These tapes are wonderful to listen to - even if you can listen only to brief bits at a time. And the technique of prayer they reveal is balancing - out of this ecstasy we can emerge as solid, clear participants in the rest of life. Very highly recommended.

Inside the great medieval monastery at Avila, Spain, one of history's great love affairs took place. Here, within these turreted stone walls, the Christian mystic St. Teresa surrendered her "ensouled body" to God. What emerged from this divine union informs our spiritual lives to this day through the ecstatic "spousal prayer" that St. Teresa embraced so fiercely.

With exuberance, humor and lively scholarship, Mother Tessa takes listeners far from the hard pews of dutiful worship and into a lush marriage chamber where God is mystically experienced as spouse. Through her enthusiasm and authenticity, you can also discover an authentic practice for achieving true sacred intimacy.

Tessa Bielecki is Mother Abbess of the Spiritual Life Institute, a Carmelite community with hermitages in Colorado, Nova Scotia, and Ireland. She is actively involved in Buddhist-Christian dialogs and international initiatives exploring world peace and planetary survival. And - she is one of the leading authorities on the life of St. Teresa of Avila and an enthusiastic practitioner and teacher of spousal prayer.

The Way of Saint John of the Cross
A Guide through the Dark Night of the Soul

Susan Muto

Audio Cassettes, approx. 5 hours

$29.95

St. John of the Cross is often referred to as "a master of prayer" or "the ultimate spiritual psychologist." After meeting him for the first time through Susan Muto's gifted presentation, I now understand that here is a treasure that is seldom known outside seminaries, yet reaches into the heart of modern spirituality as though it were written yesterday. I didn't know it before I reviewed these tapes for our bookshop, but I have been longing to know what he has to teach us. I don't think I'm unique in this regard. If you are a spiritual seeker, looking for a path that is as alive and present as it is clear and well-marked, then I gladly recommend this audio presentation to you. I think you'll find as much as I did here.

Susan Muto immerses us in the transformational concepts, symbols and metaphors at the heart of St. John's writing. Drawing from his great masterpieces, The Ascent of Mt. Carmel, The Dark Night of the Soul, The Living Fire of Love and more, Muto offers a new and accessible approach to St. John's "secret wisdom of dark contemplation" - those events in our lives which stretch our faith and our endurance to the breaking point are in fact our greatest teachers.

And all does not remain darkness - just as vividly, St. John describes for us the joyful dawn that awaits us after the midnight hour; the fulfillment and peace that come after the joy; the warm heart that comes with the fulfillment and enables us to go deeper at the next midnight. John knew each and every step of the way so deeply and so intimately that his writings (early 16th century Spain - some done while a prisoner in his own monastery) continue to stand as a beacon of light illuminating the human heart.

I can't recommend this audio series highly enough. If you're uneasy about embarking on a 5 hour listening journey, I can assure you that you can easily listen in whatever few moments you have and come back for more until you are done. I listened to the entire set in 10-15 minute intervals while running errands in my car and never felt lost.

*I should tell you also that the first 20 minutes or so of Muto's presentation are so boring and stiff that I almost stopped listening altogether. I think what happened is that she was very uncomfortable creating a presentation in a recording studio and was reading from her notes in a way that betrayed no enthusiasm at all. But just in the nick of time (for me), she began to talk about John's life, and then her own flame began to burn. Once she connected not with the studio but with St. John and his work, her enthusiasm and joy took hold. The rest of the tapes are like listening to a wise and close friend tell you things you've always wanted to know.

The Way of St. Francis
Teachings and Practices for Daily Life

Father Murray Bodo

Audio Cassettes, 3 hours

$18.95

I was fascinated with this presentation because it really focused on an aspect of St. Francis that I had never before considered - his spiritual practices. I was amazed to discover that St. Francis, in addition to his very radical determination to live a life of complete and true poverty, relying on the goodness of others and the grace of God, had also developed a wonderful system of meditations, prayers and teachings, all of which beautifully open the heart.

Father Murray Bodo is a Franciscan priest and a deep expert on the life and path of St. Francis of Assisi. In his extremely interesting presentation, he introduces us to the five great keys of Franciscan spirituality and teaches us out of his own experience how to use them:

• Silence - How to use inner and outer quietude to prepare a sacred dwelling place within
• Purification - True forgiveness, the secret to purifying the heart
• Openness - How to embrace your deepest suffering, and simplest joys, in the manner and spirit of St. Francis
• Response - "The Way of the Poor Christ," a life made rich through prayer, contemplation, and selfless service
• Time - How we enter the state of the timeless divine.

As a bonus, Father Bodo retells much of the biography of Francis, including many events that were new to me and broadened my understanding and appreciation of his life and mission. If you already feel a warmth in your heart for the "poor man of Assisi," or if you would like to get to know this saint in a much more intimate and practical way than is usually possible, you will love listening to Father Bodo's accounts. Highly recommended.

The Seeker's Guide to the Rosary

Liz Kelly

$11.95

I was not raised Catholic nor am I Catholic now. However, I have always been respectfully curious about the Rosary, in much the same way that I have sought to learn more about other prayer forms throughout the world. Like many others, I began my research (some 30 or so years ago . . .) by looking at religions that were very different from the Protestant Christianity I learned as a child. Primarily, I looked to the East and spent many years uniting within myself those Buddhist, Hindu and other ways of seeing and speaking and listening to God with the ways of my own culture. I learned so much that I have remained grateful for even as my path brought me back around to my own culture's religious foundations.

It's too long a story to relate how I happened to focus my attention, and then my heart, on the Rosary. What I will tell you is that after all these years of study, meditation, and prayer, what I have found in the Rosary is the most invitingly, beautifully complex and deep prayer/meditation of any that I have encountered in previous seeking. My original (many years ago) impression of the Rosary was that it was a beaded prayer that simply involved many repetitions of specific prayers in a rhythmic order. What I have discovered is that this aspect of the Rosary barely scratches the surface of the gifts it holds. As one repeats the prayers, there are 15 mysteries of the Life of Christ, seen from Mary's point of view, that are remembered, visualized, relived. Standing with Mary on a ground of repeated prayer, watching as her son - now your son, for ultimately you join with her - lives through the joys, sorrows and glories of his life - can open the heart to an experience that there is no separation between sacred and profane, that heaven and earth have always been one, and that faith, hope and love are part of the air we breath regardless of what name we call God.

The Seeker's Guide to the Rosary is the best book I've found that presents the Rosary in this way. It is not written for Catholics only, but speaks to the heart of anyone wishing to explore this beautiful prayer/meditation.

*An excellent overview of using the Rosary is the article "Telling the Rosary" by Christopher Bamford, published in the Garden issue of Parabola (March 2001).

Women in Chant - Recordare
Remembering the Mysteries in the Life of Jesus, Son of Mary

The Choir of Benedictine Nuns at the Abbey of Regina Laudis

Meditations: Mother Dolores Hart, O.S.B.

CD - 65 minutes

Includes a 53 page illustrated booklet with an outstanding discussion of the Rosary and chant, the history of the abbey and its impulse, and full text and translation of the sung text and meditations

$18.98

Recordare - "to remember." Here the Choir of Benedictine Nuns joins Mary, Mother of Jesus, in "pondering all things in her heart." These crystalline chants merge two traditions - the Gregorian tradition of the chant itself and that of the meditated Rosary, the beaded prayer that calls the petitioner to stand with Mary as she experiences the mysteries of her Son's life: The Joyful Mysteries from annunciation to finding her twelve-year-old son in the temple; the Sorrowful Mysteries, beginning with the Agony in the Garden and ending with the Crucifixion; and the Glorious Mysteries proceeding from the Resurrection through to Mary's Enthronement in Heaven.

These chants are not performances, but are the prayers themselves, and this infuses the music and the meditations with a life and depth that moves the heart. The multi-layered, living depth of the Rosary prayer/meditation is given yet another dimension by this beautiful choir. This is music that has the power to heal and move us forward.

The Seeker's Guide to the Rosary and Women in Chant-Recordare

A Book to Guide You
Music to Inspire You

regular price for both:$30.93

Set Price: $27.93

B'ismillah
Highlights from the Fes Festival of World Sacred Music, vol. 1

Various Artists

2 CDs - 139 minutes

$21.98

The Fes Festival of World Sacred Music in Fes, Morocco, is the point of convergence for the planet's most heartfelt and exalted sacred music. Each year, the religious world's most celebrated performers come together in this ancient city to extol the divine in song, music, and dance.

B'ismillah (in the name of God) was recorded live at the second Fes Festival. Selections include:

• Islamic songs
• Christian prayers
• Sufi chants
• ecstatic Berber dances

Their shared passion for the music in the sacred and the sacred in music echoes a longing buried deep in every human heart: a longing for spiritual unity that transcends artificial boundaries of nationality, religion, and time.

I was especially moved by the opening Call to Prayer with the Radio-Television Symphony Orchestra of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Between orchestra and caller there was such a heartfelt interplay, such an expression of joyful longing that I found myself both smiling and crying by its end. The Sufi chants brought me to my feet to dance; other pieces evoked quiet reflection, gratitude and a deep longing to reach beyond the superficial and into the real. We live in a very beautiful world.

Hamdulillah (Hallelujah!)
Fes Festival of World Sacred Music, volume 2

Various Artists

2 CDs - 145 minutes

$21.98

The Fes Festival of World Sacred Music was established in 1994 by the Association Fes Saiss, a nongovernmental organization and "peace messenger" dedicated to artistic preservation, international cooperation, and other humanitarian causes. A symbol of these efforts, the Fes Festival represents a common ground for people of good faith from diverse cultures and traditions. The Festival was born in the spirit of respectful tribute with an underlying inspiration to release the ancient spiritual wisdom so painfully needed in today's world. By weaving a spell of many traditions and religions that communicate - beyond words - through sacred music and art, the festival strives to make this wisdom tangible, broadcasting to the world the message of universality that Fes itself personifies.

In this second wondrous volume, you will hear:

• Arab-Andalusian Music of the Gharnati Tradition
• Music from Morocco's Rif Mountains
• Spiritual Music of Hindustan
• Music and Songs from Medieval Andalusia
• Spiritual Union in Song (by the Children of Abraham - a choir of Jewish, Muslim and Christian Children)
• Sufi Chants and Music
• Jewish Sephardic Songs
• The Jewish Tradition of Moroccan Piyyout
• Malhoun Verses of Fes
• Sufi Songs of Central Asia
• Iraqi Mystical Texts and Poetry
• Medieval Muslim and Moorish Songs
• Javanese Gamelan Music
• Spiritual Songs from Iran
• The Whirling Dervishes from Konya

I feel certain that you will find, as I did, that gathering of musicians and Lovers of God goes straight to the heart of what it means to be human. If it is possible to break open the heart with joy, these singers, musicians and dancers do just that.

Under the Moroccan Sky
Fes Festival of World Sacred Music, volume 3

Various Artists

1 CD - 72 minutes

$16.98

Joel Davis of Sounds True offers a bit more insight into the Fes Festival of World Sacred Music and to the city which gives it a home:

This indescribably vibrant city, the spiritual heart of North Africa, has, through the centuries, served as the home to a diverse array of traditions and cultures, and has seamlessly integrated all of these influences into the rich fabric of daily life. That alone makes it a suitable site for a festival welcoming artists and attendees from around the world. In Fes, there is no separating the sacred from the profane. From the stirring prayer call issued five times daily to a waiter's whispered "B'ismillah" (in the name of God) when he serves your mint tea, one is never far removed from the touch of the divine.

In any other city, this would be just another festival. But in Fes, the event and the city illuminate each other, reflecting the Fassis' ingenuity and fascination for life, and the musicians' various expressions of the mystical secrets we share, all framed by a reverence and willing surrender to God's will.

On this third vibrant volume from the Fes Festival, you can rejoice in:

• West African Sufi Songs
• Sufi Music and Songs of Morocco
• Berber Sacred Song
• Sacred Music and Song of the Middle Ages and Renaissance
• Gypsy-Catalan Songs of the Evangelical Church
• Devotional Songs form Southern India
• Sacred and Classical Music of Iran
• Traditional Maddah Music from Upper Egypt

As with the previous two volumes resulting from the Fes Festival, this one is sheer joy to listen to - it is as though we were seated at Babette's Feast, carried into the world of sound. The fastest way from our heads to our hearts may be through music such as this! Enjoy and be glad!