Cygnus Review Winter 2016

Winter 2016, Issue 4

www.cygnusreview.com

Cygnus Review HEAL YOUR BODY ❖ FEED YOUR SOUL ❖ FREE YOUR MIND ❖ LOVE YOUR PLANET

A Peaceful and Joyful Christmas to Everyone

and a prosperous New Year in every way

❖ EDITOR’S PICKS We pay tribute to Louise Hay on her Ninetieth Birthday William Bloom on one of his most important projects A Wake-Up to Living from Jeff Foster

New Perspectives on Weight Loss

by Kim Arnold

Plus! ❖ Cygnus Community News ❖ Directory of Cygnus Cafes

A WELCOME FROM ADAM GORDON

One of my favourite anecdotes is told

by Ram Dass, the Harvard professor turned spiritual teacher. He found his guru, Neem Karoli Baba, also known as Maharajji, in India in 1967.

Having publicised him in his classic book Be Here Now, he was then pursued back east by many other western seekers, who started to hang around and pester him incessantly. He would become irritated by them and on one occasion, he threw a plate of food across the courtyard of the ashram in desperation.

Maharajji then beckoned him over and initially comforted him. He went on to say quietly to him, “I did tell you to love everybody.”

Ram Dass replied, “Yes, Maharaji, but you also told me to tell the truth.

And the truth is that I just don’t love everybody.”

So Maharajji came closer still, and said, “Love everyone and tell the truth.”

Love and truth – these are two of the great, if not the greatest, of all principles in the spiritual quest.

Sometimes it feels like you can’t stay true to both at the same time, but then you just hold on to them both without abandoning either of them.

Gradually everything becomes clear.

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It’s not logical, but it’s real. Just let go of the frantic mind.

So many people just want to be at peace, but they feel they can just think their way there. Of course discrimination is of vital importance, but the existence of God, of angels or of the human soul is unlikely ever to be proven under scientific conditions.

It’s that quality of “holding” again: do you believe or not believe? Well, usually it’s a bit of both. We crave a moment of absolute certainty but actually after a while this state of doubt – of holding one possibility and its complete opposite at exactly the same time – almost becomes more exquisite and actually feels more real.

It’s a state that’s impossible to describe to anyone else, but one that also brings a sense of relief, where you can say to yourself: “At last, maybe, I am on the right track”.

And then we keep on keeping on.

As Keats wrote: “Beauty is truth, truth beauty”. So spend time in places or doing things that please you.

Sometimes beauty can unexpectedly stop you in your tracks, and in those

moments you suspect that you are at last touching the transcendent.

Likewise, be kind to everyone around you, wherever you can and as often as you can, whether they deserve it or not. These are the ways in which we can make the world a better place.

I have been especially inspired by two well-known figures who appear in this Winter Review.

Louise Hay has just celebrated her ninetieth birthday, and we celebrate her enormous contribution to helping people better themselves, improve their health and their relationships.

And William Bloom who has made the single-minded effort to bring spiritual practice into the mainstream.

In this issue we hear about the success he has had in developing a new course, which has earned Ofqual approval and which I believe has given the practice of non-religious spirituality in this country the greatest boost in years. These are shining examples of love and truth in action.

It’s a great honour to work with and serve you all.

Thank you.

Adam

MEET THE TEAM Publisher

Etan Ilfeld

Editor

Geoff Napier

Co-Editor

Adam Gordon

Art Editor

Karen Smith

Customer Care

Jordan Mitchell

Cover Art

Janet Baxter

Reviews

Rosemary Allix Gemma Creffield Lucy Broughton Nicola Sinclair Nina Greimel Shona Biswas

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LOUISE HAY - A CELEBRATION

L

ouise Hay has just celebrated her ninetieth birthday in California. In one sense, if you regard her hugely influential publishing company, she has become “a phenomenon”, but she’s a human being, and it’s easy to forget just how remarkable her life has been.

It’s a story of alchemical transmutation, of turning the lead of life into gold. She suffered rape and abuse as a young woman and later, in the 1970s, survived cervical cancer, which she knew was connected to the abuse she had earlier suffered. Having studied self-healing and spiritual development at the Science of Mind church in the States, she was drawn to write her groundbreaking book Heal Your Body, and later on its natural successor, the worldwide bestseller You Can Heal Your Life.

At this time she made some crucial and brave decisions. She published the books herself under her own Hay House imprint. Thus she ensured that they would appear as she intended them to, without compromise. Secondly she reached out specifically and deliberately to the gay men who were suffering the ravages of HIV and AIDS and wrote The AIDS Book for them, because she knew that what she had found out for herself would, in turn, be helpful to them. She encouraged them to come to a support group in her home and generally showed them a straightforward respect and love that was noticeably absent in the wider community at the time.

It’s that quality of love and service in action that I most admire in her. She could have made lots of money and settled back to enjoy it without giving anything back, but she remained the hands-on leader of her publishing company and, in due course, brought in the brightest and best to run it for her. While she continued to write her own books, Hay House started to nurture some of the freshest and most interesting authors in the Mind Body Spirit field.

I worked selling Hay House titles during the nineties. It was such a buzz to see the independently

‘It is that quality of love and service in action I most admire’ ADAM GORDON, CO-EDITOR

published You Can Heal Your Life sell so well against all the corporately backed personal development titles.

Authors like Doreen Virtue in the States and Gordon Smith over here, started to thrive under the company’s wing. I was especially pleased when Wayne Dyer experienced his muchdeserved renaissance under Hay House. Personally, I loved his audio presentations, often in conjunction with Deepak Chopra, where his deep

and warm voice would offer such wise guidance. Before then he was the academic author of that ubiquitous self-help classic Your Erroneous Zones.

But Hay House helped him transform into a spiritual teacher, who could fill major venues around the world.

Oh yes! And I forgot the conferences Hay House pioneered, like I Can Do It! where ordinary readers could encounter their favourite teachers and hear them present their latest discoveries…

However, I want to return to Louise Hay the person. Of course she is a shining example of putting love into action in the form of service and by – sorry about the slightly crude phrase – putting her money where her mouth is. The publishing company has also been hugely supportive of Cygnus Book Club over the years.

Aside from all this, she has also been one of the most successful writers in MBS history, and has spoken widely about many of the most helpful concepts in MBS. She is the great pioneer in modern times of the concept that we are in charge of our own lives, which has empowered many people to pull themselves out of the trough they are in. And this has come out of a life containing many setbacks, but she has always stuck to the rigorous task of relentless and creative positivity and love.

Happy Birthday Louise.

HEAL YOUR MIND

by Mona Lisa Schulz and Louise Hay

Essential winter reading

Louise Hay has long been a leading name in the field of personal growth and self-healing. She says she has always relied on her ‘inner ding’ to create and develop ideas that have inspired millions. Now, in partnership with Dr Schulz, the two examine the science and medicine behind Louise Hay’s work; in this case, they look at mental wellness. Depression is a major problem in the world and affirmations have been shown to be very beneficial, but infections, allergies, digestive and hormone problems can also underlie depressive cycles, as they can in cases of anxiety, addiction, learning disorders and memory loss. This joining together of sound advice on care of the body, including supplements and good nutrition, together with appropriate affirmations, provides a comprehensive mind-body manual, including extensive charts on thought patterns linked to specific medical conditions in the style we have come to expect in Louise Hay’s books.

384pp, 229 x 152 mm, Paperback, RRP £12.99 ❖ Code: 260401 Our price: £7.99

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BOOK REVIEWS — books NAME thatOF will WRITER open your XXXXX mind to new ideas

WHAT IF THIS IS HEAVEN?

by Anita Moorjani

In her first book, Anita Moorjani told the story of her difficult life, her cancer and near death experience. At the time, that seemed to be the end, but it was the start of a whole new journey.

Her story touched many people, and they contacted her wanting to understand the new experience of being alive on Earth that she had discovered. And so her story continues as she embodies truths learned in other realms and discards the myths and stories she once accepted as ‘truth’. This is a personal account of how Anita discovered freedom from those falsehoods that trap us in fear, heartache and limiting boundaries. Her story challenges us to recognise heaven is not a distant destination but the daily life we are all living right now.

OPENING THE DOORS OF PERCEPTION

by Anthony Peake

This is a book that makes demands of your brain but it’s well worth the effort. Using the work of Aldous Huxley (who wrote the original “Doors of Perception”) as a point of departure, Anthony Peake delves deeper into perception itself and asks what’s really going on when we perceive things in an unusual fashion. Is an hallucination merely a meaningless aberration or is what we perceive in that moment actually as much “reality” as we are comfortable seeing through our eyes in “normal” vision? And when the doors are fully prised open, is mental illness then the outcome? The implications are extraordinary.

200pp, 229 x 152mm, Paperback, RRP £10.99

❖ Code: 260402 Our price: £6.99

188pp, 216 x 135mm, Paperback, RRP £10.99

❖ Code: 260403 Our price: £5.99

HOW TO DEVELOP A BRILLIANT MEMORY TOOLKIT

by Dominic O’Brien

❖ Code: 260406 Our price: £7.99

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In this new book from New York Times bestseller Gabrielle Bernstein, she uses the wealth of knowledge she has gained from her own experiences to show us that everything really does happen for a reason. Bernstein – a great role model to younger women on the spiritual path – gives us “Universal Lessons” and useful steps to help us release control and fear and let the universe run the course of our lives. We are effectively taught to surrender ourselves to faith in order to give ourselves hope and achieve our higher plan.

Told in a style that allows readers to connect with new ideas on how to live, Bertstein is fast developing into a Louise Hay style thoughtleader for a new generation.

192pp, 216 x 135 mm, Paperback, RRP £10.99

❖ Code: 260404 Our price: £6.99

Author in the spotlight

Everything you need to enhance your memory and stretch your mind is in this one elegant pack. Dominic O’Brien has been crowned World Memory Champion eight times and here he puts all his tips and techniques into an enjoyable and stimulating kit format. It contains 50 flashcards detailing short exercises and practice techniques, an 88-page guide with backgrounds and the rationales to the techniques, plus a fold-out memory journey map which can be used for practising the amazing journey method. This would make a great gift and actually makes enhancing and training your mind fun.

88pp, 197 x 125 mm, Card Deck, RRP £14.99

THE UNIVERSE HAS YOUR BACK

by Gabrielle Bernstein

YOUR THREE BEST SUPERPOWERS

by Sonia Choquette

We all have a sixth sense which gives us access to our super powers, but unlike the other five senses we don’t always recognise it or know how to make use of it.

We all possess three super powers: meditation, imagination and intuition, and every one of us has the potential to develop these to empower our lives. Meditation is the starting point, to clear our mental space, then imagination can be consciously developed to create an ideal future, before using intuition to make the right decisions. Jump-start exercises are included to support the reader in developing their super powers, offering inspiration to keep working on this complex journey, which demands constant practise.

192pp, 200x 130 mm, Paperback, RRP £8.99

❖ Code: 260405 Our price: £5.99

HOW TO DEVELOP A BRILLIANT MEMORY WEEK BY WEEK

by Dominic O’Brien

If the Toolkit is an entertaining entry point for your efforts to boost your memory, this is the complete course. Never again will you have to face that awkward moment when you come face-to-face with a recent acquaintance and their name completely flies out of your mind. This book teaches you how to remember names, birthdays, how to speak in public without notes and how to remember an entire pack of cards. Jonas Von Essen credited this book to be one of the reasons behind his double success at The World Memory Championships. The book is thorough without being too in depth as you’d expect when you are being taught by an eight-time Memory Champion.

BUY BOTH FOR £10.98

192pp, 197 x 125 mm, Paperback, RRP £7.99

❖ Code: 260407 Our price: £3.99

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JEFF FOSTER - THE WAY OF REST

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strange yet familiar feeling of utter fragility and rawness greeting you as you wake. A reflection of a reflection of something vaguely remembered in a piece of broken glass on the sidewalk as you hurry to work again. An unexpected diagnosis. A long-lost friend, returning. An old relationship breaking apart to make way for something new. Taking a friend’s hand in the darkness, helping them to walk when they cannot walk, or do not want to walk. A cup of tea with a loved one.

That look in your grandmother’s eyes before she passed into infinity.

Billions of light-years away, comets shooting through the vastness in profound silence...

There is so much beauty and so much sorrow, so much pain and so much joy, so much creativity, so much to be felt and discovered here in this crazy, beautiful world that we so often take for granted. Perhaps if you were to take in all of this life, all this experience, your heart would not be able to hold it.

Perhaps it’s not death we’re afraid of but too much life.

When you were young it was nothing less than an act of pure creative intelligence – genius, in fact – to begin constructing a protective wall around your raw, sensitive, beautifully fragile and innocent heart. It made perfect sense back then to try to numb yourself to the overwhelming intensity of things, both negative and positive; to block out your pain, your fear, your anger; to distract yourself from your feelings of loneliness; to disconnect from your sorrow and your joy too; to try to build a fixed and consistent “self ” in order to fit in, feel safe, be accepted. It made sense to try to control yourself, adapt yourself, manipulate yourself, hide parts of yourself, in order to get love and approval from those you looked up to.

You were a tiny, sensitive love warrior, seeking love outside yourself, and you were not wrong. But perhaps now is the time to end this selfabandonment, and rediscover the love that is within you. Perhaps all

‘Perhaps it’s not death we’re afraid of but too much life’ JEFF FOSTER AUTHOR

your brilliant childhood defenses and seeking strategies are no longer necessary. Perhaps your heart is – and always was – vast enough to hold all of life, the sorrow as much as the bliss, the agony as much as the ecstasy, the boredom as much as the excitement.

Perhaps you are now finally ready to let all experience flood in; not just the good parts, the shiny parts, the “spiritual” parts; not just the happy, positive feelings, but all feelings; to feel them all at last, no longer afraid that they will harm you, no longer ashamed. To think all your thoughts, positive and negative ones, too, and not apologize for either. To walk your own path, finally; to speak with your own voice, speak out loud in the clear air, without compromise.

This is courage! Courage not as the absence of fear, or anger, or doubt, but the willingness to truly live, to include all of yourself, the messy and painful bits too. Courage not as the eradication of your vulnerable humanness but as the willingness to make mistakes, to fall down, to get back up again; to keep going, even though you’ve lost your map, even

though you don’t know the way, even though you feel scared and broken and doubt your own ability to walk.

If you are fed up with walking someone else’s path; if you are sick of trying to control your thoughts and feelings, trying to live up to some inherited, secondhand image of “happiness” or “beauty”; if you are ready to drop the idea of how you should be, and love yourself exactly as you are, flaws, imperfections, doubts, scars, birthmarks, bruises, warts, and all; if you feel like you just want to embrace the whole damn universe in all its madness, joy and sorrow, sadness and ecstasy, clarity and confusion; if you are disillusioned or disappointed with the promises and paths of wellmeaning authorities – parents, spiritual teachers, self-help gurus, world leaders – and long to be authentic and real, well, then you are ready for the Way of Rest... I hope the words in this book inspire, challenge, and encourage you; but most of all, I hope they remind you that you are alive and worthy of the kind of love that moves the stars.

Jeff Foster Reprinted with permission from The Way of Rest by Jeff Foster, soundstrue.com, © 2016 Jeff Foster THE WAY OF REST

by Jeff Foster

There are some books, which will take you carefully through various exercises and build you up gradually and others, like this one, which can get you there in a flash, like in Zen satori. It’s an American import, so the price is high after the pound’s decline, but the author is British and I really urge you to check this book out if you like a book that has the potential to blow your ego apart. It takes all sorts, but this combination of poetry and prose enigmatically and soulfully guides us along what’s known as The Pathless Path.

Stop right where you are and let yourself see that it’s all just beautiful.

352pp, 201 x 135mm, Paperback, RRP £17.99

❖ Code: 260408 Our price: £9.99

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KIM ARNOLD - USING THE TAROT FOR WELLBEING

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arlier this year I had a revelation. I met with a lady I have known for years. She was writing a book about women with hair loss and she asked me if I would contribute a paragraph.

As we were chatting, a memory stirred. I was 14 years old, extremely shy and with low self-esteem as I suffered with what I now know to be trichotillomania. Looking for a cure, I was taken to a doctor who asked that I strip off and lay on the examination bed. These were the days before a nurse would have to be present. Nothing physical happened other than him scrutinising my body for what seemed like an eternity.

However, after 40 years the memory stirred, and I wept. Where on earth had that come from? I realised this distressing memory had been buried deep within my subconscious. Now I realised why I have had a fear of stepping forward and being counted, because I had held onto a fear of humiliation of being exposed and looked at. Food had become my comfort blanket. If I was fat, no one would take a second glance at me. Despite this I have become CATHAR TAROT

by John Matthews and Wil Kinghan

Few people know more about the tarot than John Matthews, and here he brings all his experience to bear on a new deck which invites modern seekers to follow the Cathars’ path to self-knowledge and spiritual fulfilment. With the help of acclaimed artist Wil Kingham, he has created this deck and 112-page book set, which, in vibrant colour and imagery which is redolent of medieval manuscripts, evokes a mystical landscape of questing and inner transformation, while in its construction it remains true to the basic Rider Waite model of the tarot deck.

112pp, 170x123mm, Deck, RRP £17.99

❖ Code: 260409 Our price: £8.00

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SUITS – FOOD TYPES

‘Tarot has always been my trusted and wise friend’ KIM ARNOLD

successful in my field. After a few days of processing the turmoil I felt ready to physically shift my emotional pounds. I did not want to be fat anymore. Now I had discovered my trigger I knew I was ready to begin to deal with it. Answers I’m searching for often tend to be revealed in my dreams, so I went to bed that night asking for guidance. I slept, and the messages flowed.

Tarot has always been my trusted and wise friend. As a professional reader and teacher, now was my time to put Tarot to the test. Together we were going on a personal journey.

In my dream I was shown to divide my tarot deck in to the 4 suits removing the major arcana and court cards, and each suit would represent what I would need to nourish me emotionally and physically for the day ahead. This would be a 40-day programme.

I was to shuffle the cards the night before and ask “what guidance do I need tomorrow for my well-being and weight loss?” The Tarot cards drawn in answer would guide me.

>> PENTACLES/EARTH: Food of substance. Fresh green vegetables.

Small portions of carbohydrate such as potatoes or rice. Casseroles, sweet potatoes. It is important to eat protein with carbs, as you will feel fuller more quickly. ❖ Emotionally: Dealing with issues to help you feel secure and stable; money and home issues are priority. >> SWORDS/AIR: Light foods.

Salads, omelettes, hard boiled eggs.

You are likely to have greater weight loss on a sword day. ❖ Emotionally: Planning how to do things better and allow your creative energy to flow. >> WANDS/FIRE: Foods cooked over flame. Spicy food such as chilli, curries with ingredients which accommodate a low fat version.

Avoid rice/bread/potatoes. ❖ Emotionally: Active days, walking, cycling, tackling jobs, which have been put on hold. >> CUPS/WATER: Fish/shellfish, smoothies, soups. Fish & chips made with sweet potatoes is an option.

Increase intake of water on Cup days. ❖ Emotionally: Be sociable, meet friends, swim, walking near water.

Meditation. ❖ It is important to drink at least a

litre of water every day.

❖ When you pull your card for the day

remove it from the deck. If you feel like you are going to overindulge, use the emotional interpretations provided to help keep you on the path. ❖ You must never be hungry. Be aware of portion sizes and reduce carbohydrates in the early stages for good steady weight loss. ❖ Keep a food diary so you can see patterns of hunger, don’t leave long gaps between meals. Eat rice or oat cakes with peanut butter, tuna or cottage cheese if hungry.

Having lost 20lbs on this plan, my experience as an Cordon Bleu cook and study of macrobiotic cooking has helped me create some great recipes which are all available as part of the food plan. Find out more at: www.tarotfoodplan.co.uk.

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Deeper Truths — BOOK REVIEWS TAO TE CHING

by Lao Tzu

THE GNOSTIC GOSPELS

192pp, 241x160mm, Hardback, RRP £14.99

280pp, 160 x 110 mm, Hardback, RRP £6.99

❖ Code: 260410 Our price: £7.99

❖ Code: 260411 Our price: £3.99

SPIRIT TRAVELER

by Sonja Grace

JIM’S FLIGHT

by Christine Frank Petosa

192pp, 229 x 150mm, Paperback RRP £12.99

320pp, 226 x 152 mm, Paperback, RRP £12.99

This beautifully produced book contains 81 ancient Chinese poems on the Great Integrity and human life, originally written by the father of Taoism – Lao Tzu – himself. This edition enables us to read the poems both in English and the original language. Black and white pictures of nature create a stimulating atmosphere for the words to unfold in. When there are many editions of a text, the format can be so important and this gives the text a calm spaciousness.

The “Spirit Traveler” of the title is Sonja Grace, who is taken on out-of-body journeys to places outside of time and our regular conception of space. In this book she covers eight sacred sites around the world, including Stonehenge and St Winifride’s Well in these islands, and Chichen Itza beyond. Each account includes a description of the site, an analysis of the reasons for its construction and finally a spirit journey to learn more about what really happened there. It’s a great way of understanding our ancestors’ spiritual motivations, plus enhancing our own journeys there, either in the body or outside it. ❖ Code: 260415 Our price: £10.99

THE DHAMMAPADA

This is a wonderful book full of the wisdom and insight of the Buddha’s words. These key teachings are as pertinent now as they were over 2500 years ago. It is a must-have book for anyone interested in Buddhism, and is written in a simple style that everyone will easily understand. It contains the original teachings of the Buddha, the closest we can get to his actual words. I love the beautiful style of the cover and the elegant pocket hardback packaging; it will have pride of place on any bookshelf.

192pp, 160 x 110mm, Hardback, RRP £6.99

❖ Code: 260412 Our price: £3.99

This translation by Alan Jacobs is true to the essence of the nondualist philosophy of these gospels, the texts which didn’t make the New Testament. He also adds his own poetic flavour by composing free verse in keeping with modern diction and linguistic style. I highly recommend this literary gem, particularly as it is produced as a pocket book, one which can be slipped away somewhere and then read at leisure or on the move, as a reminder of our essential nature in the hubbub of our daily lives.

Jim Petosa was a pilot. He developed cancer, died a year and a half later and – in his own words – flew up to heaven. This is an account of his life, of his passing and of everything he has had to say since, via a medium called Elizabeth Williams. Hearing accounts of ways that life goes on after physical death is immensely instructive and helpful with our lives on this side of the veil.

This title certainly doesn’t disappoint on that front, with information of all kinds about the process of dying, the afterlife and the relationship that those souls still have with those of us on this side. Comforting and interesting. ❖ Code: 260414 Our price: £10.99

CAVES OF POWER

by Sergio Megana

The teachings Sergio reveals in this book help direct you towards your true self, known as “The Cave”.

According the tradition of ancient Mesoamerica, we have seven caves of power and by healing those caves we improve all areas of our lives. The practices he describes include regular exercises, visualizations and bodywork. The book is different and refreshing with techniques that might be unfamiliar but which, overall, form a compelling programme of self-transformation.

216 x 140 mm, Paperback, RRP £10.99

❖ Code: 260413 Our price: £6.99

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EXTRACTED FROM SLOW DOUGH: Real bread by Chris Young SLOW DOUGH

by Chris Young

From Slow Dough: Real Bread by Chris Young © Nourish Books 2016, commissioned photography by Victoria Harley

There is something nurturing and encouraging about baking your own bread – it’s almost a spiritual process.

The feeling of warmth you get from having baked a loaf successfully and the satisfaction of then eating it when it has cooled a bit but is still warm. This book has been compiled by the coordinator of the Real Bread Campaign and ranges from Pain de Campagne and baguettes to tea loaves and crumpets. The theme that unites all the recipes is slow rise: they take a bit longer but are much richer in flavour, have a better texture and, in the case of sourdough, might even have health benefits. It’s full colour, hardback and the author and most of the contributors are UK-based.

176pp, 254 x 196 mm, Hardback, RRP £20

❖ Code: 260416 Our price: £10.00

Beetroot Sourdough by Laura Bullock Laura says that this loaf has “earthy flavours that are perfect with goats’ cheese and mackerel”. The beetroot/beet lends an unusual burgundy colour; a simple variation would be to replace the beetroot/beet with grated carrot or parsnip, which will give an orange or creamy fleck to the crumb.

MAKES: 2 small loaves FROM MIXING TO OVEN: 2½–3 hours then overnight BAKING TIME: 20–25 minutes each loaf ❖ 430g/15¼oz/3 cups white bread flour ❖ 100g/3½oz/scant ½ cup white sourdough starter ❖ 8g/1½ tsp fine/table salt ❖ 250g/9oz/1 cup plus 1 tbsp water ❖ 330g/11½oz/scant 2¼ cups peeled raw grated beetroot/beets

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1

Mix the flour, sourdough starter, salt and most of the water together thoroughly. If the dough is too stiff, add more of the water. Knead the dough until smooth and stretchy, then cover and leave to rest for 10 minutes.

2

Flatten the dough out to form a rectangle. Scatter the beetroot/ beets over it and knead in until distributed evenly. The dough will be very soft and sticky. Shape into a ball, cover and leave to rest for 30 minutes.

3

Give the dough a single fold and rest for a further 30 minutes, then fold and rest for 30 minutes twice more.

4

Dust two 500g/1lb proving baskets with flour. Divide the dough into 2 equal-size pieces and shape to fit the baskets. Place the dough in the baskets seam-side up, cover and leave to prove in the refrigerator for 12 hours overnight.

5

Heat the oven to 250°C/230°C fan/480°F/gas 9+, or as high as your oven will go, with a baking stone or baking sheet in place. Turn one piece of dough out of its basket onto a floured peel and slash the top, then slide it onto the stone. Bake for 20 minutes, or 25 if you prefer a slightly darker crust. Repeat with the remaining piece of dough.

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Christmas gifts — REVIEWS

PART TIME VEGETARIAN

by Nicola Graimes

THE VEGAN COOKBOOK

by Adele McConnell

THE MARIA THUN BIODYNAMIC CALENDAR 2017

by Matthias Thun

This is one of my favourite cookery books. It’s vegetarian but it outlines simple ways you can add meat to adapt the recipes if you are feeding carnivores, or simply if you fancy a change. Personal favourites of mine include Pan Fried Gnocchi with Chimichurri Sauce and Chickpea Dahl with Spinach Tarka. The recipes are diverse and imaginative, and never dul or heavy in an old-fashioned vegetarian way.It’s also an ideal way of coaxing a wavering carnivore across the finishing line into vegetarianism or adding more of those all-important portions of vegetables.

There are other vegan cookbooks but this one has a light and breezy style of presentation that makes it fun and exciting. The author is the founder of the vegan food blog vegiehead.com and won the prestigious “Vegan Food Blogger Award” from The Vegan Woman in 2012.

Recipes include Spicy Mexican Burritos, Pan-Fried Sage and Basil Gnocchi and Chocolate Goji Brownies. It also includes invaluable advice on how to build up a vegan store cupboard. So if you are thinking about adding more plant-based food into your diet, this is a great first but deliciously easy step.

This is the original biodynamic sowing and planting calendar, now in its 55th year. It’s absolutely essential for all organic gardeners and farmers, and it contains all sorts of data, presented in colour with clear symbols and explanations. It includes the phases of the moon, astrological advice, plus all sorts of straightforward intuitive guidance on how to get the best out of your crops. Finally there is also a pull-out wallchart, which can be pinned up in the shed, a greenhouse or just at home, with all the information presented in a concise form.

224pp, 254 x 198 mm, Hardback, RRP £20

176pp, 227 x 178 mm, Hardback, RRP £14.99

88pp, 234 x 158 mm, Paperback, RRP £7.99

THE GUT HEATH DIET PLAN

by Christine Bailey

STARGAZERS ALMANAC 2017

by Bob Mizon

GARDENING AND PLANTING

BY THE MOON 2017

by Nick Kollerstrom

❖ Code: 250314 Our price: £10.00

❖ Code: 260418 Our price: £6.99

Christine Bailey is the author of many health titles and is an undoubted expert on nutrition as well as a fantastic cookery writer. Here though, she combines clear information about maintaining a healthy digestive system with a collection of recipes good enough to take their place in a stand-alone cookbook. Books on “the gut” are plentiful nowadays but this one gets the balance between practical recipes and cutting edge medical advice absolutely right.

There are charts, colour photographs, plus a revolutionary five-week programme which will go some way towards ironing out troublesome gut issues. An excellent reader-friendly starter text! (By the way, it’s not vegetarian.)

This is a fun and educational gift for anyone who might be starting to take an interest in astronomy, or for someone who wants an attractive and useful guide to the night sky they can pin to the wall. It folds open like a calendar and for each month the top illustration shows the night sky looking north and the bottom page looking south. Provided it’s not cloudy of course! It also tells you which planets might be visible and the phases of the moon, as well as supplying brief text on the basic stellar configuration. The pictures are all in colour, in a lovely tranquil dark blue - making it one of the most attractive calendars available now. Who said learning can’t be fun?

176pp, 218 x 185 mm, Paperback, RRP £14.99

32pp, 305 x 419 mm, Calendar, RRP £14.99

❖ Code: 260419 Our price: £6.49

❖ Code: 260420 Our price: £9.99

❖ Code: 260421 Our price: £5.99

This legendary annual guide, tells you how to get higher yields from your crops by planting and reaping at specific times, in harmony with the rhythms of the moon. It’s an easy thing to do and it brings such successful results in terms of quantity and quality: tastier vegetables for example and more vibrant flowers.

Everything you need to know about the daily influence of the moon and planets is in here, and all the planting information is guided by biodynamic principles. Also included is a 15-month daily calendar which is invaluable for helping a gardener plan the year ahead and which many customers praise enthusiastically as a means for applying self-discipline.

144pp, 216 x 155 mm, Paperback, RRP £8.99

❖ Code: 260417 Our price: £6.99

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w

GEOFF NAPIER Dear fellow Cygnus members,

Welcomes you to the Cygnus Community news pages

I discovered yesterday that sometimes the most unexpected things can happen, when we simply accept we don’t know how to handle a certain situation. When we ask the universe for help with our whole being it opens us up to possibilities/solutions we have never dreamed of.

A shout of joy goes out from the rest of the universe. Why? Because we have genuinely asked for help! Earth is the planet of choice. The other side cannot interfere, even if they know the answer.

They have to stand by and wait patiently till we have exhausted our willpower, our ego and our conditioning and accept in all humility that we don’t need to find all the answers on our own.

As I have said before in an earlier letter to you, this is more or less what Ann & I did not do on certain issues. Sometimes we just felt it was not “cricket” to ask the universe for help, particularly, when we felt responsible for causing the messes we had made. Of course it is embarrassing to realise that this just an expression of the ego. But let’s be realistic here, we were seeing things from the viewpoint of the ego, however refined we may have been trying to be. We were continuing to live within the old law of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.

You know what I mean. For some issues in our lives we had continued to believe we were on our own. So consequently, we had become deaf to the whispers of help. We expended herculean efforts doing the best we could, against all obstacles.

Yet the more obstacles we cleared, the deeper the holes we dug for ourselves.

Meanwhile, we continued to admire and love others who had woken to the fact that they are unique expressions of the universe of Love, not separate from it. We have shared their writings with you over the years. They know that they and their deeds are accepted, just as they are. I too knew this deep in my core, but somehow on certain issues something else unseen drew me to the old point of view.

Over the past few days I have discovered deeply rooted in me a profound emotion that I (or my subconscious?) had obscured almost completely behind a grey mist, just beyond my awareness. I became ill, felt and looked exhausted and nauseous and I looked literally ashen as the day progressed, as if I would collapse. I went to bed in the middle of the day with a hot drink and a hottie. I awoke and felt slightly better, but

still looked and felt ashen.

Instead of attempting to ignore this vague outline in the mist, as I had in the past, I turned to face it.

I began to see how this obscured object had been affecting my judgements and actions in all sorts of ways. On further reflection, I discovered I had been carrying a deep sense of responsibility for not being who I could be, for having done things I was ashamed of, for being the cause of great suffering in various lifetimes. As I became aware of it, the weight of it became enormous. It was as if I had an internal scribe that had recorded all my dreadful deeds, adding weight to that great burden of guilt. This voice in me was saying, how could I be forgiven for these omissions and acts of cowardice?

Surely I must atone for these first before I was fit to help?

Of course in the light of consciousness this all sounds a bit dramatic. However, this was all happening just within the veil of mist.

On the other hand - at the same time- I became aware of the light of Love and how that illumined the situation.

It showed a totally different perspective.

How could I have known the consequences of my actions?

I had done the best I could at the time. There was nothing to forgive, I was Love and Loved anyway. There was nothing to judge and nothing to forgive.

As I write this I am beginning to see that the root of my profound sense of guilt was my sense of separateness, my belief in isolation.

When I saw myself as always being a part of the universe of Light, the sense of guilt began dissolving. I was amazed, there was no effort, just a change of view.

Of course! How stupid, why hadn’t I seen this before?

The swiftest way to help the universe unfold was let go of my resistance to the Light, in this situation, to let go of my guilt, which was only a shadow.

Gosh, Now I can see meaning in that phrase “this is the planet of choice” That is our life’s work. Simply to choose which worldview to see and therefore live with.

With Love and companionship,

Geoff

Geoff Napier and the whole team at Cygnus

Our intention is that Cygnus Review helps you accept and bring to light your inner divine nature.

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WELCOME

GENTLE SELF-COMPASSION: The key to healing our emotions by John Sherry A few years ago I came to a point in my life where I felt unable to chart my position and find a way forwards.

I was trying hard but getting nowhere. I had lived a life you were supposed to live.

Gotten the career I craved, bought the home I aimed for, and brought my heart into the relationships in my life.

Yet I felt incomplete. Something was missing. Something very important to me.

Something deeper that would explain my existence.

A promising start to life had slipped unnoticed into hard times, bringing difficult experiences, and many mis-turns.

Try as I may I could not fathom why I had lost my way.

I had almost given up finding an answer. Despair was becoming a familiar companion.

A friend recommended I needed a retreat and I agreed just to have a break from life and let go of my worries for a change. It turned out to be a break INTO life and helped me begin retracing my steps back to my authentic self.

Under guidance I visited a previous life at the time we first became individually conscious, frequently known as the Fall. I had not previously been aware of this. In being there, ALL my difficult emotions, my tough stuff came flooding back; not to mention observing that these were the same feelings that had persisted in my life since it seemed to have taken a wrong turning. I say seemed because what then appeared to be “wrong” turned out with hindsight to be just right, since they had pointed me in a new direction. I realised that these were all repetitions of the trauma experienced during my first life as an individual consciousness.

But the real journey forwards was to occur afterwards.

I had believed that re-connecting to those lost emotions would free me right then and there as it had done with other past lives I had uncovered. That the initial burst of emotional release over the days I was at the retreat would lift the veil and send me clear on my way like a patient successfully operated on.

Not so. I did not realise immediately that the habits these emotions had created would take much longer to dissipate. I learned that each buried or suppressed emotion from this time could be welcomed when its turn came, welcomed wholeheartedly, accepted and then released to

yield up their own gifts.

The discovery was, in breaking the shell of awareness, all that lay hidden could surface….when it was ready. Like me you will probably have to learn to be gentle and patient with yourself when this occurs. Allow yourself space and time to experience these and process them. You may have waited many a millennia for this healing so if months pass and still old emotions and triggers appear, remember all is well. Soon, without realising it, the flood becomes a trickle and eventually leaves altogether. The ‘lost’ feelings, the times of emotional overload, as they release, will give way to balance and a surer sense of connection with the universe. Like the seasons slowly melding from winter to summer. This is a gentle time on your journey.

Gentle, because you find compassion for all that you wish to release for your greater good.

And gentle because old accumulated emotions can take a while to fully emerge so taking it slow and easy allows profound healing to take place. Thus a lightened soul can evolve into an enlightening one.

There is no rush. With what you let go emotionally you also uncover another more profound layer. A clearer connection to Source opens up. This period of release and awakening cannot be accomplished overnight or any set time. Simply allow.

Soon a greater sense of oneness with your authentic self will emerge together with peace, joy, wisdom and truth.

If you have come this far, you have travelled a long way on your journey. Tread softly with these steps.

Trust the process.

With deep Love, John Sherry MAGIC MOMENTS Little spiritual breakthroughs can happen in the most ordinary of places.

They can spring forth at almost unnoticed moments in our lives.

These are the fruits of an authentic life drawn towards the Light of the highest good rather than being the result of efforts of our willpower or years of accumulating secondhand knowledge.

They choose their their own moments to break through the old patterns and hardened layers of our lives.

Do you have any magic moments to share with us? Adam and I would love to read them.

Geoff Napier

ORDER & CUSTOMER SERVICE LINE ❖ Phone: 02078 594 375 Email: advertising@cygnus-books.co.uk ❖ Website: www.cygnusreview.com

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FIND YOUR LOCAL CYGNUS CAFÉS BERKS, Bracknell Ms Debbie Lewis 01344 455 394 BERKS, Upper Basildon Lynne Mitchell 7770278080 lpmtll@gmail.com BERWICKSHIRE, Eyemouth Maggie Cole 01890 781 099 rebecca66south@hotmail.com BIRMINGHAM, Tamworth Jo Greaves 07738 216 429 jo.greaves@talktalk.net BRISTOL, Bishopston Martin Harvey 01179 425 460 m_harvey@phonecoop.coop BUCKS, Milton Keynes Nikki Brown 07972 257 004 nikki-nutrimed@hotmail.co.uk CAMBRIDGE Penny Brown 01223 467 672 penelopebsnell@gmail.com CARDIGAN, Llangrannog Amanda Painting 01239 654699 amandapainting@gmail.com CARMARTHEN Dorothy Morris 01267 267 652 dorothy_morris@hotmail.com CHESHIRE, Chester Lynn Alexander 01244 951 753 lynnalexander@talktalk.net CLEVELAND, Saltburn Kathryn Luczakiewicz 01287 204 400 info@saltburnwellbeingcentre. co.uk

DERBYSHIRE, Derby David Steare 01332 661 102 david.steare@ntlworld.com

ISLE OF WIGHT, Shanklin Kate Stuart 07957 909566 redfox_1@btinternet.com

N GWYNEDD, Dinorwig Maria Lamburn 01286 872 115 galeritonic@googlemail.com

SGWYNEDD, Theatr Harlech Maria Lamburn 01286 872 115 galeritonic@googlemail.com

DERBYSHIRE, Chesterfield Phoebe Alonso 07966 561 445 info@pddevelopment.co.uk

KENT, Ashford Sylvia Nichols 01233 626 206 viastjames@icloud.com

N YORKS, Scarborough Helen Marriott 01723 381 118 info@fountainscourt.com

S YORKS, Doncaster Sandra Edwards 07773 173 919 sandra579@btinternet.com

DEVON, Barnstable Mrs Viv Easton 01271 375 303 easton866@btinternet.com

KENT, Hildenborough Liz Wright 07808 184 458 e_lizwright@hotmail.com

N YORKS, Selby Val Turner 01757 701 571 valdert@btinternet.com

STAFFS, Stourbridge Suzanne Taylor 01384 936 227 suzanne@auraveda.co.uk

DEVON, Barnstable Lynne Clement 01271 374 025 lynneclement@hotmail.com

LANCS, Lancaster Catherine Hunt 07957 861 408 info@therelaxationroom.co.uk

N YORKS, Whitby Daphne Wright 01947 602 425 daphnewright05@gmail.com

DEVON, Newton Abbot Carol Courtier 01626 335 140 carolcourtier@msn.com

LANCS, Lytham, St Ann's Simone Qualter & Andy Cowgill 07928 632 976 simonequalter@yahoo.co.uk

NORTHUMB'D, Bamburgh Anthea Jackson 07794 944796 antheajackson@hotmail.co.uk

STAFFS, Newcastle -under-Lyme Rosemary Stephenson 07775 854 640 rosemary@celestiallighthealers. com

DORSET, Bournemouth Georgie Fox 07759 724 008 blessgeorgie123@gmail.com

LEICS, Coalville Cheryl Colpman 01530 831 798 cheryl@cherylcolpman.co.uk

OXON, Witney Cindy Gumm 07525 267 817 cinjken420@hotmail.com

DORSET, Sherbourne Niki Cassar 01963 371 695 mail@nikicassar.com

LEICS, Hinkley 01455 444 518 withane.anne@googlemail.com

RHONDDA, Pontyprith Louisa Mills cygnuscaferct@aol.co.uk.

LEICS, Newtown Linford Debra Davis 07748 274 373 reikidebra@hotmail.co.uk

ROSSHIRE, Conon Bridge Shenagh Leiper 07721 656 668 leipershenagh@gmail.com

LONDON, Ealing Christina Tett 0208 998 5131 guinevere006@yahoo.co.uk

SANDBACH Karl Grey 07450 499 284 karlgrey@hotmail.co.uk

MANCHESTER, Sale Rosemary Plunkett 0161 962 4123 rosieglow3@icloud.com

SHROPSHIRE, Ironbridge Romella Jones 01952 881 151 cariadtherapies@outlook.com

MERSEYSIDE, Liverpool, Thornton Sue Massey 0151 924 6240 suemassey60@yahoo.com

SOMERSET, Bath Mari Batholomew 01225 840 889 mari@sulis-health.co.uk

E SUSSEX, Bexhill on Sea Sybil Roughley 01424 210384 sybilroughley@btinternet.com E SUSSEX, Eastbourne Valerie Abl 01323 726 652 valerie@talentshift.co.uk E SUSSEX, Hove Simon 01273 220 159 info@tolcentre.com ESSEX, Southend Pauline Poole 01702 535 324 papoole36@gmail.com

CORNWALL, Port Isaac Ann Fanstone 01208 880 300 fanstone@phonecoop.coop

ESSEX, Wickford Jan Westall 01268 734 274 jan.westall@btconnect.com

CORNWALL, Penzance Anthea Tounsend 01736 719 606

GLOS, Nailsworth Patsy Freeman 01453 839 303 freeman.49@btinternet.com

CORNWALL, Truro Jane Goodall 07967 201 929 janegoodall@live.co.uk

HANTS, Alershot Hazel Cornwall 07947 344 140 hazel__cornwell@hotmail.com

CUMBRIA, Penrith HEREFORDSHIRE, Mordiford Jackie Lewis Averil Clother 07799 884452 jackie.lewis@lewissurveying.com 07875 665 015 averilann68@gmail.com

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MERSEYSIDE, Liverpool, Woolton Pamela Langley 0151 421 1772 pamelalangley@hotmail.com MOLD Helen Rushforth 01244 8311 63 h.rushforth@uwclub.net

SOMERSET, Glastonbury Colin Simmonds 07811 539 963 colin.sadhu@gmail.com SOMERSET, Taunton Robin Littman 01278 671 679 Robin@resource-me.com SOMERSET, Yeovil Suzy Langdon 07762 314 319 suzysoo62@hotmail.co.uk

NORFOLK, Fakenham Gemma Challis 07576 365 214 gemma@thenorfolkretreat.co.uk SOUTH GLOS, Thornbury Mrs Maggie Jeffery 01454 413 535 maggiejeffery2@hotmail.co.uk

STAFFS, Stoke-on-Trent Nathan Smallman 07724 189 988 nathan.smallman@btinternet.com STAFFS, Stratford Upon Avon Gaynor Godiva 07966 182 546 gaynor_godiva@hotmail.com SURREY, Caterham John Sleeman 01883 340 025 jjsleeman@aol.com SURREY, Cobham Mary Hartnett 07866 574 104 maryhaertnett@live.com SURREY, Croydon Valerie Williams 0208 654 0615 angelicgreetings2u@yahoo.com SURREY, Guildford Vali Drummond 01483 810 843 hapivali7@gmail.com SURREY, Shere Linda Sewell 07850 839 472 lindasewell@hotmail.co.uk SWANSEA Matthew Rayner 07779 887 150 2humphreystreet@gmail.com THURSO Fiona Shepheard 01955 611 332 fionashepherd18@googlemail. com TYNE & WEAR, Cullercoats Rachel Robson 07540 151 207 christinepeek23@gmail.com

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FIND YOUR LOCAL CYGNUS CAFÉS TYNE & WEAR, Sunderland Angela Cousins 07423 120 760 angelacousins7@gmail.com W YORKS, Boston Spa Chris Taylor 07948 550 546 chrisltaylor63@yahoo.co.uk W YORKS, Holmfirth Leanne Ainley 01484 680 126 info@holmevalleywellbeing.com WARKS, Leamington Spa Sarah Orchard 01926 420 809 longman.sarah@googlemail.com WARKS, Leamington Spa, Lillington Maria Reece 07795 202 168 maria@mariareece.co.uk W MIDLANDS, Wolverhampton Jas Bassi 07830 019 513 Info@jasbassi.com W SUSSEX, Bosham Kathryn Bingham 01243 572 109 office@thehamblinvision.org.uk W SUSSEX, Littlehampton Annette Seaman 07977 737 038 annetteseaman@gmail.com W SUSSEX, Whiteman's Green Judy Sharp 01444 459 433 judysharp123@gmail.com WILTS, Salisbury Jane Wainwright 01722 413 902 janesnowflake@gmail.com WIRRAL, Merseyside Carol Carter 0151 334 6617 carolcarter100@btinternet.com WORCS, Evesham Elizabeth Payne 07906 091 022 elizabethann.payne@tiscali. co.uk WORCS, Malvern June Walters 01684 568 192 mpower4you@gmail.com WORCS, Tenbury Wells Hilary Foxwell 01584 819 010

Letters and poetry from Cygnus members Trust To trust is to reflect the light of a million stars Through your eyes And know that in the presence of such love Lives will be touched by your radiance.

To plunge fearlessly into the vast ocean of life With an open heart and a quiet mind And watch miracle after miracle flow forth From the Mind of God through you.

To embrace the darkness in full gratitude And when the light of dawn arrives To fall in love again And allow Grace to create another day.

Wendy Frances Hoy As with all such writings, it belongs to a certain mood and space to reveal its beauty.

It certainly takes me somewhere else when I connect with it. I hope you enjoy it. Geoff.

Working with the heart’s light underground

❖ Some time ago now I got a very powerful lesson whilst travelling on the London Underground. An unkempt man got on and it was obvious that he was in a troubled time.

He was untidy and not very clean and it was not difficult to see that he could be homeless.

I felt sorry for him and the unhappiness that I sensed was in him. I felt rather powerless to do anything about it but I used my mind to send him some good thoughts that things might get better for him. He was some distance away from me but as I passed him

to get off, he lifted his head and made eye contact with me and said 'Thank you'. It was my first realisation that we are not powerless and can do good with our thoughts. It made me see how important thought can be when directed by our hearts and it was an important step on my healing path.

Val Turner

Cygnus Cafes in Tyneside.

❖ Last week I went up and met a group of Cygnus members in Tyneside.

We had members travel from Penrith, Sunderland and north Northumberland too, In the morning we got to know each other and shared our vision for rekindling opportunities in our local communities by providing sacred spaces free from dogmas and belief systems. After lunch we held a cafe circle together and allowed our hearts to lead the conversation.

You will notice quite a number of changes this issue in the list, some venues and contacts have changed and about 7 new groups are starting. On my up and back to Tyneside I visited new coordinators in Boston Spa and Selby. Do you live nearby? You’d be very welcome to call any of the cafe’s.

Being The Change

We are also looking for your own stories of grassroots initiatives where you have quietly got on with your own Light Inspired revolution.

Perhaps you have had a near death experience that seemed to pick your life up and set you set you down with a totally new destination -as if you life were a children's clockwork toy train that’s ended up down a siding and hit the buffers.

Then you’ve been given a fresh start on a new track. Maybe you have been throwing seed bombs onto waste land, or your heart has driven you to connect with refugees and have learned how much they can teach you as they face the complete unknown with absolutely nothing except courage to carry on. By sharing these stores we want to encourage each other to be the change we all want to see, each of us in our own way, in our own localities. Actions that stem from listening to a different song that speaks to your soul.

We are looking for both shorter (200 words) or longer pieces (up to 700 words)

ORDER & CUSTOMER SERVICE LINE ❖ Phone: 02078 594 375 Email: advertising@cygnus-books.co.uk ❖ Website: www.cygnusreview.com

13

BOOK REVIEWS — Nature’s NAME abundance OF WRITER XXXXX ABUNDANCE

by Alys Fowler

Alys Fowler has been gardening since her early teens and this is her fourth book. The subtitle is “How to Store and Preserve Your Garden Produce” and it’s a cornucopia of stories, tips, techniques and recipes to help you deal with all the riches of the garden which you can’t eat immediately and have to store. It’s full of inspiring photographs and the chapter headings include On Pickling, On Fermenting, On Sugar and On Bottling. This book is a tremendous resource for anyone pursuing a frugal and healthy life, or anyone who just likes kimchi, chutneys and jam.

BUY TWO FOR £10.00

208pp, 240 x 210 mm, Paperback, RRP £17.99

❖ Code: 260426 Our price: £12.99

BUY THREE FOR £15.00

ABSTRACT NATURE

by Waltraud Nawratil

Imagine learning a way of communicating how you feel about the world around you. In this new book, Waltraud guides us through a range of techniques and exercises that combine both colour and texture. The author encourages you to experiment with different surfaces, tools and accessories that are reassuringly messy. She frees you from looking at the surface of things and encourages you to establish a connection from your heart to the essence of your subject. This fully illustrated book can inspire us all to begin perceiving our world with all our faculties, not just our eyes, whether or not we intend to paint. From Search Press, the publishers of our previous highly successful Paint Yourself Calm.

112pp, 224 x 218 mm, Paperback, RRP £12.99

❖ Code: 260425 Our price: £6.99

LIVING TEA

by Louise Avery

I think you could get more technical books on this fermented probiotic drink, but I can’t imagine one that would be a more useful introduction, both to its initial creation and to its further enhancement via a further thirty recipes. It’s illustrated in full colour throughout and the photographs make drinks like Chia Cherryade and Ginger and Lemon Fizz look refreshing and wholesome.

Their immense health benefits are well attested. The book (by a UK-based author) also has a useful directory of suppliers and resources and, I would suggest, will make a great gift.

MOMENTS OF MINDFULNESS SERIES

by Danielle and Olivier Föllmi

Danielle and Olivier Föllmi travelled far and wide to witness the celebrations, landscapes, rituals and traditions of cultures all over the world, seeking to understand and capture the connections linking people to their beliefs. Their photographs – transcendental, transformative and profound – invoke the divine through the unique and eternal face of humanity. Paired here with a meditation by a great writer, master, philosopher or poet, they calm our senses and prepare our souls to receive simple yet profound teachings. We are offering these titles at a low price because we think they will make excellent gifts. The photography is vibrant and stunning, and almost all the quotations fit very well with the Cygnus spirit. There are quotations included from Mahatma Gandhi, The Buddha and The Dalai Lama 288pp, 119 x 166 mm, Hardback, RRP £8.95

MINDFUL MOMENTS: INDIAN WISDOM ❖ Code: 260422 Our price: £5.99

MINDFUL MOMENTS: BUDDHIST OFFERINGS ❖ Code: 260423 Our price: £5.99

MINDFUL MOMENTS: THE WISDOM OF ASIA ❖ Code: 260424 Our price: £5.99

96pp, 210 x 170 mm, Paperback, RRP £9.99

❖ Code: 260427 Our price: £5.99

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BOOK YOUR AD TODAY ❖ Phone: 02078 594 375 ❖ Email: advertising@cygnus-books.co.uk More information: www.cygnusreview.com/pages/advertising

Mindful moments — BOOK REVIEWS DEEP AWAKE

by Tim Freke

Cutting-edge contemporary philosopher Tim Freke has distilled the broader text The Mystery Experience and created a direct and to-the-point approach to awakening. The key to Tim’s teaching is the way he can present everyday experiences differently, flipping familiar contexts on their heads, thus creating a mini-breakthrough, a small moment of illumination, which has the potential to change your life forever. It’s a love letter to the bittersweet human experience, a demonstration that the ego can be the hero and not the villain of the spiritual journey. You might disagree with what he says (and on occasion I do!) but his words have a great integrity and wisdom and there is much there to be learnt. Just sit back and enjoy the ride.

208pp, 180 x 130 mm, Paperback, RRP £9.99

❖ Code: 260433 Our price: £4.99

THE ART OF MINDFUL BAKING

by Julia Ponsonby

Mindfulness is a word much in use these days. We are constantly reminded it is the doorway to a better life, but trying to achieve it can still be a struggle. Rose Elliot has been well-known for decades as a pioneer of vegetarian cooking, but here she uses her skill for writing clear and practical explanations to guide us towards achieving mindfulness through our breathing. The Buddha taught simple breathing exercises, so using the breath to assist focus and transform a mindfulness practice is nothing new. We all breathe, but learning how to perform something we all do unconsciously in a mindful way is a wonderful process. Breathing is far more than just air entering and leaving the body; it can be a powerful tool for developing self awareness, and no special equipment or study is required, just guidance towards recognising we already have all we need. A small simple book but something to treasure.

128pp, 165 x 130 mm, Paperback, RRP £7.99

Another in the beautifully packaged and illustrated series from Running Hare Press, the practice of baking is honoured as one of the most fundamental mindful practices.

There is something inherently peaceful about baking and this book will allow you to take that natural practice even further. You can’t rush baking, you can’t force the dough to rise any quicker. It’s all a practical meditation. Add to that the smell of the dough or the cake batter and the warmth from the oven: it all contributes towards a nurturing atmosphere. Even kneading itself can be seen to promote wellbeing. this fantastic introfuction to the healing power of baking also includes recipes and beautiful print-style illustrations. Julia Ponsonby works at the world-famous Schumacher College in Devon.

144pp, 160 x 119 mm, Paperback, RRP £8.99

❖ Code: 260428 Our price: £5.99

SHELDON MINDFULNESS: COMPASSION

by Caroline Latham

EVERY BREATH YOU TAKE

by Rose Elliot

❖ Code: 260432 Our price: £3.99

CRYSTAL MINDFULNESS

by Judy Hall

This is perfect if you’re finding that you need a point of focus in your mindfulness practices.

This book is the latest from well-known crystal expert, Judy Hall, and suits both the beginner and crystal aficionado. It is split into two parts – one introducing crystals and mindfulness practices, and the second is a directory of some of the most helpful crystals to use for mindfulness. Each crystal page details its qualities, how to use it and what it can bring to mindfulness. The book has 25 crystals in total, each accompanied by a beautiful photograph that captures the essence of the crystal, allowing the user to supplement the book’s images for the crystals themselves.

96pp, 163 x 130 cm, Paperback, RRP £7.99

❖ Code: 260429 Our price: £4.99

This is a companion title to the other Sheldon book on journaling. Sheldon have a distinguished record in bringing out genuine self-help books: books written by experts, which you can use to make yourself happier and more self-actualised. Compassion is a new developing field in mindfulness therapy, which is more proactive in dealing with issues and painful problems, or blocks you can’t get past.

It borrows a lot from Tibetan Buddhism in particular, and this book clearly gains a lot from the author’s absorption into Tibetan philosophy. The actor Brian Blessed said that he “cannot recommend it highly enough”.

Sheldon in the spotlight

SHELDON MINDFULNESS: KEEPING A JOURNAL

by Philip Cowell

Anyone and everyone can start a journal. You can start your ‘journal journey’ right now, but if you’re feeling hesitant or at a loss with how to start, this book will give you that small nudge in the right direction. It is well-paced, with a gentle, easy structure that is simple to follow and allows for the reader to dip in and out, as and when they need to. It includes a great mix of small and extensive writing exercises that ease you into the journaling frame of mind. There is no right or wrong way to journal, it comes down to how you choose to express yourself. Using a journal is a fantastic mindfulness practice and it is as easy as three simple steps: gather, jot and wonder.

96pp, 210 x 140mm, Paperback, RRP £7.99

❖ Code: 260431 Our price: £4.99

96pp, 210 x 140mm, Paperback, RRP £7.99

BUY BOTH FOR £9.49

❖ Code: 260430 Our price: £4.99

ORDER & CUSTOMER SERVICE LINE ❖ Phone: 02078 594 375 Email: advertising@cygnus-books.co.uk ❖ Website: www.cygnusreview.com

15

PATRICK HOLFORD - WALKABOUT

I

have also had profound experiences in nature. This is part of the ‘walkabout’ tradition of the Aboriginal people. Several years ago, after the bust-up of a significant relationship, I was working hard and living alone and, despite a fair amount of outward ‘success’, I was uncomfortably aware that in essence I felt lonely, and I wasn’t happy with this almost permanent, nagging, ‘empty’ and ‘incomplete’ feeling.

I knew that the answer lay on the inside, but I didn’t know the way in.

So I decided to confront the fear of being alone by going to a part of the world where I didn’t speak the language and to a region where there wasn’t anybody there, and just be by myself.

I booked a flight to Santiago in Chile, hired a jeep and headed off into a remote region in the high plains of the Andes with the intention of reaching the top of Volcan Copiapo, a dormant volcano at 6,052m (18,500ft).

After two days’ driving I headed inland and civilization soon disappeared.

I drove along a deserted mining track, rising higher and higher until I came over a ridge and saw a vast deserted plain and a 72 Conscious Connection turquoise lake, home to hundreds of bright pink flamingos, surrounded by snow-capped volcanos.

The next day I left my jeep and headed off on foot up Volcan Copiapo.

Soon there were no signs of life. There was only me.

At night, as I camped, the eastern horizon lit up with lightning and I heard the sound of distant thunder. The

‘I decided to confront the fear of being alone...’

PATRICK HOLFORD - AUTHOR

sky was sprinkled with millions of stars.

In the day, I walked like an ant, ever uphill, in this vast deserted space.

Being by myself, with no distractions, I became acutely aware of the voice inside my head. Do you know the one?

That inner judge that says things like ‘What if I get lost? Why on Earth am I doing this? I’m a failure. I’m a fraud.

What if someone steals my jeep? I shouldn’t have come this way. I should have saved that snack bar for later.’ Or the inner show-off: ‘Wow, this looks great – I must take a picture to show

THE CHEMISTRY OF CONNECTION by Patrick Holford

An established expert on the links between nutrition and mental health, Patrick Holford takes a look at how all this relates to the fundamental meaning of life. What is the connection to a higher purpose that superhealthy people seem to have? Disconnection is all-pervasive in the modern world, as if we are on a deliberate path to self destruction. There must a different way, where we wake up our consciousness and experience love. Our brain chemistry is a key factor, we cannot feel well and connected if we are overwhelmed by anguish, stress and pain, but pharmaceutical drugs only seems to aggravate the disconnection. Positive intention and creative visualisation are tools to enhance mind-body connection, as are spending time in a natural environment, careful choice of nutrition and resources and respect for our planet Earth. These are all things that connect us to the heart.

312pp, 229 x 152 mm, Paperback, RRP £12.99

❖ Code: 260434 Our price: £7.99

16

people how brave I am in the middle of nowhere.’ Or the endless cacophony of sub-personalities.

Instead of listening to these voices and buying into their fears and fantasies, I started to repeat the mantra ‘Om Namah Shivaya’ internally.

The meaning of this mantra is best described as ‘I bow to the inner 73 Doors to Enlightenment self/Shiva’ affirming that ‘Nothing exists which is not Consciousness,’ including my self.

After two days in this solitude, repeating the mantra, the voices in my head stopped and silence began to take their place. I started to just be present – to make a choice and get on with it.

I also started to feel a kind of connection with the Earth. My senses became more acute. I could hear the sound of water under the earth, although there was no sign of running water in any direction. I had gone from lonely to alone to all-one.

My simple goal was the top of the volcano, but as I got closer and closer, suffering from lack of oxygen, the eversteepening icy terrain and my lack of physical strength, I realized I couldn’t make the very top, especially without crampons, since it was covered in ice.

The view, however, was magnificent in every direction. And my consciousness seemed to expand in this breathtaking vista – not that I had much breath left.

When I finally made it back to ‘base camp’, my tent in the middle of nowhere, exhausted but alive, I burst into tears. I’m not sure if they were tears of joy or relief.

Nothing

The sound of nothing moving across still water, The faint glow at the edge of a dark night, The sky mauve, blue, black and white, No movement, no sound, no light.

Hear the wind of a breezeless night, Feel the beat of a soundless drum, Absorb the heat although there is no Sun, Know that you are not alone. ❖ Extract from The Chemistry of Connection, courtesy of Hay House 2016

BOOK YOUR AD TODAY ❖ Phone: 02078 594 375 ❖ Email: advertising@cygnus-books.co.uk More information: www.cygnusreview.com/pages/advertising

Wellness — BOOK REVIEWS THE TRUTH ABOUT CANCER

by Ty M Bollinger

THE DIVIDED MIND

by Dr John E Sarno

344pp, 231 x 157 mm, Hardback, RRP £20.00

394pp, 231 x 159 mm, Paperback, RRP £14.99

HEALTHY FOOD, HEALTHY GUT, HAPPY CHILD

by Dr Maya Shetreat-Klein

HOW NOT TO DIE

by Dr Michael Greger

320pp, 234 x 153 mm, Paperback, RRP £14.99

576pp, 234 x 153 mm, Paperback, RRP £14.99

At some point all of us will come face-to-face with cancer, whether via a family member, a friend or ourselves. Ty Bollinger’s book is a must-read, offering enlightening facts about cancer and its medical history, and empowering hope for treatment and prevention. Ty is a man on a mission. His message? To inform us that cancer is not a death sentence, that anyone anywhere can activate the body’s miraculous, God-given healing potential through natural health principles. This book can help you make the right choices and give you new resources for coping with cancer in your or your loved one’s life.

❖ Code: 260438 Our price: £8.99

❖ Code: 260435 Our price: £11.99

Sometimes you have to overlook a difficult title if the content is important and that’s the case here. Because no one can live forever, but it is possible to prevent and reverse lifethreatening diseases. The chapter titles better reveal the book’s topics, for example “How Not To Die From Lung Disease” and “How Not To Die From Diabetes”. The book is packed full of fascinating cutting-edge health advice and we recommend it because it puts all the information out there without gimmicks. The second half of the book focuses on the nutritional benefits of all the food groups.

Just what are we putting into our children’s bodies and how does it affect them? If you want to know the shocking truth and know what to do about it, then this book is for you.

You’ll learn why so many kids have chronic illnesses, why so many have allergies and how these allergies affect your child’s development and behaviour. It arms you with a comprehensive nutritional plan and with information that will transform your child’s gut, body, brain and overall health, giving you a wonderfully happy child. ❖ Code: 260438 Our price: £8.99

HEALING SPICES by Kirsten Hartvig

Dr John E Sarno has pioneered a totally new approach to physical symptoms, which has met with a huge amount of success in his medical practice as a specialist in back pain. He has discovered that many very real symptoms, normally ascribed by doctors to physical causes and treated accordingly, are actually created by the brain to divert our conscious attention from repressed emotions such as fear and rage, which it considers dangerous to us. He also includes chapters written by other doctors revealing how and why thousands of people have become pain-free by following his revolutionary advice.

❖ Code: 260436 Our price: £8.99

Everyone is talking about turmeric nowadays, but the received wisdom seems to be that it’s more beneficial when cooked in a meal than when taken just as a supplement.

Here is a fascinating collection of 50 different spice profiles from ajowan to zedoary and including better-known ones like coriander and cloves.

Wars used to be fought over spices and with this book you can get some idea why. For a start, they make food taste great and the second half of the book includes a wide range of recipes, which use the spices to their best effect. It’s beautifully and clearly laid out. The author is a nutritionist, medical herbalist and naturopath, who practises in East Sussex.

Author in the spotlight

240pp, 236 x155 mm, Paperback, RRP £12.99

❖ Code: 260440 Our price: £6.99

HEALING BERRIES by Kirsten Hartvig

The companion volume to Healing Spices, this book illuminates the many benefits of berries in meals and drinks.

We all love berries but only now are nutritionists, cooks and the general public waking up to their health benefits. Again there are 50 profiles of the various berries, like bilberries, blueberries, rose hips and sloes, so many of which are not that hard to get hold of.

Kirsten also, of course, flags up the great joy in foraging and collecting the berries for yourself.

And then there are the recipes – not all drinks and desserts! There are main courses like Pasta with Walnut and Blackcurrant Pesto and Rose Hip Risotto. It’s an immensely fun and educational book.

240pp, 236 x155 mm, Paperback, RRP £12.99

BUY BOTH FOR £13.48

❖ Code: 260439 Our price: £6.99

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17

BOOK REVIEWS — Thought NAMEprovoking OF WRITER ideas XXXXX THE EMOTIONAL COMPASS

by Ilse Sand

The author’s previous book translated into English has been a huge success with the Cygnus Community and it’s a great pleasure to tell you about this illuminating title devoted to navigating your own challenging feelings. While it won’t have the same instant appeal as Highly Sensitive People in an Insensitive World, it’s written in the same crystal-clear and concise style, and is specifically oriented towards more sensitive people.

Her books bring all her psychotherapeutic skills to bear in making the difficult and complex world of emotions more easy to grasp and in making life just that bit easier.

136pp, 197 x 130 mm, Paperback, RRP £8.99

❖ Code: 260441 Our price: £4.99

PAUSE FOR THOUGHT

by BBC Radio 2

Taken from Radio 2’s daily broadcast on the Chris Evans and Vanessa Feltz shows, this includes contributions from an eclectic mix of contributors from a wide range of faiths. People express themselves in slightly different ways according to their religions but what is more significant is what unites them, especially around such qualities as love and gratitude. There is a great deal here that will inspire and comfort everyone; they might be written by rabbis and priests, comedians and actors, but the views are expressed with the kindness and generosity that we treasure in the Cygnus community.

Contributors include Rev Richard Coles, Father Brian D’Arcy and Rabbi Julia Neuberger.

176pp, 206 x 152 mm, Paperback, RRP £12.99

❖ Code: 260446 Our price: £7.99

UNCHARTED

by Colette Baron-Reid

PRAYER FOR THE DAY VOL II

by BBC Radio 4

224pp, 229 x 152 mm, Paperback, RRP £10.99

400pp, 203 x 163 mm, Hardback, RRP £12.99

DAILY PROMISE: 100 ways to be kinder to yourself

by Domonique Bertolucci

WHAT IS SOUND HEALING

by Lyz Cooper

The Daily Promise provides 100 ways to feel happy about your life.

It invites you to make small daily changes to the way you treat yourself; changes that will build your confidence, nurture your self esteem and ultimately leave you with more energy to do what you want to do and be who you want to be. This collection of inspirational messages, in an attractive pocket hardback format, will leave you feeling good about who you are and the life you live.

The modern world is so steeped in noise it is easy to lose awareness of sound. Our brains are powerfully programmed to respond to certain sounds, because sound is audible energy. In this book Lyz Cooper, co-founder of the Therapeutic Sound Association Research, introduces us to the power of music explaining how sound can be used for healing.

It provides a bridge between our bodies, the world we live in and our innermost spiritual senses. Drums, singing bowls and the voice are examples of wonderful therapeutic tools.

208pp, 171 x 121 mm, Hardback, RRP £7.99

144pp, 170 x 124 mm, Paperback, RRP £7.99

Take a journey into the uncharted waters of your soul with this amazing book from ‘spiritual cartographer’ Colette Baron-Reid. Where are you?

Where do you want to be? Who do you need to become? Colette will help you explore these in order to find your soul’s true calling.

Learn how to draw your own magical map of the soul and harness your personal power to turn your fear into possibility, and make magic happen. ❖ Code: 260442 Our price: £6.99

❖ Code: 260443 Our price: £5.99

18

After the successful first volume, this sequel provides a collection of 365 meditations from the BBC Radio 4 programme Prayer for the Day. There is a musing or a pertinent story, plus then a short prayer. These come from all of the major faiths, so it’s not specifically Christian, Hindu or anything. The book contains contributions on faith, today’s challenges and spiritual wellbeing from a wide variety of authors including Right Rev Richard Chartres, Bishop of London and Dr Musharraff Hussain, as well as an inspiring foreword by Bishop James Jones. ❖ Code: 260445 Our price: £7.99

❖ Code: 260444 Our price: £4.99

BOOK YOUR AD TODAY ❖ Phone: 02078 594 375 ❖ Email: advertising@cygnus-books.co.uk More information: www.cygnusreview.com/pages/advertising

WILLIAM BLOOM - Discovers the blessings of discomfort

T

his year I was part of a significant breakthrough when Ofqual, the government body, accredited the first UK qualification in spirituality. Yes, this is a success, but it was a process that took me right out of my comfort zone.

Throughout my life I have been disturbed, nervy and irritable when I have had to order my thinking so as to fit into other people’s boxes. I am okay with simple forms, but I am not okay with anything longer or more complex. Ask me to place a strategic business plan into a sequence of boxes in which you have to distinguish, for example, between ‘aims’, ‘purposes’ and ‘outcomes’, and I react like a nervous horse being saddled for the first time. My vision blurs and I get a headache. I also have a challenge looking at databases and excel sheets.

For decades, therefore, I have avoided this kind of paperwork, but for the Ofqual accreditation I was faced with months of it. It was a recipe for angry depression.

I knew I had to do something about this and self-manage my process. So for the first time in decades, before beginning work, I used ceremony. Before opening my computer I lit a candle, put on background music, meditated and said a prayer asking for help. This soothed me and I was then able to do the form-filling without freaking out.

This went on for months as versions of the course application and policies were edited and revised. Slowly, gradually, I became comfortable with the process.

After a while I no longer needed the ceremony and could just sit quietly with the paperwork, even enjoying it.

During this period I also had a moment of uncomfortable personal insight. I have a background in special educational needs and I realised that I had a cognitive challenge related to my learning style.

My brain is not wired easily to manage visually boxed information. It’s a very minor form of dyslexia. The insight was uncomfortable because I then looked back at my life and noticed how often I had disrespected people who are comfortable with boxed information, detailed specifications and databases. I had at times, under the guise of humour, even been rude and disruptive. Now

‘More love, more awareness’ WILLIAM BLOOM

many years on and after reflection I can understand that my negative behaviour was a defence mechanism protecting me because I could not do that kind of work myself. Argh!

I squirmed because I well knew that this kind of behaviour is typical of people with undiagnosed learning difficulties. As well as managing their learning challenge, they also have to manage their psychological backstory and compensatory defensiveness. I knew about all this in others but had not seen it in myself.

Fortunately, I could take all of this into my daily practice of meditation, compassionate awareness and healing.

And, of course, I have prayed for forgiveness. We all have our histories and challenges. Being open about them can really support us in the highest possible way.

Several moons on I now celebrate the divine economy of it all.

It is a package. The Ofqual qualification has landed. An aspect of the new spirituality is grounded in the mainstream. I embrace administrative paperwork. My defensive negative behaviour has been brought into the light and healed. These are good outcomes.

More love, more awareness.

But is there a more general and useful lesson that can be gleaned from my process? I think there is.

Most of us know that whenever we are emotionally reactive we are meeting an opportunity for personal growth.

But this growth requires intelligent care.

We need to step back, take responsibility and put into action practical strategies for self-management, healing and transformation.

At the same time there is a mysterious and benevolent flow to life, so it is crucial too that we ask for and are open to receiving help. If it healed my wayward attitude to bureaucratic paperwork, it can heal anything.

All my love, William. ❖ If you want to know more about the Diploma in Spirituality and Wellness, please go to: www.spiritualcompanions.org/ courses/overview/#. www.williambloom.

BEYOND HAPPINESS by Anthony Seldon

The author Anthony Seldon is a co-founder of Action For Happiness and a former headmaster.

In this very personal book he sets out his beliefs about ways we can all discover real happiness. His observations of the children he has taught and the successful politicians he has studied for successful biographies produce questions rather than answers. This is the work of a skilled teacher, constantly encouraging a response from the reader whom he invites to learn through exploration and active engagement in a process of personal change. Each short section includes spaces for notes and lists so this becomes a workbook for self-examination. Where so many books seek to dictate, this one inspires, guides and supports serious self study and yet it is a very easy-to-read book divided into bite size observations and challenges.

304pp, 197 x127 mm, Paperback, RRP £9.99

❖ Code: 260447 Our price: £6.99

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19

EXTRA SPECIAL OFFERS NAME OF WRITER XXXXX BEING HERE NOW

by Terry Favour

This is the kind of book that you can read in a single sitting. Terry Favour presents the philosophical and spiritual aspects of new science, especially quantum mechanics, in a simple, though not simplistic way.

Her illustrative style allows her to present some of the most sophisticated topics in science and philosophy to the lamen and expert alike. If you are interested in the paradigm-shifting discoveries shattering the barrier between science and spirituality, this is the book for you.

KICK ASS CREATIVITY

by Mary Beth Maziarz

SAVE 60%

379pp, 214 x 217 mm, Paperback, RRP £12.99

As the title suggests, the book is about more than creativity - it’s about charging your personal energy and connecting to an external, higher source of inspiration that will make your work happen. It’s about using the spiritual laws of the universe to turn your current ideas into realities and to come up with new ideas for future work. The book is essential for any open-minded creator who wants to take their creative powers to another level.

❖ Code: 260448 Our price: £5.00

256pp, 229 x 178mm, Paperback, RRP £10.99

PEACE OF MIND compiled by Alan Jacobs

THE SECRET WITHIN

by Annemarie Postma

❖ Code: 201604 Our price: £4.00

This comprehensive anthology of beautiful poetry and prose, compiled

by Alan Jacobs, is the ideal tonic for those feeling depressed or down-hearted in these turbulent times. The themes are uplifting and highly inspiring, and are certain to restore the spirits in a most positive way. Mixing sacred texts with words from Sigmund Freud, Marilyn Monroe, Robert Frost and more, the wisdom on how to live happily and healthily is within these pages.

256pp, 185 x 125mm, Hardback, RRP £12.99

❖ Code: 260449 Our price: £4.00

Annemarie Postma is a life coach with a no-nonsense style and sharp wit, both of which she turns on the search for personal growth. Showing that living a spiritual life isn’t complicated and doesn’t involve having your head in the clouds, she invites us to plant our feet on solid ground and change the way that we see the world. With simple exercises and affirmations, she shows us an easy and practical way to live a genuinely spiritual and fulfilling life.

SAVE 70%

MINDFUL MANDALA COLOURING BOOK

by Lisa Tenzin-Dolma

There are a plethara of colouring books available to buy but what sets this book apart, except for its size and inclusion of over 78 mandalas to colour and 30 templates for you to create your own designs, are the guided meditation and colour palette suggestions for every artwork that is included, as well as the directories of key mandala symbols. All the extras make this a book as much about meditation and spiritual growth as it is about colouring.

216pp, 240 x 230 mm, Paperback, RRP £12.99

❖ Code: 260450 Our price: £4.00

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224pp, 175 x 136 mm, Paperback, RRP £9.99

❖ Code: 201601 Our price: £4.00

SAVE 62%

SAVE 60%

THE MAN WHO SAW THE FUTURE

by Catherine Blackledge

SAVE 70%

Award-winning writer and academic Catherine Blackledge tells the story of one of the most important, but unrecognised, figures from the English Civil War, William Lilly. This exciting and colourful read, offers a unique view of the dramatic events of Stuart England through the eyes of one of the most prolific astrologers and prophets of his time, and makes a plea for the enduring value of astrology on the way.

248pp, 216 x 135 mm, Hardback, RRP £16.99

❖ Code: 260451 Our price: £6.00

SAVE 65%

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IRENE - ‘BEAUTY FROM WITHIN’ Have you tried IRENE Royal Jelly?

The Queen took it, Prince Phillip took it, Princess Diana took it, Sarah, Duchess of York took it when trying to get pregnant and was successful; Margaret Thatcher took it, and so do many high-profile figures and athletes to this day.

Royal Jelly is a highly nutritious substance known for its seemingly endless health benefits. The secretion is produced in the glands of worker bees exclusively for the consumption of the queen bee who is much larger in size, lives 50 times longer than other bees and unlike the others, is fertile, producing an average of 2,000 eggs a day.

In humans, this substance provides a source of energy and revitalisation and was introduced to the western world by one woman only, Irene Stein.

In her 40 year career, Irene has established two very successful companies and has been instrumental in developing her unique Royal Jelly formulation for consumers worldwide.

A blend of completely natural and herbal ingredients, the vitamin and mineral-rich formulation is ten times more potent than any other formulations available today and is known to promote a significant effect on health and well-being. It has been shown to: improve the condition of hair, nails and skin; strengthen the immune system; promote age-defying abilities; improve eyesight, stress management and fatigue, and relieve allergies. Other benefits include improved memory and concentration and a quicker recovery from operations. In children, Royal Jelly has been shown to improve eczema, asthma and hyperactivity and has great effects on learning difficulties.

KINDREDSPIRIT Sharing spiritual wisdom for over 25 years

Subscribe online and get the next 7 issues of Kindred Spirit delivered to your door for just £22

www.kindredspirit.co.uk

In fact, the IRENE Formulation has also been known to prevent hair loss and promote hair re-growth in its natural colour. So beneficial is Royal Jelly, that thousands have taken it throughout the world including Irene, her mother, two daughters and two granddaughters! Thanks to Royal Jelly, Irene, at 77 does not have a single grey hair and her mother, Sophie completely reversed the greying process!

For more information on IRENE Royal Jelly or to read more articles on the known health benefits, please visit www.irenesteinrj.com.

To enquire, please email: ireneroyaljelly@gmail.com or call 07831 641199.

For more information on Irene Stein, IRENE Royal Jelly and its many benefits or to read more articles, please visit www.irenesteinrj.com, email ireneroyaljelly@gmail.com or call 07831 641199.

WATKINS BOOKS (est. 1893) Esoteric Bookstore in the Heart of London

BOOKS / TA ROT / CRYSTA LS / INCENSE / JEW EL L ERY / FIL MS We Are Open Every Day! Address: 19-21 Cecil Court, London WC2N 4EZ (Nearest Tube: Leicester Square) Website: www.watkinsbooks.com - Enjoy Free UK Shipping on Web Orders over £30!

NOTICEBOARD S p i r i t ua l Co m pa n i o n S inspiring personal Development For accredited courses and trainings, 1-2-1 and peer circles

Bristol Anna Bianchi • anna-courageousliving.com East anglia Naomi Duffield • mangreen.co.uk Essex/ireland Chrissie Astell • angellight.co.uk Evesham Kate Bird • katebird.co.uk Harrogate Martine Moorby • martinemoorby.com london Margaret Law-Homewood • evolvingheart.org london/Glastonbury William Bloom • williambloom.com north lincs Carl Stonier • personal-potential.co.uk Somerset Sarah Jane Williamson • shapingwisdom.com

www.spiritualcompanions.org 01458 555008 EVENTS, COURSES & WORKSHOPS KARUNA REIKI ® (including Holy Fire Reiki) Next step for Reiki Masters (all lineages) seekers of Universal Truth and Compassion. Classes set in beautiful Peak District. (All levels of Usui Reiki taught). Tel 01629 733227 Email: peakspirit@ hotmail.co.uk; visit www.karunareiki.co.uk ANAM CARA RETREAT CENTRE, Scottish Highlands, Inverness. Residential workshops and retreats in Shamanism, Buddhism, Meditation, Yoga Training, Permaculture & Working Retreats. To request a brochure, tel. 01463 711702 email: welcome@anamcara.org visit: www.anamcara.org THE CRYSTAL ENLIGHTENMENT CONFERENCE Saturday 23rd - Sunday 24th July. Hotel Metropole, Llandrindod Wells. Join a host of respected teachers and authors for a weekend full of crystal insights and inspiration.

Early bird prices until end of March 2016. T: 01597 822749 www.crystalconference.info

HEALING, COACHING AND READINGS CLAIRVOYANT, PAUL offers spiritually guided consultations in Brighton & Eastbourne and also by telephone. My work always helps those ready for change. Please telephone Brighton 01273 602929 for further details.

CLAIRVOYANT TAROT READINGS ON CD £25 Postal or Telephone. Looking for positive change? Making a tough decision? Gain clear direction and Answers. 35yrs Experience. Maria 01202 600756 help@totallyshamanic.com AKASHIC RECORD READINGS £65, releases patterns from the past, clears blockages, gives direction with life’s choices. face to face, email, Skype readings. Feng Shui, Healthy Home consultations tel: 07885 945008 www.fengshuilife.co.uk email: vickysweetlove@yahoo.co.uk

UNIQUE SPIRITUAL EMAIL READINGS by Jo Walker.

Individual, positive, healing advice. Over 20 years’ experience. Payment by donation. For more information or to request a reading email me at jcwalker888@yahoo.co.uk SPIRITUAL RESPONSE REMOTE HEALING clears karmic blocks, behaviour patterns and toxic buildings for clarity and peace. Also Yogic Meditation 4 month online courses, fortnightly sessions via Skype. Jenny 07801751244. jenny@living-lightly.co.uk www.living-lightly.co.uk IVY - GENUINE ROMANY CLAIRVOYANT & MEDIUM. Est.35 yrs. Is your future uncertain? I have the answers you seek! Immediate telephone consultations: 01843 866862 Not an agency!

AFFECTED BY NEGATIVE ENERGY? Professional remote scanning safely releases negative thoughts, beliefs, behaviours, pastlife issues, spirit attachments, cutting ties for people and property. Contact Margaret Payne 01458 835317, Facebook.com/negativeenergyrelease ASTROLOGICAL CHILD PROFILE – UNIQUE GIFT Beautifully presented in a luxury silver hardback cover, this detailed 45 plus page report will help all parents to understand their children better. Tel: 01540 661828 SOUL CONTRACT READING - Spiritually guided consultations. Align with your Soul Blueprint, uncover your best future potential. Empower yourself, overcome challenges, grow your strengths, manifest your dreams.

Contact Marion M:07975782998 marion.soul.destiny@gmail.com ANGELIC GUIDANCE WITH MICHAEL – Welcome positive change into your life. Please telephone Eastbourne 01323 365751 for further details. mikeallone@talktalk.net CHANNELLED READINGS AND MEDIUMSHIP Phone sessions densely packed with clear, accurate, waffle-free information,pointers to your growth and development, healing messages from family, pets, loved ones. Corinne Jeffrey 01594 829491/ +44 1594 29491 www.lovebeingyou.co.uk REMOTE SOUL HEALING – Realign your soul to its optimum purpose. Past life blockages, negativity, spirit attachment, removed from you and your property. Enjoy an Akashic Record Reading. Contact Gill 07900 300828 gill@light2life.co.uk SHIFT YOUR LIFE! Let experienced coach, therapist/ energy transformer, Rosemary, boost you. Art/ Writing/ Music. RHYDYWENNOL CENTRE. Idyllic magical garden location in rural Wales. M4 access. rosemary.graham7@ virgin.net. Autumn/Spring. Individuals/groups. www. http//:thelifeawakeningcoach.weebly.com

PSYCHIC LYNNE, very powerful, the best tarot and medium reading that you will ever have. 0113 278 4222 all cards welcome. Pay by phone 0913 5300003 £1.02 per minute, mobiles may vary.

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BOOK YOUR AD TODAY ❖ Phone: 02078 594 375 ❖ Email: advertising@cygnus-books.co.uk More information: www.cygnusreview.com/pages/advertising

NOTICEBOARD RETREATS MINDFULNESS SELF-MASTERY RETREAT. York Gate Garden, Adel, Leeds LS16 8DW. First Saturday of month 9.30 - 13.00. Cost £25. Contact Deborah Snowden 07798526319, email:efthealingandgolf@gmail.com. www.efthealingandgolf.com PEACEFUL HILLSIDE RETREAT North Wales. Healing space to reflect, rest and rejuvenate. Beautiful mountain views. Lovingly prepared meals. Personalised retreat: soulcounselling, meditation, Reiki, labyrinth, spiritual library, walks.... www.soul-life.co.uk Helen 01352 780281 HEALING RETREAT WEEKEND FOR MIND BODY AND SPIRIT in the beautiful Pennines of West Yorkshire August 26th-28th including a workshop “enhancement for your PersonalSelf” www.thursthousefarm.co.uk 01422 822820 07759 619043

WANTED BACK ISSUES OF CYGNUS If you have been keeping the Cygnus Reviews and would like them to find good homes bring them with you to the One World Summer Festival.

We will use them to raise funds for the Cygnus Cafe network.

We would like to display a complete collection at the summer camp. Offers to: volunteers.admin@cygnus-books.co.uk

WONDERFUL NEW WORKSHOP PROGRAMME Glastonbury Spring 2017 * Endorphin Effect • Spiritual Fuel Life Purpose • The Five Initiations Inner Leadership • Teach Meditation Graceful Death • Psychics & Empaths * Visit *

www.williambloom.com

GLASTONBURY, LUXURY PROPERTY TO RENT

beautiful Grade II house sleeps 6/8, 3 en suite bedrooms, breakfast kitchen, meditation room, spiritual artwork throughout, large private garden with Tor view, central location minutes from High Street, Chalice Well, Tor and Abbey Grounds. Wonderful peaceful energies!

Call Julia 07540697239, Email BlakeHouseRetreat@yahoo.co.uk, www.BlakeHouseRetreat.co.uk.

HOME FOR THE CYGNUS REFERENCE LIBRARY We are looking for a home for the reference set of books that have appeared in Cygnus. There are approximately about 6000 titles. If you know of any retreat or conference centre that might appreciate such a treasure trove please contact Geoff.

... in the heart of Covent Garden SOURCE ENERGY HEALING(R) Profound yet gentle new healing for the mind body spirit. Hands-on or Distant Healing and Practitioner training. Amazing results. Clients and Practitioners worldwide.

Jillian Stott 07989 676 648

Natural Crystals, Buddhas, Meditation and Relaxation CD’s, Spiritual Books, Singing bowls, Oracle cards, Incense, smudge sticks, Gifts, Music, Crystal Jewellery and much more.

Downstairs at Buddha on a Bicycle : Readings, Treatments, Healings, Therapies, Workshops, Yoga, Meditation and much more.

Drop in and see us at: 27 ENDEL STREET, COVENT GARDEN WC2 : 0207 836 8000 ww www.buddhaonabicycle.com

www.SourceEnergyHealingUK.com

COLOUR THERAPY June McLeod author of the best seller ‘Colours of the Soul’ “Creativitiy is fundemential to innovation, innovation depends on creative colour thinking.” www.colourtherapytoday.com

ORDER & CUSTOMER SERVICE LINE ❖ Phone: 02078 594 375 Email: advertising@cygnus-books.co.uk ❖ Website: www.cygnusreview.com

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Jill Purce Pioneer of Sound Healing, Family & Ancestral Healing

HEALING VOICE

Explore the Magic of your Voice, Overtone Chanting, Mantra and Sacred Chants, Living Mandala Ceremonies.

HEALING FAMILY & ANCESTORS RESONANT FAMILY CONSTELLATIONS Find the keys that set yourself, family and children free; transform clamorous ancestors into powerful guides.

Weekends London.

Week Intensives Somerset / London: 29 Apr., 17 Jun. & 29 Oct. www.healingvoice.com Tel. 0207 435 2467 info@healingvoice.com

Become a Cygnus supporter Cygnus is on a journey of transformation. At its heart is a group of supporters who share our vision. Help us realise the potential of this growing community – join Cygnus today for £25 (UK) and £35 (overseas)

Become a Cygnus Supporter and enjoy: Guaranteed copies of Cygnus Review, four times a year – Carefully selected titles, tried, tested and reviewed just for you Free annual subscription to Watkins Mind Body Spirit Magazine – delivered with your Cygnus Review Discounted entry to a number of events throughout the year – save £30 off the One World Summer Festival Limited edition Cygnus pen – Perfect for when you want to make your words matter

Free gift

Access to the Cygnus Café network – Meet up with local Cygnus supporters for mutual growth and support Three 10% discount vouchers to use in the Cygnus Shop – Save even more off your favourite books, DVDs and resources

Special Offer

GIFT THE GIFT OF A MEMBERSHIP! Buy a membership for yourself and treat a friend for a combined price of £40 (UK only) - saving £10 Join online, by phone or by post www.cygnusreview.com or call 02078 594 375

* Please note your membership pack will be sent with the next issue of the Cygnus Review, details of your discounts codes will be sent with your confirmation email or letter within 2 weeks of purchase.