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Autumn Books

this time of year brings a bumper crop of new books and card decks in the run up to the gift-buying season. Maybe it’s time to treat yourself?

Crystal Oversoul Cards

This is a card deck and guidebook which is designed to facilitate access to the higher energies of the Crystal Oversouls and accelerate the awakening process. The guidebook provides insight into the meaning of the crystals, including their spiritual and metaphysical properties, associated scents, and their connections to the chakra system as well as the emerging higher chakras. The cards can be used, alone or in conjunction with the visualisations and recorded meditations provided online, for contemplation, meditation, and connecting with the ancient Crystal Oversouls.

Essential Oils and Aromatherapy Workbook

This is a work that will already be known to many seasoned aromatherapists, since it was first published 30 years ago. This edition has been updated to include the latest research and discoveries. It covers over 70 essential oils – from Abies balsamea to Zingiber officinale – and the chapter on Aromatic choreography helps both the beginner and more experienced user of essential oils to understand how to bring the notes of different oils together in blends that are both attractive and efficacious.

You’ll also find formulas designed for common disorders such as digestive and circulatory ailments, headaches, insomnia, and menstrual and sexual problems, as well as issues with mood and mental wellbeing.

It’s an ideal book for anyone developing an interest in essential oils as it covers everything from the history, folklore, science, and art of aromatherapy.

Cultivating Your Microbiome: Ayurvedic and Chinese Practices for a Healthy Gut and a Clear Mind

Alongside CBD, the microbiome is one of the hot topics in holistic healthcare. We have an ever-growing number of research studies showing the symbiotic impact of what we eat on our micro-flora and the reciprocal effect that our individual bio-landscapes of microbes has on many aspects of our health and wellbeing. Bridgette Shea draws on TCM and Ayurvedic approaches to the relationship between digestion and constitution types to suggest that, by actively managing our microbiome, we can significantly improve individual health. One of the most interesting themes in the book is her stress on the importance of the mesentery organ, long recognised in the Chinese system but only brought to the interest of western allopathic medicine by a study in 2012. The mesentery is an organ that attaches the intestines to the posterior abdominal wall in humans and is formed by the double fold of peritoneum. It helps in storing fat and allowing blood vessels, lymphatics, and nerves to supply the intestines.

It’s a useful handbook if you want to rebalance your internal microbiome, support the mesentery, improve digestion and elimination, and restore a clear mind and strong immune system.

The Illustrated Crystallary

This is the third beautifully illustrated book from Maia Toll following her Illustrated Herbiary and Illustrated Bestiary. She explores the qualities of three dozen crystals and minerals, including gold, silver, copper, amethyst, hematite, mica, smoky quartz, emerald and ruby. It’s a combination of rituals and reflections, ancient wisdom and personal insight that’s very appealing. The stunning illustrations provided by illustrator Kate O’Hara exemplify the symbolism of each crystal and are also featured on 36 oracle cards included in an envelope bound in the back of the book. In many ways, this book is as much of a gem as the minerals it describes.

The Language of Loss

We all flounder for words of comfort when someone is grieving. It’s easy to offer platitudes and wellworn clichés about being in better places and being sorry for someone’s loss, but these are often devoid of meaning. In some cases they can be perceived as offensive.

In truth, there are no words, only time, but this collection of poetry and prose, edited by Barbara Abercrombie, offers a gentle consolation. The selections follow an arc that mirrors the path of many mourners from abject loss and feeling unmoored, to glimmers of promise and possibility, through to gratitude for the love they knew.

The Wholistic Healing Guide to Cannabis

Author Tammi Sweet combines her expertise in herbal medicine and neurobiology in this in-depth guide to understanding the science of how and why cannabis medicine is effective. She explains the physiology of the body’s endocannabinoid system and how it is affected by ingesting cannabis, as well as the chemistry of the whole plant. Based on research and her own clinical experiences, Sweet provides instructions for the best preparation techniques and specific dosage recommendations for addressing a wide range of conditions including stress, chronic pain, anxiety, PTSD, insomnia, and more. This book will be extremely valuable to healthcare professionals, practitioners of the healing arts, dispensary workers, and medical cannabis users who want to understand the science of cannabis and its effects on the whole body.

Cannabis Healing

Another CBD and cannabis book, but this one, by Franjo Grotenhermen, M.D. majors on the biochemistry of cannabinoids and the ways in which they interact with the human body. It also shares the latest research on the use of CBD to treat seizures, anxiety, muscular disorders, and psychotic states and the use of THC to treat schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s, ADHD, Tourette’s, Parkinson’s, depression, COPD, and chronic pain, among many other physical, neurological, and emotional conditions.

Dreaming Techniques

One of the great mysteries of life is why we sleep and why we dream. There are many theories, but there’s no doubt that we find dreams fascinating. In this book, Serge Kahili King, Ph.D., explores techniques to harness the power of dreams – sleep dreams, liminal dreams and daydreams - for healing, transformation, and changing your experience of reality.

King examines the types of night dreams we have, how to remember them better, how to make use of them to improve our health and well-being, and how to interpret them. He explores how dreams are understood in neuroscience and psychology, in Native American and Aboriginal cultures, in indigenous Senoi dream theory, and in India, Tibet, Hawaii, and Africa as well as ancient Egypt, Greece, and China.

King shows that each of us can use dreams as tools for seeing the world differently and influencing the behaviour of people, things, and nature.

Spice Apothecary

Lets finish up with a book about substances derived from plants. We often think of herbs as medicinal, but limit our use of spices to cookery. Author Bevin Clare, who is trained in both nutrition and herbalism, wants us to think again. In many cultures around the world, spices have a long history as source of materia medica.

The book takes a closer look at 19 spices that you may already have in your spice rack and explores the health benefits of each spice for supporting wellness goals. There’s useful information on the best preparation for medicinal benefit, storage recommendations, and daily dosage guidelines.

Formulas for dried spice blends that amplify the effectiveness of individual flowers, roots, leaves, and seeds accompany recipes deliver flavour and healing. n

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All titles can be ordered from your local bookshop, ordered directly from the publishers or purchased online.