Listening, Looking, Searching Deeper

“Never a day passes but that I do myself the honor to commune with some of nature’s varied forms.” ~George Washington Carver

Listening to Nature: How to Deepen Your Awareness of Nature
By Joseph Cornell, Photos by John Hendrickson
(Dawn Publications, 1995, $13.95)

Author Joseph Cornell asks us to recall a time out in nature when something special happened – perhaps you witnessed the breathtaking beauty of mountain alpenglow, the perfection of a wildflower, the graceful arc of an eagle circling above. In such situations, we are often rejuvenated, inspired, suddenly opened to a deeper sense of being alive and connected with all life. These are magical moments, considered rare. But need they be? Cornell suggests that nature is full of such moments. All we need do is look, listen – go into nature as Thoreau suggested, with “abandonment and childlike mirthfulness.”

Cornell – author of the landmark book Sharing Nature with Children – has led nature awareness workshops throughout the world. He wrote this guidebook for adults not so much to learn facts about nature, but to feel nature. His quotes, meditations, stories and activities are all designed to deepen our feeling response and fine tune our connection to all our relations – animals, mountains, the land, stars, and the earth herself.

Arranged as a monthly diary, you can move through this book day by day, or open it randomly and choose a meditation for the moment. The photos by John Hendrickson are luminous, sharp and emotionally engaging. This is a lovely book that speaks softly yet deeply.

~Review by Dawn Brunke

How To Read Signs and Omens In Everyday Life
By Sarvananda Bluestone, Ph.D.
(Destiny Books, 2002, $14.95)

Signs are everywhere. Since the beginning of time, insightful observers have noticed and made use of the patterns in nature as a means to connect with deeper, higher, more expansive levels of awareness. We can find signs and omens all around us – in the shapes of passing clouds, the way tea leaves cling to an upended cup; in the arrangement of stones or coins tossed from a basket; in the shape of the letters of our name, the lines on our hand, or the position of the stars. Our projected perceptions are a window into the deeper nature of ourselves.

Author Sarvananda Bluestone has an unusual past, combining a Ph.D. in history and 20-year career teaching college students to being a disciple, traveling to India with his young daughter to be near the ashram of his teacher, and shuttling between continents and giving psychic readings in the Catskills. This may give you a clue as to why he is also a wonderful author, having integrated his skills as a historian with curiosity about life and an obvious love of games, unusual exercises and ways to see, feel, and sense the world in deeper ways.

The book looks at divination techniques from around the world and from many different times, most of which Bluestone adapts and plays with. He offers legends and folk songs, word and number games, strange stories, historical insights and wonderfully juxtaposed quotes. Even the titles are fun to browse: Becoming an Ear; Scissors, Paper and Rock: Feng Shui Style; The Superstition Supermarket; Immersion in Water – A Game for Two. This insightful book is filled with knowledge, awareness and joy.

~Review by Dawn Brunke