Joey Madia, New Mystics Reviews

 by Josette L. Berardi (Foreword, Elizabeth Tucker) (2012) ISBN: 147769336X When I first heard about the experiences of the Berardi family, through a mutual contact, I was immediately drawn to the core elements of their story because of certain similarities in my own life: Italian Catholics, the Berardis have experienced paranormal events, in their case, through the gift of mediumship that runs through the maternal side of the family and through their many clients for readings and house clearings. As readers of my reviews, blog essays, plays, and fiction are aware, I have had a lifetime of paranormal experiences, some of which have involved visitations from deceased family members, and I believe that, although I am no longer a practicing Catholic, my experiences growing up in the Roman Catholic   Church (complete with Catholic school, CCD, and church on Sundays and Holy Days) have informed my relationship with the paranormal. With all of this in mind I welcomed the oppo...

(2012, ISBN 978-0-9859841-2-0) In the past three years I have reviewed the first two books in this series— Unheard Of and The Silent Sound . With this third installment, Seth Hammons proves that he has not only created a richly detailed and intriguing world whose political and economic divisions and clashes speak to our own circumstances in many ways in 2015, but that this world he has created can sustain as a multi-book series for the long haul. For those who have not read the first two books, I strongly recommend that you do so before continuing on with this review. All four books in the series are available on Amazon, in both paperback and Kindle editions.   As with the last two books, the rebellion sparked between the working-class, pagan Brecks and the mighty, militaristic Iori Empire is the centerpiece of the story, as the main characters, Rachel and Chastin (a Juliet and Romeo-esque coupling whose families are on opposite sides of the war) discover ever-more secrets ...

 (Larson Publications, 2015, the www.larsonpublications.com). ISBN 978-1-936012-74-9 This has been an impressive few years for Larson Publications. While continuing to bring the works of philosopher Paul Brunton to a new generation of readers, they have published such moving titles as Elaine Mansfield’s Leaning into Love , which recently won the Gold Medal Independent Publisher Book Award for Aging/Death & Dying and the book that is the subject of this review. Larson continues to provide its readership with profound and life-altering books on spirituality, ritual, healing, and enlightenment. Healing with God’s Love is a practical, highly readable guide to healing meditations and rituals derived from the Judaic esoteric practices of the Kabbalah. Although I was familiar with the Kabbalah, and the Tree of Life (the Sefirot ), Rabbi Goldhamer provides sufficient background and explanation for those not familiar with its principles and practices. First, a bit about ...

A few months ago I had the pleasure of reviewing Smoky Zeidel’s captivating novel, The Storyteller’s Bracelet , also published by Thomas-Jacob. Sometimes I Think I Am Like Water , a collection of poems, once again showcases Zeidel’s craftsmanship and her deep connection to nature and the importance of ritual communion with it. What I enjoyed most was the way the poems create a dynamic tension between formalized religious rituals and the direct experience of the sacred and numinous found in spiritual practices tied to the flora and fauna all around us. It’s better still where they merge, such as in “Crescent Meadow,” with its “cathedral of Giant Sequoias” and the multi-level meanings assigned to “communion” in poems such as “My Heaven.” “How to Read a River,” the opening poem, operates as an invocation. “You have to learn how to read a river/before you can safely cross it,” are the opening lines, and   the third from last is, “Take my hand and we’ll cross this one together.” ...

(Mister Herman’s Publishing Company, 2015, misterherman.com). ISBN: 978-0692428511 By Joey Madia In the novel Minor Confessions of an Angel Falling Upward , by Planner Forthright (which I was enlisted, against my better judgment, to edit some years ago), he writes “The most dangerous monsters … have no fangs or claws, drink no blood, live in Light, and fear no rosary or silver bullet symbols. … They wear lilac aprons and cook fresh okra in stain-proof, modern kitchens. Their names are recorded on a driver’s license and certificate of birth. They aren’t the swamp and coffin types. In certain tenuous moments they can be as sweetly consoling as the pie upon the sill.” This same broad-based approach to what constitutes a “monster” is part of what makes this collection of ten short stories so appealing. In an age of zombies, vampires, and comic book supervillains taking over the pages of print and terabytes of the digital film age, it is refreshing to sit with a set of well-told tale...

(Larson Publications, 2014, for the www.larsonpublications.com, for the Paul Brunton Philosophic Foundation). ISBN 978-1-9360120-30-5 “You cannot acquire what is already here. So drop the ego’s false idea and affirm the real one” (p. 15) I was first introduced to the work of philosopher Paul Brunton in 2012, when I was asked to review The Gift of Grace: Awakening to Its Presence . I found it to be a profound and moving read. The Short Path to Enlightenment , like the previous book, is compiled and administered by the Paul Brunton Philosophic Foundation (PBPF) and it culls passages from some of Brunton’s earlier publications. Paul Brunton (1898–1981) was, like Joseph Campbell, of whom parts of his philosophy remind me, a student of the world’s sacred wisdom teachings. Trying to encapsulate his well and broadly lived life is nearly impossible in a book review, so I encourage the reader to spend some time researching Brunton on his or her own. The Short Path to Enlightenm...

(Chicago: Moria Books, http://www.moriapoetry.com/ebooks.html , 2015), ISBN: 9780991212132 This month marks 10 years since I wrote my first book review. In that time, I have had the opportunity to review multiple books by the same author (in several cases, different books from a continuous series, but not always). Of the 110 reviews that I have done, there are half a dozen reviews of books that Eileen Tabios has either written or edited. This has been an easy decision to make, because no two are the same. Tabios is not only a talented wordsmith, and visual artist of language—she truly is an innovator. She invented a style of poetry called the Hay(na)ku, which numerous authors have adopted. She writes poems that pull in visual and literary art, music and dance, and that employ an impressive array of styles. She can go from dense prose poems that fill page after page with compact images and historical/literary references to very brief forms. Some months ago, I reviewed Tabios’s ...