My garden is quiet now and the nights are long, so it’s a perfect time to sit on my sofa and snuggle down with a good book. Here are a few that have come to my attention that you might like to explore as well (alongside a hot cup of tea or mug of mulled wine!)
On Angels Wings – My Flight From Trauma To Grace
by Gloria Masters
To order, go to: https://www.gloriamasters.com/
This autumn, I had a visitor from the psychosynthesis community. We were chatting away while enjoying the beautiful clouds floating overhead when he shared how one of his clients had endured terrible sexual abuse as a child. When he had asked her how she had managed to survive, she said, “I heard the angels all around me. They are always singing the psalms.”
Not a week later, Gloria Masters – whom I had never met or heard of before – sent me an email telling me about her book. She too had endured sexual trauma as a child, and she too had found hope and resilience through her relationship with angels.
For me, this felt like a clear affirmation by the angels, whom I believe are constantly waiting for us to call on them for help and guidance.
On Angels’ Wings is an extraordinary powerful story of how a young girl journeyed from darkness into light and a testimony to the unrelenting power of the human spirit.
The Machine Stops
by E.M. Forster
Free in the public domain.
Click here for pdf.
Click here for audio book.
I read The Machine Stops during lockdown and found it eerily familiar. Written in 1909, this short story takes place in a future(!) where people live underground in isolated cells, never see one another and communicate only via audio and visual devices. In this world, original thought and direct observation are discouraged—“Beware of first-hand ideas!” people are told. Humanity has been overtaken by “The Machine,” which provides all comforts and meets all needs—except the need for human contact. One young man, Kuno, pleads with his mother via Zoom-like technology, “I want to see you not through the Machine… I want to speak to you not through the wearisome Machine.”
The story is about his attempt to escape The Machine. Riveting, chilling and profoundly insightful of mass human psychology, it captures one person’s attempt to discover and hold onto his authentic inner voice.
Know, Love, Transform Yourself
by Petra Guggisberg Nocelli
€27.00
To order via Amazon, click here.
Petra has once again brilliantly compiled a book full of valuable psychosynthesis theory, techniques and exercises. This book is the first volume in a two-volume series and provides psychotherapists, counsellors, coaches, trainers, leaders, and educators alike with priceless tools and information.
Of course, I’m partially biased as Petra invited me to contribute a chapter to this important work. Other contributors are: Bonney Gulino Schaub and Richard Schaub, Ann Gila and John Firman, Rozana Bažec, Dorothy Firman, Tan Nguyen, Birgit Haus, Joan Evans, Will Parfitt, Michael Wolde, and Ewa Danuta Bialek.
The Anger Makeover
by Walter Polt
€22.58
To order via Amazon, click here.
We all get annoyed and resentful, even with people whom we love. But how about giving your anger a makeover? This book gently guides you to unwind those feelings of anger and reshape them into relationships that are joyful, warmhearted, and honest.
The Anger-Makeover process helps transform the often-negative aspects of raw anger into a constructive resource for growth and healing. This very practical workbook offers an approach to the ‘management’ of anger, not through denial, repression or acting out – but through looking within to find the power locked underneath one’s emotional response.
Walter shows how to garner the anger energy and redirect it to good use – helping us to bring out our best selves.
Assagioli 2021 – Psicosintesi e Letteratura
€25.00
To order, contact: istituto@psicosintesi.it
Finally for those who read Italian, this collection of conference papers on Psychosynthesis and Literature is a rare gem. Contributors include Piero Ferrucci, who writes about the synthesizing aspects of music, and Lucia Bassignana, who gives us a wonderful tour through the artwork at Casa Assagioli. Other contributors are: Francesco Baroni, Katalin Orosz, Zsuzsanna Tóth-Izsó, Paolo Leoncini, and Gianni Yoav Dattilo.
And then there’s yours truly! I also contributed an article on the spiritual philosophies of Rabindranath Tagore and Roberto Assagioli (in Italian). You can download my article by clicking on:
CALombard «L’eterno straniero chiama» Estratto – Atti Budapest 2021
For English readers, this article has been accepted and will be published in 2022 by the Journal of India Philosophy and Religion. I’ll be sure to let you know more then.
Happy Reading!
Love and Will 