WE RECEIVE TOO MUCH GOOD STUFF to be able to include all of it in our pages each month. We wish we could, but there just isn't room. Still, it would be a terrible waste to simply pass over the others; so, in this season of spending, we thought we'd share the wealth. Here are a few of the goodies that deserve a special mention:

Lost Canyons, by Scott August
For those of you traditionalists out there, looking for classic new age, meditative, ambient instrumental music, we suggest Scott August. Nice and soft, with a glorious and lively spirit, Scott August's Anasazi (ancestral Puebloan) flute is simply enchanting.

This haunting instrument is over a thousand years old, an end-blown flute such as that played by Kokopelli in the rock art all over the Southwest United States. Lost Canyons track titles such as "Raven Dance", "Thunder On the Mesa", and "Chasing the Sun" lead the listener into delightful and uplifting visionary spaces. Backed by percussion, piano, guitar and other more exotic instruments, its softly resonant tone is perfectly lovely and even en-livening. It's a very nice background accompaniment for a quiet Sunday afternoon, or a post-workday decompression session.

Offered by Cedar Mesa Music. Check out their website for mp3 samples or buy the album now from Amazon.com.

The Lost Dream, by Jamie Craig
"This is not your mother's new age music." I saw this phrase used several times as I was checking out Jamie Craig's album, The Lost Dream, and I must agree! Still entirely instrumental, The Lost Dream has a slight edge to it. It's progressive; it's jazzy, it's even a little bit rock.

There is a progression, too, in the vibration of the music as you listen from start to finish. Early on, there is a quiet sorrow underlying the beat... but there is hope, too, and as the album progresses you feel a definite movement forward. I would recommend this album for any of you who find yourselves struggling with the pain in the world. It sympathizes with you, and at the same time nudges you to pick up your feet and get busy creating a better tomorrow.

Offered by Craig Sound Productions, Inc. Check out Jamie's website to learn more about him and his music, download mp3 tracks from Amazon.com, or buy the album from CD Baby.

Lullaby For My Favorite Insomniac, by Ahn Trio
Gorgeous! If you haven't heard of these three Korean American sisters yet - or heard their music - you're missing out. Angella, Lucia and Maria Ahn grew up together - and attended Juilliard together - making some of the most incredible "Alternative Classical" music out there. I'm sure they've had their fights as siblings do, but you'd never know it to hear their violin, piano, and cello singing together.

Classically trained, these ladies don't stick to the classic forms. They tinker with pop sounds, jazz sounds, r&b sounds - anything you can imagine - and add a classical spin to it. The result is sometimes haunting, sometimes demanding, often playful... ALWAYS passionate. In this reviewer's opinion, Lullaby For My Favorite Insomniac is a must-try for anyone who loves music.

Offered by L.A.M.P. (Lucia Angella Maria Productions). Check out their website, listen to samples on their MySpace page, or buy the album from Amazon.com.

Five Wishes, by Gay Hendricks
There is a plethora of material on the market these days promising miraculous healing and abundance. This isn't one of them. But, then again, it is... It's not about getting your top five wishes, but, then again, it is. Five Wishes is about figuring out exactly what is most important to you - death bed important. Once you know what is most important to you, well, the pursuit of happiness must inevitably follow!

Author Gay Hendricks has a wonderfully real voice; he's very easy to listen to and gently engaging. His honesty is delightful. He tells his own very personal story as he walks the listener (reader) through each of his own extremely relevent "five wishes." Because I receive so many books and discs each month, it is rare that I look more closely than an intuitive scan of each. This one, I heard from start to finish - both discs.

If you're on the run, but want to add some metaphysical wisdom to your day - slip Five Wishes into your car's CD player. I think you'll like it!

Offered by New World Library. Visit their website to order Five Wishes now on Audio CD (or click here for the printed book link).

Ask Your Animal, by Marta Williams
This is a splendid little book published by New World Library for all you animal lovers out there. It opens with chapters on intuitive communication, discussing what it is, how it works, and the scientific research into it. Author Marta Williams then proceeds to provide chapters on using intuitive communication in training, correcting bad behavior, aiding animals in distress, finding lost animals, and, yes, coping with their death.

This is not just a book about loving and/or training animals. It's not just a book telling stories about other people chatting with their animals. Ask Your Animal is loaded with all of these along side practical pointers and even a few scripts to make it work for the reader, too.

Offered by New World Library. Visit their website to order Ask Your Animal now.

Solitude, by Robert Kull
Have you ever thought about spending a year alone in the woods, in a monastery, or just doing something else to separate yourself from the day-to-day grind and find a new perspective? Author Robert Kull did it - he followed through. More than once, actually...

Solitude is the journal of his experience, spending one year alone in the Patagonia wilderness with no more than a cat and his own thoughts for company. He writes extremely well, telling of his physical adventure as well as his internal process and making his ongoing monologue a very enjoyable read. He also includes several reflective "Interludes" between journal entries, to add perspective and allow the reader to step back from the immediate intensity of his solitude experience.

A wonderful read!

Offered by New World Library. Visit their website to order Solitude now.

The Wizard's Gift, by Mark Townsend
Here is one for those of you in a mood for something a little more... fantastic. They say that truth is stranger than fiction. I've certainly seen enough to verify that statement, but I still enjoy a good romp through a fictional world sometimes to open my mind just a little further.

In The Wizard's Gift, a desperately depressed young man discovers magic in the unlikeliest of places. Gritty and sweet, brutal and comforting, this book leads its readers through the mental and emotional processes involved in discovering self-knowledge. The symbolic journey undertaken by the character(s) resonates on a soul level; anyone reading this book should be able to find common ground in their own lives and comfort on their own journey.

If you're feeling adventuresome, give it a try!

Offered by O-Books. Visit their website to order The Wizard's Gift now.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

PlanetLightworker's Deputy Editor, Vara LorEl is a model builder at heart, an Exec Admin by training, and a Graphic Designer by experience. She has also worked in a grocery store, a greenhouse, a bank and a bookstore. She's done Customer Service, Construction, Missions and Marketing... and let's not forget the years she studied Bonsai or the uncounted hours spent in a saddle.

Chinking the spaces in between she engages in an ongoing little exercise she likes to call Spiritual Cartography... studying the archetypes found (again and again) in Mythology, I-Ching, and Shamanism, also poking about in Astrology, Numerology, and Tarot, as well as study of the Chakras and eastern philosophies. It could also be noted that she considers Cooking and Gardening to be some of the richest meditational spaces anywhere.

Over the years, she has lived all across these grand United States - from California to Georgia - currently calling Alaska home. When not up to her eyebrows in the next issue of PLW, she can be found in her home office playing Oblivion (way to go Bethesda Softworks!), on her couch reading a good book (with her cats curled nearby), on her soap box talking about any one of a dozen esoteric subjects... or on her knees thanking GOD for the best life partner to ever embrace her nomadic heart.