Perdita Finn

Clark Strand

What happens when a former Zen Buddhist monk and his feminist wife experience an apparition of the Virgin Mary? Weaving together their own remarkable story of how they came to the rosary, the authors reveal an ancestral path--available to everyone, religious or not--that returns readers to the powerful healing rhythms of the natural world.ral world.

The Radical Path of the Divine Feminine Hidden in the Rosary

The Way of the Rose

Clark Strand, a former Zen Buddhist monk and senior editor at Tricyclemagazine, diagnoses the problems at the heart of modern life and offers inspiring insight into what sleeplessness is and why it is such a contemporary cultural phenomenon. But this is not just a book about sleeplessness; it is a ogospelo that will help readers in the contemporary world find their way back to being comfortable within darkness (and the Divine Feminine) and to find a deeper connection with their souls. Will include 8 to 10 illustrative prints.

Ancient Wisdom for a Sleepless Age

Waking Up to the Dark

2022 Foreword INDIES Award Winner | Silver: Body, Mind Spirit 2023 IPPY Award Winner | Bronze: New Age/Mind, Body, Spirit Hidden in the darkness is an ancient secret suppressed by every aspect of our light-drunk modern world—there is a Great Mother from the bottom of time who has always guided us through perils and calamities. Now is the hour of Her return. “An exigent, affecting summons to rediscover the night.”—Kirkus Reviews Is darkness synonymous with ignorance and evil? Or is it the original matrix from which all life emerges, and the Mother to whom it returns? Higher and higher levels of artificial illumination have suppressed our contact with the numinous since the Industrial Revolution, with dire consequences for society, our planetary ecology, and our souls. This mystical testament weaves together paleobiology, memoir, history, science, and spiritual archaeology to lead readers back into the lost mysteries of the dark. Not since The Teachings of Don Juan or Ishmael has a book diagnosed with such urgency and cultural coherence the problems at the heart of modern life. In Waking Up to the Dark, Clark Strand offers penetrating insight into the spiritual enrichment that can be found when we pull the plug on our billion-watt culture. He argues that the insomnia so many of us experience as “the Hour of the Wolf” is really “the Hour of God”—a wellspring of rest and renewal, and an ancient reservoir of ancestral wisdom and inspiration. And in a powerful yet surprising turn, he shares with us an urgent message for the world, received through a mysterious young woman he calls Our Lady of Climate Change (aka THE VIRGIN MARY), about the challenges we all know are coming.

The Black Madonna's Gospel for An Age of Extinction and Collapse

(whether you believe in religion or not)

How to believe in God

"A treasure of mystical poetry, these poems pulsate with truth." --Carolyn Myss, author of Intimate Conversations with the Divine and Anatomy of the Spirit In the early hours of June 16, 2011, Clark Strand witnessed a startling apparition of the Divine Feminine in the form of a young woman with an X of black electrical tape over Her mouth. Strand removed the tape, and She began to speak of a coming age of chaos and collapse in which the world of humankind would be severely chastened so that Her world--the world of Nature--could be renewed. Overwhelmed by the presence of One so fully Other, Strand found that love was the only language that would suffice. Drawing inspiration from Song of Songs and the Bengali mystics Ramprasad and Sri Ramakrishna, he began a series of poems to Ma Kali, the Dark Goddess of India, the words to which often came from the Great Mother Herself.

Poems in Praise of the Divine Mother Kali

Now Is the Hour of Her Return

Strand’s mystical poems to Ma Kali, the Dark Goddess of India, as occasioned by his encounters with the material dealt in depth in both Waking Up to the Dark and the Way of the Rose. “A treasure of mystical poetry, these poems pulsate with truth.” —Carolyn Myss, author of Intimate Conversations with the Divine and Anatomy of the Spirit In the early hours of June 16, 2011, Clark Strand witnessed a startling apparition of the Divine Feminine in the form of a young woman with an X of black electrical tape over Her mouth. Strand removed the tape, and She began to speak of a coming age of chaos and collapse in which the world of humankind would be severely chastened so that Her world—the world of Nature—could be renewed. Overwhelmed by the presence of One so fully Other, Strand found that love was the only language that would suffice. Drawing inspiration from Song of Songs and the Bengali mystics Ramprasad and Sri Ramakrishna, he began a series of poems to Ma Kali, the Dark Goddess of India, the words to which often came from the Great Mother Herself.

Now is the Hour of Her Return

Jim Wilson

R. Watkins

R. Singh

Eric Torgersen

Priscilla Lignori

James Lignori

William Dennis

Mitchell Grabois

The world's premier publisher of Asian forms in English, Eastern Structures picks up where Contemporary Ghazals left off, publishing English-language examples of the Middle Eastern form, but now in addition to Korean sijo and Japanese forms such as haiku and tanka - rendered exclusively in the 5-7-5 and 5-7-5-7-7 syllabic structures. Issue 7 features the ghazals of Christopher Mooney-Singh, William Dennis, Mace Hosseini, Norma Jenckes, Eric Torgersen and Mindy Watson; the sijo of Liùsaidh (L J McDowall) and Pat Geyer; the tanka of Daniel Hales, R K Singh, Bill West and others; the haiku of Priscilla Lignori, James Lignori, Nancy Rullo, Ann Hills, Sari Grandstaff, Mark Redfearn, Clark Strand, Mitchell Grabois and others; and the essay 'Instantiating Syllabics from Japanese to English (Part Two: Tanka Translations)' by Jim Wilson. Issue 8 is expected in mid Autumn 2018, and submissions of traditionally structured Asian poetry and relevant non-fiction are welcome and encouraged.

Eastern Structures

In How to Believe in God, Clark Strand, an accomplished master of both Eastern and Western mystical practices, takes on the most troublesome and provocative passages from Judeo-Christian scripture, transforming the Bible into a manual of spiritual liberation for the twenty-first-century seeker. Offering a revolutionary new model of approaching the Bible, he frees those sacred scriptures from superstition, dogma, and tribalism, and in the process recovers their universal teaching on salvation and belief. Drawing on his personal experiences, including his Bible Belt upbringing, his years as a Buddhist monk, and his life as a father and husband in a small rural community, Strand makes even the most subtle spiritual teaching heartfelt and accessible. How to Believe in God illuminates a clear path to reclaiming a God that leaves nothing out and leaves no one behind. His open, gentle, pioneering approach to faith allows everyone—from churchgoing Christians to those with no religious affiliation at all—to experience the Bible in new and exciting ways.

Whether You Believe in Religion or Not

How to Believe in God

Begin to meditate--or renew your practice--with this straightforward guide that is free from pretension and complication. Is there a way you can learn to slow down and experience yourself more fully, your life more deeply, and other people in the present moment without adopting a new religious or philosophical ideology? Clark Strand answers with a clear and simple "yes!" Short, compelling reflections show you how to make meditation a part of your daily life, without the complication of gurus, mantras, retreats, or treks to distant monasteries. What is the proper way to breathe? Where should I meditate? What should I sit on? How often should I practice? You'll find the answers surprising as Strand breaks down modern-day stereotypes about meditation and leaves the one thing a successful meditation practice truly needs: you.

A Guide to the Heart of Practice

Meditation Without Gurus

Is there more to Buddhism than sitting in silent meditation? Is modern Buddhism relevant to the problems of daily life? Does it empower individuals to transform their lives? Or has Buddhism become too detached, so still and quiet that the Buddha has fallen asleep? Waking the Buddha tells the story of the Soka Gakkai International, the largest, most dynamic Buddhist movement in the world today—and one that is waking up and shaking up Buddhism so it can truly work in ordinary people’s lives. Drawing on his long personal experience as a Buddhist teacher, journalist, and editor, Clark Strand offers broad insight into how and why the Soka Gakkai, with its commitment to social justice and its egalitarian approach, has become a role model, not only for other schools of Buddhism, but for other religions as well. Readers will be inspired by the struggles and triumphs of the Soka Gakkai’s three founding presidents—individuals who staked their lives on the teachings of the Lotus Sutra and the extraordinary power of those teachings to help people become happy.

Clark Strand

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