Bøger af John Mann

As the Church Year passes, we anticipate the next festival and season, in much the same way as gardeners look for the first signs of spring or the first frosts of winter, as they plan their planting activities. So, in the Church, Advent passes into Christmas and Epiphany with a speed that seems driven by activity as much as reflection; but the approach of Ash Wednesday can catch us unawares, especially in a year with an early Easter. St Brigid's Day and Candlemas, set at the beginning of February, warn us that we need to think about how to make the most of the weeks to pray our way, once more, through the days of the Passion and Resurrection of Christ.By taking the Cross, and even more specifically, the words Jesus spoke while nailed to that Cross, over the course of some weeks, rather than a few hours on Good Friday, we have time to consider more deeply the inner themes and conclusions. This meditation will help us to prepare for Holy Week, with a mind and heart familiar with the readings and ready to be filled with our own prayerful reflections. If this small book can prompt a mindset of deliberately slowing the pace of the contemplation of Christ's words, and especially those from the Cross, then it has fulfilled its purpose.

John Mann is an archivist of the human heart and an accountant both of the natural world and popular culture. His precisely observed juxtapositioning of these in Able, Baker, Charlie never fails to surprise, never fails to move us. As Rilke advised readers to change our lives, so does Mann often build toward the insistent, as in "Hand over your dearest songs"-advice which the poet himself has surely heeded in this marvelous collection. -David Stevenson John Mann's poems approach you not like the lantern that you plod towards through darkness, but like fireflies appearing at different points within the range of your vision that engage your every sense, enough for you to make sense of the journey you take through his unsettling, elliptical world. They seem to be written in outlying areas where the usual compasses and watches will not serve, but they will so thoroughly claim you that you may find that you have suspended your breathing. George Ellenbogen We have fooled ourselves into thinking that pain is simple-it is emptiness, a chasm. But John Mann's poetry shows loss with all of its lurid filigree, its barbed-wire curlicues. Mann probes this "atmosphere of void covered with frost" throughout Able, Baker, Charlie, and he manages to capture how we leave this void changed. There is no mitigating agent. Even love is defined as "the heart outside the body." Beauty is something that leaks from the eyes, and the sky "vomits its stars." Able, Baker, Charlie is a beautiful, painful read-more acute because of its dead-eye accuracy. -Karen Craigo, Mid-American Review John Mann is the author of Wyoming, a chapbook of poems (Finishing Line Press, 2008). His poems have appeared in Alaska Quarterly Review, Fence, Conduit, Massachusetts Review, Mid-American Review, The National Poetry Review, Vallum, Crazyhorse, and The Gettysburg Review. He won a Poetry Fellowship from the Illinois Arts Council and a resident fellowship from the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. He taught creative writing at Western Illinois University and edited The Mississippi Valley Review.

Journeying to the Light is intended to be read daily from Advent Sunday to the Epiphany. It is largely based upon one of the Eucharistic readings each day. It can be adapted to be used whatever the length of Advent, for individual or group use. The author weaves contemporary trends with biblical themes and with events of his own life.

Long out-of-print yet often cited in psychedelic literature, THE BOOK OF SACRAMENTS, originally published in 1970, was a Holy book from the (now defunct) Church of the Tree of Life, established and incorporated by John Mann. A fundamental belief was that we have the right to alter our consciousness with plants extracts for medical, spiritual, and even recreational (re-creating) purposes.THE BOOK OF SACRAMENTS consists of introduction and discussion of several sacred plants, most still legal and easy to obtain, that have been used traditionally in religious (spiritual, consciousness expanding) rituals by native people.While the Church of the Tree of Life disbanded decades ago, the longing for a spiritual connection continues. One way to achieve such a connection with with the ritual use of magical plants. THE BOOK OF SACRAMENTS describes the ceremonial practices and rituals used by natives for thousands of years in some cases and gives guidelines for employing such practices in one's personal worship, including how to prepare the plant and oneself for the ritual.The mind has self-healing power. Spiritual experiences can lead to dramatic healing. Ritual is a method for organizing experience - mentally- and creating order around an inner experience to enable one to surrender to the experience without fear - due to the security provided by the repetitive and reliable ritual. The ritual helps to conjure up a frame of mind that is conducive to an ecstatic experience. When used properly ritual use of magical plants can open up new channels of awareness. The plants alone cannot bring about the desired results - the individual mind must be engaged.THE BOOK OF SACRAMENTS identifies over 20 magical plants for ritual use and tells how to prepare the potion and oneself for the journey and gives instructions for classic rituals as well as creating one's own variations. Finally it discusses how to process the experience afterwards to gain the maximum benefit from the journey.

This book describes the importance of a range of psychoactive substances and highlights some well known people associated with them.

This book describes the discovery and development of antibacterial, anti-viral and anti-cancer drugs and highlights the colourful characters behind their inventions.