DR. CAT’S HELPING HANDBOOK A Compassionate Guide for Being Human by CAT SAUNDERS, Ph.D. Heartwings Foundation $22.95 (softcover) reviewed by L. Marie Hanthorn Dr. Cat Saunders’ life purpose is to liberate her heart. In Dr. Cat’s Helping Handbook: A Compassionate Guide for Being Human, she shows how readers can do the same. This handsome and well-crafted first book is her contribution to the process of personal growth. Packed with wisdom, empowerment, and love, Dr. Cat’s Helping Handbook reveals ways to move from merely living life to loving life. This transition can occur through a change of consciousness induced by exploring the depths of emotion in very practical ways. According to Dr. Cat, it’s possible to shift a frame of reference to a place where guilt is useful, pain has a message, and addiction leads to awareness. What’s more, it is possible to keep all emotions, none of which are good, bad, right, or wrong. Dr. Cat is a gentle inner guide sharing intimate aspects of her own learning to illuminate the underlying truths of addiction, abuse, anger, shame, and fear. THE SPIRITUAL TEACHINGS OF MARCUS AURELIUS by MARK FORSTATER HarperCollins Publishers $18 (hardcover) reviewed by Steve McCardell author, The Merlin Interview Now you’ve had time to see the movie Gladiator. Were you as impressed as I seeing how philosophical the old emperor, Marcus Aurelius, was? Did you wonder if Hollywood was making it up? Would a Roman emperor really have been dedicated to such ideals for his people? Marcus Aurelius was indeed a philosopher, and the movie rightly shows him spending a quiet moment in written thought. Now Mark Forstater presents us with a well-timed book of this emperor’s spiritual teachings: ruminations the good man made journal-style while he ruled a mighty empire. THE BATTLE FOR GOD by KAREN ARMSTRONG Alfred A. Knopf $27.50 (hardcover) reviewed by Don Gordon In the twentieth century, fundamentalism is one of the most powerful agents at work resisting the dominance of secular values of modernity and threatening peace in the world. In The Battle for God, Karen Armstrong brilliantly shows us how these groups came to be and what they are trying to achieve. This seminal work is an apt follow-up to her previous classic The History of God.   JOURNEY TO THE LUMINOUS Encounters With Mystic Adepts of Our Century by ARRAN STEPHENS Elton Wolf Publishing $19.95 (softcover) reviewed by Charlie Spring Arran Stephens kept a wonderfully detailed journal of his years in India with Sant Kirpal Singh Ji Maharaj, one of the truly great mystic adepts of our age. He has captured the essence of his experiences with the master and his successors in this engrossing, devotionally charged account of his own spiritual quest.   HEALING SIGNS The Astrological Guide to Wholeness and Well-Being by RONNIE GALE DREYER Doubleday $12.95 (softcover) reviewed by Mirra Lee Ronnie Gale Dreyer begins this book with an excellent overview of how astrology works in general, and then focuses, in comprehensive chapters, on health concerns specific to each sign (along with their ruling planets). Chapter by chapter, she includes helpful information about nutrition and herbs, general exercise and yoga positions, various kinds of complementary therapies for specific conditions, a crossover to ayurvedic medicine, a mineral salt relative to each sign, and gem and color therapy. HIGHLAND CATHEDRAL PHIL COULTER BMG/RCA Victor reviewed by Margaret Doyle In Highland Cathedral, Phil Coulter, noted Irish composer and pianist, takes simple melodies — some traditional songs and others of his own composition — and elaborates on them to produce music that is indeed reminiscent of a Nature Cathedral sounding in the holiness of the wild. With stately piano chords, or an overlay of rippling harmonies, rhythmic drums, and mournful pipes, and especially with Aofe’s ethereal soprano voice, songs such as "Skye Boat Song," "If These Walls Could Speak," and "Going Home" (from Dvorak’s New World Symphony) sing to a new audience. ONLINE reviews by Maria Marsala Do you enjoy learning about what makes you and the people with whom you come in contact "tick"? Looking to change careers or start a business? Check out these free assessment tests on the Web. 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