Peek Inside Our Fall 2013 Catalog!

Llewellyn Fall 2013 Catalog
Click here to access the catalog PDF

Hi Booksellers,

The release of a new catalog is always a supremely satisfying moment for us. So it's with tremendous pleasure and pride that I officially introduce Llewellyn’s Fall 2013 list. Woo-hoo!

As you may recall, the fall catalog is the "big one." It includes our entire backlist—a great resource throughout the entire year.

Kicking off this exciting season is The Tarot of the Hidden Realm, a September release from Julia Jeffrey and Barbara Moore. This deck from two seasoned tarot experts allows you to evoke the powerful wisdom of the fae; instead of relying on esoteric symbols, this powerful deck uses the raw elements—water, air, fire, and earth—to speak directly to your emotions.

Another September release, Living Earth Devotional from Clea Danaan offers 365 earth-friendly activities for deepening your physical and spiritual connection to nature. These practical, soul-centered tasks—meditations, craft projects, gardening and outdoor activities, journal exercises, and more—are organized by the Wheel of the Year. Bridging green spirituality with ecological action, this day-by-day guide will help you tune in to the energies of the changing seasons and build a deep appreciation for the earth's beauty, power, and wisdom. Reduce your carbon footprint, recharge your creativity and intuition, and cultivate a connection with the Earth that inspires spiritual growth and personal transformation.

Coming this November is Mixing Essential Oils for Magic by Sandra Kynes. This straightforward guide helps you understand how to choose the best oils for your own creative and magical mixing. Not only will you find step-by-step instructions on how to measure, mix, and assess blends, but you will also gain a full understanding of essential and carrier oils and how they work together.

This November, learn to live fully as a Pagan every day of the year, not only at full moons and holidays, with To Walk a Pagan Path, by Alaric Albertsson. With practical tips for incorporating Pagan spirituality into every aspect of life, To Walk a Pagan Path teaches readers how to have a meaningful Pagan practice by following seven simple steps; develop a sacred calendar customized for their beliefs, lifestyle, and environment; make daily activities sacred with quick and easy rituals; connect with the earth in a very real way by producing a portion of your own food—even if you live in an apartment; and express Pagan spirituality through a variety of craft projects: candles, scrying mirrors, solar wreaths, recipes, and more.

October brings us Magical Fashionista by Tess Whitehurst, author of Magical Housekeeping, The Good Energy Book, The Art of Bliss, and The Magic of Flowers. Magical Fashionista helps readers discover how to use fashion to become our most gorgeous self, attract good fortune, and attract whatever it is that we desire most.












I've given you merely a taste of what's ahead. There's also the Chinese Healing Exercises by Steven Cardoza, Playing with the Devil by Marcus F. Griffin, Living a Life of Gratitude by Sara Wiseman, A Practical Heathen's Guide to Asatru by Patricia M. Lafayllve, and much more.

We can't wait to hear what you think about our new fall list!!

Spring Rejuvenation Using Flowers

This has been a particularly long winter, especially here in Minnesota. We are almost a month behind our natural weather patterns, and are just nearing the possibility of our first 60-degree day. Talk about cabin fever! Many of us are anxiously awaiting that first day that we can open our windows, let in the breeze, and clean the layers of dust that winter left behind. Spring cleaning is an annual ritual for most of us, and it can be a very cathartic, rejuvenating experience. Spring is a season of re-birth, and we can begin the season anew and rejuvenate our spirits and selves using flowers. Tess Whitehurst, author of Magical Housekeeping, The Art of Bliss, and The Good Energy Book has a new book, The Magic of Flowers, and it is a veritable treasure trove of flowers, their uses, and their metaphysical properties. We dug through it and provided some particular flowers and how they can be used in rejuvenating ways this spring.

The Magical Uses of Flowers for Spring Rejuvenation:
Picking the correct flower or essence with which to communicate, plant, or infuse into your rituals can be confusing. Begin by identifying those flowers that are good for new beginnings, rebirth, and cleansing. Below are some examples.

• Aster: Beginnings, Cleansing & Detoxifying. Plant aster in your yard to help neutralize and clear negativity and emotional toxins from the home, or add aster essence to your water to support physical detoxification and weight loss.
• Black-Eyed Susan: Cleansing and releasing, Grounding. Try employing the essence or misting yourself with spring water containing ten to twenty drops lavender or geranium essential oil and two to four drops black-eyed Susan essence.
• Bougainvillea: Cleansing. Bougainvillea can help purify and evaporate lingering toxins in our mind, body, and spirit so that our personal energy field and lifestyle begin to be characterized by a simple, clean aesthetic. Similarly, she helps us strip away the extras (clutter, limiting beliefs, undesired commitments, old hurts and emotional stuff) so that we can feel energized, efficient, and streamlined. For this purpose, cultivate or care for bougainvilleas, spend time in quiet contemplation with a blossoming bougainvillea, or imbibe the essence regularly, starting at the full moon and continuing throughout an entire moon cycle.
• Carnation: Rebirth, New Beginnings. Carnation (as a symbol of modern-day funerary rites) is a symbol not only of death and life, but also of rebirth and new beginnings. He is a reminder—like new blossoms in the spring taking different forms but retaining the same essence—that our soul naturally seeks to be reborn again and again into this physical world. Similarly, when we seek rebirth in any area of our present life, carnation will gladly lend his magical support. Consider incorporating carnation into rituals or charms designed for this purpose, employing him as your intuition dictates.
• Citrus Blossom: Happy home. Citrus blossoms and neroli oil are wonderful ingredients for any sort of magical endeavor related to happiness in the home. The fragrance and energy aligns the home with the soft, relaxing, regenerative qualities that make home home. Additionally, the tranquilizing effects of the scent and vibration can help soothe tension and heal relationships.
• Forget-Me-Not: Organization and Efficiency. When organization and efficiency are crucial, forget-me-not can help. For example, taking the flower essence can be a wonderful companion when clearing clutter or streamlining your workday.
• Honeysuckle: Endings and Beginnings. Taking honeysuckle essence or having a plant close to the home can help us during clutter clearing or releasing old keepsakes and memorabilia.
• Peony: Cleansing. Energetically, peony is an excellent cleanser, bringing freshness and healing to the emotions and physical body by removing blocks, old patterns, and challenging attachments. For this purpose, try misting yourself or your space with rose water into which you’ve added six to ten drops peony essence, bringing peony blossoms into your space, using a
  peony blossom to flick blessed spring water around yourself or your home, or bathing in water into which you’ve added fresh peony blossoms or twenty to thirty drops peony essence.
• Sage Blossom: Emotional Detoxification. You know those times when you feel emotionally toxic, perhaps from a newly ended or currently problematic relationship, or because you recently traversed a particularly challenging or frightening time, place, or situation? Maybe it’s not so much that you’re wounded or broken-hearted but rather that you’re emotionally out of whack in other ways, such as feeling drained, spooked, unbalanced, shell-shocked, or generally not right? Sage blossom can help with this, too, not just by removing the negative energy and programming but also by helping to ground us and to reestablish new, healthier, and more
  positive patterns and conditions. Similarly, red or scarlet sage blossoms can help us heal the patterns associated with emotional wounds and broken hearts.
• Water Lily: Purification. Water lily purifies the spirit by healing the heart and breaking down our defenses so that a clear stream of life-force energy flows through our being as a matter of course. Over time, this energy helps us let go of old hurts, limiting beliefs, harsh emotions, and
  anything else that may be holding us back from possessing a clear and positive self-image and sparkly-fresh state of mind.

Bonus: Bath Ritual for Joyful Productivity
Try this bath ritual from The Magic of Flowers to help you in both work and home as you clean and start anew.

On a Thursday when the moon is between new and full, add three fresh echinacea blossoms or ten to twenty drops echinacea essence to your bath water, along with one half cup organic clover blossom honey. Light a yellow candle near the bathtub and hold your hands over the water as you mentally direct golden-white light into the water. Say:

All doors are open for prosperous and joyful work.
I love what I do, and I irresistibly attract sweet success.

Relax as you soak for twenty to forty minutes.

Flowers are a sure sign of spring, of Earth renewing herself. Flowers have myriad more uses than simply for spring rejuvenation, but what better way to start the season off right?
 

The April New Moon Is Out--Check Your Inbox!

For those of you who currently subscribe to our email newsletter for booksellers, The Moon, you may have noticed a few changes.

We've streamlined the look, included new features, and christened it with a new moniker: The New Moon. As with this blog, our goal is to really connect with you, our selling partners, each month and offer support, guidance, and resources with the aim of helping you grow and thrive in this ever-changing market.

Our April 2013 issue of the New Moon was mailed this morning. This issue includes:
-Perfect for Spring: Tarot Galore!
-Shelftalkers (The Illuminati Tarot Kit; The 3D Tarot Grand Trumps; Anna.K Tarot; and Celtic Sealing Wax)
-May New Releases
-Llewellyn's Spring/Summer 2013 Catalog
-Indie Stores' Top Five Picks
-And Much More!

If you did not receive a copy in your email inbox, you can also view it here: The New Moon, April 2013 Issue.

You can also visit our website to subscribe to The New Moon, ensuring that it reaches you each month (please note that you will need to log in/register to be able to join our mailing list).

Perfect for Spring: Tarot Galore!

Spring is officially here (though don't tell Minnesotans that--—Mother Nature seems to have forgotten us, at least for a few more weeks). What better way to welcome the season of re-birth with a multitude of new tarot decks and kits, bags, and powerful sealing waxes from Italian publisher Lo Scarabeo? Discover the magic and beauty that await!

Illuminati Tarot Kit
This stunning, deluxe kit will delight all readers. Open the box using the magnetic closure, lift the ribbon to expose the cards and companion guide, and discover the glistening gold of the gilded edges of the cards. Created by the renowned Erik C. Dunne, the artistic beauty and symbolic depth of the cards will warm the soul and free the mind on a journey for enlightenment and self-actuality. The 160-page companion guide, written by noted Tarot author Kim Huggens, illuminates card meanings and guides readers on their journey.

Mibramig Magical Tarot Deck 
Filled with whimsy, this deck by Italian artist Mibramig is both delightfully curious and cute. Visual imagery invites you to fully engage your intuition and experience the cards, with a Rider-Waite structure that encourages you to ask questions and explore your psyche for insight. An added bonus to this utterly unique Tarot is the addition of a seventy-ninth card, The Happy Squirrel, sure to delight Tarotists of all levels and backgrounds.

3D Grand Trumps Tarot Deck
A first of its kind Tarot from Lo Scarabeo! This innovative 3D deck of larger-sized, grand trumps from The Pictorial Key Tarot will bring new depth to your readings. The special 3D effect is achieved through lenticular print technology; no glasses or additional equipment is needed to gaze into the three-dimensional beauty of these special cards. Visit our website to view animated .gifs of The Fool and The Magician and discover the spectacular technology of these amazing cards.

Golden Universal Tarot
Lo Scarabeo's popular Universal Tarot deck is now available with gold foil highlights! Italian painter Roberto de Angelis lends a modern, more realistic approach to the classic Rider-Waite imagery. His dynamic interpretation is perfect for beginning readers, who will recognize the familiar characters and tableaus updated with sophisticated color and less cluttered compositions. Now adorned with brilliant gold impressions designed to take on an antique, distressed appearance over time, the Golden Universal Tarot Deck will attract collectors and tarot enthusiasts of all levels.

So Below Tarot Deck (Volume II of the Book of Shadows Tarot Kit)
So Below, volume two within The Book of Shadows Tarot Kit, is now available as a stand-alone deck and designed to fit perfectly into the kit alongside Volume I, the As Above Deck. Explore the beliefs, symbols, and values of Pagan and Wicca spirituality—and how these teachings manifest in the real world, every day. Following basic Rider-Waite structure, this vivid and powerful tarot helps us recognize—and learn from—the magical energies that surround us in everyday life.






New Bags from Lo Scarabeo
These beautiful bags can be used to store and transport valuables of all kinds—jewelry, keepsakes, crystals, runes, pendulums, decks, and more. They also makes a great gift bag or accompaniment to a matching deck!

Illuminati Satin Bag

Draconis Satin Bag

Universal Satin Bag

New Sealing Waxes from Lo Scarabeo
Customize invitations, greeting cards, spells, rituals, and more with enchanting wax stamps. The boxed kits include natural wax and a metal seal.

Celtic Sealing Wax

Magic Sealing Wax

Wicca Sealing Wax

It's the Little Extras That Allow Indie Booksellers to Compete with Amazon

I stumbled upon a great article this morning from The Telegraph UK discussing independent bookstores, namely how, in a world of disappearing bookstores and immediate Amazon eBook downloads, independent booksellers can remain competitive and relevant. The article, titled "You Can't Get This Book From Amazon," points out that it is the little extras that booksellers include with their books that really make them stand out from Amazon.

"It would have been understandable had booksellers held up their hands and surrendered. But booksellers are made of sterner stuff...They have the missionary’s zeal to unite people with the books they know they are going to enjoy reading. Such people have a vocation, and people with vocations do not give up easily--they fight back.

One of the ways in which they can fight back is to give the customer something more than just the book itself. My publishers recently asked me to write something extra that booksellers could give away with my new novel, Trains and Lovers.

You can read the full article here.

Looking for some quick ideas for things to include with books? Check out our full page of shelf talkers, stuffers, and other downloads, or sign up for our New Moon Newsletter (shelf talkers and stuffers are included in each issue).

The March New Moon Is Out--Check Your Inbox

For those of you who currently subscribe to our email newsletter for booksellers, The Moon, you may have noticed a few changes.

We've streamlined the look, included new features, and christened it with a new moniker: The New Moon. As with this blog, our goal is to really connect with you, our selling partners, each month and offer support, guidance, and resources with the aim of helping you grow and thrive in this ever-changing market.

Our March 2013 issue of the New Moon was mailed this morning. This issue includes:
-How to Combat Workplace Stress Using Crystals
-Shelftalkers (The Essential Guide to Crystals, Minerals and Stones; The Ultimate Guide to the Rider-Waite Tarot; Intuition for Beginners; and The Horned Altar)
-April New Releases and Notable Titles
-Llewellyn's Spring/Summer 2013 Catalog
-Indie Stores' Top Five Picks
-And Much More!

If you did not receive a copy in your email inbox, you can also view it here: The New Moon, March 2013 Issue.

You can also visit our website to subscribe to The New Moon, ensuring that it reaches you each month (please note that you will need to log in/register to be able to join our mailing list).

How to Combat Workplace Stress Using Crystals

All too often, we can feel dragged down and drawn out while at work. Stressors come in every shape and form, and each of us responds differently. But, one thing is for sure—stress is a negative factor in our everyday lives, and can have far-reaching consequences. How can we effectively deal with stress so that it doesn't affect our physical, spiritual, and emotional selves (not to mention our customers and co-workers)? Chakra Awakening author Margaret Ann Lembo has a new book, The Essential Guide to Crystals, Minerals and Stones, and it is a veritable treasure trove of crystal uses, including over 160 stones and 190 full-color photos to help you improve your life on all levels. We dug through it and provided some crystal shapes, colors, and uses for combating stress in the workplace.

What Shape Stone Should I Use?
Picking the correct stone or stones can be a daunting proposition, beginning with its shape; natural stones come in a variety of shapes and sizes. First, identify if you can a specific problem for which you are seeking resolution, and pick a stone that is the correct cut and shape for that purpose. Below are some examples.

•  Arrowheads: Often carved out of black obsidian, other stones can be found in an arrowhead shape as well. Use this shape of stone to help remind you that there is always direction available to help you know what to do, where to go, and what to do next.
•  Geodes: Geodes are rounded rock formations that, once broken open, expose a beautiful crystalline interior made of agate, quartz, amethyst, or chalcedony. Use geodes to focus your attention on being more grounded while contemplating your innermost thoughts.
• Hearts: Many stones are cut and polished into the shape of a heart. Heart-shaped stones are dedicated to approaching whatever you are working on from the center of yourself—your heart chakra—and also help to focus your attention on attracting romance or more love into your life.
• Pyramids: Pyramids can be square, triangular, pentagonal, and so on. The common feature is
  that they are three-dimensional figures with a flat base and straight edges (polyhedrons). Use pyramids to amplify your focus and the preservation of knowledge, wisdom, love, and protection.
• Spheres: As the name suggests, spherical stones are shaped into a ball or orb. This shape is helpful during times when you are connecting with the oneness of all life and useful for meditation.
• Cubes: Cubes are a relatively common shape for gemstones. Use cubical stones for the completion of life cycles and for when you need to affirm that everything will turn out for the best.
• Octahedrons: An octahedron is three-dimensional form consisting of eight equilateral triangle facets; these stones have many numerological meanings, and provide inner strength and stability. Use these stones for embracing community responsibility and the interplay that has with each person’s domestic life.
• Cluster: Cluster-shaped gemstones do not fall neatly into any of the above categories, instead being clustered around a central point. Because of this matrix they are representative of the interconnectedness of everything. Use cluster-shaped stones when setting intentions that will have wide-reaching effects.
• Wand: The wand shape occurs naturally in nature, and many stones are also cut into this shape as well. Use a wand-shaped crystal for memory recall, to maintain focus, to amplify vital life force, and to strengthen concentration.

What Color Stone Should I Use?
As with picking a particular shape, picking the color of your gemstone can be done by goal or purpose. Below are a few examples of gems that are useful for common work-place issues.

• Amber: With conscious intention, amber gives you the courage to establish healthy boundaries in your relationships in all areas of your life.
• Amethyst: Amethyst is a powerful ally in changing unwanted realities and taking control of our current situation.
• Blue Lace Agate: Blue lace agate improves your ability to communicate with others and speak your truth. Use it when you want to be heard and truly understood.
• Bloodstone: Bloodstone provides a needed boost for creativity and motivation.
• Emerald: Emerald is a sign of abundance, and helps when envisioning abundance all around you. It also helps with mental clarity.
• Garnet: Garnet is a stone of energy, for ourselves and for those around us.
• Larimar: This gemstone opens lines of communication, allowing you to fully listen to others and them to you.
• Rainbow Obsidian: Rainbow Obsidian is a good stone to use when you need to trigger your memory.
• Smoky Quartz: This gem is helpful for emotional and spiritual security, protecting us from doubts, worries, and the emotional vampires in our lives.

I've got my stone(s). Now What?
Once you've picked out the perfect stone, how do you use it to protect you from the rampant stresses of your workplace? In The Essential Guide to Crystals, Minerals and Stones, Margaret Ann Lembo offers the following:

• Carry smaller gemstones in your pocket. Every time you touch your chosen stone, bring your mind back to your intention.
• Put the chosen stone on your desk, workstation, or even on the dashboard of your car so that every time you look at it, the rock will remind you to be mindful and conscious of your thoughts and the actions you are taking to actualize your reality.
• Create a grid of stones in your office or at your desk. Set your intention by charging the group of gemstones to be used. (The Essential Guide to Crystals, Minerals and Stones offers an easy reference chart for creating crystal grids and alignments.)

Our workplaces are extensions of our lives, places where we spend large portions of our time. Why not use crystals, gems, and other minerals to make them happier, more fruitful places to be?