Women Mystics

With Wild Mercy, Mirabai Starr shares the subversive wisdom and fierce compassion of the feminine mystic across cultural boundaries and throughout history. From saints and sages, to goddesses and archetypal energies, to contemporary teachers and seekers - you'll meet women who blazed a path that will illuminate your own.

On the day her daughter leaves for college, Anne Colwater's husband of 20 years announces he wants a divorce. Her roles of wife and mother suddenly gone, Annie retreats to her childhood home of Mystic, Washington, to heal. There she finds her old friend Nick, suddenly widowed and unable to cope with his emotionally scarred young daughter, Izzie.

From the beautiful apsaras of Hindu myth to the swan maidens of European fairy tales, stories of flying women - some carried by wings, others by clouds, rainbows, floating scarves, and flying horses - reveal the perennial fascination with and ambivalence about female power and sexuality. In Women Who Fly, Serinity Young examines the motif of the flying woman as it appears in a wide variety of cultures and historical periods, in legends, myths, rituals, sacred narratives, and artistic productions.

A community of quirky, mismatched, and endearing women struggle to find meaning and purpose on a ramshackle monastery in upstate New York. Having spent their lives in service to a church that seems to no longer serve them, they are confused about their own futures and the future of the entire monastery.

Wyatt Fitzgerald doesn't consider his deafness a disability, and he doesn't want special consideration from anyone - least of all a spoiled city girl like Erin. He prides himself on his ability to read lips, and when she confronts him, Wyatt sees no reason to volunteer to her that he's deaf. But there's no escaping each other in the small Oregon town, especially once Erin seeks him out to make amends. Wyatt gave up on dating long ago, but the written correspondence he and Erin begin to share speak to him like nothing else ever has.

Discover a rich legacy of audacious women who forged a spirituality that is more inclusive, surprising, and empowering than we ever imagined.

The Swedish painter Hilma af Klint (1862-1944) was forty-four years old when she broke with the academic tradition in which she had been trained to produce a body of radical, abstract works the likes of which had never been seen before. Today, it is widely accepted that af Klint was one of the earliest abstract academic painters in Europe. But this is only part of her story. Not only was she a working female artist, she was also an avowed clairvoyant and mystic.

While in Bath preparing for her upcoming marriage to Lord Darkefell, Lady Anne learns of a profoundly accurate mystic working in town whose uncanny predictions have stunned the gullible and the skeptical alike. Certain there's a harmless rational explanation for the medium's supposed otherworldly abilities, Anne's tolerance turns to defiance when the seer's dark pronouncements begin having a decidedly harmful affect on her friends - and a troubled local vicar takes his own life.

There's nothing practical about magic—which is why I ditched my wand years ago. Thirteen years, to be exact. The day I left Silverlake. Except now, a family emergency has called me back home, and quite frankly, I'd rather be anywhere but here. But when my aunt raises her wand to cure a friend and he ends up dead, it becomes abundantly clear I'm not leaving anytime soon.

Since finishing graduate school, Maggie Griffin has worked hard to build an enviable life in Boston. She's an elementary school teacher in a tony Boston suburb, a devoted sister, and a loving aunt. With her childhood best friend's wedding quickly approaching and her own relationship blossoming, this is the summer she has been waiting for. But when Maggie's career is suddenly in jeopardy, her life begins to unravel. Stricken, Maggie returns home to seaside Mystic, Connecticut, where she expects to find comfort.

Barista April Storm longs for more than making a mean macchiato and talking to her ex-boyfriend’s ghost. So when her quirky Aunt Rose asks her to help open a hip café in the rural area near the Welsh and English border, she jumps at the chance to start fresh. Little does she know what lies in store for her when spirits begin to arrive, asking for help in solving their murders. Assisted by her spectral ex, a magical secret agent, and a talking cat named Punkin, she finds herself in hot water time after time. Can April serve up justice before a brewing disaster boils over?

Middle-aged bookstore owner Willa Chance is looking forward to the opportunity of appraising a valuable private library that hasn't seen the light of day for 50 years...until she finds a dead body in the backyard and the ghost of the home's previous owner anxiously waiting for her inside.

Middle-aged bookstore owner Willa Chance is often haunted by ghosts who want her to do their bidding. Usually it involves the nasty business of bringing their killers to justice, so when the ghost of Adelaide Hamilton asks her to find an old recipe book and give it to Elspeth Whipple, it seems like an easy job. Except Willa's search for the book has her crossing the path of Sheriff Eddie Striker one too many times for comfort. He's acting almost as if he's investigating a murder, but Adelaide died of natural causes. Didn't she?

When retired postmaster Albert Schumer is found dead on the steps of the post office, the whole town of Mystic Notch is disappointed he won’t be able to play in the annual checkers tournament. But when his ghost informs middle-aged bookstore owner Willa Chance that he died trying to deliver an old letter, which has mysteriously gone missing, Willa realizes Albert didn’t just slip and fall. Someone killed him. Even worse, it turns out the letter contains a list of ingredients for a spell that could wreak havoc on Mystic Notch if it falls into the wrong hands.

Fenella Conyers, a distant Raynham connection, unexpectedly appears at Beaumatin, the ancestral home of the Barons Raynham, with a request and a gift. After a life spent roaming the globe, she wants to settle down in the Cotswolds and asks if her noble cousin has an empty cottage where she could stay until she can find her own place. The gift is an extremely rare snowdrop—a yellow “spiky” that Fenella mysteriously acquired in her travels and which she has named Mystic Mayhem.

Three hundred years ago, accused witch Hester Warren buried a magical box in Mystic Notch. The secret contents within have the power to bring disaster to the town, and when the box is dug up at a groundbreaking ceremony for the new Mystic Notch Historical Museum, Hester's ghost and that of her cat make an appearance to warn the humans and enlist their help to ensure the box doesn't fall into the wrong hands. Too bad the only one listening is Pandora, the cat.

Aly’s got enough on her plate, with finishing her degree and taking care of her nephew and starting her new job at the antique store while drooling over the owner's gorgeous son. No time for visions. Alas, the universe doesn't care what Aly believes. When she turns 21, she starts to feel psychic impressions left on objects. A disorienting power for someone surrounded by antiques.

It's New Year's Eve, and Angelica is ready to welcome the New Year. But when the clock strikes twelve and a curse is unleashed, old acquaintances will be anything but forgotten. Who has it out for Silverlake? Or maybe the magical town isn't the target. Because when the snow settles, two women are left frozen at the center of it all—the town's persnickety mayor and an up-and-coming WNN news anchor. Both women's personalities aren't going to make this an easy case.

As the town’s medium, Connie Winters is the only person who can see the ghosts who call Mystic Springs home. When young temptress Lola is killed, the dead mayor and the dead sheriff are determined to investigate. Since they’ve never been replaced with live counterparts, they’d better get on with it. But they need Connie’s help. And if Connie’s helping, her sister Sage is going to get involved too - she’s beautiful, slim, and 20 years dead.

Christmas is right around the corner, and Angelica and Vance are finally getting ready to say their vows. But just as they're about to start their happily ever after, a dark cloud appears on the horizon in the form of someone from Angelica's past. This mysterious figure has a dangerous plan and will stop at nothing to silence Angelica forever.