An Abecedarian Of Animal Spirit Guides [Hardcover]

Almost every person has owned a pet at one time or another in life or known someone who has. In all world religions, animals serve as spirit guides; there is spirituality to animal and human dialogue. Animals have the ability to help us reach wholeness if we learn their wisdom and integrate it into our lives. This abecedarian--a book whose contents are in alphabetical order--explores the spiritual growth that is possible by reflecting on the wisdom of creatures, which serve as spirit guides in all world religions and help humans experience the divine. The author explores animal spirit guides in the Bible, The Quran, The Dhammapada, The Rig Veda, The Analects of Confucius, stories from Aesop and Grimm, and much more. In these pages you can explore bears and bees, eagles and elephants, ravens and roosters, tadpoles and turtles, and many more. For each of the thirty-two entries, the author presents a text identifying the animal spirit guide, a reflective study, a question for journaling or personal meditation, and a concluding prayer. The spiritual life can be nourished in many ways; in this book it is enhanced by animal spirit guides. Boyer's Abecedarian is a very interesting, intelligent survey of how animals appear in a variety of religious and other narrative texts. The book combines detailed research, clear prose, and thoughtful commentary in a single work that highlights the religious significance and spiritual value of animals in the human world. --Stephen C. Berkwitz, Professor of Religious Studies, Missouri State University This book is a fitting addenda to Pope Francis' Laudato Si, summoning us to our primitive duty to care for creation (Gen 2:15), aware, as the Psalmist says, that the 'earth is the Lord's' (Ps 24:1), 'with all that is within it' (Deut 10:14). A delight for pet lovers everywhere, and a touching reminder of how the animals--from A to Z--enrich and bless our lives! --Pauline Nugent, CCVI, Professor, Classics and Biblical Hebrew, Departml£Ý