Day: October 15, 2020

Book review: ‘The Book of Ceremony’ by Sandra Ingerman

‘The Book of Ceremony’ by Sandra Ingerman. Photo: amazon

Sandra Ingerman, MA, is an award-winning author of 12 books, including “Soul Retrieval: Mending the Fragmented Self,” “Medicine for the Earth: How to Transform Personal and Environmental Toxins” and “Walking in Light: The Everyday Empowerment of a Shamanic Life.” Sandra is a world-renowned teacher of shamanism and has been teaching for close to 40 years. She has taught workshops internationally on shamanic journeying, healing and reversing environmental pollution using spiritual methods. Sandra is recognized for bridging ancient cross-cultural healing methods to our modern culture, addressing the needs of our times.  In her book “The Book of Ceremony: Shamanic Wisdom for Invoking the Sacred in Everyday Life,” Sandra Ingerman presents a rich and practical resource for creating ceremonies filled with joy, purpose and magic.

According to the author, her purpose in writing this book is to share what she has learned over the years, hoping to inspire others to lead healing and blessing ceremonies. Starting with the Introduction, Sandra Ingerman defines a ceremony: “Every shamanic journey a shaman takes, every healing method a shaman works with, is considered a ceremony.” She goes on to briefly describe the history of ceremonies and look back at the first ceremony she performed in 1982. The book is divided into for parts: Part One: The Power of Ceremony, it clarifies the basics of what constitutes a ceremony, how to prepare and perform one, Part Two: Sacred Transitions, Part Three: Ceremonies to Create Energetic Balance and Part Four: Life as a Ceremony, it includes examples of blessing and healing ceremonies for people and places, as well the community as a whole. The final part of the book includes other resources for further information on the practice of shamanic journeying.

Shamanism has been around for tens of thousands of years and has been a serious practice with the sole purpose of helping the community thrive. Today’s ceremonies are used to improve health and the quality of life and with so much negativity going on in the world, for serious practitioners, shamanic ceremonies are now more important than ever. The author connects ancient shamanic practices with modern culture and makes them relevant to today’s issues. The book touches on all topics related to ceremonies, including how choose the space, preparing ceremonial items and the types of ceremonies: for weddings, births and new beginnings.  Some of the ceremonies are familiar ones while others include newer adaptations of known ceremonies, the most poignant being the ones to honor death: burying a pet, plant ceremony, honoring trees and honoring environmental losses. All this information is given in plain and easy to understand language without being condescending to possible newcomers. While it may not be for everyone, “The Book of Ceremony” has resourceful guidance for readers who are genuinely interested in shamanic ceremonies.

“Once we wake up and recognize that other spectacular dimensions of reality exist, we experience a new sense of awareness about how to connect with nature, the flow of life, and the web of life.”

*The author received a copy of this book for an honest review. The views and opinions expressed here belong solely to her.

New release: ‘Invisible Girl: A Novel’ by Lisa Jewell

‘Invisible Girl: A Novel’ is Lisa Jewell’s new novel. Photo: amazon

Lisa Jewell is a British author of eighteen novels including “The Family Upstairs,” “Then She Was Gone” and “Watching You.” Her novels have sold more than 4.5 million copies internationally and her work has also been translated into twenty-five languages. She is one of the most popular authors writing in the UK today and in 2008 she was awarded the Melissa Nathan Award For Comedy Romance for her novel “31 Dream Street.” Her new book, “Invisible Girl: A Novel,” an obscure thriller about a young woman’s disappearance and a group of strangers whose lives intersect in its wake, was just released this week.

According to amazon, in “Invisible Girl,” Owen Pick’s life is falling apart. In his thirties and living in his aunt’s spare bedroom, he has just been suspended from his job as a teacher after accusations of sexual misconduct—accusations he strongly denies. Searching for professional advice online, he is inadvertently sucked into the dark world of incel forums, where he meets a charismatic and mysterious figure. The Fours family lives across the street. Headed by mom Cate, a physiotherapist, and dad Roan, a child psychologist, they have a bad feeling about their neighbor Owen. He is a bit creepy and their teenaged daughter swears he followed her home from the train station one night. Meanwhile, young Saffyre Maddox spent three years as a patient of Roan Fours. Feeling abandoned when their therapy ends, she searches for other ways to maintain her connection with him, following him in the shadows and learning more than she wanted to know about Roan and his family. Then, on Valentine’s night, Saffyre disappears and the last person to see her alive is Owen Pick.

Garrison Brothers Distillery announces virtual Bourbon Brawl

San Antonio’s Alamo City, one of the five semifinalists for this year’s Bourbon Brawl. Photo: Garrison Brothers Distillery, used with permission.

Garrison Brothers Distillery, the first legal whiskey distillery in Texas, announced the virtual adaptation of its statewide bartender competition, Bourbon Brawl 2020. The contest was originally supposed to take place in May but was postponed in light of the pandemic. Now, in lieu of an in-person event, Bourbon Brawl 2020 will take place entirely online on Thursday, November 19.(Garrison Brothers Distillery, 2020)

Garrison Brothers has partnered with Sourced Craft Cocktails, a cocktail curation and delivery service, to provide custom cocktail kits for guests to order and receive prior to the virtual Finals event where one kit will be selected as the winner. The grand prize is $12,500 from a public charity called Good Bourbon for a Good Cause, founded by the Garrison Family and their staff in 2018. They will also get the opportunity to take the title of Bourbon Brawl 2020 Champions home to their respective Texas city.

In February 2020, contestants submitted a cocktail recipe to Garrison Brothers. A panel of drinks experts blind judged each cocktail and chose 75 bartenders to proceed to the next round. Each of the 75 bartenders’ venues featured their cocktail for two weeks, while the Garrison Brothers team visited each location to judge the cocktail along with the service. After that, they selected 25 mixologists to compete in the semi-finals, five from each of these five major Texas cities: Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio.

The semi-finals and final event of Bourbon Brawl 2020 were initially slated to take place throughout March, April and May. After postponing the events several times due to COVID-19, the Garrison Brothers team decided to change the format so it could still take place safely this year. The five semi-finalists from each city have collaborated to create one cocktail that represents their city using ingredients from a list provided by Sourced Craft Cocktails.

The Bourbon Brawl 2020 cocktail kits are available online for $212.40 and for pre-order through Sourced from October 12 through November 12. The kits will be delivered just before the Finals event on November 19. Guests are encouraged to order the five-in-one cocktail kit that includes everything needed to make two full servings of each of the following cocktails:

Fort Worth’s Chisholm Two-Step

The Chisholm Two-Step will put some boogie back in your boots with a jolt of Chai Tea Latte concentrate and a complement of sarsaparilla-infused Simple Syrup, giving an entirely new meaning to the legendary “Texas Tea.”

Dallas’ Snake In My Boot

Do not let the mellow coconut sugar syrup and warm, smooth bourbon goodness fool you: the combo of tart cherry juice and muddle jalapeno slice ensures that this snake has plenty of bite.

San Antonio’s Alamo City 

Just like the Alamo, this simple South Texas sipper is easy to remember. With notes of fruit and rosemary adding a bit of lightness to a generous pour of Garrison Brothers bourbon, the Alamo City would be a perfect companion to any day on the Riverwalk.

Austin’s MIA (Missing In Austin)

Go off the grid for a while with this fruit-focused delight, featuring pineapple juice, grapefruit juice and plenty more. When you wrap up these fruity notes in the warm caramel cradle of bourbon, you get an entire night on Sixth Street all rolled into one.

Houston’s The Pho-Kit 

Say “Pho-Kit” and turn your cocktail into a savory meal in a glass. This unique combination of curry powder, chili oil and fish sauce melds with honey syrup to bring out every spicy note you can find in a pour of Garrison Brothers.

Each city’s semi-finalists have been invited to Austin for the Finals event on November 19, where only select Garrison Brothers staff will be in attendance. The select staff will judge each cocktail in person in a socially-distanced, COVID-safe environment. Guests are invited to tune in virtually, taste each cocktail, and vote on the winning drink amongst themselves.

“This partnership with Sourced not only makes Bourbon Brawl 2020 possible despite the event limitations of the pandemic, but it also prepares Texas bartenders to create the ‘cocktails of the future.’ By challenging them to create cocktails from ingredients that ship well and working through the process of curating a cocktail kit with Sourced, they’re learning valuable skills that will hopefully help them evolve with the industry.” – Dan Garrison, founder and proprietor of Garrison Brothers Distillery.