FREE Astrology Magazines!!!!!

Attention students of astrology!
A generous and environmentally minded customer just gave us a BIG BOX of older astrology magazines to give away to interested customers – Stop by and claim a few for yourself!

Let the reminiscing begin!

As mentioned in the latest newsletter, we’re coming up on Little Mysteries’ 15th Birthday in April. As well as our annual Birthday Sale (this year, it’s April 10th and 11th, due to scheduling around the Easter holidays), we thought we’d mark the occasion with a bit of fun, hence our Birthday Memories contest – here are the details:
Birthday Memories Contest - send us a photo of you with your favourite book from Little Mysteries OR a favourite Little Mysteries memory and we’ll enter you into a draw for a $100.00 gift certificate (with lots of wonderful second prizes, including readings with our favourite readers).
We’ll be publishing a selection of your photos and stories on the store blog and Face Book group for everyone to share.
Be sure to include your contact information (name, phone number and/or email) so we can contact you if you win. Contest ends on April 30th when we’ll draw for our winners!

AND, as promised, we’re starting the ball rolling with some old memories of our own. Watch for more images and reminiscences as the birthday gets closer.
Here’s another shot of the old store space (post a comment if you remember the old location! I know there’s a few ‘old timers’ out there in cyber space). Compared to the photo in the store newsletter, this image looks positively crammed with stuff! We still have most of those fixtures too! I remember hand stenciling the moon phase border around the ceiling shortly before we opened… fun times and only a wee bit of cursing.

And here’s the view looking out towards the front window. It’s been a while since we had space for comfy chairs but it did make it look a bit like a waiting room. You can tell how old this photo is if you look through the front window and see that the space across the street is still a bank (it later became the now defunct Tim Horton’s).

Here’s one closer to when we first opened – now that’s a bit barren! Sadly, many of the magazines on that rack have gone out of business but we do still carry those lovely handmade brooms from Misty Mountain Crafts!

Malidoma Somé lecture

It’s the day after the Malidoma Somé lecture and I’m still processing the wealth of ideas he was able to pack into two short hours. In some ways, it was akin to the Deepak Chopra talk I attended last year. When asked, ‘what did he talk about?’, in both instances, it’s almost correct to say, ‘what DIDN’T he talk about!’.

The heart of the lecture centred on the nature of community and how community is formed. He suggested that community emerges from the Spirit and from ritual, not from planning, defining or excluding. He also spoke on how true ritual (as opposed to ceremony, which he clearly defined as another sort of event altogether) is often chaotic and full of changes in direction and unplanned happenings since Spirit is present and acting through the ritual participants.

Throughout the lecture, there were numerous murmurs of agreement and nodding heads as Malidoma’s words rang true to many of the audience. The time flew by (you’ll notice there’s no photos to go along with this blog post – I did bring a camera but was so intent of taking in the lecture, I completely forgot to snap a few shots!).

We did get a few copies of The Healing Wisdom of Africa and his autobiographical Of Water and the Spirit signed, for anyone unable to attend the lecture who’d like a signed copy.

Many thanks to the organizers (Theresa and Sula, and likely many others) for all their hard work and Billy Lewis and the drummers and singers of the Mi’ Kmaq Friendship Centre who opened and closed the event with heartfelt blessings.

Bargain Book Corner

Inventory has come and gone and there’s still a few titles we’re a bit overstocked on.
Some of your might have seen these on the recent Sale Table but for those of you in more far flung regions, here’s a chance to get some winter reading material at crazy low prices! Quantities are limited so act quickly if something catches your eye!

The Da Vinci Code (Brown) $2.00

The Garden of Truth – The Vision and Promise of Sufism, Islam’s Mystical Tradition (Nasr) $10.00 hardcover

Love is in the Earth – Laying on of Stones (Melody) $10.00

The Stress Answer – Train Your Brain to Conquer Depression and Anxiety in 45 Days (Lawlis) $10.00 hardcover

Psychic Healing – Using the Tools of a Medium to Cure Whatever Ails You (Browne) $10.00 hardcover

Wild Goose Chase – Reclaim the Adventure of Pursuing God (Batterson) $5.00

More on Malidoma Somé in Halifax

It’s just a few more days before the weekend events with Dagara elder, Malidoma Somé and we’re gettting ready for book selling at the Friday night lecture. With the help of Peter, our fab new Penguin rep, we’ve got lots of copies of all three of Malidoma’s books in time for the lecture and book signing. If you want to be on the safe side, stop by the store to pick up a copy in case we sell out at the lecture.

If you’ve not had a chance to read the interview with him, do wander over to the store newsletter (it’s on our website) and learn a bit about this renowned teacher.

And just to pique your interest a bit more, here are some further details on the events (there’s still a few spots left for divination readings too!:

Friday February 5, 7:30-9:30pm Lecture and Book-signing: COMMUNITY HEALING AND EMPOWERMENT
Mi’Kmaq Friendship Centre, 2158 Gottingen Street $20 at the door.

Saturday February 6, 10am-5pm Workshop/Ritual: HONOURING OUR ANCESTORS
Mi’Kmaq Friendship Centre, 2158 Gottingen Street. Adults: $125; Youth, Seniors, Unwaged: $75.
This powerful day-long experience will give participants an opportunity to connect with their ancestors and find and expand their own authenticity, abundance and peace through that connection.

For more details and to register, go to http://tatami.chebucto.biz or write malidoma2010@yahoo.ca

Divinations with Malidoma: A wonderful, in depth reading of your life, purpose and highlighted areas, using the ancient traditional Cloth Divination tool comprised of many cowrie shells and other objects read on a cloth. To book one of the few remaining spots for Feb 4 or 7, contact Theresa at 441-4573.

Imbolc/Equinox Newsletter now available!

Wander over to the store site for a peek at the latest issue of Silver Horse!
This issue features an interview with Malidoma Somé, as well as details on our upcoming 15th Birthday Celebration here at the shop.

Upcoming Events in the Community

Here’s a quick overview of some wonderful events upcoming in the Halifax area…

African Dagara elder, Malidoma Some, will be here in early February. He will be teaching a workshop entitled Honouring the Ancestors, as well as giving a public lecture and booksigning on Friday, Feb. 5th at the Mi’Kmaq Friendship Centre.
For details on all his Halifax work, visit the website

Imbulc Ritual – Praying for Peace will take place at the Universalist Unitarian Church. This open ritual will be held on Saturday, January 30th, beginning at 6:00pm. Here’s a bit more from the organizers:

Imbolc Ritual – Praying for Peace

We invite you to join us in a journey where the seeds of Peace and Love will be planted for the year to come (and beyond). You are encouraged to use your creative skills as at the end of our journey we will be making a wearable mandala. Bring a symbol with you to use for this (This can be anything special to you ie. a feather, a stone, a charm etc.).

Bring your drums or instruments of any kind! Bring a dish for the potluck (and your feast gear – dish, plate, fork, spoon, bowl). Also if you wish bring a small blanket and a pillow.

Ritual to start at 6:30 pm sharp.

Suggested donation $7.00 (to cover operation costs only).

Brought to you by Elevate (Elevate is a group of friends who are striving together to help elevate human consciousness one step at a time)

And, the Nova Scotia Pagan Alliance (NSPA) will be holding their monthly meeting on Sunday, January 31st at Uncommon Grounds, South Park Street, beginning at 6:15pm. The topic up for discussion this month is ‘altars’.

Crystal Love Magic Class rescheduled

We’ve had to reschedule our Crystal Love Magic class with Amanda until Wed. April 14th (same time, same price). If you are already registered for this class, you should have received a phone call to let you know about the change.

If you were interested in the class but weren’t able to attend due to other plans, do check your schedule to see if the new date is a better fit! There are still spaces remaining in the class – give us a call at 423 1313 to register.

Helping Haiti

A week has elapsed since news first broke about devastating earthquake in Haiti.

I’m sure a good number of you have been watching the images and hearing the stories, feeling sorrowful and helpless. There are many calls to send financial aid but you wonder if it will do any good.

Frankly, I don’t have that answer. With the country’s infrastructure so damaged, it’s clear that the various relief agencies are severely challenged to get the supplies where they are most needed.

However, I don’t believe that’s a good reason to sit back and wait. Pick an aid agency that has a good track record and donate what you can within your means.

I don’t usually comment on issues in the media, preferring to keep my commentary to things I do know about and away from potentially charged topics. The reason I feel compelled to write this post where I’m (essentially) asking you to give up some of your hard earned cash is because I have people in Haiti that I’m worried about. Maybe that’s a bit selfish but nonetheless, there it is. If something I’m saying now can help them or others in a desperate situation, I feel it’s worth going out on a bit of a limb.

I’m concerned about the well being of my current foster child, a young boy named Scutt and his family who live in Lavial. Their community is relatively far from Port-Au-Prince but reports seem to be indicating that damage from the quake is spread well beyond the capitol. Here he is with his mother, Germicie in their last photo.

I’m also worried for a past foster child (she and her family moved out of the Plan area and I was connected up with a new child). Her name is Guerline and she sent me many lovely drawings. This is her with her father, Charleus.

I am holding all of them in my thoughts these days, as well as all the community workers for Plan. There are thousands of stories of families and children in peril because of this disaster but these are a series of faces I have some knowledge of.

Please consider donating.
Plan Canada
Red Cross
Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres

The End of an Era

While I’ve been saddened by the closure of many of Halifax’s fine independent bookshops, I was truly shocked to hear news that Los Angeles’ venerable The Bodhi Tree Bookstore will close this year.

If you haven’t heard of The Bodhi Tree, you should know that today’s landscape of spiritually oriented shops right across North America owes a massive debt to their revolutionary vision. Opened in 1970, they were offering spiritual and metaphysical books and services before the term ‘New Age’ became part of the vernacular. Before the age of the internet, one had to search far and wide for spiritual resources of any stripe and the Bodhi Tree was one of those outposts for seekers.

The authors and teachers who signed books and offered workshops in their space often went on to become almost household names. Others steeped themselves in the mystical environment before going on to their own work (one of our favourite musical artists, Azam Ali of Vas, once worked at the Bodhi Tree).

And there’s even a Halifax connection – one time Little Mysteries tarot readers, Michael and Krista, who left our fair city for the lure of California, are regular readers at The Bodhi Tree (and had some very well known clients over the years too!)

I’ve never had the chance to visit this shop and it now doesn’t seem likely I will have that opportunity. I realize that all things change but a loss like this feels like we’re tipping the scales away from unique and local in favour of corporate, one-size-fits-all options. I take solace in seeing the legacy of The Bodhi Tree in all the people, events and stores who were inspired in one way or another by their creation.