THE BOOK OF PEACE: Meditations from Around the World

The ancient Celtic Druidic priesthood evidently practiced vegetarianism and buried the heads of their dead at sacred sites so that the departed ones could return to speak to diviners. And in proclaiming a religion with one god (monotheism), the great Jewish patriarch Moses was actually following in the footsteps of the Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaten. Readers fascinated by such esoteric factoids and by a mysticism on the blurry borders of traditional religious thought may very well find Nahmad's unconventional introduction to various world religions and mythologies an aid to tranquility. A writer specializing in healing, herbalism, magic and folklore, Nahmad appropriates subject matter from Celtic mythology to African shamanism to the Kabbalah with great freedom. Indeed, traditional adherents of any of these religions or philosophies would be advised not to risk careful scrutiny of the chapter devoted to their own faith—they may not recognize it. Nahmad's generalist orientation becomes clear near the book's end when she writes that many people are hoping for the creation of a new religion based on individual insight and growth. "Fed by the ancient springs of the deeper truths in all religions, this new faith will contain no dogma, no creed except the individual perception of the guidance of the spirit," she writes. Those already well-versed in New Age shorthand may find this an appealing guidebook on cross-cultural peace. Others may simply get lost, disquieted by so many competing mystic voyages. (Aug.)