The Illustrated Bestiary: Guidance and Rituals from 36 Inspiring Animals

by Maia Toll, Kate O'Hara (Illustrator)

Overview

Author and spiritual wellness guide Maia Toll turns the insight and wisdom that birthed The Illustrated Crystallary and The Illustrated Herbiary — her best-selling volume on the mystical power of plants — to the mysteries of the animal kingdom. She profiles the mystical, meaningful traits of 36 powerful animals and explores how those traits can guide our intentions, inform our actions, and offer wisdom and insight. Spring Peeper’s ability to reemerge from frozen hibernation can inspire us to reinvent ourselves. Katydid’s five eyes can lend clarity of vision when we need to see the bigger picture. A deck of 36 oracle cards beautifully illustrated by Kate O'Hara, plus suggested rituals, readings, and reflections, guide readers in cultivating and accessing each animal’s special energy.

Also available: The Illustrated Bestiary Collectible Box Set and The Illustrated Herbiary Collectible Box Set.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781635862126
Publisher:	Storey Books
Publication date:	10/01/2019
Series:	Wild Wisdom
Pages:	168
Sales rank:	136,773
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 8.10(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Maia Toll has been many things — including a horseback riding instructor, a clinical herbalist, and a university teacher — but being an author is by far her favorite. Her Wild Wisdom series, featuring bestseller The Illustrated Herbiary, The Illustrated Bestiary, and The Illustrated Crystallary, offers a glimpse into the knowings of the natural world and the wilds within ourselves — insights Toll contemplated during her yearlong apprenticeship to a traditional healer in Ireland. When not reading books and “talking” to trees, stones, and her two dogs, she helps to run Herbiary, a multi-city natural wellness and sacred living store she owns with her partner, Andrew. She teaches and blogs to an international following at maiatoll.com.


Kate O'Hara is a freelance illustrator currently based in Reno, Nevada. She received a BFA in Illustration from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, in 2014. Her work combines intricate nature drawings with decorative hand-lettering and rich color schemes. 

Table of Contents

Preface
Introduction

The Bestiary
White-Tailed Deer: Pause, Assess, Act
Red Salmon: Navigate Life with Determination
Common Raven: Align Your Inner Compass
Monarch Butterfly: Digest Your Past
Spring Peeper: Evolve into Your Next Becoming
Common Tortoise: Steady On
Black Snake: Grow Your Truth
Screech Owl: Get Creative
Cow & Bull: Appreciate the Process
Black Bear: Sync with the Cycles
Gray Wolf: Nurture Connections
Broad-Winged Katydid: Discover the Pattern
Whooper Swan: Love Fiercely
House Mouse: Work Together
Sea Turtle: Find Your Element
Nuthatch: Change Your Perspective
Spotted Skunk: Stand Up for Yourself
Barn Owl: Listen for Spirit
Orca: Dive Under the Surface
Beaver: Make Manifest
Zigzag Spider: Everything Is Connected
Pileated Woodpecker: Free Your Inner Fire
Asian Elephant: Honor Lineage
Earthworm: Discover Your Purpose
Sea Eagle: Renew Your Life
Andalusian Horse: Transcendend Yourself
Eastern Oyster: Deal with the Dirt
Honeybee: Navigate by the Sun
House Finch: Know Your Song
Tabby Cat: You Are Worthy
Five-Lined Skink: Delight in Daring
Little Owl: Key In to Wisdom
Red Fox: Shape-Shift
Blue Damselfly: Commune with Nature
River Otter: Slide into Joy
Human: Remember Forgetting

How to Work with the Bestiary Cards
Sources & Resources
Thank-Yous

Editorial Reviews

08/12/2019

Spiritual teacher Toll and artist O’Hara (The Illustrated Herbiary) deliver a series of beautiful oracle cards and a companion book that aim to connect readers to the spirits of wild animals. Toll recalls her experiences with shamans on her travels, including a trip in which she studied with an Amazonian shaman and a yearlong apprenticeship with an Irish medicine woman, to explain how “earth medicine... connects us not only to the world around us but also back to ourselves.” With questions and rituals outlined for each of the 36 animals (deer, beaver, finch, tabby cat, and salmon among them), Toll provides scientific and mythological information on each, and sidebars appear throughout explaining, for instance, the effects of climate change on animals and “vulnerable species.” O’Hara’s bright, bold colors and energetic designs match Toll’s impassioned prose. Suggestions for best oracle practices will make even readers new to oracle cards feel at ease. Toll also suggests “being the animal” by imagining their physical existence through body movements, “inviting the animal into your dream time,” and free-writing exercises to increase one’s spiritual connection to specific animals. This poetic, gorgeous oracle deck will make a perfect gift for spiritual animal lovers. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

O’Hara’s bright, bold colors and energetic designs match Toll’s impassioned prose… This poetic, gorgeous oracle deck will make a perfect gift for spiritual animal lovers.” — Publisher's Weekly

“This book is enchanting — a dive into the wonder, wisdom, and healing offered to us by the natural world.” — Dr. Linda Bender, author of Animal Wisdom: Learning From the Spiritual Lives of Animals

“Inspiring rituals, contemplation of mythology and cultural traditions, and evocative art work together to create a spiritual guide to animals that uplifts, guides, and encourages self-reflection. A marvelous tool for deepening your relationship with key fauna of the world, and an ideal addition to the shelf of anyone open to connecting with the animal kingdom.” — Arin Murphy-Hiscock, author of The Green Witch
 

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