Based on a true story, The Jaguar's Heart brings to life the first encounter of Maya and European in the 16th century. It tells the story of Gonzalo Guerrero, a Spanish sailor shipwrecked on the coast of Yucatan in 1511, between Columbus' discovery of the Americas and Cortez' conquest of Mexico. Maya lords enslave Guerrero and his fellow castaways, but he eventually gains his freedom. Encountering Ix Chan Can, the beautiful younger sister of the Maya lord Nachan Can, Guerrero chooses to remain among her people and win her love. Guerrero earns renown in a war against Nachan Can's enemies, and finally Ix Chan Can's hand. After they have two children, the only other still-living castaway, the clergyman Jeronimo de Aguilar, brings word of Cortez' landing. Guerrero refuses to rejoin his countrymen, cleaving to his family. But with Aguilar as interpreter, Cortez conquers the Aztecs, and the Spaniards inevitably return to impose their rule and religion on the Maya. Nachan Can now demands that Guerrero fight, and at last accepting that he must do so to protect his family, Guerrero tragically stakes his life for his adoptive people against ever-mounting odds. The Jaguar's Heart reveals the struggle of a man caught between cultures and conflicting loyalties at a pivotal moment in the history of the Americas. It is a book with the captivating setting of Gary Jennings' Aztec and its sequels, yet which reveals the humanity of both Spaniard and Indian, and with the compelling theme of W. Michael Gear and Kathleen O'Neal Gear's Contact: The Battle for America series.

‘Shaman’, meaning ‘intermediary between spirit and the natural world’, has become a much overused word in the West. It’s not a job title one can give oneself, and in indigenous societies, a shaman is usually born to this role. Ya’Acov Darling Khan is one of the few westerners who have been acknowledged as shamans by indigenous elders or teachers. After being hit by lightning, Ya’Acov took a 30-year journey into the heart of shamanism to seek his own healing, and to learn how he could serve others with the wisdom he acquired through his experiences. He has studied with indigenous teachers from the Arctic Circle to the USA and South America, and has taken part in ceremonies in such diverse locations as Welsh caves to the depths of the Amazon rainforest. Nowadays, Ya’Acov continues to study and regularly journeys to the Ecuadorean Amazon to work alongside the Achuar and Sápara people. For thousands of years, shamans helped the people in their communities remain in balance with themselves, each other, the natural world and the spirit world. This beautifully written book is not only a powerfully honest, humorous and inspiring memoir, but a guidebook for those from many cultures and walks of life wishing to return to their indigenous roots, and be part of midwifing a more benign human presence here on Earth as part of a new dream.

Anora, the shepherdess, finds a half-naked man in her bed, so what's a woman living alone in a cottage in the Lowlands of Scotland supposed to do? Prod him with her pitchfork to chase him off! Only the man is not just a traveler seeking her bed for a rest—but a wounded Highlander, who fights back, swinging his sword! Niall MacNeill is searching for a Frenchwoman of nobility to escort to his cousin's castle for safekeeping, when he and his friend, Gunnolf, are attacked by another Highland clan, seeking the same woman. The other Highlanders wish to sell her to the highest bidder—English or French—it does not matter. Niall takes refuge in a sheepherder's cottage to heal up from his wounds and discovers the shepherdess taking care of him may very well be the woman he seeks. He has no intention of doing anything but what his cousin requests of him—ensure her safety on their way to Craigly Castle—but when the lass so bravely wields her pitchfork at him, he is thinking of other, more interesting possibilities. Highland Historical Romance set in Scotland.

In the Shadow of the Shaman is about the importance of connection to the deepest power of Nature. It tells you how to use natural objects from the shamanic worlds -- Plant, Mineral, Animal, and Human -- to help make this personal connection with Earth energies. In doing this, you are able to reconnect with the center of your own power. Because the shamanic path is such a personal one, often not able to be shared, this book has been designed so that it has the experiential quality of the shamanic journey traditions. The author is also careful to present the information in a clear, organized manner. In doing so, she blends the deeply personal wisdom of a shamanic path with the shared, community wisdom of a medicine path. This represents an ideal for Aquarian shamanism. But this book is not simply about shamanism -- it shows, through techniques, exercises, meditations, and rituals, how anyone can become a shaman. You will learn how to attune yourself with the shamanic worlds of Nature, and with the Higher Self, for self-healing and self-empowerment. You will learn to develop shamanic balance, to become the living tree, and you will do this by using such tools as stones, crystals, feathers, masks, drums, and incense. Book jacket.

Icons of Power investigates why the image of the cat has been such a potent symbol in the art, religion and mythology of indigenous American cultures for three thousand years. The jaguar and the puma epitomize ideas of sacrifice, cannibalism, war, and status in a startling array of graphic and enduring images. Natural and supernatural felines inhabit a shape-shifting world of sorcery and spiritual power, revealing the shamanic nature of Amerindian world views. This pioneering collection offers a unique pan-American assessment of the feline icon through the diversity of cultural interpretations, but also striking parallels in its associations with hunters, warriors, kingship, fertility, and the sacred nature of political power. Evidence is drawn from the pre-Columbian Aztec and Maya of Mexico, Peruvian, and Panamanian civilizations, through recent pueblo and Iroquois cultures of North America, to current Amazonian and Andean societies. This well-illustrated volume is essential reading for all who are interested in the symbolic construction of animal icons, their variable meanings, and their place in a natural world conceived through the lens of culture. The cross-disciplinary approach embraces archaeology, anthropology, and art history.

Cougar’s Mate: Instinct told her to run… Shannon Rafferty learns that hanging out with the bad boys could be a dangerous business, but hooking up with a cop is even worse. Now she’s on the run, trying to avoid being murdered by his cougar shifter brothers and uncle. If that isn’t bad enough, a deputy sheriff hunts her down while she’s running as a cougar and trying to survive in the Colorado wilderness. He vows to protect her no matter what she’s done. With three dead boyfriends to her name, she’s sure she will be the death of Chase Buchanan before either of them can prevent it. No matter how much she knows she has to run again, he soon holds her heart hostage. But will that be enough to keep them both alive? Chase Buchanan—as wilderness cabin resort owner, former US Army Special Forces, and part time deputy of the small town of Yuma, Colorado that boasts a love of cougars—is tasked to track down a cougar reported to be hunting human prey. Chase soon learns she’s a shifter, not a full-time cougar, and she’s on the run. When he takes her in, he vows to protect her. After losing his wife and baby to the human kind of predator years earlier, he’s not letting Shannon’s hunters kill her, too. But how is he going to hold onto the wild-cat woman, who is unpredictable at every turn, without losing his heart to her, and then losing her as well?

Army officer Deidre Roux has hidden her psychic abilities until now. But ominous visions plague her and between the martial arts tactics her twin brother taught her and the hand-to-hand combat she learned in the Army—she’s realizing just how important these skills are for her well-being. When a reporter moves in next door, she’s not sure just what to think. Dave Carter owns a gun—it is Texas—and comes to her rescue when her brother suddenly drops into her life again. From there it’s the normal stuff that women and men tend to do when they’re getting to know each other—boating, swimming, dancing—except for one thing…she’s trying to keep her secret under wraps at all costs, which is difficult to do when she’s under surveillance by the FBI, and people keep wanting her dead. Could a reporter, who’s not really a reporter, prove he might just have what it takes to keep her safe–for the long run?

Allan Thompson arrives in Waco, Texas for a mission of utmost importance--protect a terrorist's mistress from being the next victim on his hit list. But when the mission goes down wrong, Jenny Brant is nearly killed and Allan begins a new mission--protect her at all costs--as her faux husband until she can regain her memories. Everything about the mission seems wrong--all starting with one Jenny Brant who doesn't fit the profile of the kind of woman Wilson usually hooks up with. Allan and his team must protect her, but at what cost to his own sanity or his heart? Jenny Brant begins to regain her memories, but when she learns she has a huge inheritance that Wilson wants by marrying her, and the agent Allan Thompson will marry her instead to secret her money away with the Agency's protection, she still can't remember why she would have been a killer's main squeeze. When Wilson's thugs try to return her to him, she becomes less sure of who the good guys are and who she truly is. The only thing she knows for certain--if someone doesn't take down Wilson, her life is forfeit.