The Witch's Garden is honored to have the collection of over 500 titles donated by Spiritualist Elder Gil Shwartz including one of his own called Shaman Songs which will be for sale at our shop starting that Friday. This book is a reflection of the journey along the path of life of this wise and powerful yet humble elder expressed by him through poetry.. Join us on this special night as we name our Community Spiritual Arts Library in his honor so that his legacy will forever feed our community his eternal w isdom.Freddi Shwartz will be reading his poems and his family will be here celebrating this monumental event. For more information visit his website and read about his background in his own words below BACKGROUND After teaching Hatha Yoga in the Chicago area for several years, my calling led me to spend six years in India and Nepal. There I studied with masters from several traditions in spiritual awakening and healing; Hindu, Christian and Tibetan Buddhist. I also attended Benares Hindu University and received a M.A. in Comparative Religion. On returning to Chicago, I worked at Northwestern Memorial Hospital doing biofeedback research exploring the approaches I'd learned in India. In the decades since then, I've had a private practice in Intuitive Spiritual Counseling (Interfaith) and Healing, called Gateways To Transformation. The approaches I use range from energy and imagery medicine to soul reading and healing, past lives, connecting with helpers or deceased, and ceremony, as prayerfully guided through my psychic and intuitive awareness. I've also taught yoga and meditation for some thirty years. Besides classes, spiritual support groups and workshops offered privately, I've also taught at Loyola University, Mundelein College, the World Conference of Religion, Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Common Ground, Visiting Nurses Associations, and mentored at the Center for Education on Death and Dying. Some of the topics taught were: Medicine Wheel and Inner Vision Quest; Sensing the Unseen; The Sacred in the Day to Day; Healing Skills in Hospice; different forms of Meditation; Heart Work; On Being a Cosmic Human; Opening to the Divine Within; etc. These last few years I've mostly been in retreat, though I've ministered in several blessing and initiatory ceremonies. The primary spiritual practice I use is based on a devotional and meditative Tibetan Buddhist one called Mahamudra: The Great Gesture. It calls into play many of the skills and awareness I've gained over the years in seeking, teaching and counseling to touch many aspects of my being and make the practice of awakening even more profoundly fulfilling.