Recent Books
As a prolific artist and writer, Rashani has gifted us with a vast collection of unique poetry and dharma art. Explore the latest!
Beneath All Appearances
An Unwavering Peace
This book is medicinal, a healing salve for the shattered heart. When grief arrives at our door, we are asked to not simply endure our times in the shadowed terrain of loss but to also engage the difficult and powerful energies found there. Those who find the courage to do so, are remade during this long season of descent. They gain a second sight that enables them to see beauty in the darkness. Beneath All Appearances: an unwavering peace is a gift brought back by four women who have returned from their sojourn into the holy grotto of sorrow. This is a sacred text.
– Francis Weller
author of The Wild Edge of Sorrow: Rituals of Renewal and the Sacred Work of Grief
This book is a beautiful guide through the process of grief, of realizing that your loved one is now living through you, that everybody you’ve ever loved is part of the fabric of your being. It is a message for everyone, wherever you are on the journey.
– Mirabai Bush
author, with Ram Dass: Walking Each Other Home: Conversations on Loving and Dying
In this beautiful and moving book, four mothers who’ve lost their children join hands in an artistic collaboration that invites all who grieve into their healing circle. Their invitation came my way in a time of personal grief, and the words and images they offer here helped me take first steps toward “the peace that passes all understanding.” At a moment when heartbreak might have taken me down, the spirit that infuses this book helped me find a way forward: my heart is breaking open toward larger life, not in spite of my grief but because of it.
– Parker J. Palmer
author of On the Brink of Everything, Let Your Life Speak, and A Hidden Wholeness
Rashani Réa’s most recent, loving creation, Beneath All Appearances, will be a blessing for everyone fortunate to see her transformative art and read these nurturing words.
– Ondrea Levine
author of The Healing I Took Birth For; co-author, with Stephen Levine, of Who Dies?: An Investigation of Conscious Living and Conscious Dying
In this luminous collection of words and images, beauty collides with beauty and everything changes. Our shattered heart is remade. Our longing for the sacred simultaneously burns brighter and settles into our cells, integrating the whole of our being. For me as a bereaved mother and a lover of the holy, this book is a wellspring of healing water, a tender thread linking me to the soul of my child, a full-body blessing.
– Mirabai Starr
author of Caravan of No Despair and Wild Mercy
The pages of this book are like portraits of the thrashing and awe-inspiring seas that move within the authentic heart. Framing the ravaging elements of loss amidst transcendent beauty, as this book does, is a profound experience that accurately depicts the way grief can tear open the world to reveal, through its tatters, glimpses of heaven.
– Chelan Harkin
author of Susceptible to Light, Taste the Sky, and Let Us Dance! The Stumble and Whirl with The Beloved
Taste The Sky
Love Made Visible through Art and Poetry
Taste the Sky has a polychoral effect of multi-sensory tonality and visual form. Rashani’s heartfelt pairing with Chelan’s inner sight transmit the mystic’s teaching ~ with a foot in each world; form and formless, inner and outer, bridging dimensions, coming undone, within a vast sky interfacing two worlds ~ shimmering, shaking, resolving and evolving. This book is a medicinal balm for the soul and shows a pathway for those who dare to wander off the beaten path!
— Kim Lincoln, author of Holy Here Wholy You, Discovering Your Authentic Self and Soul Power, You Loving You
In the same way as a bird has to open its wings in order to fly, we have to open our hearts so as to truly live. This is the message underpinning this stunningly beautiful book Taste the Sky. Rashani Rea’s soulful artwork combined with the sublime poetry of Chelan Harkin make each page an experience to savour and deeply reflect upon. Just like the ancient contemplative practice of Lectio Divina, there is a hidden music on each and every page, that cries out to be listened to from the “ear of our heart.” Allow this beautiful book to draw you deeper into the mysterious depths of your being; that place where our individual wholeness and the transcendence of our individual wholeness meet. I shall treasure this book, and read it again and again, for it is such a wonderful joy.
— Christopher Goodchild, author of Unclouded by Longing and The Winds of Homecoming
I have found in these current times, it is the little treasures of truths that capture your mind, spark your spirit, and stir a resonance of your soul by tiny powerful snippets. This can be for us a fundamental, encouraging, daily dose of medicine that we can actualize, absorb and elevate. Taste the Sky is just that. Rashani Réa’s collages come from a depth of a life lived in art, nature, mindful community and supporting others through the underworlds of loss and grief. Both Rashani and Chelan have surrendered to the mystic within, becoming conduits of reciprocity with the muse of the outer mystic— that speaks through us in some divine presence. The first time I came across Chelan Harkin’s words I was taken, and that love affair of prose hasn’t stopped, it just keeps deepening. The two paired is a little heaven upon your bedside or coffee table. A tangible portal into the mystery.
— K.M. McCauley Anast, author of Myrtle, Shifting Shadows Through Grief & Cancer and Befriending an Unlikely Ally
To Order a Copy of Go Slowly, Breathe and Smile,
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Go Slowly,
Breathe and Smile
“Rashani’s extraordinary collages perfectly mirror Thich Nhat Hanh’s simple yet powerful teachings. An exquisite collection.”
— James Baraz, author of Awakening Joy
Thich Nhat Hanh is a spiritual luminary, second only to the Dalai Lama, and is globally renowned and admired. His words of wisdom are centralized in finding peace in every moment; whether you’re stopped at a red light or answering the phone, mindfulness grounds you into the present moment at hand.
Start your day with these peaceful, empowering words of wisdom. All of these words are interwoven with meditative, inspiring images of celebration. Each page is designed to increase positive thinking and improve your mental health.
Life-changing mindful meditations. Strengthen your mindset with these empowering words of wisdom that are referenced as essential advice for how to grow spirituality and mentally strong. Meditation practices are essential to building mindfulness.
Go Slowly, Breathe and Smile is a unique convergence of wisdom and art, a beautiful tribute from a dedicated student to her teacher. Absorb Thich Nhat Hanh's words of wisdom and meditate on Rashani Réa's inspirational collages, and allow these pages to illuminate your heart and mind, inspire mindfulness, and reduce stress levels.
Read Go Slowly, Breathe, and Smile and find:
Encouraging words of advice from the Wisest Monk Thich Nhat Hanh
Words of wisdom to thrive in the mind and body
Beautiful collage art by social activist Rashani Réa
Life lessons and tools for mindful meditations
“This beautiful book is a feast for the senses and pure nourishment for the soul.”
–Tara Brach, author of Radical Acceptance
“I am very happy Rashani has put together this wonderful book of her art with Thây’s sayings for you to benefit from and enjoy.”
–Sister Chân Không, author of Learning True Love
Nameless
"While Rashani’s falling leaves speak to us of surrender, the changing image of the eternal moon reminds us that impermanence is only part of the story. Living poets craft fresh new reminders of living our own truth."
– Gloria Lee,
editor of The Nonduality Highlights
"This book is a fountain of wisdom, spiraling into the epicenter of The Nameless. It points brilliantly to the heart of the reader – with understated color and luminous form and poetic words filled with direct insights of truth."
– Nel Houtman,
poet and spiritual mentor
Waves into Water
"Waves into Water draws the listener in, to the close embrace of instinctual sentience and universal perception. Particles and waves, logos, and silence, each in and of the other. Steeping with these offerings, visual and spoken, is to be present with anything appearing as separate, realized in totality as One. Masterfully presented. Wisely transmitted."
– Kim Lincoln
author of Soul Power: You Loving You
"Weaving together contemplative poetry, prose and indigo art, this precious book teaches us to remember our translucent names. It lets us wander along a shoreline, see the links between birth and death, the cycle of life, a perennial tide."
–Becky Thompson,
poet, activist, scholar
Contentment Runs like a Deep Continuo
"Miriam Louisa has long been a favorite of mine. I love the way she expresses the “dynamically all-inclusive” nature of reality and the liberation that fully embraces every gritty and painful aspect of our humanity along with the breath-taking beauty of it all."
– Joan Tollifson,
author of Nothing to Grasp and Death: The End of Self-Improvement
"Miriam Louisa is the real deal. Her eye for the arts and their ineffable truths has touched me deeply. When she says “look,” I always do."
– Robert Saltzman,
author of The Ten Thousand Things and Depending on No-Thing
Beckoned by Beauty
"Some time ago Rashani asked me for my definition of Beauty. I said, “when I feel my soul touched in delight and stroked by Being.”
This beautiful collection of collages and words from mystics and friends was an explosion of delight that made my soul sing with joy. As you contemplate these colors, forms and words let them carry you to the place beyond form and formlessness—the source of all beauty, the center of your being."
– Prakash Mackay,
M.A. Diamond Approach Teacher
Nurses Cry Too:
A Refuge for Reflection, Inquiry and Inspiration
"This is a beloved book and beyond a book. It is an evocative, poetic, ecstatic, and in-spirited sacred, experiential calling. A calling to you—YES, YOU!"
– Jean Watson,
PhD, RN, AHN-BC, FAAN, Living Legend (AAN)
"These are not just pretty pictures with “sayings” and “quotes,” but vortices of Presence without periphery, doorways to a realm more central than light or darkness. Spend time with each page. Slow down for this book. Its enormous wave of silence will take you back to the sea. This book is one of the most useful centering tools I have ever encountered."
– Alfred K. LaMotte,
poet, interfaith chaplain, author of Wounded Bud: Poems for Meditation
and The Fire of Darkness
Pencil Sharpeners and Thunderstorms
"Joan’s words offer language to Rashani’s collages. Rashani’s artwork supports Joan’s clear pointers. The combination of both in Pencil Sharpeners and Thunderstorms offers us a taste of the sacred."
– Jac O’Keeffe,
author of Born to Be Free and How to Be a Spiritual Rebel
and co-founder of The Association for Spiritual Integrity
"Rashani’s understated collages and calligraphy are the perfect vehicle for Joan Tollifson’s lapidary expressions of nondual truth. I agree wholeheartedly with every word in this book—and even more with the silence that the words reveal."
– Stephan Bodian,
author of Wake Up Now: A Guide to the Journey of Spiritual Awakening and
Beyond Mindfulness: The Direct Approach to Lasting Peace, Happiness, and Love
Only One Surrender
By Happenstance and Grace
Saucha had a lifelong commitment to support orphaned and vulnerable children and those who care for them at The Woza Moya Project and The Group of Hope in South Africa. Partial proceeds from the sale of this book will be sent to the Woza Moya Project and The Group of Hope. MAHALO for supporting Saucha’s vision.
“Only One Surrender is a beautiful testament to the life and work of Saucha Gavin Harrison. His devotion to the unity of truth and love permeated every aspect of his life and was an inspiration to everyone who knew him. And Rashani Rea’s collages give remarkable visual expression to the depth and transformative power of Gavin’s wise and loving words.”
– Joseph Goldstein
author of Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening
“Saucha Gavin Harrison found a sacred place of silence and stillness within himself where the heart, mind, and insight can arise with the capacity to accept and be with all things just as they are. Rashani Réa fuses the wisdom from Harrison’s years of practice and teaching with her illuminating art in a labor of love to honor her beloved friend and have us remember him as well.”
– Sharon Salzberg
author of Real Happiness: The Power of Meditation
“This book honoring the much beloved Saucha Gavin Harrison is a gem, gorgeous and transporting. Each page offers an exquisite blend of sacred poetry and imagery that nourishes the soul.”
– Tara Brach
author of Radical Acceptance and
True Refuge: Finding Peace and Freedom in Your Own Awakened Heart
“Only Rashani Réa, with her luminous blend of quietude and ecstasy, could possibly convey through images the passionate presence of such a soul as Gavin Harrison’s. My life was blessed when he entered it, and there is a hole in the world where he left it. Yet that space is spilling over with light.”
– Mirabai Starr
author of Caravan of No Despair and Wild Mercy
“Only One Surrender is one of the most beautiful weddings of Art and Wisdom I have encountered. It is a perfect and gentle introduction to the words of a unique teacher, edited with subtle mastery and illustrated brilliantly.”
– William Martin
author of The Activist’s Tao Te Ching: Ancient Advice for a Modern Revolution
“The artwork in this book is absolutely beautiful. Rashani’s collages combined with the mystical writings of our beloved Gavin offer a deep and passionate spiritual wisdom. It shall be treasured by anyone who is open to a deeper knowing of the Heart.”
– Devaji
spiritual teacher, author of Illuminated by Love
“Rashani Rea’s art shimmers with evocativeness — though what is evoked is not the conditioned mind, it is a grand stirring of the heart. Her work, in combination with Saucha Gavin Harrison’s wise pointing, does not provoke thought, it stills it. Experiencing the intermingling of their crafts is like witnessing two whirling dervishes spinning in divine devotion, turning in the same direction, in the name of God. Two devotees in solitude with their love, yet spinning, in unison. In the recognition and direct experience of oneness. This book sings.”
– Caverly Morgan
founder and guiding teacher of Presence Collective and Peace in Schools
The Fire of Darkness
What Burned Me Away Completely, I Became
“Rarely has such a book as this been produced which radiates (you can almost feel it) the essence of the highest of spiritual ideals and ideas. Created throughout the summer of 2018—during eight of the twelve weeks when Kīlauea Volcano was erupting on the Big Island of Hawai`i where she has lived for the past twenty-seven years—Rashani’s images speak to the idea of Darkness and yet how that same darkness can lead to rebirth, or “the Bardo” as she refers to it. Something to be embraced, “without fear and with trust”—as Rilke writes in a poem on the same subject. And in the end amidst the devastating flow of lava and the rain of ash, Rashani’s collages, here, say to us that in the end the Darkness is all about Beauty.And beautiful this book is with the addition of complimentary poems by the poet Alfred K. LaMotte who lives on the U.S. mainland. With profound poems that are reminiscent of those of the Sufi poets Rumi, Hafiz and Kabir, the visual and mental collaborative “duet” that is blended between images and words creates a composite that is a kind of Creation Story. A “syzygy.” A mated pair of opposites. Yin and yang. Adding a third dimension taking us out of the darkness of those noir nights of volcanic cataclysm and into the light. Allowing us, the readers, to see the beauty in the fire. And to come away cleansed and yet cautioned to the power and majesty of Nature and our home here on the planet Earth.”
–Thomas Rain Crowe
author of Drunk on the Wine of the Beloved: 100 Poems of Hafiz (Shambhala Publications, 2001)
“When two human beings, both with long and deep spiritual journeys, set down the gems of their wisdom in the form of art and poetry, it is an unfathomable delight and wonder. Such is this beautiful compilation of collages from Rashani Réa and poems by Alfred LaMotte. Both alchemists have reached down into the infinite silence beyond all understanding and harvested the gold; bringing back a benediction of timeless wisdom. Each poem and each collage stand as its own complete portal; inviting the reader to enter and descend to the stillness where all truths reside…where light is dark, and dark is light…where all is ONE, and all is exactly as it is meant to be…always and in all ways. These collages and poems are a salve that brings peace to the heart and mercy to our world.”
–Tina M. Benson
author of A Woman Unto Herself: A Different Kind of Love Story and Soul Whisperings: Erotic and Devotional Love Poems for an Outer or Inner Beloved
“True lovers, artists, and alchemists, through the subtlety of their mythic ministrations, do more than confront us with the play of opposites in their habitual contrast and complementarity; they reveal with precise and exquisite tenderness the fundamental unity that is the expressive source of all opposites' radical entanglement.In Rashani Réa's latest dance with the sumptuous poetry of Alfred K. LaMotte, the transcendent and the embodied spiral in golden whorls through velvet darkness, offering us a glimpse of the limitless wealth hidden in inseparable embrace within the astonishing poverty of God.Each page acts as a broken mirror, extending to us shards of grace through which we might come to see ourselves with fresh and sacred eyes. This is not a book to be read, but to enter into as meditation and prayer, reminding ourselves that there is no ordinary moment, just the sweetness of our human complexity with its heartbreaking and holy bewilderment.”
–Britt Posmer
author of The Angel and the Heretic and Territory of Wonder
I can hear her breathing
“I have yearned for a confirmation of the love and deep insight that Facebook sharing can inspire. In this unique book, Rashani acknowledges the anthropological miracle of what is happening here.
Like a gateway through a rainbow of textures, colors, lights, hidden images, and words that beg to be savoured again and again, the devotional journey of this book brings us back to our sameness, joy and suffering, empathy and justice, as the words of the householder and the monastic comingle. We are online together. In these potent times we are experiencing a phenomena of this virtual platform for Spirit, the ineffable, riding to the hearts of any human being, at every possible moment.
This is bizarre; many people comment how we are “weirded out” and yet it’s profoundly perfect. This now normal mode of communication has been long awaited and predicted as the transcendent Overmind of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin and Sri Aurobindo—and the Noosphere of José Argüelles. In this field of the Facebook forum, we play bodhisattva bingo, until we all win! What a marvelous time to be a human! Thank you Rashani for finding poetry amidst the rubble, and assuring us that love and the Great Mystery are alive and well.”
–Mika Kiburz
video creatrix, sacred clown, steward, lover, dreamer, teacher, student, sevadar
"Sublime Prayers for the Wheel of Life! During her extraordinary life journey, Rashani has created healing sanctuaries on the land by weaving nature, art, ritual, and community. Along the same pathless way, through image, poem and song, she has shaped healing sanctuaries for the heart.Now she has gifted us again with I Can Hear Her Breathing: A Prayer Wheel of Images and Words. Touch this book. Softly. Open the realms of wonder within. Immerse and merge with sensations of wisdom. Deeply, breathe the peace that flows throughout these pages, and through all things. Shantih, Shantih, Shantih."
–Michael Fleck
"Sacred Tours" in Aotearoa/New Zealand
"Friends, whether or not this is your first encounter of Rashani Réa’s deep wanderings and discoverings of our One Heart through exquisite collages and clear, poignant and pointed quotes, I Can Hear Her Breathing: A Prayer Wheel of Images and Words, it is a beautifully fresh beginning for discovering more deeply the true alignment of our collective oneness in our grieving, celebrating, striving, uprising, resisting and bowing down; and miraculously—through Facebook itself—touches, supports and continues to bring and hold us together, alivening our self-expression and creativity.
To be able to see, feel and taste the essence of, and share in, our sisters’ and brothers’ blessings and burdens, joys and sorrows, successes and defeats through social media while miles apart is both mind boggling and healing. That we honor and bear witness to one another’s testimonies with presence, compassion and love in what we share and confess on our pages, even in such times as these when heartbreak and loneliness can be so overwhelming. Yet we know that our aloneness and belonging are one, just as we belong to each other and to the world; and that life is ever watchful and present and here for us to embrace in the coming home to ourselves and each other exactly as we are. Thank you, Rashani, for this gift of love, which for me is another testimony to life’s true, faithful and unhindered ways of calling, holding and growing us all together including through Facebook... whoever and wherever we are."
–Alice C. Hall
fellow pilgrim in life
"I am new to Rashani Rea’s boundless creativity and look forward to the pleasure of seeking out her other books, music and art. I Can Hear Her Breathing is an open door to Remembering Who We Are and an invitation to drink deeply from the sweet, life-giving Waters of Life.Even when Life is hectic and I seem to only have a moment, I hold this beautiful book and let it open randomly (perfectly) to words and art that touch my Mind, Body and Spirit. It is my privilege to put Rashani’s books in my waiting room, that they may bless my patients and clients too. Thank you, Rashani, for these blessings and pathways to Our True Selves and Greater Understanding."
–Katherine Shizue Yeshe Wangmo Yano
physical therapist and healing arts practitioner
The Threshold Between Loss and Revelation
A gorgeous collaboration with Francis Weller, author of The Wild Edge of Sorrow. This book consists of 108 stunning collages by Rashani, accompanied by six chapters, written by Francis.
There are two versions of this book: one which has the collages back to back and "A Journaling Edition," which has nearly 100 blank pages, for those who want to add their insights and reflections.
“The Threshold Between Loss and Revelation is a piece of sacred, existential art: The art of incisive words that beckon us to deep contemplation and the art of symbols and images that invoke movement of the mind and heart. Page by page, this movement is a blessing to those courageous ones broken by loss who are willing to turn into that exigent space. It is a space that implores our exploration, yet it is a space our culture eagerly and explicitly discourages out of fear.What Weller and Réa do so exquisitely is support the reader, gently, while providing life-sustaining guidance into the darkest corners of loss wherein the magic of transfiguration, born of suffering, exists. Captivating and wise, this lodestar book is a gift for the existentialist’s heart, one that the reader will visit and revisit ad infinitum, as grief ebbs and flows. These readings will never wane in their impact. Rather, they will maturate and heighten our practice over time and upon meditation.”
–Dr. Joanne Cacciatore
associate professor, traumatic grief counselor, researcher, author of Bearing the Unbearable: Love, Loss, and the Heartbreaking Path of Grief
"Read this book as a Bible, a prayer, a trembling and tender and profoundly resilient testimony. Approach it with the suffering shell of yourself, as a starving person, as a learner, a lover, and a friend. Read this book through your tears. I read it through mine; in this feast of beauty unearthed from wells of great suffering, Rashani Réa and Francis Weller offered me the nourishment of what my soul already knew, and knows, and keeps forgetting and remembering. Read this book to re-member yourself, to lose yourself, and to re-member yourself again. But above all, read it and keep it handy as a sort of pocket mirror when dread, drudgery, loss, sorrow, and rage blind you to what is available to you. Here. And now."
–Sharon Heath
Jungian analyst, author of The History of My Body and Tizita
"As grounded as it is mystical, The Threshold Between Loss and Revelation is a soulful, penetrating guide for those traversing the mapless terrain of grief and loss. Rashani Réa and Francis Weller, both compassionate authorities known for their revolutionary work and healing presence, have extracted the essence of the divine and complex human experience into a brilliant Masterwork that quietly astonishes. It is a transmission from the heart of Illumination. Sacred yet practical, it attends the emotional life of the bereaved at every stage throughout the grieving process—and beyond.
May this book find its way into the hands and hearts of everyone who is suffering and those whose lives have been broken open by tragedy, illness, and loss. May it be made available to every hospice worker, caretaker, healthcare provider and family member of the terminally ill, to those who have experienced loss of any kind, and to those who—knowingly or unknowingly—carry unattended sorrow."
–Marie Clare Schultheis
intuitive and ‘Soul Songs’ pianist
"This book is a masterful synthesis of sacred, eloquent creativity by two contemporary visionary-bodhisattvas. The Threshold Between Loss and Revelation infuses our lives with an immediate sense of perspective—deeper than, and beyond, conceptual understanding."
–Aura Wright
founder of Holistic Resources Foundation
An Unfolding of Love
“This deeply gorgeous and touching collection takes us on a journey of living and dying and all the precious moments of relationship in between. It is a journey into the labyrinth of a mother’s heart...a heart that has learned to transmute loss into Grace...and the celebration of art and beauty. I can hear the devotional songs between the lines, feel the joy of truth beyond stories in every poem. Rashani's tribute to her son is a tribute to love eternal.”
– Jennifer Bonadio
yoga teacher and friend
"There is no greater role in the world than to be a mother. To embody a life, bring it forward and nurture it to bloom into the world. To experience the connection between mother and child and this mysterious gift called unconditional love. A love that exists without borders, labels, expectations, or worldliness. A pure and simple love that carries such a great and majestic force.Yet the role of mother is forever taken for granted as we mature and become forgetful moving into the working ways of the world. It’s as if we know this incredible devoted love from another perspective, an inward one that is beyond what we see, like a secret cosmic mother who has trained us to expect this love.
In An Unfolding of Love, which was originally created for her son, Rashani Réa fully embodies the mother principle in her ability to flow from the heart in a deep, tender and powerful way. She lovingly leads us back towards non conceptual understanding, which lies beyond the written word. Rashani pours her gentle rain of healing-wisdom over us to leave us refreshed, with a knowing that we have arrived and there is an inward seat for us by her fire.
– Kel Rae
MeditateLove.com
Territory of Wonder
“Territory of Wonder is a generous gift placed on the altar of our one, shared heart. Réa and Posmer enfold us in their images and words with a tender beauty that becomes a love letter to the sacred as it rises and falls, like the ocean tides, in our beings. This gem of a collaboration illustrates how one voice can become two and then one again, stepping apart to celebrate and deepen each other and then joining together for rest and renewal. Territory of Wonder is a prayer, a quiet invitation into the mystery of the two-in-one."
– Jett Psaris
co-author of Undefended Love
and author of Hidden Blessings: Midlife Crisis as a Spiritual Awakening
"Those who enter the dwelling-place of the mystics dance on the cusp between form and formlessness, light and dark, death and life. This territory — populated by angels, stars, skeleton leaves, peacocks, and bodies both celestial and scarred — is invoked with shimmering brilliance by Britt Posmer’s poems and Rashani Réa’s collages. No mere description, each word and image drenched in immanence, this book speaks of that which can only be known from within. Britt and Rashani have brought forth sublime gifts from the womb of the divine feminine and graciously invited us all to partake. Thrumming with awe and gratitude, I say a heartfelt “yes.”
– Fiona Robertson
author of The Art of Finding Yourself: Live Bravely
and Awaken to Your True Nature
Gossamer Mirrors
“We live in a multi-dimensional Universe with many doors to many planes of existence. Rashani Rea’s aesthetically-wise new book, Gossamer Mirrors, offers us a door knob to a plane not readily accessible in ordinary space and time. In this mystical land of Butterfly and Moth, Rashani reminds us that love emerges from the same heart that lives within our different forms. She brings back faith that magic is what is ordinary… Rashani gives us wings that sustain us as we take flight into the mystery through the irresistible power of love which ignites the soul and blows the mind open! “
– Marlena Lyons
co-author of Undefended Love
"Rashani has a natural ability to use poetry and beautiful imagery to convey what is virtually impossible to describe—a life lived in the absence of fear, full of love, peace and compassion. She is a dedicated teacher, who has helped so many. I invite you to dive into this very rich book and feel the words as your very own self. You won’t be let down. Highly recommended!"
–Scott Kiloby
author of Love’s Quiet Revolution: The End of the Spiritual Search
www.kiloby.com
Touched by Grace
Through a Temenos of Women
“Touched by Grace is to my mind, a thoroughly enchanting book — I mean that quite literally, because from the very first pages, when the author shares the remarkable story of her own life, I felt myself being drawn into a sacred precinct — in Rashani’s own word, a temenos — alive with the spirit of grace-filled women. A lovely companion of a book..."
– Carol Lee Flinders
author ofEnduring Grace: Living Portraits of Seven Women Mystics
"Rashani Réa is a wise woman who knows she is not separate from all of life. She has been committed for decades to allowing the unique expression of that connection, through words and images, to become part of her own teaching. In this book she offers us a collection of word pearls from different women who live their truth and power, and offer their gifts in service to life. Each page offers a gem of wisdom to contemplate, inspire, and live by. That she honors others is one of Rashani’s many gifts as she reminds us to take inspiration and guidance everywhere and that co-creation and collaboration is what we need to all be engaged in. Her art is so beautifully married to the words that they too seem like they were born to live together on the page and in our hearts. Keep this book close, it will be a good friend."
– Judith Ansara
www.sacredunion.com
In Praise of Love
“Decades ago Rashani created a series of note cards using lyrics from my songs. I was honored and pleased with the results — especially since the lyrics she chose were woman identified and in some cases clearly expressions of lesbian love. This was not something that Hallmark was providing! Now, years later, she republishes her book, In Praise of Love, as a reminder that coming out is not a done deal. Perhaps easier for some now than then but all over the world, including in this self proclaimed democracy, the confession of a woman loving a woman is still seen as a crime, a danger to the powers that be. And so may this simple declaration from the pen of Rashani still find the hearts to which it longs to speak.”
– Holly Near
singer/cultural activist
"In a nation and a world that feels so heartbreakingly divided, where anger has fanned fear-flames and scorched our beloved earth with hatred, Rashani offers us an oasis where we can breathe again. While everything we hear on the news bears witness that “They want to conquer the universe and dissect the soul…” Rashani’s gentle Dove poses her wise question, “How can one achieve wholeness with such a destructive goal?” This beautiful poet reminds us to reclaim our innocence and harness the transformative power of “the alchemy of Love.” Within the covers of this beautiful book, we are invited to let Love dissolve the divisive boundaries that we have imagined: race, gender, religion, sexuality, social mores. Through her exquisite artistry Rashani seems to echo the voice of the great 13th century Persian poet, Rumi, as she opens a doorway to “Let yourself be silently drawn by the stronger pull of what [and whom] you really love.” In Praise of Love is a Gift of Hope and Healing for troubled times and troubled hearts everywhere."
– Rebecca Braden
international coach and consultant
"Rashani has a unique and potent gift to take the raw material of life and distill it into a precious and sacred offering. She has done just that in her tender and moving work, In Praise of Love. While reading and viewing the art of the gentle story of the dove and the ladybug, we discover the vulnerable and undefended self through their exploration of loving. An unlikely pair, they remind us that knowledge without love is useless; opening our hearts is the only way to crack fully open to divine grace. Shining her gift of vision and art, Rashani continues to inspire the journey of love in all its forms."
–Katalin Koda
author ofFire of the Goddess and Sacred Path of Reiki
Mahalo
“Rashani's visual koans are superb. This interweaving of memoir and art is deeply moving. Sixty-four beautiful collages are interwoven here with poetry and prose by a truly gifted artist!
Collage making is the process of finding, gathering, and repurposing those things in our lives that speak to us, that engage us in a generative conversation; something new and not previously imagined by the world arises. The collages within these pages are not art, they are craft. They are Rashani’s masterful way of bringing something useful into our everyday lives."
–Jamie K. Reaser
author of Note to Self: Poems for Changing the World from the Inside Out
Moonlight on a Night Moth's Wing
“In the extraordinary Moonlight on a Night Moth’s Wing: A Fusion of Image and Word, Rashani Réa has created a contemporary mystic’s book of hours around Dorothy Walters’ poetic meditations on the gift of being alive. A cat sat beside me as I read, its warm, rhythmic purring a fitting accompaniment to Réa’s refined, yet earthy imagery. This book is a gem, with Walters beckoning us to embrace the dark and light of our lived experience with a deepened intensity of reflection and Réa plying her exquisite feel for form and color to invite us to celebrate the vibrating patterns of feather, leaf, sea, stone, and sky of this planet we call home. This offering of two gifted souls working in graceful harmony is simply not to be missed."
– Sharon Heath
Jungian analyst and author of The History of My Body
Shimmering Birthless
“Another exquisite book by Rashani Réa, known internationally for her stunning collages. Shimmering Birthless is a unique collection, incorporating the poetry of Alfred K. LaMotte, a well-loved poet from Washington!
These are poems that weave heaven and earth, body and soul, lover and beloved together with the colored threads of joy and tears. A tender and rich collection with beautiful illustrations by Rashani Réa."
– Roger Housden
best-selling author of the Ten Poems to Change Your Life series
Timeless Offerings
“This is a moving and deeply affecting evocation of an extraordinarily gifted Tibetan meditation master. In this symphony of words and images, Anam Thubten's instructions profound and exceptionally human at the same time, open our hearts and make our minds peaceful and vast."
–Reginald A. Ray, PhD
author of Touching Enlightenment: Finding Realization in the Body
and Indestructible Truth: The Living Spirituality of Tibetan Buddhism
True Golden Sand
“True Golden Sand is a collection of collages by Rashani Réa, which she began in 1988, shortly after meeting Thich Nhat Hanh. It also includes dharma songs and a beautiful introduction by Rashani, as well as exquisite forewords by Nel Houtman and Dorothy Hunt and a preface by Joel and Michelle Levey.
Because Rashani is so deeply connected with Thay, she can give his words the beauty of his smile and the peace of his presence. Each collage is a moment of recognition, a pause to breathe with him, a seeing of the truth beyond words. The book is itself a living creation of inter-being, much like a flower made possible by everything in the universe."
- Gloria Lee
editor of The Nonduality Highlights
It is fitting that Rashani opens True Golden Sand with a story about hearing Thich Nhat Hanh share a Dharma lesson about pratītyasamutpāda, for it is precisely this mutual co-arising that is found in her collages. Color, design, art, poetry and song depend on one another, aesthetically embodying this profound teaching of Buddhism and the deeply moving words of Thich Nhat Hanh. Where activism, justice, and peace co-arise, there we shall find beauty. Rashani's art and life reminds us of this. For that, our world is a bit more beautiful.
– Rev. Dr. Angela Yarber
artist, scholar, clergywoman, and author of six books about the intersections among spirituality, the arts, and gender, including Holy Women Icons
Always Choose Love
With her genius for collage and her pick of stunning quotes from the deep and wonderful heart of Rumi, Rashani has created a collection of moments that opened my heart and reminded me that within every being, there shines the same clear light. Thank you for this cascade of gifts."
– James Fadiman
novelist, researcher and co-editor of Essential Sufism
"Turning the pages of this book is like lifting layers of tissue paper to reveal gifts within gifts. What Rashani is able to do, with her ability to see beyond what is visible, is capture the fleeting essence of a moment, then create an image that reflects the spirit of that moment. Then, she skillfully places the words onto the image so that the image, the words and the spirit of the message merge, and lift off the page, piercing the reader's heart. Darkness is released and spills out from that open wound, composted into nothingness. And without a moment's hesitation…Light pours in. Rashani's gift is to see a Truth, create an image that embodies the essence of that Truth and put them all together. Each page of this book does that."
– Dorothy Fadiman
filmmaker
The Disappearance
“For nearly 30 years I have delighted in Rashani’s work as an artist, a songwriter, an activist, and an embodiment of the fierce energy we need now more than ever. Her art seems to take on a timeless, classical quality over the years. And what a metaphor it is ‘The Disappearance’! What else has, or will, disappear, that we can celebrate and honor, taking our cue from Rashani’s rendering of these words, “When a woman loves a woman” ... or “when a human loves a human unqualified by notions of gender, or race, or religion, or any other invented form of otherness or forbiddance?”
–Caitriona Reed
dharma teacher and co-founder of Five Changes
"Rashani embodies the messages on her cards with courage, creativity and perseverance. Thank you for bringing your art and this book to our community and world."
–Arinna Weisman
founding teacher of Insight Meditation Center of the Pioneer Valley and co-author of A Beginner’s Guide to Insight Meditation
"This is an unbelievable story on all levels and should be named “The Passion of the Goddess!” It has the inspirational flare of Susan B. Anthony and Adrienne Rich and all of our women loving foremothers. When each woman stands, she stands for all her mother line behind her and in front of her. When each woman speaks up, she speaks up for all women, including Mother Earth as we are all part of nurturing the creative mother love that knows no bounds.Rashani not only had the courage and perseverance to battle the patriarchal world that has brainwashed us to totally discard feminine wisdom and divine feminine love in all forms, she also overcame that very historical oppression which manifested in her own cellular body as illness. Filled with raw truth, determination and a pioneering spirit, it’s wonderful to know that this true story of self-healing and expression has a great ending. The ending is a testament that when a woman claims her true feminine voice and power, it is with the kind of transformational love and respect that dissolves all illusions. Thank you Rashani on behalf of all women, young and old and all men who truly know their true purpose in being a guardian and cultivator of feminine love."
–White Eagle Medicine Woman/Suraj Holzwarth
author, poet, musician, international healer and teacher, founder and director: Grandmother Drum International Peace Project
"I was very touched by Rashani Réa’s story. Being born in Austria, the country that birthed Adolf Hitler, her story reminded me of the destruction of Jewish art in my homelands. In 1933 Germany, millions of Jewish books got publicly burned and that was only the beginning of the Nazi's attempt to eradicate all Jewish art. It was shocking to read that under a different set of prejudices, the destruction of art took place in modern USA. Bravo for the courage to talk about it! I loved the mystery of sudden justice and how the universe responded to Rashani’s instincts to not let this go by unnoticed again. It teaches us to always follow our hearts. May justice and equality prevail!"
–Michaela Ashaneya Baumgartner
international healer, writer and performance artist
"Thank you, Rashani, for chronicling here the details of your dedication and your long-term perseverance; the ups and downs we go through when we stand passionately over time for what we believe. Your creativity and the beauty of your designs and collages creates joy in our lesbian artist hearts... and reminds us that we are all in a lifelong (perhaps many lives long) journey to be our full and woman-loving selves."
–Rhea Shapiro
MPW, activist and process-oriented facilitator
Rashani has designed collages for the following books, which were published by Dorothy Hunt and Ivan M. Granger:
Leaves from Moon Mountain
In the sumptuous style of the Illustrated Rumi, this lyrical, evocative book is a delight for the senses, the spirit, and the heart. Seamlessly blending nondual wisdom teachings (by Dorothy Hunt), luxuriant collages (by Rashani Rea), and wise, sensuous poetry that points directly to the source of all poems, it invites you to reach down into the depths of Being itself to taste the divine Mystery that lies at the heart of, and infuses, every experience. Be prepared to be touched, inspired, ravished—and above all, transformed!"
– Stephan Bodian
author of Wake Up Now: A Guide to the Journey of Spiritual Awakening and Beyond Mindfulness.
Gathering Silence
Gathering Silence is a collection of contemplative sayings, memorable aphorisms, bits of poetry, and flashes of insight by Ivan M. Granger, gathered along the spiritual journey, accompanied throughout by stunning full-color collages by Rashani Réa.