And the next book!

Friends, “the relationships book”, or “Number Six”, as I have been calling it for the last two or three years, now has a publishing contract!

Early this week I was offered a contract to publish “Circles of Meaning, Labyrinths of Fear” with OBooks, or by its new pagan imprint Moon Books. (Well, we might still change the title. But that’s the title I used in the proposal.)

For those curious to know what it’s about: well, if you are a regular listener of my podcast, then you already have a bit of an idea. Draft versions of some of the chapters were used in my segment of the show.

To give you more info: here’s the draft of the back cover copy:

You’ve heard of sacred places, writings, relics, and rituals, holy days and magical times of year. But these are actually representations of relationships that people have with each other and the elements of the world.

Some of these relationships environmental: they involve landscapes, animals, and the streets of your home town. Some are personal and individual, such as families, friends, and elders. Some are public, such as the relation between musicians, storytellers, medical doctors, and even soldiers. This book studies twenty-two of them, from a variety of traditions, and their place in ‘the good life’.

Yet these relations are always fragile and vulnerable. At every turn they are threatened by fears, from the fear of loneliness, to the fear of the loss of personal or political freedom, to the fear of death. To escape from these fears, people often trap themselves into ways of life that are bad for everyone, including themselves. This book studies how that happens, and how to prevent it.

More than beliefs, laws, and teachings, our relationships are the true basis of spirituality and freedom.

A release day has not yet been fixed, but it looks likely that it will be in early 2012. I’m delighted! More news to follow as the situation unfolds.