Psyche Unbound: Essays in Honor of Stanislav Grof

“Psyche Unbound is the long-awaited book that surveys the paradigm-shifting work of Stanislav Grof. His decades-long research projects and his voluminous theoretical contributions are indispensable resources for anyone wanting to keep informed regarding the directions being taken by psychology, psychiatry, and psychotherapy in the 21st century.”
— Stanley Krippner, PhD
Affiliated Distinguished Faculty, California Institute of Integral Studies; Co-editor, Varieties of Anomalous Experience: Examining Scientific Evidence

“This landmark volume celebrates the extraordinary depth and breadth of Stan Grof’s contribution to contemporary culture––one which will resonate down through the 21st century as we forge deeper understandings of the nature of reality and the evolutionary imperative embodied in the psychospiritual process of birth, death and transformation. The galaxy of articles written by major figures opens up new vistas for a creative future that we must dare to embrace––a real treasure trove!”
— David Lorimer
Program Director, The Scientific and Medical Network; Editor, Paradigm Explorer

“Few scholars have as thoroughly explored and theorized about the depths of the human psyche as Stan Grof has in his lustrous career. Psyche Unbound is a gift not only to Grof but to all of us who are standing on the shoulders of giants.”
— Kile Ortigo, PhD
Author of Beyond the Narrow Life: A Guide for Psychedelic Integration and Existential Exploration

“The Festschrift is literally a tour de force. It weaves together insights into the transformative nature of consciousness throughout—and beyond—our lifespan. Wisdom is shared by leaders in this fascinating field and they open the shudders to an expanded horizon of human potentials.”
— Marilyn Schlitz, PhD, MA
Professor, Sofia University; Author of Death Makes Life Possible and Living Deeply: The Art and Science of Transformation

“The contributions of this remarkable collection of theorists and commentators recognize Stan’s vortexical brilliance, his boundless curiosity, and his buoyant spirit. The stature and expertise of the contributors and the robust intelligence of their commentaries are a fitting tribute, but can represent only a fraction of the immense impact of Stan’s work.”
— Mariavittoria Mangini, PhD, FNP
Nurse, Author, Investigator of Psychedelic-Assisted Therapies

“Brilliant and deep, this volume celebrates and illuminates Stan Grof ’s genius. His profound vision has created a powerful new paradigm for psychology, medicine, human and social development, and for understanding the nature of consciousness. A truly important worthy tribute.”
— Jack Kornfield, PhD
Author of A Path With Heart

“An inspiring, highly personal look at Stanislav Grof ’s groundbreaking work, and how it has created the modern foundation for what we now know as transpersonal psychology. This inspiring Festschrift compiles twenty-two anecdotal and analytical essays from leaders in their fields whose work has been influenced by Grof, and relays the breadth and significance of Grof ’s insights and theories throughout the years.”
— Zaya and Maurizio Benazzo
Science and Non-Duality (SAND) Founders and Organizers

“Few people have contributed to our understanding of the psyche as much as Stan Grof. His pioneering research on multiple topics ranging from psychedelics to shamanism to death and dying, addiction, and more, coupled with his wide-ranging cross-disciplinary knowledge and formidable synthesizing capacities allowed him to make multiple breakthrough discoveries, and even to found new fields of discovery such as holotropic breathwork and spiritual emergencies. How wonderful that his life’s work is being celebrated in this outstanding Festschrift.”
— Roger Walsh MD, PhD
Professor of Psychiatry, Philosophy, and Anthropology, University of California

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Cosmos and Psyche: Intimations of a New World View

“It is hard to think of many books written in the past century that will still be read two hundred years from now. Cosmos and Psyche will top that short list. It is majestic, sweeping, and profound. This will be a book for the ages. It will stand over time with the seminal expressions of the human spirit.”
—William Van Dusen Wishard, author of Between Two Ages: The 21st Century and The Crisis of Meaning

“Cosmos and Psyche is an epoch-making work. It combines impeccably meticulous scholarship and extraordinary clarity of thinking and writing with deep creative vision. The evidence contained here represents the most significant challenge I have seen to the materialistic paradigm of modern science.”
—Stanislav Grof, author of Psychology of the Future

“This is the closest my head has been to exploding while reading a book.”
—Mary Hynes, CBC Tapestry

“What more important message could there be for our time? If you want to understand more deeply the currents which have shaped and are shaping our world, then this passionate, brilliant, and luminous book is essential reading.”
—David Lorimer, Scientific and Medical Network Review

“Breathtaking in the scope and scale of its vision, this extraordinary book shatters our cosmological assumptions as it awakens us to a living universe and its creative intelligence. Tarnas succeeds masterfully in bringing his encyclopedic knowledge forged in writing the critically acclaimed Passion of the Western Mind to the task of discerning the archetypal pulse of history. Spellbinding, eloquent, compelling, Cosmos and Psyche will be a marker for an entire generation.”
—Christopher Bache, Professor of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Youngstown State University, author of Dark Night, Early Dawn

“Some rare books, presenting very challenging evidence after decades of research, have the power to transform a whole culture. It happened with the groundbreaking works by Copernicus, Darwin, and Freud. It may happen now with Cosmos and Psyche. Searching beneath the depths of the psyche Tarnas has found the heights of the cosmos. This book will radically transform the way we see cultural and political history, individual life journeys, and our sense of participation in the universe.”
—Jordi Pigem, author of La odisea de Occidente (The Odyssey of the West)

“Cosmos and Psyche opens doors in the reader’s mind, doors towards the future. Yes, it records, analyzes, and interprets events of the past, but its primary relevance points towards the future. Its thorough research fulfills a function that is central to the genuine, hard-nosed pursuit of human knowledge: ‘the elicitation of disbelief and the celebration of surprise’ (Lewis Thomas). Richard Tarnas dares to be far ahead of conventional thought. He broadens our horizons until we suddenly see with delight vistas and connections we never expected. Here at last is a world view which – in contrast to prevailing ones – has a future.”
—David Steindl-Rast, author of Belonging to the Universe

“With this book Tarnas has succeeded in unveiling what only a few years ago might have seemed impossible: an accessible bridge between the mainstream high culture and an emerging world view that returns the soul to the cosmos.”
—Renn Butler, New Age Journal Reviews

“A profound and beautiful book. Could there be a hidden order to our universe that conventional science has completely overlooked? With rich historical scholarship and exquisite prose, Tarnas has written a work that not only challenges our ways of thinking about the world but is a transformative experience in itself. A brilliant tour de force that will ignite debate for years to come.”
—Ray Grasse, author of The Waking Dream

“Beyond the depths of our inner experience, even beyond the wonders of the natural world, Cosmos and Psyche confronts us with the astonishing challenge of discerning meaning in the very order and structure of the physical universe. Reconnecting the heavens with the human psyche may well be the ‘last frontier’ in the re-enchantment of the cosmos. Richard Tarnas’ magnum opus sets the grounds to meet, and ultimately overcome, that deepest of all dualisms. The opening of the archetypal eye has never received a more powerful and elegant expression.”
—Jorge N. Ferrer, author of Revisioning Transpersonal Theory

“Tarnas not only possesses a staggeringly comprehensive reservoir of cultural and historical knowledge, he is a lucid, beautiful writer who can sustain not only the interest but the excitement of the reader for hundreds of pages at a time.”
—Frederick J. Dennehy, Rudolf Steiner Library Newsletter

With The Passion of the Western Mind, Richard Tarnas gave the world what many scholars, from Joseph Campbell to Huston Smith, regarded as one of the finest histories of the Western mind and spirit ever written. Now, Cosmos and Psyche challenges the basic assumptions of the modern world view with an extraordinary body of evidence that points towards a profound new understanding of the human role in the cosmos.

Cosmos and Psyche: Intimations of a New World View shines new light on the unfolding drama of human history and our own critical age. It also suggests a new possibility for reuniting religion and science, soul and intellect, ancient wisdom and modern reason in the quest to understand the past and create the future. Published by Viking Press 2006 (hardcover), and Plume 2007 (paperback)

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The Passion of the Western Mind: Understanding the Ideas that Have Shaped Our World View

“The most lucid and concise presentation I have read, of the grand lines of what every student should know about the history of Western thought. The writing is elegant and carries the reader with the momentum of a novel… It is really a noble performance.”
—Joseph Campbell, author of The Hero with a Thousand Faces

“The best intellectual history of the West in one volume I have ever seen.”
—Huston Smith, author of The World’s Religions

“It is a superb, enthralling book—a masterpiece: as gripping as a detective story; as moving as a poem. Tarnas writes lucidly, brilliantly, passionately, unfolding the great drama of the evolution of the Western mind act by act, scene by scene in precise and scholarly detail.”
—Anne Baring, Resurgence

“The most thrilling narrative of the West’s 3,000-year odyssey in pursuit of truth accessible to a broad public of which this reviewer is aware. . . . A work of genius.”
—Harrison Sheppard, The Hellenic Journal

“The Passion of the Western Mind is as fine an account of the story of the Western mind, in all of its complexity and tensions, as I believe exists anywhere.”
—Dale Cannon, Professor of Philosophy, Western Oregon State College

“One of the most illuminating, satisfying, beautifully written, lucidly argued—and important—books I have ever read.”
—Keith Thompson, Utne Reader

“[This] magnificent critical survey . . . allows readers to grasp the big picture of Western culture as if for the first time.”
—Patricia Holt, San Francisco Chronicle

“This brilliant classic is essential reading.”
—David Lorimer, The Scientific and Medical Network Review

“It is stunning; it is brilliant; it is the single best book of intellectual history—in any field—that I have ever read.”
—William Tanksley, Professor of English, Fordham University

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Prometheus the Awakener

“Prometheus the Awakener is absolutely brilliant. . . . It is by far the best thing I have read in this area of the archetypes. It opens that dimension we have all known is there but have hesitated to disturb. Astrology has kept the archetypes alive, we have all worked with them, but how flat, abstract, remote, dry this all now seems. . . Like breaking through into the world of real living ideas after watching the shadow show. . . . A living astrology is being born again.”
–Charles Harvey, President of the British Astrological Association

“A brilliant study of the dynamics of intellectual, cultural, and sociopolitical breakthroughs, Prometheus the Awakener is itself a revolutionary and groundbreaking work. . . . A major contribution to both depth psychology and astrology.”
–Stanislav Grof, author of Psychology of the Future and Realms of the Human Unconscious

“The exquisite depth and complexity of the astrological language deserves, but rarely finds, an interpretive voice such as Richard Tarnas’s. Prometheus the Awakener is not only a gift to the spiritual-intellectual community, but a great essay to give to lively sceptics.”
–Caroline W. Casey, Center for Visionary Activism

“Eureka…a truly extraordinary astrology book is born. I don’t recall ever reading a more thoroughly researched yet compelling astrology book….A joy.”
–Samuel Heaton, The Mountain Astrologer

“Though ostensibly directed towards an astrological audience, this work is of considerable interest to non-astrologers as well, for its eloquent and often brilliant discussion of astrological philosophy, particularly the question of archetypes. Tarnas’s description of the uncanny way astrological patterns appear to coincide with events or destiny patterns in the lives of both individuals and societies will also provide provocative reading for those who are skeptically inclined toward astrology.”
–Ray Grasse, The Quest

“An impressive investigation of what Uranus really means, especially in regard to creative and revolutionary breakthroughs.”
–Stephen Arroyo, author of Astrology, Karma, and Transformation

“Superb. . . . Possibly the most important contribution to the understanding of the symbolism of Uranus since the days of its discovery.”
–Robert Hand, author of Planets in Transit and Horoscope Symbols

“A classic. . . . It should be in the library of every person with an interest in astrology—and in everyone else’s as well.”
–Barbara Morgan, ISIS Institute