When Aldwyn, a young alley cat on the run, ducks into a mysterious pet shop, he doesn’t expect his life to change. But that’s exactly what happens when Jack, a young wizard, picks Aldwyn to be his magical familiar. Finally off the tough streets, Aldwyn thinks he’s got it made. He just has to convince the other familiars—the know-it-all blue jay Skylar and the friendly tree frog Gilbert—that he’s the telekinetic cat he claims to be. But when Jack and two other wizards in training are captured by a terrible evil, it will take all of Aldwyn’s street smarts, a few good friends, and a nose for adventure to save the day!

The Śrīḍākārṇavamahāyoginītantrarāja (abbreviated to Ḍākārṇava, “Ocean of Ḍākas or Heroes”) is one of the last scriptures belonging to the Buddhist Saṃvara tradition in South Asia. It was composed in the eastern area of the Indian subcontinent sometime between the late 10th and 12th centuries, and its extant version was most likely compiled around the early 12th century. Chapter 15 of the Ḍākārṇava, (hereafter Ḍākārṇava 15) teaches a large-scale and elaborate maṇḍala of the highest god Heruka that comprises 986 major deities. This monograph presents the first critical edition and English translation (with annotation) of the Sanskrit text of the Ḍākārṇava 15, elucidates its form and meanings, and clarifies its significance in the history of Buddhism in South Asia. I also provide the first critical edition and English translation (with annotation) of Jayasena's Ratnapadmarāganidhi ("Precious Ruby Treasury," composed in the 12th century), which is the oldest manual for visualizing the Heruka maṇḍala of the Ḍākārṇava 15. In the last stage of the history of Tantric Buddhism in India, when various Buddhist Tantric traditions were already present, some texts were composed, such as the Kālacakratantra and the Vajrāvalī of Abhayākaragupta. These texts provide inclusive Tantric systems in which various preceding traditions are integrated and reorganized. The Ḍākārṇava is one such text. The Heruka maṇḍala in the Ḍākārṇava 15 is comprehensive and integrates deities from various Tantric traditions and components of the Buddhist cosmos within the framework of the Saṃvara system.

Exclusive City of Heroes Artwork • Complete maps for all Zones featuring massive amounts of exclusive info • Strategy for building the ideal Archetypes • Complete power lists with full stats • Strategy covering the all-new Base building elements • Appendices containing Badge locations, Task Force info, and more Includes a Complete Binder System: • Customizable — Color-coded sections for custom organization • Simple — Individual 3-hole-punched pages of clearly organized information make this binder a snap to use • Organized — Keep all of your City of Heroes information in one place for easy reference

Aldwyn, a street-smart alley cat, pretended he had telekinetic powers so young wizard Jack would chose him as a familiar. Aldwyn then learned that he and two other familiars—Skylar the blue jay and Gilbert the tree frog—were destined to undertake a perilous quest to defeat Paksahara, an evil hare who’d been familiar to the queen. In Circle of Heroes, the third book of The Familiars series for middle-grade readers, Paksahara and her undead animal army control the Shifting Fortress. Aldwyn and his friends have to recapture it to return magic to the queendom of Vastia. Fans of The Guardians of Ga’hoole series and Erin Hunter’s Warriors books will love the mix of humor, magic, and animal adventure story in Circle of Heroes by Adam Jay Epstein and Andrew Jacobson.

Like all of us, adolescents have a deep hunger for God. They have a need to make sense out of life and a desire to make the world a better place. They are people of endless hope, and have the capacity for deep sadness and profound joy. Their hungers, needs, hopes, and moments of sadness and joy mirror the experiences of biblical characters we meet during Lent and the Easter season. To meet the challenge of making Lent and the Easter season meaningful, parish and youth ministry efforts need to be intentional about bringing alive the Scriptures for each Sunday and special commemoration of the season. Ministry Ideas for Celebrating Lent and Easter with Teens, Families, and Parishes is a resource manual that provides activities for gathered sessions with youth in parish settings, as well as ideas for meaningful ways to observe the season with families and friends at home and in the community. At the core of the manual are gathered sessions with youth that are lectionary based, using themes from the Scriptures. Some sessions are specific to a particular Sunday in one liturgical cycle. Others are more thematically inclusive and may be used with all cycles. In addition to the gathered sessions, supplementary activities for the season include a guided meditation, a service project, and discussion activities that may be used in a variety of ways throughout the season. Also included are two chapters designed specifically for families. Each chapter contains several activities that will help families share faith stories and create memories. These activities can be sent home or adapted for use in a gathered environment.

Reconstructs the socio-political history of the heroic in music through case studies spanning the middle ages to the twenty-first century The first part of this volume reconstructs the various musical strategies that composers of medieval chant, Renaissance madrigals, and Baroque operas, cantatas or oratorios employed when referring to heroic ideas exemplifying their personal moral and political values. A second part investigating the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries expands the previous narrow focus on Beethoven's heroic middle period and the cult of the virtuoso. It demonstrates the wide spectrum of heroic positions - national, ethnic, revolutionary, bourgeois and spiritual - that filtered not only into 'classical' large-scale heroic symphonies and virtuoso solo concerts, but also into chamber music and vernacular dance music. The third part documents the forced heroization of music in twentieth-century totalitarian regimes such as Nazi-Germany and the Soviet Union and its consequences for heroic thinking and musical styles in the time thereafter. Final chapters show how recent rock-folk and avant-garde musicians in North America and Europe feature new heroic models such as the everyday hero and the scientific heroine revealing new confidence in the idea of the heroic.

The action-based guide to powerful, influential organizationalstorytelling Circle of the 9 Muses captures the best practices of theworld's most influential story consultants and knowledge workers tohelp you find, tell, and draw value from your organizationalstories as impetus for action. This rich toolbox is loaded withfun, graphical instructions and dozens of unique, replicable, andfacilitated processes that require no special training orexpertise. You'll discover your organization's hidden narrativeassets, use different templates and frameworks to tell the storiesof your past, present, and future and then draw team members intorich meaning-making dialogue that translates into action. Theseactivities can be exercised in endless permutations, and expertadvice steers you toward the right activity for a specific purpose,including managing change, setting strategy, onboarding, definingthe brand, engaging supporters or customers, merging cultures,building trust, and much more. Organizational storytelling is a powerful managerial tool and anessential change management technique. This is about your influenceas a leader. Knowing the right story to tell and how to deliver iteffectively gives you and your organization enormous influence, andhelps connect employees to strategy by providing understanding,belief, and motivation in their personal contribution. This book isthe ultimate field guide to becoming an influential storyteller,with concrete, actionable guidance toward all the storytellingfundamentals. Identify your organization's "narrative assets" Craft an elegant, well-constructed organizational story Capture, bank, and share stories with extraordinaryengagement Facilitate a dialogue to draw out meaning and inducechange The growing interest surrounding organizational storytelling hasmany change agents focused on "trying to tell better stories," butgoals are useless without a plan of action. Circle of the 9Muses helps you weave narrative wisdom into organizationaldevelopment activities, engaging employees and driving change.