In a room at the back of the shop is a treasure trove of nourishing books for the mind, body, spirit and soul. Although referred to as the "New Age" room, the contents reflect a broader (and more selective) range than such a title might imply.
On first entering the room, you will find a good range of basic books on medical problems and issues and a vast range of books on women's health issues, including supportive and informative books on pregnancy, birth and after.
On to the burgeoning psychology and counselling section, beloved of the burgeoning numbers of therapists and counsellors! Here you can find the classics - Freud, Hornsey, Adler etc. - as well as Carl Rogers, Bradshaw, Mindell and books on art and drama therapy. Jung and the Jungians have a whole section to themselves and we try to keep up with developments in archetypal psychology and provide supportive texts on alchemy, Qabbalah and, as we shall see, mythology.
Now facing you is a wall starting with anthropology, particularly strong in Native American books (one of our staff did his doctoral thesis on Navajo religion) and going on to Buddhism and Eastern religions (we even have an I Ching on CD Rom!). Shamanism comes next and starts with Eliade and Castaneda and goes on to include the best of the enormous number of books on shamanism that have appeared in the last ten years or so.
If you haven't found what you're looking for yet, then it may well be in the next large section, which encompasses a general range of "personal growth books", ranging from the old gurus such as Steiner, Gurdjieff et al. to the new ones - Louise Hay, Shakti Gawain, Redfield, Jeffers, etc. etc.
To your right are the extensive stocks of mythology books. These included titles by the old master - Joseph Campbell - and cover the whole of world mythology as well as the oral traditions beloved of the Opies.
Round the corner are books on astrology, tarot, Feng Shui (there seems to be at least one Feng Shui book a week coming out - we haven't had time to properly Feng Shui the room itself!), Enneagram, runes, UFOs and anything weird but interesting.
The women's issues section gazes across at the women's health section and covers fiction as well as non-fiction and now segues into gay issues and men's issues. At the bottom (only because of the tightness of space) is the pagan section, a section that has grown a lot in recent years and hopefully means the environment is benefitting as well as the readers.
On the final wall is the alternative health section, starting with stress and meditation and dreamwork. Then comes two shelves of homoeopathy books. Apart from general books on healing, we carry a full range on other therapies, from Acupressure to Zone Therapy and finish off with titles on martial arts, yoga and Tai Chi.
If you still can't find what you're looking for, ask the staff and we'll do our best to track down what you want, although most people emerge from this room carrying rather more than they intended to buy!