Hello folks! I'm Daniel Prechtel, a spiritual guide, educator, shamanic practitioner, and ordained priest in the Episcopal Church USA. I operate Lamb & Lion Spiritual Guidance Ministries and have a web site for that ministry at http://www.llministries.com. Visit me there or on my Facebook pages (Daniel Prechtel and Lamb & Lion Spiritual Guidance Ministries. I enjoy working with people who want to explore the spiritual depths and discover the wisdom and healing grace and power of the Divine that we can bring to bear in our world.
WHERE TWO OR THREE ARE GATHERED: Spiritual Direction for Small Groups (2012) was born out of a deep appreciation for the many ways that healthy small groups can support our spiritual and whole life development. I designed this book as a practical resource for spiritual directors that might want to do group or retreat work and for those in churches or other settings who wish to lead group forms of spiritual companionship. I also hope that spiritual direction training programs and seminaries will see this as a useful resource for their students. I am open to giving presentations and participating in formation programs for group spiritual direction/companionship leadership.
LIGHT ON THE PATH: Guiding Symbols for Insight and Discernment (2016) includes deeply personal stories and dreams, stories drawn from my spiritual direction practice, and a "Spiritual Discernment Cycle" that gives a roadmap for spiritual discernment. I like the second level subtitle of my book as a good description of what this book is about: "Meeting God through Dreams, Sacraments, Stories, Meditation, and Spiritual Practice." This book is intended for individuals and couples who take their spiritual lives seriously, as well as spiritual guides, church leaders, and therapists. We explore the power of guiding symbols for individual, couples, family, social institutions, national, and global concerns.
SOUL JOURNEYS: Christian Spirituality and Shamanism as Pathways for Wholeness and Understanding (2020), co-authored with John R. Mabry and Katrina Leathers.
One set of spiritual practices and its ancient cosmology that I had just begun to explore when I was working on Light on the Path has taken me on a whole new soul journey -- core shamanism and its practices for healing and knowledge. This is an exciting book that gives testimony to the power that spirits have to impact our lives, whether we are aware or not! All three of us are seasoned spiritual guides who tell of how our spiritual practices from Christian and core shamanic traditions have brought powerful wisdom and healing into our lives and the lives of those we serve. We introduce readers to both traditions and how they are can be understood as complimentary.
I am married to an Episcopal church priest, scholar, educator, and leader on the national and international level, Ruth Meyers. We met in seminary back in the early 1980's. We have grown children along with grandchildren and great-grandchildren. We share a love for camping and hiking as our primary form of vacationing and have been to many places of wild beauty. And, oh, I do love the rare occasion when I can wade in a stream and fly fish for trout! I am blessed with living close to a trail that runs along the San Pablo Bay (a part of the San Francisco Bay) so taking a forty minute walk there is a normal part of my day.
I love reading science fiction and fantasy (I'm working my way through Hugo and Nebula award winners); novels by Inkling authors (CS Lewis, Charles Williams and JRR Tolkien) and their inspirer George MacDonald; and detective/murder mystery series by authors like the late Tony Hillerman, Nevada Barr, and the Sister Fidelma series by Peter Tremayne.
I was strongly influenced in my younger years by Russian novelists Dostoevsky and Tolstoy, and Greek writer Kazantzakis. I've repeatedly read Herman Melville's Moby Dick, and Nikos Kazantzakis' semi-autobiographical Report to Greco. As a lover of fly fishing the novels The River Why by David James Duncan, and A River Runs Through It (and other stories) by Norman Maclean touch my soul.
I want to give a special shout-out to my friend and colleague, John R. Mabry. He has produced some outstanding and very edgy science fiction and fantasy novels as J.R. Mabry, as well as serious Christian and interfaith books.
