The practice of Chöd is an ancient ritual that helps people heal their unconscious fears. From the Tibetan word for "sever," Chöd can also be referred to as "cutting through the ego." Although practiced mostly by Tibetan Buddhists today, the ritual existed long before the birth of Buddhism.

On March 24, well-known Russian astrologists, shamans and parapsychologists gathered to discuss forecasts for near and distant future.

"The phenomenon that they call the world financial crisis, and which, as they believe, is now ending, was not the financial crisis per se. It was just an omen of the imminent crisis. The real financial crisis is going to take place in the future," astrologist Aleksei Kolov said in the beginning of the meeting.

NEW DELHI - A small tribe in India is pitted against a British giant like the proverbial David against Goliath. Some 8,000 members of the Dongria Kondh tribe are resisting a bid by $8 billion worth Vedanta Resources to start digging an open-pit mine to obtain bauxite, the ore from which most aluminium is extracted.

Some people are naturally crafty and artistic. Others, are not so lucky. But this week, all the fourth-graders at Bismarck`s Sunrise Elementary are being challenged to be crafty. And, they`re learning about Native American culture at the same time.

In my role as Explorer in Residence at UMass Amherst, I teach a course every year in the great Amazon rainforest. The three-credit course entitled “The Shaman’s Pharmacy” offers an introduction to the Amazon rainforest, its biodiversity, and some of the medicinal plants found in that forest.