Mind-Altering Books That Will Open Your Heart

And most likely your imagination and spirit, as well!

Want to expand your awareness? Create a life full of magick and enchantment? Open yourself up to daily experiences full of joy, love, and support? Of course you do!

Start here, with this list of inspiring books, which itself was originally inspired by a social media meme. It's not your mainstream list of the best works of world literature, or books that will help you ace your college entrance exams. It’s a list of my absolute favorites, both fiction and nonfiction, that have moved me in some profound way. These books will, if you let them, change your world by expanding your vision of what is possible.

Perhaps you've read some of them already. How did they transform you? Do you have other books that need to be on this list? Please add them in the comments.

Next, pick out a book or two or three from the list, the ones that call to you with clamoring voices. Be careful, though...you'll never be the same again!

Dive in. I double-cat dare you! Here they are, in no particular order.

Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins

The Fifth Sacred Thing by Starhawk

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley

The Temple of My Familiar by Alice Walker

Always Coming Home by Ursula K. LeGuin

In the Shadow of the Shaman by Amber Wolfe

Pronoia: The Antidote for Paranoia by Rob Brezsny

This I Know: Notes on Unraveling the Heart by Susannah Conway

The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron

The Teenage Liberation Handbook by Grace Llewellyn

Conscious Dreaming by Robert Moss

Fire in the Head by Tom Cowan

1491 by Charles Mann

Radical Homemakers by Shannon Hayes

Turtle Island by Gary Snyder

The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff

A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle

The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle

The Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Anton Wilson

Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein

Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury

Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman

Evolutionary Witchcraft by T. Thorn Coyle

The Last Coin by James Blaylock

Alphabet of Thorn by Patricia McKillip

The Moorchild by Eloise McGraw

The Onion Girl by Charles de Lint

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig

Illusions by Richard Bach

Life of Pi by Yann Martel

Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

The Kin of Ata Are Waiting for You by Dorothy Bryant

Drumming at the Edge of Magic by Mickey Hart

The Hero With a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell

The Collected Autobiographies by Maya Angelou

Stardust by Neil Gaiman

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke

Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver

The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende

The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield

The Dreaming Universe by Fred Alan Wolf

Earth by David Brin

The Earthsea Cycle by Ursula K. LeGuin

Walden by Henry David Thoreau

Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

The Lord of the Rings trilogy by J. R. R. Tolkien

The Oversoul Seven trilogy by Jane Roberts

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz

The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success by Deepak Chopra

Infinite Possibilities by Mike Dooley

Wherever You Go, There You Are by Jon Kabat-Zinn

Sara, Book 1: Sara Learns the Secret About the Law of Attraction by Esther and Jerry Hicks

Women Who Run With the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estes

Woman Who Glows in the Dark by Elena Avila

Anam Cara by John O’Donohue

Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

Imajica by Clive Barker

The Dancing Wu Li Masters by Gary Zukav

Real Magic by Isaac Bonewits

A Path With Heart by Jack Kornfield

Old Path White Clouds by Thich Nhat Hanh

The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying by Sogyal Rinpoche

Memories, Dreams, Reflections by C.G. Jung

Creative Visualization by Shakti Gawain

The Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss

The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis

Otherland series by Tad Williams

Inkheart by Cornelia Funke

The Self-Aware Universe by Amit Goswami

The Holographic Universe by Michael Talbot

The Twelve Wild Swans by Starhawk and Hilary Valentine

The Dark Tower series by Stephen King

The Odyssey by Homer

Eureka: A Prose Poem by Edgar Allen Poe

The Princess Bride by William Goldman

Skellig by David Almond

E-Squared by Pam Grout

The Art of Uncertainty by Dennis Merritt Jones

Spiritual Midwifery by Ina May Gaskin

The Good Life by Helen and Scott Nearing

Wheels of Life: A User's Guide to the Chakra System by Anodea Judith

Hidden Messages in Water by Masaru Emoto

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle

The God Stalker Chronicles by P.C. Hodgell

Way of the Peaceful Warrior by Dan Millman

A Separate Reality by Carlos Castaneda

Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge Piercy

The Red Tent by Anita Diamant

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

His Dark Materials series by Philip Pullman

The Abhorsen series by Garth Nix

The Seat of the Soul by Gary Zukav

The Nature of Personal Reality by Seth and Jane Roberts

The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle

The Essential Rumi by Jalal al-Din Rumi

Owls and Other Fantasies by Mary Oliver

Loving What Is by Byron Katie

The Slow Regard of Silent Things by Patrick Rothfuss

The Journey Into Spirit: A Pagan's Perspective on Death, Dying, & Bereavement by Kristoffer Hughes

Stillness Speaks by Eckhart Tolle

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

Tantra for the West: A Direct Path to Living the Life of Your Dreams by Marc Allen

Fail. Fail Again. Fail Better by Pema Chodron

The Afterlife of Billy Fingers by Annie Kagan

Of Bees and Mist by Erick Setiawan

Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert

The Natural Psychic by Ellen Dugan

The Power of Intention by Dr. Wayne Dyer

City of Refuge by Starhawk

The Top Ten Things Dead People Want to Tell You by Mike Dooley

Dream Alchemy: Shaping Our Dreams to Transform Our Lives by Ted Andrews

The Book of Ho'oponopono: The Hawaiian Practice of Forgiveness and Healing by Luc Bodin, Natalie Bodin Lamboy and Jean Graciet

The Ancient Secret of the Flower of Life, volumes 1 & 2 by Drunvalo Melchizedek

Thank and Grow Rich by Pam Grout

The Desire Map by Danielle LaPorte

The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks

The Seven Archetypal Stones: Their Spiritual Powers and Teachings by Nicholas Pearson

The Universe Has Your Back by Gabrielle Bernstein

Education of a Guardian Angel: The Training of a Spirit Guide by Annie Stillwater Gray

The Untethered Soul by Michael Singer

The Transformational Power of Dreaming by Stephen Larsen and Tom Verner

The Winternight trilogy by Katherine Arden

You Are a Badass by Jen Sincero

We Were Witches by Ariel Gore

Becoming by Michelle Obama

It's Not Your Money by Tosha Silver

The Surrender Experiment by Michael Singer

War for the Oaks by Emma Bull

The Book of Afformations by Noah St. John

The Story Solution by Johnny B. Truant and Sean Platt

A Happy Pocket Full of Money by David Cameron Gihandi

Empathic Mastery by Jennifer Elizabeth Moore

Great Goddesses: Life Lessons from Myths and Monsters by Nikita Gill

Magickal Mystical Creatures by D.J. Conway

Becoming Supernatural by Dr. Joe Dispenza

Untamed by Glennon Doyle Melton

Animal Speak by Ted Andrews

The Magicians trilogy by Lev Grossman

Existential Kink: Unmask Your Shadow and Embrace Your Power by Carolyn Elliott, PhD

Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer

Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda

Cakes for the Queen of Heaven: An Exploration of Women's Power Past, Present and Future by Shirley Ranck

The Moon Book: Lunar Magic to Change Your Life by Sarah Faith Gottesdiener

Sovereign Self: Claim Your Inner Joy and Freedom with the Empowering Wisdom of the Vedas, Upanishads, and Bhagavad Gita by Acharya Shunya

Unbound: A Woman's Guide to Power by Kasia Urbaniak

The Art of Contemplation: A Gentle Path to Wholeness and Prosperity by Richard Rudd

Paths of Wisdom: Cabala in the Golden Dawn Tradition by John Michael Greer

Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times by Katherine May

The Three “Only” Things: Tapping the Power of Dreams, Coincidence, and Imagination by Robert Moss

The Girl and the Goddess by Nikita Gill

Gathering Blossoms Under Fire: the Journals of Alice Walker, 1965-2000 by Alice Walker and Valerie Boyd

My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies by Resmaa Menakem

Circe by Madeline Miller

The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

Traveling with Pomegranates by Sue Monk Kidd and Ann Kidd Taylor

Wild Feminine: Finding Power, Spirit & Joy in the Female Body by Tami Lynn Kent

Earth Alchemy by Glennie Kindred

Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler

The Narrow Road Between Desires by Patrick Rothfuss