An informed, challenging, and engaging collection of essays on the new choices in lifestyles and community as we begin the countdown toward the year 2012.

This fresh and thought-provoking anthology draws together some of today's most celebrated visionaries, thinkers, and pioneers in the field of evolving consciousness — exploring topics from shamanism to urban homesteading, the legacy of Carlos Castaneda to Mayan predictions for the year 2012, and new paths in direct political action and human sexuality.

Toward 2012 highlights some of the most challenging, intelligent pieces published on the acclaimed website Reality Sandwich. It is coedited by Daniel Pinchbeck, the preeminent voice on 2012, and online pioneer Ken Jordan, and features original works from Stanislav Grof, John Major Jenkins, and Paul D. Miller (DJ Spooky); interviews with Abbie Hoffman and artist Alex Grey; and a new introduction by Pinchbeck.

Here are ideas that trace the arc of our evolution in consciousness, lifestyles, and communities as we draw closer to a moment in time that portends ways of living that are different from anything we have expected or experienced.

"In his introduction to this wide-ranging collection, author and 'psychonaut' Pinchbeck (2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl) reaffirms his hypothesis that, based on Mayan predictions, 'December 12, 2012 may usher in a new world age' necessitating a 'rapid evolution of collective intelligence' in order to avoid cataclysm. A year ago, Pinchbeck and collaborator Jordan (an 'online pioneer') launched the web journal Reality Sandwich to bring together the diverse range of voices exploring 'current processes of spirtual and material transformation... usually outside the mainstream.' This anthology culls 36 wide-ranging essays from the site covering everything from metaphics to geopolitics in sections on Community, Art, Sex and the Shamanic. Alberto Villodo describes the healing practices of 'jaguar medicine'; John Major Jenkins looks at how hallucinogens explain Mayan astronomical discoveries; ST Frequency dresses down 'pseudo-shaman' Carlos Castaneda, whose drug tourism threatens indigenous Mexican cultures. Closer to home, a writer who goes by Homegrown Evolution gives tips on how to grow guerilla gardens on vacant lots, and Ken Jordan writes an appreciation of Abbie Hoffman, the '60s activist who brought the NYSE to a halt by showering money on the 'suits.' Not every essay will connect, but anyone interested in the future or the fringe should find some thought-provoking reading among them." Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

This fresh and thought-provoking anthology draws together some of today's most celebrated visionaries, thinkers, and pioneers in the field of evolving consciousness — exploring topics from shamanism to Mayan predictions of the year 2012.

Daniel Pinchbeck is the bestselling author of 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl and Breaking Open the Head: A Psychedelic Journey into the Heart of Contemporary Shamanism. His writing has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Esquire, Wired, The Village Voice, LA Weekly, ArtForum, Arthur, and many other publications. He is the editorial director of Reality Sandwich and a national columnist for Conscious Choice magazine.

Ken Jordan has been an online pioneer since leading the 1995 launch of the web's award-winning first multimedia music zine and digital music store, which later became a property of MTV. He has written for Wired, Index, Paris Review, and First Monday, among other publications. He is the publisher of Reality Sandwich.