TEDx speaker and author Keri Mangis uses the principles of alchemy to argue that the work of surviving this moment begins inside the people living through it.
LOS ANGELES, CA, UNITED STATES, September 3, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — “The Essential Ingredient: Remaking Ourselves in Times of Crisis,” by TEDx speaker and multi-award-winning author Keri Mangis, was published August 25, 2026 by Curiosa Publishing. The book takes up a question most crisis writing avoids: what happens after we admit that optimism is not a plan? Mangis argues that climate catastrophe, authoritarianism, economic instability, and institutional failure are not separate emergencies to be solved one at a time, but symptoms of a consciousness that keeps producing them. The book carries a foreword by political analyst Jared Yates Sexton, author of “The Midnight Kingdom” and co-host of The Muckrake Podcast.
Mangis is blunt about what she is not offering. Hope, she writes, leaves responsibility at the feet of other people, and despair damages the health of those who carry it. Denial, fear, blame, and willful blindness helped build the present moment. Her contention is that the work ahead is neither optimism nor resignation but a deliberate confrontation with what individuals and cultures refuse to look at.
The book’s structure comes from alchemy, the pre-scientific practice Carl Jung revived as a model for psychological transformation. Jung asked what alchemy’s principles would mean when applied to one person. Mangis extends the question to the collective. The result is a three-part progression through breakdown, reflection, and rebirth, drawing on Jungian psychology, shadow work, myth, and two decades of her own study and teaching. To turn lead into gold, she notes, you cannot just paint it yellow. You have to break the lead down first.
“On one hand, this book is a synthesis of my studies and work as a spiritual practitioner and teacher over the last two decades,” Mangis writes. “On the other hand, this book is my act of resistance.”
Early readers have responded to the book’s refusal of easy comfort. “This isn’t just a book,” writes Christina Donnell, PhD, author of “Encounters with Living Language.” “It’s an initiation.” Kyle R. Vareberg, PhD, assistant professor of communication studies at Northeastern State University, writes that the essential ingredient “isn’t an aspiration, it’s who we are, if we’re willing to move through the breakdown to discover it.” Midwest Book Review notes that while many books make the case for reinvention, few lay out the mechanics of it as this one does.
Readers in midlife who feel the weight of the world and have not given up on it, and who suspect that apathy and overwhelm are precisely what entrenched power depends on, will find a welcome companion in Mangis’s writing. The book also speaks to activists, spiritual practitioners, depth psychologists, and anyone who has run out of patience with half-solutions.
Mangis is currently on tour with the book. Upcoming appearances include “Everyday Alchemy,” a free book launch talk at Lake Harriet Spiritual Community in Minneapolis on Sunday, September 6, offered in person and on Facebook Live; an author event at Big Hill Books, in the Bryn Mawr neighborhood of Minneapolis, on Saturday, September 26; and a virtual book launch and Q&A with author and writing mentor Amy Hallberg on Thursday, November 5. In May 2027, she will lead “Becoming Real,” a week-long retreat at the Sivananda Ashram Yoga Retreat in the Bahamas. A current schedule is available at kerimangis.com/events.
“The Essential Ingredient: Remaking Ourselves in Times of Crisis” (Curiosa Publishing, 264 pages, $21.95, ISBN 978-1-7329912-2-4) is available now wherever books are sold.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Keri Mangis is a writer, speaker, and wholeness advocate whose work sits at the intersection of culture, consciousness, and transformation. She spoke at TEDxMinneapolis in 2025 on menopause as a rite of passage. Her first book, “Embodying Soul: A Return to Wholeness,” won the 2020 IPA Award for Mind, Body & Spirit, the 2020 Readers’ Favorite Gold Medal in Non-Fiction Spiritual, and the New York City Big Book Award. Her essays have appeared in Spirituality & Health Magazine, the Star Tribune, Elephant Journal, and The Edge Magazine, where she was a columnist. She has studied with Sharon Blackie, Michael Meade, and the Centre for Applied Jungian Studies, and holds certifications in yoga and Ayurveda. She hosts the Awaken Your Power podcast and lives in Minneapolis.
REVIEW COPIES AND MEDIA INTERVIEWS:
To request a review copy of “The Essential Ingredient” or to schedule an interview with Keri Mangis, contact publicist Nanda Dyssou of Coriolis Company at nanda@corioliscompany.com or 424-226-6148.
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