This book summarizes some of the practical ideas and practices growing out of the "Spirit of Place" symposium in the United States and Japan between 1988 and 1993. James Swan, an environmental psychologist, and his wife Roberta, who has taught design, have organized this material around four sections. The first presents essays by mainly indigenous peoples who tutor us in what it means to have a kinship with place. The second examines ways to honor places such as going on a pilgrimage and making altars. The third presents designers talking about ways they have made home and office spaces into vessels for spirit. The final section examines how advocates for the poetics of place are making their views known in art, law, and public policy. The best essays are Akira Kaneko's reflections on Tenrikyo, a Japanese religion based on reverence for place; Tom Bender's "Building with a Soul"; and "House Reading: A Spiritual Approach to Residential Design in Traditional Japan" by Fumio Suda and Colin Carpenter.