EXPLORING THE SPIRIT OF MAINE, A SEEKER’S GUIDE, by Karen Wentworth Batignani, 2005, Down East Books, Camden, 234 pages, $14.95.

Ever feel tempted to consult a shaman? Or learn how to be a shaman? Interested in finding out about solstice celebrations conducted by local pagans? Wondering what Swedenborgianism is all about? Curious about the much-persecuted Bahai Faith? Looking to find a compatible meditation group?

Information on these topics and many, many more can be found in Karen Wentworth Batignani’s book, a compendium of the history, location and beliefs surrounding spiritual practices in Maine.

The reader is bound to be impressed by the diversity and richness of such practices. For example, who would have thought there would be a Hindu ashram in Industry, 20 miles north of Farmington? Everyone knows about the Shakers at Sabbathday Lake and the Seeds of Peace International Camp in Otisfield, but probably few know there is an Amish community in Smyrna and Sufi centers in Portland and Brunswick or that you can study kundalini yoga in Island Falls.

“Exploring the Spirit of Maine” deals mostly with lesser-known, mystical and alternative religions.

Mainstream religions are represented by chapters on the architecture of such churches as the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Portland (designated as a Greater Portland landmark), the massive Sts. Peter and Paul Basilica in Lewiston (built by French-Canadian immigrants), St. Savior’s Church in Bar Harbor (boasting 10 Tiffany windows), and St. Ann Indian Island Church (the oldest site of continual Catholic worship in New England).

The book is organized by sections on “Inspired Alternatives,” “Practicing Mindfulness,” “Communities,” “Degrees, Certificates and Programs,” “Retreats and Camps,” “Organizations and Councils” and “Sacred Architecture.”

Within each section, short chapters describe the spiritual options, with contact information, including telephone numbers and Web sites at the end of each chapter, along with the most recent prices for retreat and healing centers. Cross-referencing between chapters is helpful.

At the end is a list of books recommended by the people Batignani interviewed, enabling the reader to delve more deeply into a subject of interest. With so much information, the occasional typo can be forgiven, but there are more of them than there should be.

As the 21st century begins, we can look back and see how the spiritual landscape in Maine has evolved.

A few of the once-grand hotels are now retreat centers. The Eliot Hotel on the shores of the Piscataqua River in Eliot, once a gathering place for Transcendentalists, has become, through the controversial efforts of Sarah Jane Farmer in the early 20th century, the site for the Green Acre Bahai learning center and camp. Shakerism may be on the way out, but Spiritualism, with its mediums and message circles, still seems to be active, with churches in Portland, Westbrook, Augusta, Bangor, Hartford, Madison, Waterville and Northport, and summer camps in Etna, Madison, Hartford, and Northport.

Ancient practices, such as paganism, yoga and Native American rituals, have been reinvigorated, perhaps with a New Age flavor, and feminism has made its mark with the Greenfire Women’s Retreat in Tenants Harbor and the Temple of the Feminine Divine in Bangor.

Surry would seem to be a particularly powerful place, as it is the location of both the Morgan Bay Zendo, with its silent meditation in a Japanese-style hall, and the Standing Bear Center for Shamanic Studies, with its drumming and animal spirit guides.

Batignani, who lives in Kennebunk and is working toward a doctorate in ministry, describes each spiritual path with open-mindedness and sympathy; critical examination is not in the scope of this book.

But for anyone interested in the life of the spirit, the book is extremely valuable in the light it sheds on an abundance of Maine offerings that to many may be unfamiliar and even exotic.

Christina Diebold, a former copy editor at the Bangor Daily News, lives in Bangor and is a member of the Unitarian Universalist Society of Bangor.