Valerie Andrews' writing has appeared in Vogue and Esquire.
She is a former editor of The Tarrytown Letter, a forum for new ideas inspired by Margaret Mead. The author remembers a secret place (a grove of birch trees) she visited every day at sunset when she was young and says that through this ritual she "learned that for every mood there is a corresponding season and that our lives are connected to the great life of the earth." As an adult, Andrews lost that meaningful connection.Her quest is to find as many ways as possible to re-establish an intimate relationship with the natural world. Andrews is drawn to the writings of Hildegard of Bingen and Teilhard de Chardin and their earth cherishing practices. She is attracted to Native American rituals which respect the wildness, the beauty, and the bounty of nature. She takes refuge in feminism as a stay against the cruel domination of the good Earth and concludes that one of the main goals of psychotherapy is to "help us repair our bond with the feminine and nature."
In the closing chapters, Andrews outlines her belief that the earth depends on the energies of sacred marriages for its renewal. She ends with a tribute to those who set out together to heal and preserve the world through their love.
