The gifted and insightful editors of this illuminating anthology of essays by women are Linda Hogan (The Woman Who Watches Over the World: A Native Memoir) and Brenda Peterson (Build Me an Ark: A Life With Animals). Although there have been women shamans, prophets, mystics, sibyls, and seers, until recently, few women have moved into the circles of power and influence within Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The four sections of this volume — Heritage and Beyond, God the Mother, At One with the World, God in the Art of the Everyday, and Practicing — attest to the fact that women have much to offer all religions.
Hogan and Peterson have chosen essays, poems, and one interview from many superlative writers including Diane Ackerman, Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Mary Gordon, Ursula K. Le Guin, Naomi Shihab Nye, and Terry Tempest Williams. Although we were impressed with the section on everyday mysticism, the one on practices is the best. Kate Wheeler explores her experience of taking vows as a Buddhist nun; Georgiana Valoyce-Sanchez looks to her ancestors for divine assistance; Elizabeth Carothers Herron muses on the rhythms of ordinary mysticism; Sharman Apt Russell celebrates the role of silence in Quaker worship; Starhawk charts the riches of witchcraft; and Deena Metzger probes the sacred dimensions of sex. This superb anthology of women's spirituality offers many insights, wonders, and surprises.
