One of my uni professors recommended this book to me last year, and once I saw Sally Mann’s work, I knew what trajectory I wanted to take with mine. Mann’s memoir is beautifully written and evocative, filled with powerful photographs. It was so interesting to read her creative perspective on child nudity (as she rose to fame photographing her children running wild and naked on their family farm), and her insightful notes on death and landscape’s ability to retain emotion. This book, was for me, a complete inspiration.

The lovely Michelle Gardella gifted this book to me after a mentorship session and reading it opened up a part of me that I’ve always known but never understood; that my lifelong loves of myth, art, and psychology intersect and weave together in ways that are communicable and searchable. Estes’s book breaks down fairytales and explains their archetypal meanings, and illustrating the importance of myth in teaching us our roles in the world. What I gleaned from this book is that the power of fairytales is not in whimsical fancies, but that they communicate through parable and metaphor the wild expanse of the human interior. I haven’t met a woman yet who has read this and didn’t refer to it as a type of bible.

What I loved most about The Dance of the Dissident Daughter is how Kidd deconstructs the misogyny of Christian belief while still maintaining respect and reverence for it as a faith. A deeply spiritual woman and a devout Christian for much of her life, Kidd’s testimony of leaving a patriarchal belief system is powerful.

Raised a devout Christian myself, it was encouraging to hear another woman’s journey from patriarchal indoctrination to embodying a spirituality that sings to you from your bones. If you’ve been influenced by patriarchal Christian belief (spoiler alert, we ALL have regardless of religious upbringing), this book is for you.

Stone tells you upfront that her book is a result of her personal research and she makes no claims that her theories are without flaws, but having said that she goes on to deliver an academically backed argument for a time before patriarchy ruled the world, when divinity was embodied by the feminine.

For anyone who has ever wondered how women came to be so oppressed and discounted, Stone gives a detailed account of how myth evolves over time, and how story and mythic structure is curated by those in power.

Our bodies are storehouses of memory dating back generations. What if we could talk to our cells the way we talk to our friends? Can we connect with our bodies in ways that they might talk back? After reading this book, I truly believe that somatic work is the future of therapy, the only therapy that takes us out of our busy minds and puts us back into our bodies, the place where trauma is held and healing is facilitated.

This book was gifted to me by my dear friend Kade (who is a fellow photographer and somatic psychotherapist). Through reading it I learned how to better listen to the subtle communication of my body.

Academia has not been exempt from the influence of patriarchal thought, something that Tedlock points out early on in her book. She discusses how most research has been done by men, through a male-centric lens, trivializing or leaving out entirely women’s important roles in traditional religions and medicine. She explores shamanic traditions from around the world, illustrating the leadership roles of women in facilitating spiritual practice, and how this information has been downplayed or misunderstood in academic research. As both a trained academic and shamanic practitioner herself, Tedlocks insights are interesting as well as thorough.

Another book gifted to me by my friend. I’ve written a blog on this one so I won’t go into detail but if you are interested you can read more here:

I’ll confess, I haven’t read this one in its entirety, but I find that it’s more of a guide than a sit-down and read-all-the-way-through kind of book. I use it as a reference for ideas on how to create fun and meaningful rituals for my kids during the wheel of the year holidays, to infuse more nature into our daily lives, and teach my children to revere and honor nature as a living, breathing, feeling entity.

It has recipe ideas, crafts, songs, and stories centered around the pagan holidays, and each holiday my kids and I do a little earth-based ritual inspired by these pages.

Science and earth-based spirituality meet in the most organic way in this one. An indigenous scientist, Kimmerer has a perspective that takes the best of two worlds, showing that modern science is not at odds with traditional earth-based spiritual wisdom, but actually compliments and supports it.

What stood out to me the most was the theme of relationship and reciprocity. How do we live in relationship with the earth in our modern society? Although Kimmerer doesn’t outright answer this question (as it’s incredibly complex), she offers so much wisdom, without shying away from acknowledging the complexity of our modern culture. This one is a must-read for anyone considering how to be in relationship with nature.

Blackie confirmed for me in this book something I’ve been considering for a few months now; how landscape shapes myth. With tales and insights from Celtic mythology as well as modern nature lovers, Blackie discusses our responsibilities to land and how engaging with landscape teaches us powerful lessons.

So many of my own personal questions were answered in his book but the one that stands out for me was engagement with the land we live on in order to encourage meaningful relationship with the earth as well as ourselves. Every type of landscape has a story, myth, and organic wisdom for us, if we are willing to sit with it and listen.