A Note from Rosemary Gladstar

Right after I published Sacred Land, I sent copies to the "sacred sisters" I profile in the book. I heard back from two of them: an email from Betsy Damon letting me know I had gotten some of my information a little wrong (she didn't, apparently, get muddy in the creek), and a lovely card from Rosemary Gladstar, which I tucked into her Family Herbal and cherish to this day. I was also in contact with Rebecca Dye, and she said she enjoyed the book. Maybe I'll do blog updates on all of them!

My card from Rosemary Gladstar

The Simple Life

Sustainable Living

Here's a great resource for spring:

The Simple Life Forum at Daedalus Books Ideas to Nourish & Sustain Growing Your Own, Preserving Your Own

"In its broadest sense, the idea of sustainability covers a lot of ground, from growing our own produce in a kitchen garden to finding responsible land and water management practices that we can sustain far into the future. Sustainability and preservation are also at the heart of what we do at Daedalus Books, which was founded to find a second life for remainders—good books that might otherwise be destroyed simply because publishers can't afford to keep them in stock."

Submit your favorite farmers' market via email on their site!

The Way of the Hen: Zen and the Art of Raising Chickens

Daedalus is featuring, among other fabulous books for living simply, my own book, The Way of the Hen. It's only $3.98 right now! Perfect gift for anyone who loves chickens.

A Devotional that is Christian and Pagan, with a twist...

A few people have indicated that they felt my latest book Living Earth Devotional focuses on Creation instead of Creator. From my perspective, focusing on Creation is focusing on the Creator. Sort of like looking at a painting to learn more about the artist. I think the word "devotional" has confused some people, who were looking for Biblical words to center God in their heart. I use the word devotional to imply not just devotion to deity (though for me it's part of that), but also to God's Creation, our own sacred lives, and the active, living intersection of all three. It implies practice or discipline, a regular action or prayer that centers us in our spiritual paths. I understand this doesn't make sense to some people, who regard these strands as separate, or feel that using the Book of Nature to learn more about Spirit is somehow sacrilege. But to me, God/dess, life, nature, love, devotions: these are all a woven tapestry of sacred living.

I continually contemplate and pray about the nexus of "Christianity" and "Paganism." I put these words in quotation marks because they have become such loaded labels, and so often a person doesn't really know what they mean for whomever is calling herself a Christian or a Pagan. To me, Christianity is about following the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. But even then, how those teachings are interpreted varies. I take a wisdom or mystical approach. Jesus came to teach us about how we can enter the Kingdom, by which I believe he meant Christ consciousness, a spiritual evolution open to all. For more on this, see Wisdom Jesus or The Meaning of Mary Magdalene by Cynthia Bourgeault. Pagansim to me is about honoring the Earth as sacred. Not just something we human have "dominion" over, but a sacred expression of Mystery's powers of Creation. I see the natural world as a path to knowing God/dess.

A Catholic friend of mine once said she considered Pagans as people who worship Creation instead of the Creator. There are Pagans who worship nature itself, but Paganism is extremely varied in its expression. Most Pagans I know "worship" or look to some sort of higher transcendent power, though the face of this power also varies. If we see Deity in nature, it is not that the tree itself (for instance) is deity, but rather the tree is sort of a reflection or pathway to seeing God.

I think that the fact that we are here on this Earth speaks of the Earth and this life as sacred expressions of God's grace and mystery. It is therefore infinitely precious, sacred, and part of God. My beliefs sit at the intersections of Christianity and Paganism, and it is from this place that I wrote Living Earth Devotional. I look forward to hearing your thoughts and reflections on the book from all perspectives.

Announcing Living Earth Devotional by Clea Danaan

Author Events in September for Living Earth Devotional by Clea Danaan

I hope you can join me for one of these events! I'll also be in Colorado Springs in October, details TBA.

Thursday, September 5, at 7:30 pm
Boulder Book Store
1107 Pearl Street
Boulder, Colorado 80302
Email: info@boulderbookstore.com
Phone: 303-447-2074

Clea Danaan will speak about and sign her new book, Living Earth Devotional, on Thursday, September 5th at 7:30pm.
About the book:Tune in to nature, care for the sacred earth, and grow spiritually. Living Earth Devotional offers 365 earth-friendly activities for deepening your connection to nature. These practical, soul-centered tasks are organized by the Wheel of the Year. Bridging green spirituality with ecological action, this guide will help you tune in to the energies of the seasons and build a deep appreciation for the earth's beauty, power, and wisdom. Reduce your carbon footprint, recharge your creativity, and cultivate a connection with the Earth that inspires spiritual growth and transformation.
Vouchers to attend this event are $5 and are good for $5 off the author's featured book or on a purchase on the day of the event. Vouchers may be purchased in advance, over the phone, or at the door. Readers Guild Members can reserve seats at any in-store event.

Wednesday, September 18 at East West Seattle

Living Earth Devotional

7-8:30pm Free!

No pre-registration for free events - we'll just see you there!

CLEA DANAAN invites you to share and discuss several activities from her book, Living Earth Devotional, which presents 365 activities designed to deepen your relationship with earth and spirit.
Activities, organized by season and Sabbat, include creative expression, meditation, prayers, activism, and personal discovery. They draw from a wide range of spiritual paths, each geared towards connecting with soil, soul, and society.
Originally from the Pacific NW, Clea lives in Colorado with her husband and two children. She is a devoted gardener, a Reiki Master, and the author of Sacred Land, Voices of the Earth, and The Way of the Hen.

The talk will be followed by a book signing.

East West Bookshop of Seattle
6500 Roosevelt Way NE
Seattle, WA 98115
206-523-3726 or 800-587-6002

Giveaway for my forthcoming book, Living Earth Devotional

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Living Earth Devotional

by Clea Danaan

Giveaway ends September 15, 2013.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Discussion Questions for Clea Danaan's Voices of the Earth

To study Clea Danaan's Voices of the Earth: The Path of Green Spirituality with a group, or to explore further journaling and personal growth ideas, here are some discussion questions to get you started. Each chapter also ends with project ideas and journal questions.

• What I call a "nature intuitive" just means someone who listens to the land and gains connection and wisdom there. In what ways have you heard trees, stones, rivers, and animals? In what ways do you doubt this channel? What helps you trust it?
• Opening to the rhythms of you body and the land can open the door to a lot of pain and discomfort. Sometimes you can ameliorate this discomfort: drink a glass of water, do yoga, water a tree, even organize an effort to clean up a polluted river. Sometimes the pain is overwhelming. How can you draw on community to seek healing for yourself and the land?
• Walking the path of an awakening human requires compassion and non-judgmental vision. In what ways can you be more compassionate towards yourself? Towards others? In what ways do you find yourself being judgmental towards others - me (the author), New Agers, Pagans, Republicans, big oil executives? Meditate on your judgment to see what lessons it offers you.
• Pages 51-52 list questions about Home. These would be an interesting discussion for a group. "What does it mean that you are in this spot on the global web?" (p 56)
• What gets in the way of your clearing clutter? What does this tell you about yourself?
• What plants are you drawn to? Herbs? Entheogens?
• How about animals?
• What is your quest as an earth ally? This can mean many things - we don't all have to go sit in a redwood tree for two years or start an organic farm. For more on your quest, see Bill Plotkin's Nature and the Human Soul.

Discussion Questions for Clea Danaan's Sacred Land

"In this positive and practical handbook, Danaan shows how organic gardening can germinate environmental awareness and political change while feeding your spirit. You'll learn how to plan and plant your garden, create compost, save seeds, conserve and transmute water, connect with garden goddesses, and incorporate planetary energy in your garden." - From Llewellyn.com

Thinking of studying Sacred Land in a group? Or delving more deeply into your own intuitive organic gardening practices? Here are a few study and discussion questions to help you get started.

Discussion Questions for Sacred Land

Earth

1. What messages, sensations, and images do you receive when you "tune in" to the soil? Is doing a practice like this strange to you? What fears or concerns do you have about "talking" to dirt? 
2. What shifts for you when you consider a garden a co-creation with nature? What ideas germinate when you enter into such a relationship with the land?
3. Many people first notice nature spirits or the energy of the land through trees. What sacred experiences with trees have you had?
4. What can you do to increase the local and organic food you eat? As a group or a family, take it on as a project. If you already eat mostly organic and local, how can you help others do the same?

Air

1. Discuss your intentions for your home, garden, and community. How can you call on the power of air to bring these ideas into the world?
2. Do you fear insects? Why? Take some time to get to know them better. What teachings have bees, dragonflies, and even mosquitoes taught you?
3. What birds show up in your life regularly? Have they a message?

Fire

1. Everything we see, eat, touch, and hear exists because of the sun. What happens when you meditate on this idea for a few moments?
2. The fire goddess Chantico teaches us about pleasure and pain. When have you felt this keen edge? What has it taught you about life?
3. What does it mean to you to reclaim your passion? How can you begin to do this?

 

Water

1. We are emotional beings of water. As you read this chapter, what do you notice about your awareness of and relationship with water in your daily life?
2. If you are working with a group, practice transmutation (p 208).
3. What is your work as a sacred sister?

You will find more discussion questions at the end of Sacred Land, on page 229. 

Writing Allies

I just finished a manuscript. I looked out the window of the office and stared at the tree, a locust, that steadfastly sat outside my window while I wrote. I considered how the energy of that tree will be in this book. And then I thought how each book I've written has had something of a mascot or a muse. Magical Bride, my first book, was guided by the house we lived in, and my fiance (now husband). Sacred Land I wrote around my baby girl's naps. She's seven now, but her baby self is so very a part of that book. Voices of the Earth I wrote when our office was in another room, and the box elders outside that window guided that book. I would look outside and connect with them for inspiration. The Way of Hen had a whole flock of muses - Sylvie, Millie, MuShu, Daisy, Maisy and Gertrude. And this last one, which I'm not going to name yet because it has yet to go through Publishing Rigors, that was guided by the old locust.

Thanks and Blessings to all my muses. Your energy infuses each book.

Interview with Clea Danaan on Zen Chickens

My interview by Katya Quigley on raising urban chickens:

Preview Clea Danaan's Zen Chickens Online

My newest book, Zen and the Art of Raising Chickens: The Way of Hen will be out October 31, 2010, in the UK. You can "look inside" on Amazon.com and Amazon UK. You can only order it from the UK at this point, but if I get enough hits on the US site, a US publisher will be more likely to swoop in and bring it here.

This book is a part of a series done by Leaping Hare Press related to spiritual homesteading. I'm not sure which titles are forthcoming, but the companion to Zen Chickens is Meditation and the Art of Beekeeping by Mark Magill. I saw some of this before it came out and it looks equally fabulous. 


Enjoy!

Gender and My Book Sacred Land: The Evolution of a Spiritual Gardening Book.

One review of my gardening book Sacred Land says some lovely things about the book, and then points out:

One flaw is that it is geared solely for women. Men can read it, but the language and imagery used is exclusive to women, no gods of harvest are mentioned, nor sun gods nurturing the land. Even so, men should read it for the tips – even if the meditations won’t always suit.

I wanted to respond to that here, as it is a complaint that comes up every once in a while. I even got an angry email from a reader about the issue! So maybe this blog will help explain.

When I originally wrote the book, it was intended as part of a series of books called the Goddess Guides. The first was called Goddess' Guide for the Magical Bride and became my book Magical Bride. The second was about healing, and I haven't written it yet. The third became Sacred Land. If you have read both Sacred Land and Magical Bride, you will know that I profile goddesses related to pertinent topics in each book. The series was meant to be geared towards women, on normal topics we deal with every day like marriage, gardening, raising children, and health. I wanted to include goddesses and women who inspire me on each given topic.

So at first, Sacred Land was titled Goddess' Guide for the Sacred Garden. Then it changed to Sisterhood of the Sacred Garden. My publisher felt this title was too... sisterhoody. It didn't work for them. So they took the title and subtitle out of the text, and the woman-goddess focus got lost in the new title. At that point I should have edited the heck out of the book to include gods and men, but I didn't. Not because I don't love gardening gods and men, but just because I didn't. First book and all that jazz.

So dear men and others wondering about the gender imbalance in the book, fear not. I mean no disrespect. I mean it as empowering to women - and to gardeners of both genders everywhere. And now you know something about the evolution of a first book!

Mountain Selkie Longing for the Sea

What do you long for? Desire, whether of a person, a special place, or a thing (chocolate!) is such a visceral thing, even when it's not sexual in nature. The current issue of SageWoman includes many wonderful articles written by Goddess-loving women about all kinds of desire. My own article in this issue is about my desire for two places: the Pacific Northwest and Colorado. I hope you'll enjoy it! You can find SageWoman at good bookstores and newsstands.

"I have learned to live at the base of the Rocky Mountains instead of the feet of Mount Baker. But I am like a selchie who leaves her watery home to live on dry land." - "The Resonance of Home" by Clea Danaan, SageWoman issue 77



Selkie by Forest Rogers

Magical Bride: Craft an Interfaith Wedding for a Goddess available from Wyrdwood Publications

My book Magical Bride: Craft an Interfaith Wedding for a Goddess is now available from Wyrdwood Publications. I wrote this book while planning my own wedding, an interfaith hullabaloo integrating Christian, Pagan, Buddhist, and cosmological approaches. Anyone who loves the contemporary fun of a gorgeous dress and a sparkling location, but can't swallow the usual "traditions" will find this a valuable guide for planning her own wedding.








Some pictures from our wedding:




One of our ministers, Acutonics Sound healer Donna Carey, smudges us during the ceremony. Behind her you can see my brother one of the groomsmen and one of the gongs used.




I made my own cake, and my husband made his groom cake. My friend April helped.




Me and my ladies being sexy and silly!


I'm excited to be working on this project with Wyrdwood Publications, who publishes Pagan and Heathen Fiction and Non-Fiction eBooks. Check out their other ebook titles!