The Spiral Dance

Surprise!  Didn't think I'd be coming at you with yet another witch book, didya?  I actually have a couple of books on the shelf on feminine spirituality, and several more on religion in various time periods and parts of the world.  Now you know a bit of what you can look forward to as surprise posts.  Yay nonfic!

 The Spiral Dance by Starhawk was actually loaned from a friend who made all kinds of helpful notes and tick marks in it, so I wasn't completely alone and helpless.  After all I am no expert in the subject, but somehow I like reading about the ills of the world and how to fix them.  And Starhawk's books are as good a place to start as any, detailing the gradual (or sudden, depending on how you look at it) rise of feminist spirituality in America during the last 40 years.  Starhawk describes herself as a witch, although if you go into this thinking you'll be reading about babykilling and evil hags, you will be sorely disappointed.  Sorry about that.  This eco-priestess type of witchcraft practiced by more and more women (and men) these days the world over, Starhawk explains, not only supports various eco-centric or earth-centered movements occuring today - rather in many ways it is these movements.

This wise woman's arguments are delivered in poetry and expression so heartfelt and passionate, even the naysayer can't help but shake their heads, whether it's in amazement at the deeds of these terrible Christians or in shame for the current state of the earth.  Starhawk is clearly a political activist, although not much of an extremist by today's standards.  If you're familiar with the work of Daniel Quinn or other counterculture authors, this is a pretty tame perspective which you can easily argue is driven purely by love.

I recommend this for women of course, and for men who are not so conditioned that they can't walk around with a book on Goddess Spirituality.  It has its flaws, such as the history which relies on some oudated anthropology, and a little of the author's self-righteousness shows through from time to time.  But this is a great starting point for the countercultural, anti-paradigm, modern feminist novice.  The version I read is the10th anniversary edition including separate sections with many new notes and comments from the author on the subsequent editions and the reasons for them.  All of it is very readable, moving, interesting and worthwhile - even for us Christianfolk.  A good book to lend to your womanfriends.