Root to Rise Book Study Archive Jan 2021 to Dec 2023
This is an archival listing of the books and connectives we created on Patreon from 2021-2023
3 years ago as the devastatingly beautiful year of 2020 closed and I was free from 5 years of founding and running a school with all the possibilities stretching before me, the thing I felt most called to was building a community around transformational books that might support our personal growth and healing while opening us up to imagining a world more aligned with personal sovereignty and community care. Root to Rise and the 30 souls who joined in throughout our time together was the most magical community I could have hoped for. It sealed in me the desire to continue to learn in community in this way.
I was accepted into a 2 year interfaith seminary program which I will begin in the fall of 2024 with ordination in summer of 2026. I am so excited for this sacred scholarship that I feel began in earnest when I called in this community and we made that dream of reading these secular books as sacred a reality. All who participated are a part of why there is such a fullness and sacredness in my life. I will continue to pour that forth in this space moving forward.
I have compiled all the details, links, contemplations, resources etc for that 3 year journey and am archiving it here in this substack space because they journey is here now. Thank you to all who have been and will gain something from all this. May it serve your curiosity! And if you ever want to chat about anything from this list I am always around! Just reach out and we can schedule a zoom chat! I love these books deeply and am always delighted to discuss! And if any of you are in book groups or looking to be in sacred study around any of these books and would like advice or support on that journey please reach out!
The Root to Rise Book Study - 3 years - 26 books - 31 humans - endless gratitude
The Habit Trip
I met the author, Sarah Hays Coomer, last year at a writer's retreat she was leading for women who write at Rockvale Writers Colony in College Grove, TN.
We had some really wonderful conversations during the workshops and in between sessions and became friends. A couple of months later she contacted me about a piece I had shared at the retreat and asked permission to use it in her upcoming book, which she shared a bit about with me and I was delighted to be a part of what I knew was going to be a wonderful offering.
Cut to 2020 and I must say that she intuited exactly what we needed at the end of this paradigm shifting year! The Habit Trip: A Fill-In-The-Blank Journey To A Life On Purpose was released on December 1, 2020 and I pre-ordered it as soon as it was available, knowing that I was going to dive right in as soon as it arrived! So when I decided that I wanted to create a year of contemplative collective experiencing of transformational books, I knew that we had to start there.
Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
Braiding Sweetgrass had a profound affect on our collective who gushed about how perfect this book was for this paradigm shifting time as the lessons on each page could be discussed for hours on end. Some of us decided to study Braiding Sweetgrass even more deeply through a spiraling "Secular as Sacred" weekly text study that went from May 2021 through July 2022. It was a transformative experience and I created a Sacred Text Study document that offers the practice with any book that feels correct. All are welcome to use and adapt the practice however you see fit.
If Women Rose Rooted by Sharon Blackie
So many of the questions and possibilities in Braiding Sweetgrass that we were left pining for answers presented themselves in the most unexpected ways in If Women Rose Rooted. Follow Sharon Blackie in all the ways as well as check out her podcast, all of which can be found at her website. Sharon made our Root to Rise study twice as our final book, Hagitude was also by her. She is a favorite teacher of mine.
Circe by Madeline Miller
Y’all, this was our first of just a few novels and it was such a powerful spell casting reimagining of the mythologies we grew up with. Madeline Miller has woven the story of Circe as Circe herself would have done on her magical loom: channeling the lineage of the gods inside us all.
Women Who Run With Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estes, PhD
This is essential reading on the journey of reclamation of one’s divine self. It’s medicine and its heartbreak and it's a tome and it’s lore and magick and remembering. Do not get the audio book because I tried that back in 2018 and it was only 3 hours worth of excerpts from a 400 page book and although it was a lovely listening session I walked away thinking, “What on earth is everybody on about with this book?” I re-read it slowly in community in 2020 and had a profound reckoning. For our Root to Rise community we read it over 4 months. It was an intense experience. My favorite take away practice is called Descansos. Learn more here.
Mary Magdalene Revealed by Meggan Watterson
As a recovering Catholic, this book helped me in the practice of reclaiming a sense of rootedness to the sacred and reaffirmed my devotion to the apocryphal! I share more about my spiritual journey that I really began to contemplate in earnest after reading this beautiful book. Now I’m deep in a practice with the Mother Mary and the reclamation of the divine feminine through following the syncretisms of conquest back to their origins long before a young girl gave birth to a child in Bethlehem who grew up to love another Mary, cast in the bible as unsacred. This book helps unwind and unravel so we can remember the divine balance of maslculine and feminine in ourselves and the universe.
Waking the Witch: Reflections on Women, Magic and Power by Pam Grossman
Pam Grossman is the Terry Gross of the witching world. Her podcast, The Witch Wave, is an archive of the most glorious, creative, magical humans doing wonderful things. Her book is the perfect blend of literature, personal narrative, history, art and magic.
Power of Ritual by Casper Ter Kuile
Casper is one of my favorite humans on the planet and has been such a teacher for me in the realm of reading books through a sacred lens. Go learn about his role in creating Harry Potter and the Sacred Text. Also check out his sacred conversations community coop called The Nearness.
Root and Ritual: Timeless Ways to Connect to Land, Lineage, Community, and the Self by Becca Piastrelli
I binged Becca Piastrelli’s podcast, Belonging in November of 2021 and it was medicinal! So if you dig the book, you will love the podcast and if you only decide to check out some episodes of the podcast you might really want to have the book as a reference! It’s also such a lovely book! The focus is on land, lineage, community, and self. During our reading, I offered the following contemplations on land, lineage and ritual that may resonate.
Cassandra Speaks: When Women Are the Storytellers, the Human Story Changes by Elizabeth Lesser
Y’all may enjoy the Brené Brown podcast that I listened to in late 2020 with Elizabeth Lesser that turned me onto Cassandra Speaks: When Women are the Storytellers, The Human Story Changes. It was so inspiring and felt absolutely correct for us to read this memoir and mythology especially being alive on the planet and identifying as a human who knows the truth but that truth is veiled in devastation and layers and lineages of lies and traumas and yet we continue on.
Parable of the Sower Series by Octavia Butler
This is one of the most important and potentially difficult reads of the Root to Rise Book Study. This 3 book cycle of Octavia Butler and her legacy book end both Parable books in the series with adrienne maree brown's emergent strategy, written as an actionable step in tribute to Butler's teachings , tucked in the middle. This journey will be inspiring, unsettling, and profoundly healing.
Because I know how hard it may be to read and wait to unravel some of the themes that come up and how prophetic they are to right now, here are a couple of resources and connectives that I would like to share. The first resource is the podcast Octavia's Parables with Toshi Reagon and Adrienne Maree Brown from the website Reading Octavia. Here is the podcast description from the site: "Diving deeply into the literary works of Octavia E. Butler, beginning with The Parable of the Sower, our hosts Toshi Reagon and adrienne maree brown are examining each of Octavia E Butler’s published works, chapter by chapter. Our podcast summarizes the storyline, places it in a strategic context for those intending to change the world, and provides questions to help bring Butler's ideas to life."
I highly recommend integrating this podcast into your reading or listening to it after you have completed the readings. Whatever feels correct for you. Also, if you like audio books, the narrator Lynne Thigpen, is incredible. This is a book series that is best revisited over and over again as you would a sacred text.
Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds by adrienne maree brown
Emergent Strategy was one of those life changing books for me. I am so excited to share it with y’all and see what you pull from it to support your personal pursuits! The first time I heard adrienne maree brown speak was on the podcast For The Wild in 2018, sharing about her new book Emergent Strategy. It was a turning point in my journey as a community builder trying to do right by the generations who will enter the earth alongside my children and grandchildren while also healing my own core wounds created in a system that is not interested in community care or radical self love, which were the most important elements of my existence and healing.
Here she is again in deep discussion with Ayana Young on writing for the future. As you read her book this interview from March 2022 is such insight into her evolution and how she has followed her own advice from the pages of Emergent Strategy, published in 2017. “We need each other. I love the idea of shifting from ‘mile wide inch deep’ movements to ‘inch wide mile deep’ movements that schism the existing paradigm.” (page 20)* I have also evolved since hearing her speak in 2018 and read these transformative pages. I am better for every word I poured into myself as medicine.
I would also recommend both adrienne’s podcast with her sister Autumn called How To Survive the End of the World as well as the official Emergent Strategy podcast produced through the Emergent Strategy Ideation Institute, “a hub to experiment, think, facilitate, learn and share emergent strategy. ESII builds movement capacity to create a more just and equitable world through facilitation, training, coaching, and strategy development.” All of these programs and institutes have emerged from the original book Emergent Strategy. Adrienne now has a publishing arm of AK Press and publishes authors whose energy is in keeping with Emergence. Find those books here. Finally, if you really dig this reading and want to personally expand upon it within your own work, I would recommend the corresponding workbook published in 2021 called Holding Change: The Way of Emergent Strategy Facilitation and Mediation.
Finding the Mother Tree by Suzanne Simard
Robin Wall Kimmerer said of Finding the Mother Tree, “The interplay of personal narrative, scientific insights, and the amazing revelations about the life of the forest make a compelling story. These are stories that the world needs to hear.” If you would like to connect more deeply with Suzanne Simard here is an On Being episode with Krista Tippet you might enjoy along with reading her book this month!
The Overstory by Richard Power
If we learned nothing from Finding the Mother Tree, it was that we as humans are just a mirror of the earth. We all need nourishing in the now moment and I think that The Overstory by Richard Powers was that for our community in the summer of 2022. A cleansing and renewal like a midsummer drenching rain; A remembering that fiction is truth. The world we are living in right now was someone’s imagined reality and so all imagined possibilities are attainable.
It’s a big book which called for two months of reading. As you are reading you may also want to check out the documentaries, Fantastic Fungi and Intelligent Trees. Remember that adrienne maree brown said of The Overstory, on March 10, 2020, "this is an emergent strategy immersion of a novel. i've been waiting for this book, and it's such an immense gift. i want everyone to read this. it is attention liberation in print. Richard Powers is a friend to my soul, even though he's a stranger and our paths may look wildly divergent...the things he studied and saw and felt and understood to write this humble me. seriously. standing ovation with tears in my eyes. this book is exquisite at the level of sentence, poetry, arc, politic and scale. Whew." Also the forest ecologist in this novel is based on Suzanne Simard who wrote Finding the Mother Tree. All the threads weaving!!
Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle by Amelia Nagoski and Emily Nagoski
I knew I wanted to read this book in community after listening to sisters Emily and Amelia on Brene Brown's podcast Unlocking Us back in fall of 2020. I had not had the chance to read it and I know that is because I needed to pour over it properly in 2022 because of a sense of burn out coming that I have not felt since pre-pandemic times. By then I was more aware of it in my body and did not see it taking me by surprise or making me sick the way it used to before I held any awareness of my limits or boundaries. This paradigm shift is a time for clarifying and feeling the signs deeply so I can stay balanced as I continually realign myself to a lifestyle that I want and can manage. Also, this research aligns to Human Design, which is my main modality for deep inter-soverignty healing work in myself and within my communities of care.
Missing Witches by Risa Dickens and Amy Torok
If witch is not a label you choose that’s ok. If you see bridging science and sacred in the balance then this book will offer so many interesting contemplations Enjoy the decadence! And if you love it, go listen to the Missing Witches podcast wherever you listen to those! Maybe this book or one of the missing witches within these pages will be a portal to a part of you that is ready to be uplifted!
Seasons of Moon and Flame: The Wild Dreamer’s Epic Journey of Becoming by Danielle Dulsky
If you don’t already know Danielle, you are going to be in for a treat! She is a masterful story weaver and spell caster. You might also love her Sacred Hag Oracle and her book The Holy Wild: A Heathen Bible for the Untamed Woman. Also she’s very active on IG @wolfwomanwitch and I recommend following @thehagschool where she leads courses, mentorships, covens, and other connectives. This is another one you can read along with following with the moon cycles in a year slowly soaking in the medicine, messages, and prompts.
Our Lady of the Dark Country by Sylvia Linsteadt
I discovered Sylvia Linsteadt on The Belonging Podcast with Becca Piastrelli (our January 2022 author) and I have been smitten since! Listen at the link above! She also has her own podcast called Kaliope’s Sanctum, which has almost all the stories from the book in audio which is wonderful because as of this writing there is not an audio book for Our Lady of the Dark Country.
This book so powerfully affected me that I created a companion piece titled Deep Time: Reflection and Companion Resources for Our Lady of the Dark Country by Sylvia Linsteadt that is here in case you want to go deeper too.
Wisdom of the Natural World: Spiritual & Practical Teachings from Plants, Animals & Mother Earth by Granddaughter Crow
I was introduced to Granddaughter Crow by my friends and coven mates, Risa Dicken and Amy Torek of the Missing Witches Podcast and I have had this book in mind to read since listening to that episode in 2021. Listen to that wonderful podcast here. Many thanks to Community member Angie Fenton for finding this link summarizing selected chapters of the book by the author herself.
The Altar Within: A Radical Devotional Guide to Liberate the Divine Self by Juliet Diaz
I have been following and being in community with Juliet Diaz since 2019 and I am delighted to engage in this transformational guide. I spend most of my life at the crossroads of liberation, inter-sovereignty, and the esoteric, so Juliet is such a public force and beacon for all of that.
I recommend that you follow her Instagram and also her publishing imprint, Spirit Bound Press, which is part of Row House Publishing. If you don’t know Row House, a disruptive publisher offering a new model to publish non-fiction books at the intersection of personal development and social justice, then you need to and while you are learning about it, go buy some of their books because you will be putting your money in the hands of authors whose voices are brilliant and the FUTURE and who are dominantly suppressed by the mainstream publishing industry which, not shockingly, is white supremacist AF! Here are a couple of delicious podcast episodes of Juliet that I think y’all will dig.
Brooks and Broomsticks - Feb 2022 - this show is about this book and the publishing world and Rowhouse! So good!
The Book Stoop - Feb 2022 - this is the Rowhouse Publishing pod interviewing Juliet.
The Witch Wave - from 2019 - the first time I was introduced to Juliet!
Ok! I hope this devotional guide reclaims, unsettles, liberates and reminds you of your radical beloved self!
The Church of the Wild: How Nature Invites Us into the Sacred by Victoria Loorz
As a recovering Catholic, I have been creating my own ritual for a few years and the forest is my gothic cathedral even though I still LOVE a sit down in Notre Dame…Anyway, I hope that this book will offer you or solidify an all already well trodden path to sacred connection in nature. I know many in the Root to Rise Contemplative Community are Braiding Sweetgrass aficionados and I would love for this to be an extension of the possibilities there. Here are a couple of podcasts you might enjoy with author Victoria Loorz as well as the website to her organization, Wild Church Network.
The Flowering Wand: Rewilding the Sacred Masculine by Sophie Strand
Sophie Strand’s rewilding the masculine in The Flowering Wand is a slow soak of a read with all the indulgence and gloriousness that a warm bath calls for. Personally, I listened first and then I listened again and read along, fucking up the book properly (as Amy Torek of Missing Witches likes to say) with highlights, underlines, marginalia and doodles for days. This is the best way to be a part of a beloved book.
Be aware that if it took some time acclimating to the writing style of Sylvia Linsteadt from Our Lady of the Dark Country then a similar patience and focus may be needed here.
If you haven’t experienced Sophie before, might I recommend some podcasts to get you in her energy.
The Green Dreamer - Sophie Strand: Rewilding Myth and Storytelling - Epi. 365
Magic and Alchemy - An Interview with Sophie Strand - Epi. 90
SAND - The Wandering Winding Way of the Wound: Sophie Strand and Bayo Akomolafe- Epi. 16
Witches and Pagans: Women in European Folk Religion, 700-1100 by Max Dashu
Witches and Pagans by Max Dashu might not be an easy read for many but it feels like a tome necessary for having as a reference. I have a wonderful 3 part podcast with the author that will bring in lots of foundational contemplations around this book and the 15 volumes to come. Phew! Talk about pouring forth the truth and the magick! Listening to these three episodes totaling 1.5 hours will give you plenty for contemplation and prompt discussion.
Suppressed Histories of Women: Part 1 Max is interviewed about her own life story and how and why her mission to tell the forgotten history of women and of matriarchy came about.
Suppressed Histories of Women: Part 2 Max discusses the concepts of matriarchy and patriarchy in the context of the Ancient World. How did patriarchy arise and what about the matriarchy that predated it? How does our Western viewpoint affect how we view matriarchy in the Ancient World.
Suppressed Histories of Women: Part 3 Max talks about current state of, and prospects for, matriarchy in the modern world. Is there a chance for a matriarchal movement today? Are some of the egalitarian concepts of matriarchy already in use by today's progressive movements?
Women Who Fly: Goddesses, Witches, Mystics, and Other Airborne Females by Serinity Young
I honestly did not know a lot about this book other than at some point it was recommended to me and connected to my deep curiosity around folklore and mythology from the lens of witch. It felt more like a reference manual and offered some very insightful weavings of flying women across time, space, and culture.
Hagitude: Reimaging the Second Half of Life by Sharon Blackie
A requirement for all of us becoming elder. We have chosen to embody on earth in this paradigm shifting time because we are what I like to call Bridge Generations. When we truly know ourselves, our stories, and how we best balance the mind, body and spirit, we begin to transform into the elders that our vastly changing society needs and deserves at this moment. We are the bridge generations who will hold space for and support our living and future descendants at the end of an era we neither ushered forth nor will be able to rectify. We can set in motion healing practices in the name of ancient futuring that can honor our bridge energy. Root to Rise has always been about the learning journey to elderhood and the ongoing 3 year book study’s completion with Hagitude feels absolutely correct.