Women's Ministries

Spirituality

	Seeing for Ourselves: Biblical Women Who Met Jesus ,Book These are the resurrection stories of twelve New Testament women, nine of whom met the human Jesus and three of whom met him through Paul. A third volume to this series will be published in January, ' 04.
	Deep Play The book is “an original, sage, poetic and generous meditation on the importance of enchantment.” The author is a great writer of prose and known also for her book. A Natural History of the Senses.
	Praying with Dorothy Day The founder of the Catholic Worker movement is introduced through a series of fourteen meditations, which include her life, her words, scripture, and suggestions for prayer and reflection. This series provides good material for daily prayer.
	The Feminine Face of God: The Unfolding of the Sacred in Women The material for this book is from interviews with more than one hundred women who are considered sources of spiritual inspiration. They are from a wide variety of backgrounds and share stories of the female soul in transition in the late 20th c.
	Visions of God: Four Medieval Mystics and their Writings
	Walking a Sacred Path: Rediscovering the Labyrinth as a Spiritual Tool The author is the person who can be credited with bringing the labyrinth and its spirituality into popularity in this country. She describes the spirituality of the labyrinth and how to walk it for maximum benefit.
	Divine Inspiration: The Life of Jesus in World Poetry This is a wonderful collection of poems about Jesus from various times in history and various cultures.
	Receiving the Day: Christian Practices for Opening the Gift of Time
	Under Her Wings: Spiritual Guidance from Women Saints
	Teresa of Avila: Ecstasy and Common Sense These are short selections from Teresa's collected works. They create a portrait of her and her exuberant spirituality. The author has made Teresa accessible to those who do not choose to wade through her sometimes lenghty books.
	A Way of a Pilgrim: Complete Text and Reader's Guide This 19th c. Russian spiritual classic is the story of one man's search for enlightenment and how to pray without ceasing. The author is unknown. The translation and commentary in this edition provide a brief course in theology and prayer.
	Teresa of Avila: Her Story: A Compelling Biography of One of the Most Remarkable Women of All Time An experienced storyteller, the author begins Teresa to life as a woman of humor, humility and hope. The author has also written biographies of Desmund Tutu and Dame Cicely Saunders.
	The Ways of the Mystic: Seven Paths of God A brief and helpful book designed to help the reader find her own path to God. The author is noted feminist and psychologist. While she is Jewish, she embraces a much wider path.
	A Woman's Journey to God.
	Inner Peace for Busy People: Fifty-two Simple Strategies for Transforming Your Life This small book is full of short, practical suggestions for improving the quality of your life. They can be incorporated into Christian practice and prayer.
	Mystical Hope: Trusting in the Mercy of God The book is five interwoven meditations helping the reader to recognize hope and mercy in our lives and our connections to God's heart and the heart of all.
	Silent Voices, Sacred Lives: Women's Readings for the Liturgical Year This book provides a year's worth of daily readings from the scriptures and the lives of women saints. It is about women, in the words of women and for women. It is a great resource for groups or individuals daily prayer.
	Hildegard of Bingen: Mystical Writings This is a helpful book in understanding the writings and significance of the life and work of Hildegard, 12th c. Benedictine, Rhineland mystic who was a musician, artist, poet, theologian, doctor and abbess.
	Beguine Spirituality: Mystical Writings of Mechtild of Magdeburg, Beatrice of Nazareth and Hadewijch of Brabant
	Wisdom and Wonderment: Thirty-one Feasts to Nourish Your Soul Alla is a Gestalt trained psychotherapist as well as one of the Philadelphia Eleven. This little book is full of thoughtful spiritual gems - a feast for everyday of the month.
	Sacred Circles: A Guide to Creating Your Own Women's Spirituality Group
	Goddess of the Americas: Writings on the Virgin of Guadalupe This book has a good introduction to the Virgin of Guadalupe and contributions from a variety of authors. Clarissa Pinkola Estes has a very powerful chapter.
	Praying with Catherine of Sienna: Companions for the Journey Series There are fifteen meditations on the life and writings of this 14th c. saint. As with all of the books in this series, there are questions for reflection and scripture for each meditation.
	The Dialogue: Classics of Western Spirituality Series The editor / translator presents an introduction to The Dialogue. The text itself can be difficult but rewarding reading.
	God is No Laughing Matter: An Artist's Observations and Objections on the Spiritual Path As an artist the author sees with an eye that is a bit different. This is her response to what she sees as artifical and manipulative spirituality. She is also the author of The Artists Way.
	Wisdom Distilled from the Daily: Living the Rule of St. Benedict Today
	The Rule of Benedict: Insights for the Ages
	Heart of Flesh: A Feminist Spirituality for Women and Men
	Seeing With Our Souls: Monastic Wisdom for Everyday
	Start Where You Are: A Guide to Compassionate Living We start our journey toward compassion toward others by becoming compassionate toward ourselves. This means we must embrace the pain in our lives. The author frames her teaching on fifty-nine traditional Tibetan Buddhist maxims.
	The Mother's Songs: Images of God the Mother The paintings and text in the book are by a gifted artist who uses images from her own deep inner resources. It is a beautiful book demonstrating the importance of the imagination in imaging the divine feminine.
	Dorothy Day: Selected Writings This is a large volume of the author's previously published works from over a fifty year period. It is organized by theme and contains writing from her journals, newspaper articles, and books. It is challenging and nourishing.
	The Hunger of the Heart: A Call to Spiritual Growth
	The Feminine Mystic: Readings from Early Spiritual Writers The editor selects from the writings of thirteen women mystics and arranges them under themes such as prayer, justice, and vocation. A brief biography is given for each of the women. This would make a good daily book.
	My Only Friend is Darkness: Living the Nigh of Faith Drawing on St. John of the Cross (Dark Night of the Soul), the author examines those difficult and dark times in our lies, using scripture and depth psychology. She features her own poetry as part of each chapter.
	Meditations with Julian of Norwich: A Centering Book The author provides a brief biography and introduction to this 14th century saint who is one of the earliest and most significant women writers of the church. He has translated her words into small sections for indepth reflection.
	Teaching A Stone To Talk: Expeditions and Encounters (Essays)
	Circle of Stones: Woman's Journey to Herself This is a book that invites women to dream of how different their lives might have been if we had been raised in a culture that truly valued the feminine. It provides a path for an important journey within to healing and inner wholeness.
	Praying with the Celtic Saints: Companions for the Journey Series
	Encountering God: A Spiritual Journey from Bozeman to Banaras
	Guide My Feet: Prayers and Meditations for Our Children
	Creating Mandalas: For Insight, Healing and Self Expression
	Women at the Wall: Feminist Perspectives on Spiritual Direction
	At the Root of This Longing: Reconciling a Spiritual Hunger and a Feminist Thirst
	Enduring Grace: Living Portraits of Seven Women Mystics
	Illuminations of Hildegard of Bingen: Art by Hildegard There are twenty-five of Hildegard’s unique illuminations commented upon by Fox. They are filled with incredible images and symbolism. If you’re going to have only one introduction to Hildegard, this is a good one.
	Called Into Her Presence: Praying with Feminine Images of God The author helps the reader break through traditional male images of God to explore possible feminine ones and to experiment with using them in prayer. She gives six important reasons for balancing masculine and feminine images.
	Therese of Lisieux The author “strips away layers of sentimentality to reveal a surprising new Therese: a resilient figure who charted a spiritual path that was daring, original and profound.” The author has also written biographies of Thomas Merton and Alan Watts.
	Heart: A Personal Journey Through Its Myth and Meanings
	Scared Dimensions of Women's Experience Women write about the sacred in various areas of their lives—creativity, giving birth, caregiving, creating sacred space, doing housework, feeding as sacred ritual, and the sacredness of our bodies. This is still a thoughtful and insightful book.
	Evelyn Underhill: Modern Guide to the Ancient Quest for the Holy There is a helpful introduction to Underhill’s life and work and fifteen of her shorter writings. This is a good introduction to her work. A lengthy bibliography of her writings is also included.
	Holy Listening: The Art of Spiritual Direction
	Toward Holy Ground: Spiritual Direction for the Second Half of Life
	Inclusive Language in the Church This is a handbook for understanding why change in language is necessary and how it can be done in scripture and worship. Discussion questions are provided.
	Dance of the Spirit: The Seven Steps of Women's Spirituality
	The Book of Women's Sermons: Hearing God in Each Other's Voices Sermons in this volume include selections by The Rev. Canon D. Lauren Artress of Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, Jean Shinoda Bolen, Kathleen Norris, Alice Walker and many others. These sermons are affirming and empowering for women.
	Motherhood and God This is the author’s story “about finding God in motherhood and finding motherhood in God.” It is personal and thoughtful, a good read for anyone who is in the throes of mothering.
	Women in Praise of the Sacred: 43 Centuries of Spiritual Poetry by Women This is poetry from Eastern as well as Western women, from ancient Sumeria to Emily Dickinson. There are women you’d expect to find here and some you’ve never heard of but are glad to finally meet.
	The Spiritual Activist: Practices to Transform Your Life, Your Work, and Your World This is a guide to individual and social transformation. Each chapter contains activities, reflection questions, resources and stories. Categories include Turning Inward, Reaching Out, Building Connections and Work with Groups. While not specifically Chri
	A Lesson of Love: The Revelations of Julian of Norwich There is a summation of Julian’s theology and then a very readable translation of her book.
	Julian of Norwich: Mystic and Theologian This book accommodates both a scholarly interest in Julian and a personal interest in mysticism and women. The author shows how Julian foreshadows psychotherapy and feminist theology with her image of Christ as mother.
	Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life This book is a wonderful introduction to the spiritual and physical benefits of meditation as well as how to go about getting started. The author is not a Christian but has plenty to say to those of us who are.
	Open Mind, Open Heart: The Contemplative Dimension of the Gospel The author teaches the method and value of what he calls “centering prayer.” He gives a history of contemplative prayer in the Christian tradition and helps the reader understand its value in developing a deeper relationship with God.
	The Dance of the Dissident Daughter: A Woman's Journey from Christian Tradition to the Sacred Feminine The author shares her movement from conventional Christianity to a wider more open spirituality. She went through stages of fear, anger, healing and transformation. She still maintains a relationship with Christianity.
	Hildegard of Bingen: An Integrated Vision This is a thorough and readable account of the life and accomplishments of Hildegard, including her music. Hildegard was nun, religious superior, author, mystic, theologian and musician.
	After the Ecstasy, the Laundry: How the Heart Grows Wise on the Spiritual Path Although the author is a Buddhist, his perspective and examples are from a wide range of religious perspectives, including Christian. He is a wise and humble teacher, who knows and shares himself.
	A Path with Heart: A Guide through the Perils and Promises of Spiritual Life The author writes from a Buddhist perspective that incorporates Christian spirituality as well. His understanding of the spiritual journey, the literature of the East and the West, and the importance of the heart makes this a rich book to read.
	The Crosswicks Journals: A Circle of Quiet These stories based on the author’s journals weave the author’s life with the Biblical story and the human story. They stimulate both the head and the heart as we learn more of the noble experience of being a person, with a life, living in our own story.
	Gift from the Sea This beautiful little book is a classic for women’s spiritual development through the life cycle. It is still relevant reading and helpful in providing a perspective as she outlines her concerns about the changes in women’s lives beginning in the 1950’s.
	Sophia: Goddess of Wisdom, Bride of God This is the story of the feminine face of God through the ages. It is a challenging read that brings us to the present and our issues in the search for the sacred feminine.
	Mechtild of Magdeburg: The Flowing Light of the Godhead This is an introduction to the life and theology of the 13th c. Beguine saint. Most of the book is in her own words. Incidentally, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, is on the editorial board for this series.
	Meditations with Mechtild of Magdeburg: A Centering Book
	Exploring the Feminine Face of God The author presents images for God as motherly love, divine wisdom, assertive, dynamic and creative love, and images in scripture, the mystics and in contemporary women. Prayer reflections are provided for each image.
	Those Preaching Women: More Sermons by Black Women Preachers This is a collection of lively, intelligent, compelling sermons. It is a second book for Those Preachin’ Women.
	All Desires Known: Inclusive Prayers for Worship and Meditation The author, a Christian educator, has written alternative collects for Sunday as well as other inclusive language prayers for use in Episcopal liturgies or informal gatherings. This is a much-expanded version of her 1998 book.
	Sabbath: Finding Rest, Renewal and Delight in Our Busy Lives This book draws on our Jewish roots and our human needs and challenges us all to make time for Sabbath. There are practice items at the end of each chapter which make for great group discussion. The book appeals to women of all ages.
	Womenspirit: Reclaiming the Deep Feminine in our Human Spirituality The author “calls upon women to reclaim the wealth of their heritage, the fullness of their talents and gifts so that the spirit of women, filled with the grace and light of the Holy Spirit, may offer faith, hope and love to a world always on the way to b
	Peace Weavers: Medieval Religious Women, Volume 2 This is an anthology of writings about medieval women nuns and saints in general and in particular. Included are Hildegard, Clare, Julian, Teresa, Mechtild and Gertrude.
	Catherine of Siena: Vision through a Distant Eye Catherine of Siena was the first woman to be published in the emerging Italian dialects. She lived at a time of crisis and transition for church and state. The book examines her vision in theology and spirituality as well as giving the story of her life.
	Dakota: A Spiritual Geography This is a book of stories about life set in the context of the Great Plains. The author returns to her grandmother's home to make a new life among a different kind of people and place. It's spiritual and moving, something to help you reflect on your life.
	The Cloister Walk Organized by the calendar year, the author reflects on the lives of the saints, her life, and contemporary culture. These reflections were written while the author resided in St. John’s Abbey, Collegeville, MN where she worshipped daily with the brothers.
	Amazing Grace: A Vocabulary of Faith More holy writing and reading that “works the earth of the heart.” She tackles themes from eschatology to salvation, repentance to annunciation, hell to judgment, with insight and thoughtfulness. Some of her short sections are brilliant in their lucidity.
	Life of the Beloved: Spiritual Living in a Secular World This book goes to the heart of our need to understand not just Jesus, but ourselves, as God’s Beloved. This can be a challenge for anyone, perhaps especially for women. It is also a good book to give to a young person struggling with their faith.
	Medieval Women Mystics The author provides an introduction to each of the women saints featured in the book and then lets them speak in their own words. The women are Gertrude the Great, Angela of Foligno, Birgitta of Sweden, and Julian of Norwixh.
	Search for Silence The author has written many books on spiritual life and its connection with social action and compassion. She was on the staff of the Church of the Savior in Washington, D.C. from 1953 until her death a few years ago. Any book by her is thought-provoking,
	Cry Pain, Cry Hope: Threshold to Purpose This is a beautifully written book about vocation or call, written over a five year period while the author was on the staff of the Church of the Savior. “We must open ourselves to our pain if we are to discover our true vocations in life."
	Honoring the Body: Meditations on a Christian Practice This is a book of theological reflections and suggestions for practices for honoring the body for those in a tradition (Christian) that has been ambivalent about the body throughout its history. It is a life and body affirming book for women.
	Women Christian Mystics Speak to Our Times Eleven women are the contributors to this book of reflection about women mystics and what they may have to say to women today. Among the saints considered are Julian of Norwich, Teresa of Avila, Hildegard of Bingen and Therese of Lisieux.
	Clare of Assisi: A Biographical Study This is a scholarly work on the life and spirituality of St. Clare. The author provides a history of women and places Clare firmly in her context. Her spirituality as well as her life story is explored. Good bibliography on women and church in Middle Ages
	A God Who Looks Like Me: Discovering a Woman Affirming Spirituality This book provides a path for undoing some of the damage done to women who have grown up in patriarchy. The author provides much to reflect upon and to guide women to a woman-affirming spirituality. There are suggestions for group as well as individuals.
	Kitchen Table Wisdom: Stories that Heal The short readings in this book are each a timeless, insightful gem into life and death. They are all from the author’s own experience as a physician and her own experience with chronic illness.
	My Grandfather's Blessings: Stories of Strength, Refuge and Belonging If possible, this second volume is even more wonderful than the first book. These books make good daily reading books to include as part of your prayer time. Each story is short and provides food for thought and prayer and speaks foremost to the heart.
	Swallows Nest: A Feminine Reading of the Psalms This is a wonderful resource of prayers, psalms and readings from the feminine Christian tradition. All the psalms are translated as prayer of women in various life situations and are part of a four week cycle of morning, mid-day and evening prayer. She a
	The Breath of God: An Approach to Prayer The author is an Episcopal priest and a dancer who brings together her knowledge of the body and movement with theology. This is about body-centered prayer and can be used well by an individual or a group.
	Praying Our Goodbyes The author provides a theological framework for endings and losses and then some ways to ritualize these with the intention of providing healing and the strength to move on. All kinds of occasions are featured, such as death, but also innovative ones.
	May I Have This Dance? The author takes us on a journey of spiritual growth rooted in the seasons. Each section begins with a poem and ends with suggestions for prayers for the month. It is scripturally based and full of the author's life. It makes for good group discussion.
	The Cup of Our Life This is a good book for someone trying to start the discipline of daily prayer. There is a guide for groups to use over the course of six weekly sessions as well as suggestions for daily practice.
	The Star in My Heart: Experiencing Sophia, Inner Wisdom This is a small meditative book that seeks to make Sophia real to contemporary women. The author concludes each section with exercises for reflection. Her poetry is complemented by mandalas created by Judith Veeder.
	Out of the Ordinary: Prayers, Poems and Reflections for Every Season The author presents one hundred and twenty-five of her own thoughtful compositions for all kinds of occasions.
	Dear Heart, Come Home: The Path of Midlife Spirituality The author is a Roman Catholic theologian who shares her own mid-life journey and her insights for spiritual growth. This book is a stimulating one to use with a group of women approaching or at mid-life. She provides reflection at the end of each chapter
	Cosmic Dance: An Invitation to Experience our Oneness The author writes poetry and prose that touches the heart and stimulates the imagination about the whole world as a cosmic dance. With the beautiful artwork, it is truly a book to treasure and pray with.
	Praying Dangerously: Radical Reliance on God This book is highly recommended for people who want to increase the depth of their prayer. It is “wise, fierce, challenging. The author is a mystic of the deepest and most loving kind."
	Serving File: Food for Thought, Body, and Soul This delightful book makes connections between our spiritual life, viewing cooking as a spiritual practice. It is insightful and full of interesting ideas, like one chapter title “the mouth of a monk is like an oven. There is much to chew upon here."
	Wisdom of the Celtic Saints This is a good introduction to the Celtic saints. The author tells the biographies and stories about the saints in a way that shows how their lives were thought to illuminate Jesus’ life.
	Becoming a Practical Mystic: Creating a Purpose for Our Spiritual Future This is a how-to book in the sense that the author teaches how active prayer, guided imagery and other exercises can open our inner mystical side to provide guidance and a path for our lives.
	The Silent Cry: Mysticism and Resistance This book is the author’s finest work as a feminist theologian in solidarity with the earth and its poor. She sees mystics of our tradition as ones who can help us "[counter] the destructive aspects of ego, group bias, materialism and violence.”
	When God is Silent This is a book focusing on the task of the preacher in a world where God seems silent and yet people thirst for a word from God. These are the Lyman Beecher lectures in preaching given in 1997.
	The Mystic Heart: Discovering a Universal Spirituality in the World's Religions The author is a monk and mystic who explores what unites all religions, how the mystical way has a practical gift for our world. This is a hopeful book for those concerned about how religion is often divisive.
	The Miracle of Mindfulness This is a classic work on meditation for the western mind. The author is a poet, zen master and peacemaker exiled from his home in Vietnam. Anyone wishing to learn more about finding peace in the moment will learn a great deal from this book.
	The Way of Ecstasy: Praying with Teresa of Avila Readings from Teresa’s Interior Castle provide a way for the author top teach about prayer. There are exercises and study questions that can be used by individuals or groups. The author is a Benedictine oblate.
	The Way of Perfection: Teresa of Avila This classic on prayer is Teresa’s most easily read and understood work. She teaches her readers to start with active love, detachment and humility. She has practical suggestions for prayer. This book is still timely after five centuries.
	Interior Castle: Teresa of Avila This is a spiritual classic by one of the world’s most endearing and enduring mystics. This is the “most sublime and mature” of her books in which she urges her readers to pursue the spiritual life to the center of the castle, which is union with God.
	Praying with Teresa of Avila
	The Divine Hours: A Manual for Prayer This is a three-volume series of prayers for all the days and seasons of the Church Year. It is the first major literary and liturgical reworking of the sixth-century Benedictine Rule of fixed-hour prayer.
	A Simple Path: Mother Teresa This book presents a challenge to understand and live our baptismal vows and to grow in our relationship with God. Its openhearted, hopeful perspective from one of our 20th century saints will enrich the reader on her journey.
	The Autobiography of Saint Therese of Lisieux: The Story of a Soul This 19th c. saint wrote her book before her death at the age of 24. Of the book she said, “What I have written will do a lot of good. It will make the kindness of God better known.” This is a classic and remains a best seller.
	Bodied Mindfulness: Women's Spirits, Bodies, and Places This is a scholarly look at the self as spiritual, spirituality and the body, sexuality and language, the ethics of connectedness and resistance, and other topics.
	Picturing God The author is a Jungian professor at Union Theological Seminary. She writes about our mental images of God, especially those from childhood, and how even though they may be unconscious, they are active in our spiritual lives, sometimes in harmful ways.
	Hildegard of Bingen: Mystic, Healer, Companion of the Angels This is a spiritual introduction to Hildegard , her work, and her world. Her actual words are often used as a way to provide insight into her. The book reads like a biography, from inside her life. wish to go deeper in their knowledge of God.
	Mystics of the Church The author, considered by many to be the premier authority on mysticism, examines its history from the great mystics at the beginning of the church to the present and illustrates the differences in their approach.
	Mysticism: A study in the nature and development of man's (sic) spiritual consciousness This book is recognized as “the classic study of the history and manifestation of mysticism.” It is thorough and not easy reading. It is divided into two sections: the historical and explanatory and the psychological.
	The Ways of the Spirit These are meditations previously unpublished and thought to be lost. The author writes on the themes of the call of God, sanctity, inner grace and the end for which we were made. The warmth and joy of Underhill shine through.
	Daily Readings with a Modern Mystic: Selections from the Writings of Evelyn Underhill This is a good introduction to the work of Evelyn Underhill. There is a page a day reading under thematic headings.There is a brief sketch of a portion of her life before each chapter that is relevant to her writings in that chapter.
	All Shall Be Well: Daily Readings from Julian of Norwich The author has excerpted Revelations of Divine Love, Julian’s most significant work, for daily meditation and reading.
	The Flowering of the Soul: A Book of Prayers by Women This book is a great resource. It has prayers from women of the East and women of the West, prayers by women you have read and prayers by women you have never heard of.
	Praying for Friends and Enemies The author explores the theology of intercessory prayer and provides reflection and discussion questions for individuals or groups. The book is an aid to anyone wanting a fuller understanding of why we pray and how to do it.
	Praying with Body and Soul: A Way to Intimacy with God This is a wonderful resource for all who would like to engage more of themselves than their minds in prayer. The author calls upon our sensuality and sexuality, our humor and laughter, to help us know God.
	No Moment Too Small: Rhythms of Silence, Prayer and Holy Reading The author is an Episcopalian. She focuses on three of the fundamental Benedictine practices—silence, exploration of writings including scripture, and the hours of prayer. She provides exercises at the end of each section.
	Friend of the Soul: A Benedictine Spirituality of Work This is a thoughtful application of Benedictine perspective to the venue of work—the stress of performance, over-production, and acquisitiveness. She provides insight and some new models for our work based on Benedict’s ideas about vocation.
	Desiring Life: Benedict on Wisdom and the Good Life This is the third book in the author’s series on Benedictine spirituality. It explores all types of relationships and how we can live with integrity in a world where the gap between personal self-interest and public ethics seems to be growing.
	Seeking God: The Way of Benedict This book is divided into ten chapters that deal with the Rule of Benedict in a way that makes the Rule applicable to all women and men and to parents. She provides thoughts and prayers at the end of each chapter, making it a good book to pray with.
	The Celtic Vision: Prayers and Blessings from the Outer Hebrides The author has made a selection of prayers from The Carmina Gadelica, the 19th c. collection of prayers from the Celtic Church. The book is divided into sections such as Night Prayers, Birth and Death, The Hearth, Saints and Angels.
	Every Earthly Blessing: Celebrating a Spirituality of Creation This is a good introduction to Celtic Christianity and its relevance for life in our time. Prayers and theology are explored as the author discusses topics like pilgrims and exiles, the universe, healing, sin and sorrow and the cross.
	A Life Giving Way: A Commentary on the Rule of Benedict This is a thoughtful aid to understanding Benedict’s Rule and its still timely application to life today. The way it is written makes it a good book to read a bit of each day.
	The Celtic Way of Prayer: The Recovery of Religious Imagination The author writes about the Celtic style of prayer which related all things of everyday life to God. She shares many of the ancient prayers in her commentary. This is a model for how we can lift our life in prayer.
	The Woman's Dictionary of Symbols and Sacred Objects This is a fascinating resource providing the background and significance of many sacred images and objects. There are 753 entries and 636 illustrations divided into 21 parts.
	The Desert Christian: The Sayings of the Desert Fathers (sic) This is a complete collection of the words of the wise ones who took to the desert in the 4th and 5th centuries. It includes many desert mothers, despite the title. There is much food for contemplation here.
	Seasons of Women: Song, Poetry, Ritual, Prayer, Myth, Story The contents are from a wide variety of historical and contemporary cultures and deal with the stages of a woman’s life cycle starting with the girl child and going to the experience of dying.
	Waiting for God The author was one of the most spiritually gifted women of the 20th century—a left-wing mystic. This is a good read for anyone who wonders what mysticism might look like in the modern world.
	Spiritual Pilgrims: Carl Jung and Teresa of Avila The author uses depth psychology and spiritual insight in comparing the work of C.G. Jung and Teresa of Avila. This is a thoughtful read for anyone interested in the way psychology and theology work together on the path to God.
	A Tree Full of Angels: Seeing the Holy in the Ordinary This is a delightful book from a Benedictine who combines Biblical theology and personal insight and experience. She is a natural mystic, making mysticism accessible to her readers. Every page is a feast.
	The Song of the Seed: A Monastic Way of Tending the Soul The author has written three sections of daily readings, each one for ten days. There are readings, activities and prayers. The sections are “Bending: the Dance,” “Mending: the Feast,” and “Tending: the Gift.”
	A Woman's Worth This is not a specifically Christian book but is of spiritual value to Christian women, nonetheless. The author is concerned with empowerment for women of all ages and with the healing of the world.
	Woman Prayer, Woman Song This is a great book of resources of rituals and songs for creation, liberation and transformation.
	What Language Shall I Borrow?: God-Talk in Worship: A Male Response to Reminist Theology The author is a minister in the UK, a hymn writer, theologian and worship consultant. This is a refreshing look at language in our worship and how to have good texts as well as good theology. It is a good book to share with your choir director or priest.
	Woman to Woman: An Anthology of Women's Spiritualities This is a collection of women’s spiritual writings from the 12th c. to the present. It’s a good who’s who of women saints.

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