Sisters of the Earth - Book Recommendation

"A book to treasure, to savour, to keep in one's permanent library - full of tales that are mesmerizing and heartening." Judith Freeman, author of The Chinchilla Farm

We all have them, those books that sit on our shelves, sometimes for years, until we are suddenly called to take them off the shelf, dust the off and read them.

Some we will have purchased, whilst others will have be given to us-this one comes from the latter category.

Given to me years ago, it was at the end of 2023, that I selected the book as one to dive into as some wholesome winter reading.

Sisters of the Earth is Edited and with a Preface by Lorraine Anderson.

Coming under the genre Nature/Women's Studies the book is made up of a collection of pieces written by women about their deeply felt connection with nature.

"These voices remind, rejoice, bewail, berate - with love, joy, compassion, energy, nerve and outrage - and we'd better pay attention." - Janet Kauffman, author of Places in the World a Woman Could Talk.

Here is what it says on the back cover:

"Nature as healer. Nature as delight. Nature as counterpart to what is wild in us all. Nature as mother and sister. Nature as victim. Sisters of the Earth is a stirring collection of women's writing on nature. Here, among ninety poets and prose writers, are Mable Dodge Luhan describing a trek to a sacred lake in the mountains of New Mexico; Annie Dillard celebrating a startling encounter with a weasel; Sue Hubbell on the allure of becoming feral; and Ursula K.Le Guin envisioning an alternative world in which human beings are not estranged from their planet.

Here, too, are poems, essays, stories, and journal entries by Emily Dickinson, Meridel Le Sueur, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Terry Tempest Williams, Joy Harjo, Edith Warner, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, May Swenson, Willa Cather, Denise Levertov, Alice Walker, Rachel Carson, Marge Piercy, Adrienne Rich, and others - each offering a vivid, eloquent response to the natural world."

We often read information about a book on the back or inside cover that doesn't give a good description of the book- however, this one does. The description sums the book up perfectly.

So much of what is presented to us today to read is selected by publishing houses that choose a subject that we are led to believe is the fodder for our mass consumption, often slanted in a way that offers little opportunity for personal evaluation., how we view things and feel about them.

We get many books on the theme and subject of the moment – most often from a chosen selection of authors that are kept in the forefront of the marketing wheel that fills the book shelves leaving lesser known authors with little to no room for exposure.

This book is all about highlighting the works of female writers and their offerings relating to their own personal connection with nature and the earth.

Many you will not have heard of whilst others you may have stumbled upon quite by change – each and all have a great deal to say and share and offer.

They are voices of women that Lorraine Anderson felt were missing in a world where many men’s voices were being given centre stage, the lions share of the shelf space, column inch and plenty of free reign – all whilst the women’s voices felt somehow silenced - tethered.

Those voices have been given their freedom here so that we can hear a snippet and seek them out if we want to learn more of what they have to say.

I read pieces that spoke of the healing qualities of nature, the music of the wild, seasonal variations and how these teach us about life and death.

Having lived all my life running in fields, walking through woods, venturing over Wolds and climbing hill and dale, it was fascinating to read accounts of time spent in the dessert.

"Music of the Wild, "Pity of pities it is; but man can change and is changing the forces of nature. I never told a sadder truth, but it is truth that man can 'cut down the clouds.' In utter disregard or ignorance of what he will do to himself, his children, and his country he persists in doing it wherever he can see a few cents in the sacrifice." ~ Gene Stratton-Porter

Having read the book I cannot help note the core essence that flows within these pages, that essence being love, the true connection with life that calls to the most basic of human traits, our need 'as women' to nurture life.

We are not wild destroyers - we are wild protectors.

However, I feel our wildness has been somewhat tamed and it needs a rush of blood through the veins to kick stat a re-wilding process.

I feel our role as Sisters of The Earth is to rise as the guardians to this earth - that we were put here to embrace, enjoy... nourish, nurture and protect.

The lines of this book will poke and prod a primal chord - the voices will be loud and clear, and the vision come as if real, spotlighting a world in which human beings are not estranged from the earth.

Can you call upon that vision?

Read this book and I assure you that you will!

As Sisters of The Earth - we must take up our roles as pro-actively as we can in order to align and attune with the earth as we once did.

"If we seal this world of ours under concrete, we will have sealed ourselves in an early tomb." ~ Josephine Johnson

All life upon the earth needs us to remember...the heart of the earth and our own need 'once more to beat 'as ONE.'

Article – © Susanne Austin, 13th February 2024 (Note: all text written by Susanne personally unless lines or sections are stated as quoted text).

Susanne Rachel Austin writes on Personal and Environmental Wellbeing… 'Healthy People – ‘Healthy Environment’ - covering natural health and wellbeing, eco-build, sustainable, green and 'one planet' living as a business and daily lifestyle choice for all. Susanne is also the author of a daily ‘True Life Wisdom Of The Day’ shared upon several social media channels and is currently in the process of writing a book and putting together a series of workshops. Speaking engagements are also woven into these plans. Susanne’s new website is germinating 'Quite Naturally' in-line with this creative process and will be launched as and when complete.