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Mohrbooks Literary Agency
Sebastian Ritscher
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English
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THE WAY OF THE ROSE

Perdita Finn Clark Strand

The Radical Path of the Divine Feminine Hidden in the Rosary

This beautiful book may seem, at first look, a book strictly about the Catholic religion, but this is a book based more on spiritualism and a helpful guide in to meditation that explores the rosary as a profound meditation tool for people of all faiths to connect us to the Divine Feminine. Written by a former Zen Buddhist monk and a lapsed Catholic this book is for people of all faiths, for readers of spirituality books, seekers, spiritual-but-not-religious readers, gift book buyers, and meditators.
The rosary is a string of fifty-nine beads that when prayed on serve to honor Mary in the Catholic Church. But Clark Strand, a serious student of religion and a former editor at Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, didn't even consider himself a Christian. He'd been a Zen monk for twenty years and had been writing about Buddhism all his life. But one day, Strand chanced upon a rosary at a flea market that seemed to speak to him. He discovered that it was more powerful as a meditation tool than any practice he'd experienced throughout his years as a Buddhist monk. He and his wife Perdita Finn, a lapsed Catholic herself, began a Rosary fellowship that deepened his understanding of the practice, particularly in its powerful connection to the Divine Feminine.

Most people who pray the rosary are Catholic. And yet, as Strand and Finn tell us, the rosary--which comes from the word "rose"--predates Christianity. In fact, the ritual of praying over beads is found almost every religion and culture, from Greek worry beads to Muslim and Buddhist prayer beads. The Way of the Rose traces the hidden history of the rosary and explains how praying over the beads can be used as a contemporary spiritual practice to connect us to its original use as an ancient, pan-cultural meditative tool that unites the practitioner with the Divine Feminine.

Clark Strand has been studying the world's spiritual traditions for over 20 years. In addition to WAKING UP TO THE DARK, he is the author of WAKING THE BUDDHA (Middleway Press); THE WOODEN BOWL: Simple Meditation for Everyday Life (Hyperion); HOW TO BELIEVE IN GOD: Whether You Believe in Religion or No (Harmony), and SEEDS FROM A BIRCH TREE (Hyperion). He has been a regular writer and columnist for the Washington Post/Newsweek "On Faith" blog and is also the founder of "Way of the Rose," a growing non-sectarian rosary fellowship open to people of any spiritual background with members around the world. He lives in Woodstock, New York.
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Book

Published 2019-11-05 by Spiegel & Grau

Book

Published 2019-11-05 by Spiegel & Grau

Comments

In times of turmoil we need a tangible, close-at-hand practice to help us release worry and learn how to take new action from faith. The Way of the Rose gives us an ancient, sustainable answer for how to root into peace and wisdom beyond dogma and traditions. Through reconnecting with the Divine Feminine we realign with ourselves, the earth, and the guidance of our ancestors. I can't recommend this book, and the Way of the Rose community, enough.

The Way of the Rose is a masterwork that will leave you in tears. Tears of acceptance, tears of relief, tears of hope beyond hope. It comes to the world, as the Lady herself always comes, in our hour of need.

Ultimately, The Way of the Rose is a love song to the world, and to the mysteries of the world. Moving and profound, powerful and elegant, it is a call for us to remember our place in the larger community of humans past, present, and future, and our place in the larger community of life on this planet.

In this extraordinary testament to the power of the rosary, Perdita Finn and Clark Strand offer a radical revisioning of this ancient practice as a path of personal awakening. It is both a first-hand account of mystic initiation and a revelation of the Divine Feminine in an age of patriarchal madness erudite, irreverent, and wise. For readers weary of institutional dogma, hungry for a woke spirituality capable of uniting a divided world, The Way of the Rose is manna from heaven.

This book could not be done at a more auspicious time. And the message is mystical perfection, not to mention a courageous one. These authors were drafted by the Madonna - I deeply believe that. Not only do they have my endorsement, they have my support in promoting the message.

My favorite part of this robust and exquisitely written book is the storytelling. I love the way the authors work together to weave a luminous tapestry of travel memoir, tender awakening, and championship of Our Mother the Earth. While the particular spiritual insights are consciousness-raising and heart-opening, it does not matter what the reader's religious orientation (or lack thereof) may be: this is a universal story of love, a huge-hearted invitation to step up and into the field of the sacred feminine, a gratifying guide to a life of joy and service.

Clark Strand and Perdita Finn have answered a collective need to help us discover the empowering and miraculous non-denominational spiritual practice of prayer. The Way of The Rose is brilliantly written and filled with a wealth of stories meant to inspire us. I feel blessed by reading this beautiful and sacred book.