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The Body Sacred [Paperback]

Dianne Sylvan (Author)
5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)


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Book Description

October 8, 2005

When you look in the mirror, do you see a Goddess? For anyone who's experienced a "fat day" or wished a doctor could make them younger, Wiccan Dianne Sylvan speaks candidly about overcoming body hatred and offers a spiritual path back to Divine femininity.

Sharing her own struggles with poor body image and self-acceptance, Sylvan explores how the impossible standard of female beauty has developed and endured. Emphasizing the Mother, the Healer, the Lover, and other archetypes of one's relationship with the sacred body, the author provides a uniquely Wiccan approach to achieving a healthy, new self-perception as Goddess.

Praise:
"This topical guide to reclaiming a positive self-image, which builds on foundations presented in Sylvan's earlier work and is written in a very personal and approachable style, is not imbued with self-help jargon and platitudes but with the author's hard-won self-respect and perspective."—LIBRARY JOURNAL

"Marrying cultural critique with user-friendly how-to, [Sylvan] urges readers to reject society's insistence that they spend countless hours and billions of dollars trying to look thin and youthful. Rather, says Sylvan, women should embrace their bodies for what they are—incarnations of the Goddess. Above all, this book is practical... What distinguishes this book more than anything is Sylvan's sense of humor—she's tackling a serious topic, but she'll have readers laughing from page one."—PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

 



Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Americans are not just engaged in wars on terror and drugs, says Wiccan priestess Sylvan. We are also waging a war against our bodies, trying to prevent our breasts from sagging, our faces from wrinkling and our buns from expanding. Sylvan, a self-proclaimed fattie, has had enough. Marrying cultural critique with user-friendly how-to, she urges readers to reject society's insistence that they spend countless hours and billions of dollars trying to look thin and youthful. Rather, says Sylvan, women should embrace their bodies for what they are—incarnations of the Goddess. Above all, this book is practical. Sylvan suggests exercises and rituals designed to help readers live more comfortably in their own skins: envision five women who hate their bodies, and then note that these women probably look perfectly fine; meditate on Artemis, the divine huntress, an "intensely physical goddess"; tape a copy of Maya Angelou's poem "Phenomenal Woman" to the mirror; dance or take up tai chi. What distinguishes this book more than anything is Sylvan's sense of humor—she's tackling a serious topic, but she'll have readers laughing from page one. Pull-out quotes in the margins offer inspiring wisdom from women ranging from Eleanor Roosevelt to Alanis Morissette. (Oct.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author

Dianne Sylvan (Austin, TX) has been a practicing Wiccan since the age of sixteen. She is co-founder and President of Blessedways, a Wiccan educational and spiritual organization based out of Central Texas.  Through Blessedways she teaches classes on Wicca, the Runes, spiritual magic, and ecstatic dance.  

In addition to her books, Dianne's work has appeared in Circle Magazine, NewWitch magazine, and the Llewellyn Wicca Almanac and Witches' Calendar; she has also been interviewed by the Wiccan Pagan Times.  More of her articles on living Wiccan spirituality can be found on her website, Dancing Down the Moon.


Product Details

  • Paperback: 312 pages
  • Publisher: Llewellyn Publications (October 8, 2005)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0738707619
  • ISBN-13: 978-0738707617
  • Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 0.7 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #417,600 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Dianne Sylvan (1977-) was born and raised in Texas, and currently lives in Austin. She is the author of The Circle Within: Creating a Wiccan Spiritual Tradition, and The Body Sacred. Her forthcoming novels, the Shadow World series, begin with Queen of Shadows which will be released in September 2010 by Berkley/Ace.

Sylvan has also written numerous articles and essays for various calendars and almanacs; she keeps a blog at http://diannesylvan.com, and also writes an ongoing web fiction series called The Agency.

She is in the midst of writing the second Shadow World novel, and hopes to get to work on a third nonfiction book in the months to come.

 

Customer Reviews

23 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
5.0 out of 5 stars (23 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars FINALLY!, November 9, 2005
By 
Patricia Gose "Patti" (Edmond, OK United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: The Body Sacred (Paperback)
My spirituality can have humor in it! Thank Goddess for that!

I love how approachable Dianne Sylvan makes her books and the material she so genuinely shares with her readers. She honestly conveys her ideas and experiences in a way that is easily identified with and reminds us all of the potential our paths hold once we make peace with the idea of perfection. She is a true daughter of The Great Weaver, herself expertly weaving a series of cords between our bodies and our minds that supports the kind of spiritual growth every advancing Pagan woman needs. Her ideas are simple in their truth and reality, but this is not a book that will leave you bored. On the contrary! I haven't felt so alive with potential or so certain of my direction in life as I have after picking up this book. It's so much more than just a new age book on feeling and living a spiritual life, though it does live up to that promise. She shows you, in real life terms, how to make your body your altar and she does it without coming across preachy or assuming.

It's truly like sitting down with your best friend.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Every woman should read this book!!, September 22, 2007
By 
Stacy A. Perry "Book Goddess" (TINLEY PARK, IL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: The Body Sacred (Paperback)
Even though I read hundreds of books a year, I have never taken the time to write a review before. Which just shows how strongly I feel about this book. I picked up this book at my local library and boy was I glad I did. This book has changed my life and the way I view myself, my body, and my emotions. Even though it is written by a Wiccan author, I can see any woman, Wiccan or not taking away something positive from this book and using it in their own lives. If you have ever had any body issues, please, please read this book. It does not matter what that issue is, if you think you are too fat, too skinny, too short, too tall... this book is for you!!
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8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Our Inner Goddess, October 18, 2005
By 
This review is from: The Body Sacred (Paperback)
This book is so important to women of all ages and shapes. Dianne Sylvan demonstrates how we are pelted by media with impossible body standards. She reminds us to love ourselves despite our imperfections because we are Goddesses in our own right. She explains that self-love has to come so that we may enjoy our bodies to their full potential and do the work of God and Goddess.
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Inside This Book (learn more)
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
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Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
The Healer, The Dancer, The Mother, The Crone, The Fall, The Reflection, The Lover, Tai Chi, Great Divide, Dia de los Muertos, Gabrielle Roth, Wheel of Life, Middle Ages, Great Mother, Most Wiccans
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Surprise Me!
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