The Body Sacred [Paperback]

Dianne Sylvan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 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.)
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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; 1St Edition edition (October 8, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0738707619
• ISBN-13: 978-0738707617
• Product Dimensions: 0.8 x 6.3 x 9.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #546,745 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.

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

Format: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.

6 of 6 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

Format: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!!

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Our Inner Goddess October 18, 2005

By Sarah K. Colton

Format: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.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Can I give it more than 5?? September 28, 2005

By Callista Elwynn

Format:Paperback

This book is amazing. It will make you laugh, cry, and most of all think, To be given the tools to look within and see your Inner Goddess is truly the gift of the world.

This book has changed my life! Thank the Goddess for Dianne Sylvan for putting her self out there and allowing us to see the real her and the real Goddess that is in all of us. The rituals are moving,the meditations are beautiful.

I will recommend this book to every woman that I come across, it is truly time for the revolution.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars I was crying with emotion and laughter over this book... September 3, 2008

By G. Paterson

Format:Paperback

A friend of mine gave me this book, because she DID NOT like it. After finishing it just yesterday, I told my friend she was insane lol. I love loved LOVED this book. I can't even begin to count all the books I have read in my 13 years on the path of a Witch. I can tell you that none of them touched me like this book did. Never did I feel like "Wow, this person wrote this book for ME!"

I can't tell you how many times this book had me in tears, mostly from laughter, ( there were many times my husband asked me had I finally lost my mind and did I need him to call the men with the white coats and butterfly nets LOL! ) but also from emotion, from feeling like someone finally understood the trials I faced as someone who weighs a lot more than 100 pounds soaking wet. I am a big girl, and this book addressed so many of my fears and mental issues I have surrounding my outward appearance.

The way she approaches her relationship with Deity was amazing. I myself have had "connection issues" with my Deity's. She gave me a new way of looking at it, and something to aspire to, and how to get to that point, instead of just touching on the subject briefly and then moving on to a 4 page ritual that makes your eyeballs fall out of your head like a lot of Pagan Author's do.

I have been going crazy trying to find all I can out about Ms. Sylvan, hunting pictures ( she is beautiful ) and trying to find The Circle Within locally, and just trying to find out more about her. She comes across as one of those people you would adore to be friends with in real life. One of the no nonsense people we all need in our lives.

Do yourself a favor...read this book! I bet you will never look at yourself the same way after you read it.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Spells, rituals, myths and meditations for women who want to build better self-images through Wiccan practices January 6, 2006

By Midwest Book Review

Format:Paperback

Each chapter of Dianne Sylvan's The Body Sacred is a treat: it packs in spells, rituals, myths and meditations for women who want to build better self-images through Wiccan practices, and it provides a survey of six divine female archetypes and themes, linking these to a spiritual survey of the female body's importance. Dianne Sylvan has been a practicing Wiccan for decades: The Body Sacred offers suggestions for exploring different facets, from The Mother to The Healer and The Dancer, with each themed chapter offering an overview, exercises, and admonitions for positive thinking.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Spells, rituals, myths and meditations for women who want to build better self-images through Wiccan practices January 6, 2006

By Midwest Book Review

Format:Paperback

Each chapter of Dianne Sylvan's The Body Sacred is a treat: it packs in spells, rituals, myths and meditations for women who want to build better self-images through Wiccan practices, and it provides a survey of six divine female archetypes and themes, linking these to a spiritual survey of the female body's importance. Dianne Sylvan has been a practicing Wiccan for decades: The Body Sacred offers suggestions for exploring different facets, from The Mother to The Healer and The Dancer, with each themed chapter offering an overview, exercises, and admonitions for positive thinking.