Customer Reviews

Writing as a Sacred Path: A Practical Guide to Writing with Passion and Purpose

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What writer hasn't succumbed in frustration and fear to the anti-muse, writer's block? For that matter, what about the composer who thinks her melody or theme seems stilted or drab? Or the artist who stares in despair at the nothingness of a blank canvass? When creative people feel they've lost all imagery and invention, they need to open Writing as a Sacred Path and embark on one of the many invaluable exercises to tap into that mystery and wisdom of the creative mind.

Jill Jepson is a magician of the imagination. In Writing as a Sacred Path, Jepson takes the reader on a journey. She leads us into the worlds of mystics, monks, shamans, and warriors. Jepson uses these different archetypes as prompts to spur the writer's creative endeavors. Throughout the book are "sacred tools," or exercises, which enable us to dig deep into the caverns of our imaginations in an almost hypnotic way. Although this sounds like a New Age book, it's not. It's a well-thought-out, inspirational, and inventive guide to expand and unlock the reader's creative potential.

I am both an artist and a writer, and have read many books about writing. But Jepson's is the only one I've read that excites me, mesmerizes me, and spurs my imagination. If you're a writer, artist, composer, or actor, or know anyone who is, this is the one book you should read this year.

I enjoyed the richness of Jepson's perspective--that writing isn't only a number of words per day or a well-crafted sentence. In Writing as a Sacred Path, it's a calling, a spiritual exploration, a life commitment, as well as practical pursuit. This was affirming and inspirational for those of us who spend long hours in front of our keyboards and sometimes wonder why we can't give it up!

I believe writing is a spiritual practice, and so I was drawn to the title of Jill Jepson's book. She approaches writing through four gateways to the sacred: the mystic, the monk, the shaman, and the warrior. It is a book full of writing ideas as well as affirmations for the writing life.

The mystic helps us "develop our own unique perspective"; the monk teaches us to foster silence and solitude as well as the "importance of community in the writing life"; the shaman teaches writers to "journey in the realm of memory, imagination, myth and dream and how to draw energy from our relationship with the natural world." Lest you feel the need for down-to-earth practical advice, the warrior's training teaches and inspires "focus, discipline, and strategic skill."

Jepson begins the book saying: "If you are reading this book, you have already heard the call." That simple sentence is an honoring of the life we writers have chosen, or more accurately perhaps, the life that has chosen us.

One of the "sacred tools" presented early in the book is "Offering Your Story." This means offering our story to a particular person or to the world, while keeping our personal gift of writing in mind. When our story is finished Jepson suggests we infuse it with love, light a candle and "hold the story up toward the sky or close to your heart." As Jepson writes: "Whatever you can do to ritualize your offering will confirm that you are bestowing a gift that is not only priceless, but unique in all the world."

Each chapter offers philosophies and beliefs central to the four gateways and paths and is filled with exercises, activities and prompts. There is much that is affirming and inspiring here with quotes from writers and practices from indigenous people. Jepson has invented many "sacred tools" as influenced by her decades of studying spiritual traditions all over the world.

Each pathway offers sage advice and there are numerous practices to use on your own or with your writing circle. Jepson writes "...the opportunity to write is a gift that comes with great responsibility." She honors the practice of writing and teaches that we have the task of "serving the living and non-living world around us...to give them voice."

by Mary Ann Moore
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women

I'm leading a writing group of women at our county library. I purchased this book, Writing as a Sacred Path, along with several others to look for things I could share with my group.
It's my favorite. I really like it. Jill Jepson covers it all.
Take a look at the table of contents, for example!
The Call
The Sacred Gift
The Mystic Journey
Transcendent Awareness
Crazy Wisdom
The Monastic Path
The Writer in Silence and Solitude
The Writer in Community
The Way of the Shaman
Darkness and Healing on the Writer's Path
Sacred Ground
The Warrior Road
Honor and Courage in the Writing Life
Strategy and Skill for the Warrior Writer.
It's difficult to say which role I relate to more, the mystic, the monk, the shaman or the warrior.
I consider myself a healer before a writer. I've confronted all these roles as a healer. Certainly we can agree that Healing is a Sacred Path. Thus, logically, Writing is also a Healing Path.

I usually make an effort not to read overly religious material, but this wasn't of the "trying to convert you to a specific religion" group, but rather more about spirituality in a variety of forms.

Not being a writer myself, I didn't fully connect with the book as a writer would, but I still found it interesting and gleaned some valuable insights from it. I think it has changed my view of authors and books from a reviewer's standpoint. The book really illustrated for me how you must truly love to write to be a writer. It is tough work!

This is quite readable and immediately draws you in, which is quite remarkable for a non-fiction book! It is stuffed with all varieties of exercises to get your creative juices flowing and improve your writing. True writers will certainly appreciate its thoroughness and ideas.

While I found the explanation of why some of us are compelled to write intriguing, I found Ms. Jepson's Sacred Tools to be the most helpful part of the book. All writers need tools, to help them through the hard parts, to inspire new thoughts, to take them in different directions. Jepson has put together a spectacular toolbox for writers, with tools for inviting and receiving stories, tools for caring for stories, tools for caring for oneself as a writer, and tools for helping a writer grow.

One of my favorites of the Sacred Tools is what Jepson refers to as Magic Beans. She makes the point that disagreements can serve as a rich source of material for writing. "The key to turning discord into a story is the ability to discover its core. If we can get under the layers of confusion and miscommunication, we can find the hard seed at the middle of any disagreement. That seed can be thought of as a 'magic bean,' like the one planted by Jack of fairy-tale fame." It's a gift that can blossom in terms of story.

Here, Jepson counsels the observer to pay attention to the conflict, write it down, plant the beans (letting your own story blossom), add characters, heighten tension, add new elements, and experiment.

The book is wall-to-wall with similar exercises and tools for writers to try when they are stuck, when they aren't stuck, when they want to write differently, when they want to grow, when they are afraid to write, and when they are afraid not to write.

The book is about more than a spiritual path; it's a handbook no writer should be without.

A book that helps those who need to write to take their steps forward to help themselves and nurture the rest of us.

You will never again experience writer's block after reading this book. Jepson offers so many wonderful ideas of how to jump start your writing, and practice your craft, you don't have any excuse not to write or have something to say in your writing.
I keep it on my desk as a constant resource.
Well done!

Teresa Reasor

I got a wonderful, brand new book, interesting, very useful for everyone who wishes to be a writer or for a writer. I am very satisfied with my purchase.