The Earth Path: Grounding Your Spirit in the Rhythms of Nature (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "On a hilltop in the coastal mountains of northern California, I meet with my neighbors just before sunset on a hot day in July to..." (more)
Key Phrases: impact your energy, sacred intention, observing water, San Francisco, Isle of Birds, Wilderness Awareness School (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Fans and followers of Starhawk (The Spiral Dance; etc.), a founding member of the Reclaiming Tradition of Witchcraft, will welcome her latest offering. Well organized, each chapter contains reminiscences of personal and group experiences, exercises and suggestions for prayer and ritual. Many of her tenets apply not only to those interested in the practice of Wicca but to readers seeking a better understanding of the world around them: "Once we have learned to hear, then we can begin to understand. And only after we understand do we begin to speak, to intervene." Yet she astutely cautions: "To change a drum rhythm in a group of drummers, you first have to match it and join with it. But when you are within a system, part of the whole, that system is also changing you. It is difficult to maintain your own rhythm and not simply become part of what you are trying to change." Starhawk presents an array of exercises and practices for sharpening observation and listening skills. She engages readers' spirits and minds through her illustrative storytelling, offering ways to communicate more fully with the world and suggesting ways to act. While those unfamiliar with her passion for protest may find themselves distracted by the all-too-frequent appearance of her political soapbox, they will appreciate her tools for connecting with nature.
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Product Description

From time immemorial, artists and poets, prophets, and shamans have drawn strength and inspiration from walking the earth. In The Earth Path, bestselling author Starhawk takes the reader on a journey into the heart of the natural world, showing how we can have a more intimate connection with the world that surrounds us.

Institutionalized religions have sacred texts -- messages written in holy books that are the inspiration for their beliefs and rituals. But the sacred texts for Wicca, like other ancient native or indigenous traditions, are written in nature -- in the magic circle of the elements: air, fire, water, and earth. With The Earth Path, Starhawk, an activist, ecofeminist, and leader in the women’s spirituality movement, places you in the center of that magical circle. As you become attuned to the rhythms of the earth, your thinking will shift from focusing on isolated objects to marveling at the multitude of interconnecting patterns and relationships in nature. These patterns and connections can hold the key to your own spiritual renewal and restore your sense of responsibility for preserving this world that nurtures and sustains us.

Filled with awareness exercises, inspiring meditations, and magical rituals, The Earth Path not only teaches the reader to respect the ecology of our natural world, but shows how to spiritually connect with and channel the powers inherent in nature.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: HarperOne; First Edition edition (September 28, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060000929
• ISBN-13: 978-0060000929
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #674,263 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

46 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Starhawk's Earth Path, January 26, 2005

By	Boudica (Ohio USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Back in the 60s, there were many of us involved in "earth ecology". We protested nuclear power plants; we started "Earth Day" as an awareness of what we are doing to the earth. We talked about recycling, living "off the grid" and being responsible for what happened to the earth we live on. We became "aware". Many of us follow the earth based spirituality path today because we became "aware".

This book represents Starhawk's return to that idea, resurrecting the feeling of living in harmony with the Earth and respecting Our Mother as we should. With this book, Starhawk wants to show us that we need to be more than just "aware".

The book looks at our connection with magic, the four elements we work with and how it relates to our beliefs and to the earth and its ecology. The book is filled with stories of her recent workings. It discusses how we connect with each of the elements in nature and provides meditations on the earth, the elements and finding our own place of balance in this world. And all of this is deeply rooted in Goddess Spirituality.

This is a book on personal responsibility to protecting the earth's delicate ecology. This is a book on earth based spirituality. This book is about magic. This is a book about Starhawk and how she has been dealing with all these issues. This is a book about finding where you fit into this whole equation.

As I read through this book, I found myself agreeing with some of the material that Starhawk was discussing. I also found myself disagreeing on some points. This books intention is to raise personal response. As you read the material that Starhawk provides for the mediations and then work through the meditations, the idea is to reflect on your own connections to these ideas, and the workings are meant to provoke personal response. Each person's response will be different, though the material provided for meditation is meant to focus you on specific ideas.

There are many personal stories told by Starhawk about her recent involvement in political actions. Each of these stories, be it the fire protection ritual she is involved with in the opening of the book, or her research about genetically engineered seeds and the World Trade Organization, we see Starhawk's view on personal responsibility carried to many different levels. While there is much here that should be reviewed and her resources for the information provided is extensive (her Select Bibliography is impressive as well) it is up to the individual as to how this affects each of us and how involved we want to be with the processes that Starhawk discusses.

This is a book that combines Starhawk's personal path of spirituality with her own personal path of ecological responsibility. Those who are not familiar with these issues will find that this book can be used as a handbook for personal exploration. It is a book of awareness of the kinds of issues that many of us should at least be familiar. There are many issues addressed here that makes this a good book of information, even though it may seem a bit extreme at times. If you remember how passionate Starhawk is about her chosen path, you can then understand the extremities. This book does allow for you to find your own small part in how all this plays out; you need not be as involved as Starhawk, but you may also find yourself provoked to action by the information provided.

This book is one that should be carefully read, openly discussed, and as you meditate upon the information provided, you will need to know the scope of your own abilities and how deeply your personal responsibility for the issues flows. This book may help you find this.

This is a very good look at Starhawk's recent path of earth based spirituality and responsibility for the earth, and one that every follower of Starhawk's path will want to read. boudica

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Spiritually & Practically Connecting with the Earth, May 22, 2005

By	M. Hart "Sci-Fi Fan" (USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

One of the most widely read and respected authors in Wicca and Earth-based spirituality, Starhawk, has written no less than ten books on the subject. Her most recent book, "The Earth Path: Grounding Your Spirit in the Rhythms of Nature" that was published in 2004, is an amazing combination of spiritual, emotional, practical and even political aspects of Earth-based spirituality. Written in twelve chapters with ample footnotes and references, the first four chapters deal primarily with understanding and recognizing what is sacred in Earth-based spirituality: the Earth and all of its many components, from the land, the water and all living things from the smallest to the largest. The most important lesson here is to realize that the Earth is much more than its individual components, which runs counter to Western science and philosophy that tend to view things in a purely mechanistic and compartmental manner as exemplified by the seventeenth-century French philosopher René Descartes. Granted, great scientific understandings have been attained by this philosophy; but it fails in its understanding of emergent characteristics and patterns of complex systems as described elegantly by Fritjof Capra in his book "The Web of Life". However, where Fritjof Capra presents his book from a purely secular perspective, Starhawk expands this view into the spiritual aspects, including the realization that our ancestors aren't just humans, but also the myriad of single-celled creatures and bacteria that gave the Earth an oxygen-based atmosphere through the gifts of chlorophyll and photosynthesis. For without these, we would not exist.

The next aspect that Starhawk examines extensively is observation. If one is to learn how to read and understand Nature and what the Earth is speaking, one must learn how to listen to the birds, insects, plants, trees, the ground, the water, etc. To achieve this, Starhawk includes a number of meditative exercises focused on learning to understand a particular animal, plant, insect or even fungus. Some may not be interested in fungi, but Wicca and Earth-based spiritualities recognize the interconnectedness of all things, as well as the cycle of birth, death and rebirth. For without death, there would be no life and no rebirth. Fungi, which on the surface may not seem particularly spiritual, is at the heart of death and rebirth because it is fungi that break down dead matter into its essential elements so that they can be reused and renewed. A prime example is Starhawk's "Fertility and Decay" meditative exercise on pages 163 through 166. Starhawk's meditative observation techniques come in particularly useful for understanding each of the four elements (air, fire, water and earth, as well as spirit in the center) that are an inseparable part of Wicca and Earth-based spirituality. I also especially liked the blessing for each element that Starhawk wrote for each element at the end of each element's chapter.

Interlaced throughout the book, Starhawk includes writings from her personal journals involving her life, home and the areas surrounding her home. These include such things as the nearby rain-fed streams, building maintainable & reusable sources of energy, sharing seeds and plants with neighbors, eating organically-grown food and living harmoniously with the Earth, as opposed to constantly taking from and polluting the Earth as so many U.S. and international corporations have done. This is where the political aspects come into play as Starhawk addresses such groups as the World Trade Organization, whose policies were designed to ensure corporate profitability (including the patenting of life forms) at the expense of the environment and individuals. Starhawk makes no distinction between the political and spiritual when it comes to the Earth because pollution, clear-cutting, the introduction of genetically-modified organisms, the use of herbicides, insecticides, pesticides and other synthetic chemicals in the environment are all-too-often harmful to all life, the environment and the Earth. To this end, Starhawk makes various recommendations for the various little things that each individual can do to help the Earth.

Overall, I found Starhawk's book "The Earth Path: Grounding Your Spirit in the Rhythms of Nature" to be well written and an extremely useful resource that deserves a very high rating of 5 out of 5 stars. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in having a more intimate relationship with the Earth, the elements and the many creatures that share this planet with humanity.

30 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Witchcraft reaches a new level of maturity, October 25, 2004

By	Tzaddi (Spokane, WA USA) - See all my reviews

Starhawk has been a great favorite of mine ever since reading her book "Dreaming the Dark" for the first time many years ago. And she continues to impress and inspire me with each new book she brings out. "The Earth Path" is a definite step forward into a very mature view of the practice of witchcraft. It stands out from all others I have read -and I read a lot. In "The Earth Path", Starhawk moves away from the usual focus on rituals and meditation, and instead grounds the book in practical ideas of observation and creation, and her writing is as always witty, intelligent and politically informed. Her wiccan spirituality here focuses on learning to see the beauty and magic in the natural world. Rather than filtering nature through a goddess mythology to gain some esoteric appreciation, she shows how by taking the time to observe and reflect on the patterns and structures around us with open eyes, we cannot help but to be awed by the magic that moves grows dies and is reborn again everywhere we look. Once again Starhawk, I thank you for sharing your vision with us.