The notion of a special intimacy between 'the feminine and the sacred' has received significant attention since the publication of Julia Kristeva and Cathérine Clément's famous ecumenical 'conversation' of the same name which focussed on the relationship between meaning and the body at whose interface the feminine is positioned. Brought to the wider public as the 'sacred feminine', it has also made its mark on popular culture. Taking up the debate and moving beyond anthropology or theology, writers from varied ethnic, geo-cultural and religious perspectives here join with secular cultural analysts to explore the sacred and the feminine in art, architecture, literature, art history, music, philosophy, theology, critical theory and cultural studies. The book addresses key issues in feminist questions of creativity, the imaginary and the sacred as 'otherness', exploring the ways in which visual practices have explored this rich, contested and highly charged territory.

Sacred Sundays is a self-help guide book to help the thousands of women who are care takers and nurturers of others before they take care of and nurture themselves. As women, we often times give the entire essences of who we are to others, not honoring our own self-worth nor understanding how to balance the life we have created or been given. Sacred Sundays was written to help the powerful and powerless super women living on the edge of burnout and breakdown fi nd ways to press pause and take time out of their busy schedules to restore and rejuvenate their mind and bodies, as well as how to fi nd spiritual transformation through personal and sacred intimacy. Isn’t it time for you to care for yourself the same way you care for others?

Vivienne Brough-Evans proposes a compelling new way of reevaluating aspects of international surrealism by means of the category of divin fou, and consequently deploys theories of sacred ecstasy as developed by the Collège de Sociologie (1937–39) as a critical tool in shedding new light on the literary oeuvre of non-French writers who worked both within and against a surrealist framework. The minor surrealist genre of prose literature is considered herein, rather than surrealism's mainstay, poetry, with the intention of fracturing preconceptions regarding the medium of surrealist expression. The aim is to explore whether International surrealism can begin to be more fully explained by an occluded strain of 'dissident' surrealist thought that searches outside the self through the affects of ekstasis. Bretonian surrealism is widely discussed in the field of surrealist studies, and there is a need to consider what is left out of surrealist practice when analysed through this Bretonian lens. The Collège de Sociologie and Georges Bataille's theories provide a model of such elements of 'dissident' surrealism, which is used to analyse surrealist or surrealist influenced prose by Alejo Carpentier, Leonora Carrington and Gellu Naum respectively representing postcolonial, feminist and Balkan locutions. The Collège and Bataille's 'dissident' surrealism diverges significantly from the concerns and approach towards the subject explored by surrealism. Using the concept of ekstasis to organise Bataille's theoretical ideas of excess and 'inner experience' and the Collège's thoughts on the sacred it is possible to propose a new way of reading types of International surrealist literature, many of which do not come to the forefront of the surrealist literary oeuvre.

This book presents the way in which African American women writers (Hannah Crafts, Zora Neale Hurston and Toni Morrison) have followed the spiritual endeavor of black Christianity as created by early nineteenth-century spiritual narratives to construct a sacred reading of the black female self. The sacred femininity that puts the ethics and aesthetics of African American women at the center of a certain mode of (African) Americanness relies on a view of spirituality that joins women ontologically and validates affective modes of representation as an innovative means to obtain social and personal empowerment.

Sacred Economics traces the history of money from ancient gift economies to modern capitalism, revealing how the money system has contributed to alienation, competition, and scarcity, destroyed community, and necessitated endless growth. Today, these trends have reached their extreme--but in the wake of their collapse, we may find great opportunity to transition to a more connected, ecological, and sustainable way of being. This book is about how the money system will have to change--and is already changing--to embody this transition. A broadly integrated synthesis of theory, policy, and practice, Sacred Economics explores avant-garde concepts of the New Economics, including negative-interest currencies, local currencies, resource-based economics, gift economies, and the restoration of the commons. Author Charles Eisenstein also considers the personal dimensions of this transition, speaking to those concerned with "right livelihood" and how to live according to their ideals in a world seemingly ruled by money. Tapping into a rich lineage of conventional and unconventional economic thought, Sacred Economics presents a vision that is original yet commonsense, radical yet gentle, and increasingly relevant as the crises of our civilization deepen. Sacred Economics official website: http://sacred-economics.com/

Are you - afraid of sexual pleasure? - suffering from low libido? - sexually abused? - addicted to porn? - emotionally oppressed? - a rape survivor? - recovering from being prostituted? Are you ready to dynamically transform your Sacred Sexual Self ? Are you motivated to learn communication skills which honor and respect your intimate self? Are you willing to balance your yin with your yang to maximize your sexual health and well-being? Your Sacred Sexual Self deserves and desires your loving approval, acceptance, attention, and creative expression. Here is the antidote spiritually for sexual dis-ease, enhancing your true self, your love, and your wholeness. Adam and Dawnee Loya offer affirmations, prayers, creative visualizations, meditations, “sexercises”, and blissful food to heal your Sacred Sexual Self. These teachings come from Tantric, Taoist, and Toltec traditions for the most part, as well as Tibetan Buddhism. We are inspired by all spiritual teachings which teach love and honoring of Goddess with God, creating balance.

Late antique and early medieval hagiographic texts present holy women as simultaneously pious and corrupt, hideous and beautiful, exemplars of depravity and models of sanctity. In Sacred Fictions Lynda Coon unpacks these paradoxical representations to reveal the construction and circumscription of women's roles in the early Christian centuries. Coon discerns three distinct paradigms for female sanctity in saints' lives and patristic and monastic writings. Women are recurrently figured as repentant desert hermits, wealthy widows, or cloistered ascetic nuns, and biblical discourse informs the narrative content, rhetorical strategies, and symbolic meanings of these texts in complex and multivalent ways. If hagiographers made their women saints walk on water, resurrect the dead, or consecrate the Eucharist, they also curbed the power of women by teaching that the daughters of Eve must make their bodies impenetrable through militant chastity or spiritual exile and must eradicate self-indulgence through ascetic attire or philanthropy. The windows the sacred fiction of holy women open on the past are far from transparent; driven by both literary invention and moral imperative, the stories they tell helped shape Western gender constructs that have survived into modern times.

Awaken, heal and transform your life with The Moon Fix, a bewitchingly illustrated modern guide to harnessing lunar power and celebrating the Sacred Feminine that lives within us all. Through better understanding and attuning ourselves to the lunar cycles we can improve our intuition, let go of past pains and find a deeper spiritual connection. From succeeding in business to finding love, discover how lunar power can help you to achieve ambitious goals and address your most secret concerns. Bring ancient wisdom to modern living with this enlightening book, which includes: An introduction to the moon in astrology, from its relation to the signs to its different phases and their significance When and how to harness lunar power to manifest and celebrate your deepest desires, including how to create a moon altar and work with crystals, incense, herbs and oils Lunar advice and spells, rituals, meditations and recipes, organized by themes that include Joy and Success, Health and Wellness, and Protection and Comfort Hauntingly beautiful illustrations from mystic artist and influencer Indigo (@indg0) Align yourself with the universe and connect with the changing cycles to live a limitless life.

This volume is rooted in two convictions: first, sexuality is far more comprehensive and more fundamental to our existence than simply genital sex, and, second, sexuality is intended by God to be neither incidental nor detrimintal to our spirituality but a fully integrated and basic dimension of that spirituality. The authors address what our sexual experience reveals about God, the ways we understand the gospel, and the ways we read scripture and tradition and attempt to live faithfully.