Book Review: Dance of the Dissident Daughter

I'm not sure who recommended this gem to me, but I'm glad they did. Sue Monk Kidd, known for The Secret Life of Bees, had a life centered around traditional Christian thought: she wrote Christian books, was married to a Baptist preacher, and was an active participant in church activities. Over time, though, she had experiences that led her to start looking for the Feminine Divine. The Dance of the Dissident Daughter follows that awakening and journey.

She calls the lack of the Feminine Divine in her life the "feminine wound." Christianity does not recognize a female god, and from that, Kidd felt that this lack resulted in the inferiority of women: that women could not be priests, that family was set up as God-man-woman-children, etc. While Mormon doctrine gives us a Heavenly Mother, we don't have much besides "she exists," which I don't think is very much better than not having one at all. As I read, I found that the feminine wound she talked of, to be something I could relate to as a Mormon woman.

In her journey to relate to the Feminine Divine, Kidd studies motifs from dreams, history, and myths. These include trees, the serpent, the labyrinth, circles, and more. As a very graphic dreamer myself, I found her dreams and subsequent Jungian analysis to be interesting. While many of my dreams are just silliness, I have a few I have written down because they felt very poignant and after this book, I went and re-looked at the symbols to see if there was something new there.

I was also caught up in the story because I feel like I'm on my own search of the Feminine Divine and I wanted to know how hers turned out. What is there at the end of this journey for me to look forward to?

I'm trying to be vague here to avoid spoilers. I really liked reading this; I think the fact that I'm pretty much the target audience helped. On the "how much did I read out loud to my husband" scale, this was only slightly lower than Mother Wove the Morning. I thought it would be a good one to have on my shelf for my kids to read it in the future, so I got my own copy of it (the first was the library's). I would recommend it to all of you for sure.

I look forward to reading this again while being able to make notes in the margins as well as knitting a finger labyrinth, inspired by this book. Maybe when I finish that, I'll post pictures here.

Book Review: Mother Wove the Morning

Carol Lynn Pearson is one of the most lauded LDS poets ever. Her books of poetry have flown off the shelves at Deseret Book. She is also known for the books she has written about homosexuality and her gay husband. She also wrote the lyrics for I'll Walk With You, one of the songs currently found in the Children's Songbook.

She is a gracious and generous soul, and when I went to her home this past summer, I left with a few copies of Mother Wove the Morning in tow to read. I have since given away and lent out all the copies but one, it was that wonderful. But it took me a while to finally come around to reading it. I knew it was wonderful. I was afraid of the possibility that reading it would be life-changing for me. So I put it off until I couldn't any longer.

I judge books based on how many times I end up reading parts aloud to my husband. I read so much of this book aloud, I was afraid Carol Lynn would come to my home, burst down the door, and sue me for giving an unauthorized performance of the play!

In Mother Wove the Morning, Pearson depicts 16 women from history (and pre-history) and their relationship with the Feminine Divine. You can see the list here. I found Lydia and the Rape of the Levite's Concubine particularly hard to get through- in fact, the first time I just skimmed it because I didn't want to cry. I did go back and give it a proper reading, though. And I did cry. The parallelism between Hilda the Nazi Woman and Rebecca the Jewish Woman is poignant and beautiful. There isn't a part of this book that I don't recommend. It makes you wonder, what if we all saw God as the combination of a man and a woman, a real partnership? How would that change the world? I think it would mean less violence and we would see more of the divine in every person we meet.

You can read the book's introduction at Carol Lynn's site, here. You can also buy copies of the book there as well as a DVD of the performance. One of my greatest regrets was missing the chance to see her perform the play last summer (when I went to her home last June, I missed the performance she had done earlier in the day). But if I get the chance in the future, I will be there. If you have some time, check out her interview at the Mormon Stories project. In the fifth segment, she talks a little about the play and book and performs a few lines. And find a copy of this book or DVD. It's awesome.