I can’t begin to tell you how excited I am about this book… wait, yes I can, and I will right now!
Holy Wild, A Heathen Bible for the Untamed Woman by Danielle Dulsky is such a gem of a spiritual book. Though aimed towards those who identify as women, I would say this would be a fantastic book to pick up for anyone who wants to dig deep into the feminine spirit and magicks.
So here’s the layout of the book: each section deals with the five elements and how they relate to the feminine spirit, how they can be expressed by feminine spirit. Earth, Water, Fire, Air, and Ether.
Within each section, Danielle provides a retelling of 5 famous women of history and myth: earthy Lilith, Salome, the Mother of Babylon, the Magdalen, and Jezebel.
The stories Danielle has imagined for these powerful women realigns them to a more realistic and balanced perspective, their own perspectives. This is so refreshing compared to the frequently damning masculine spin that permeates far too many women’s narratives, or leaves women’s perspectives out completely.
They are also so incredibly relatable and touch on some very deep chords of what the female experience is, in relation to others, and just within ourselves.
Each element section of the book contains three chapters: Verses, Rituals, and Magick. In the verses chapters, you will find those wonderful reimagined stories, as well as the seeds to begin telling our own personal mythology. This often begins with healing the parts of ourselves that become wounded from both the way in which our culture teaches us to be unkind to ourselves, and the harms that may come at the hands of others.
The rituals provide healing work we need for ourselves, as well as rituals to mark events or powerful emotions that occur in our lives. They also guide us to powerfully claim and embody our reactions and emotions. They are wonderful for continuing to acknowledge, work on, and accept and be radiant within ourselves.
Finally, the magick chapters provide profound magicks that really lead us to direct our deep energies into changing ourselves, our lives, and our world for the highest good.
After reading this amazing book that is so full of love, encouragement, and healing, I am looking forward to working through each element for myself over the year and begin down my own path towards being who I truly am, and allowing that to radiate and affect my patch of the world, to others to heal themselves as well, and to carry our world ever onward to the best reality we can make for ourselves. It’s a long road full of toil, don’t be mistaken, but I feel with such guidance that can be found in Danielle’s book, we are that much closer to getting there.
The Forest Witch 