The Body Sacred - spells rituals and meditations to build self-esteem
Written: Mar 03 '07
Product Rating:
Pros: Pagan/Wiccan perspective, humorous and touching, encourages thought and reflection, spells, meditations, and more
Cons: may be uninteresting or even offensive to those of a different religious affiliation
The Bottom Line: While limited in scope to appeal to feminists, Pagans, or those open to these philosophies, this book is a humorous and touching journey toward self-love and positive body-image.
jiastar's Full Review: Dianne Sylvan - The Body Sacred
Upon a recent trip to the local Barnes and Noble Mega-store with my family I stumbled upon Ms. Sylvan's 2005 release dealing with body-image and self-love.
The first thing that attracted me was the muted cover, a woman's naked curves in soft pastel tones. The second thing was the words on the back cover reminding any woman to pick it up that they are Goddess.
I have struggled with self-esteem as far back as I can recall, and have struggled with body-image since prior to my teens. I am also significantly overweight. Recently I decided that while, for many reasons, I would like to lose weight it is more pressing for me to stop loathing myself.
If you have never "been there" you may not know what it's like to avoid your own reflection or to avoid appearing in family photos. You may not know what it feels like to have relatives and strangers alike say hurtful things about your appearance. But, Ms. Sylvan knows first hand what it is like to be "a fat woman" in our modern society and she shares her own experiences with her readers.
That being said, this book it not necessarily written for every woman. Ms. Sylvan is Wiccan and writes from that unique perspective. It also focuses primarily on the Goddess and has a definite feminist leaning.
"The Body Sacred" is not a book about diet or exercise. It is however a book that will help you explore your own personal relationship with food, with your body, with being active. It is a book which tries to teach that life and self-love need not be put on hold until you reach a magic number on the scale or recover from plastic surgery.
The book is broken down in a way that it covers the following with a meld of humor, compassion, wisdom and honest experience:
self-perception (the Reflection)
nourishment and self-care (the Mother)
wellness and energy (the Healer)
sexuality and sensuality (the Lover)
movement and spiritual ecstasy (the Dancer)
aging and “blood mysteries” (the Crone)
Ms. Sylvan shares spells, chants, exercises, rituals, myths and meditations each designed to help women build a positive self-image regardless of what they look like.
In fact, one of my favorite chants appears on page 87:
"Woman am I
Spirit am I
I am the infinite in my soul
I have no beginning and I have no end
all this I am"
I first heard this on a CD by the group Circle of Women by do not know the author
And while "The Body Sacred" does not necessarily assist, or even encourage, weight loss it does advise that women take a long hard look at what we think and feel about food and our bodies. And that alone can make more of a difference in ones eating patterns that joining up with "Jenny Craig" or even "Weight Watchers".
The book as a whole encourages women of every age, color, shape, size, etc. to see themselves as a manifestation of the Divine. To believe that they are truly Goddess.
Personally I believe that loving yourself is the first step in being healthy, strong and beautiful ... and not the last step as the purveyors of diet-pills and Botox would have us believe.
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