Book Club
Divinatory reads
What are divinatory tools?
A divinatory tool is something that offers guidance – it can be anything in nature, it can be a book, you yourself are a divinatory tool because you know yourself better than anyone else can.
It’s a lovely way to end the day with a book that you find really nourishing – whether it’s poetry (another blog will focus completely on this), fiction, or academic writing – and a cup of herbal tea. Simply open the book up randomly and read from that page or from the first thing your eye falls on.
The Tao of Pooh and the Te of Piglet – Benjamin Hoff
This is the book I use the least when it comes to using it as a divinatory tool but it is, I feel, a good one to start with as it’s reminiscent of a particular childhood work (Winnie the Pooh!) and finding the Taoist principles embedded in it. It’s a soft way to start approaching getting to know yourself.
Women who Run with the Wolves – Clarissa Pinkola Estés
This is my definite go-to really. It’s my companion of choice for most days if I had to be honest and still every time I open it I find new inspiration and wisdom. It’s a true process of re-membering with this beauty.
It was given to me as a present when I was entering sixth form/college so I’ve had it for over a decade – though it feels like a lifetime and no time at all – it feels like home. And so most nights I can open it up to a story or to a lesson, read a section or two and sleep with those thoughts.
The English Patient – Michael Ondaatje
Now this book, this book is a gem. I never thought it would end up being so special but it speaks to me of embodying boundlessness and perhaps the struggle to do so, it speaks to me of love and how (whether we like it or not) it is the great mystery – it is so elemental and out of our control. For me it’s also about the writing, the flow and imagery grips me like no other book really, I love how Ondaatje is able to take the reader from one moment to the next so effortlessly, almost never really describing and yet always describing, as though the characters exist out of time, as though we are experiencing life in the desert and her lessons even outside it – love it!
the lost spells; the lost words – Robert MacFarlane & Jackie Morris
These gorgeous books I go through because they bring me joy – I find it so nourishing to start the day with nature – whatever form that might take, whether it’s out for a walk, my first cuppa in the garden, reading a poem with my familiars and plants around, visualising being in nature, being nature. . .the simple thoughts, reflections are so grounding and the illustrations are so so radiant
These are definitely coffee-table books but they’re one’s you’ll go to again and again.
. . .
Which books could you use in such a way?
Enjoy your reading!