The Dance of the Dissident Daughter: A Woman's Journey from Christian Tradition to the Sacred Feminine by Sue Monk Kidd

 genre: non-fiction, spirituality

It's hard for me to know where to start with this review.  You can sum up the book fairly easily, I suppose, by saying that it is one woman's awakening from the sleep that is living under patriarchy and her search for the feminine divine.  And it is definitely that.  It's also a lovely collection of quotes from thinkers and poets about these topics and Kidd's reflections on the ideas of others.  For me, though, what struck me in the deepest part of myself, is the way the author deconstructed her Christian religion and found her way into a new kind of spirituality that includes the goddess inside herself.  

My own ongoing religious deconstruction has been one of the most painful and eye-opening experiences of my entire life.  If someone had asked me three years ago if this is where I would be in my spiritual journey, I'd never had believed it.  But it was thoughts about the women in my church - my own ancestors, actually - that took the faith both "of my fathers" and my 45 years on this planet and burned it to the ground. It was terrifying and the wound is still, years later, raw and gaping.  I haven't yet found a way to safely fill and heal that wound but this book, these words, they started the process for me.  My therapist recommended it to me over and over until I finally just bought it and after the first five pages, I knew I had to read with a pen.  I had things to learn.

This is not to say that this is a flawless book - because it's got flaws.  She can meander and be repetitive.  She has a lot of privilege (so much time and money to travel and be alone!) that sometimes irks but those things didn't stop this from being the sort of book that one needs to turn back to again and again when the need arises.  I loved the deep dive into early history, where women and feminine power were not just acknowledged but worshipped. It is literally sort of hard to imagine it but Kidd pulls back the curtain and shows us what might be possible.  

For me, this book gets fives stars because of how it impacted me.  How on multiple, MULTIPLE occasions, it left me weeping and flooded with feelings both upsetting and reassuring.  How wonderful to not feel along on a journey like mine.