Description

What happens when a former Zen Buddhist monk and his feminist wife experience an apparition of the Virgin Mary?

When a vision of a mysterious “Lady” invited Clark Strand and Perdita Finn to pray the rosary, not only were they disinterested in becoming Catholic, they were finished with institutional religion altogether. Their main spiritual concerns were the fate of the planet and the future of their children and grandchildren in an age of ecological collapse. But this Lady barely even referred to the Church and its proscriptions. She spoke of the miraculous power of the rosary to transform lives and heal the planet, revealing the secrets she had hidden within the rosary’s prayers and mysteries—secrets of a past age when forests were the only cathedrals and people wove “rose garlands” for a Mother whose loving presence was as close as the ground beneath their feet. She told Strand and Finn:

The rosary is My body,
and My body is the body of the world.
Your body is one with that body.
What cause could there be for fear?

Weaving together their own remarkable story of how they came to the rosary, their discoveries about the eco-feminist wisdom at the heart of this ancient devotion, and the life-changing revelations of the Lady herself, the authors reveal an ancestral path—available to everyone, religious or not—that returns us to the powerful healing rhythms of the natural world.

“In times of turmoil we need a tangible, close-at-hand practice to help us release worry and learn how to take new action from faith. The Way of the Rose gives us an ancient, sustainable answer for how to root into peace and wisdom beyond dogma and traditions. Through reconnecting with the Divine Feminine we realign with ourselves, the earth, and the guidance of our ancestors. I can’t recommend this book, and the Way of the Rose community, enough.”—HeatherAsh Amara, author of Warrior Goddess Training and The Warrior Heart Practice

“In this extraordinary testament to the power of the rosary, Perdita Finn and Clark Strand offer a radical revisioning of this ancient practice as a path of personal awakening. It is both a first-hand account of mystic initiation and a revelation of the Divine Feminine in an age of patriarchal madness – erudite, irreverent, and wise. For readers weary of institutional dogma, hungry for a woke spirituality capable of uniting a divided world, The Way of the Rose is manna from heaven.”—Mark Matousek, author of Sex Death Enlightenment and Mother of the Unseen World

“Ultimately, The Way of the Rose is a love song to the world, and to the mysteries of the world. Moving and profound, powerful and elegant, it is a call for us to remember our place in the larger community of humans past, present, and future, and our place in the larger community of life on this planet.”—Derrick Jensen, author of A Language Older Than Words and The Myth of Human Supremacy

 “The Way of the Rose is a masterwork that will leave you in tears. Tears of acceptance, tears of relief, tears of hope beyond hope. It comes to the world, as the Lady herself always comes, in our hour of need.”—Eric Utne, founder of Utne Reader

 “My favorite part of this robust and exquisitely written book is the storytelling. I love the way the authors work together to weave a luminous tapestry of travel memoir, tender awakening, and championship of Our Mother the Earth. While the particular spiritual insights are consciousness-raising and heart-opening, it does not matter what the reader’s religious orientation (or lack thereof) may be: this is a universal story of love, a huge-hearted invitation to step up and into the field of the sacred feminine, a gratifying guide to a life of joy and service.”—Mirabai Starr, author of God of Love and Wild Mercy

“Clark Strand and Perdita Finn have answered a collective need to help us discover the empowering and miraculous non-denominational spiritual practice of prayer. The Way of The Rose is brilliantly written and filled with a wealth of stories meant to inspire us. I feel blessed by reading this beautiful and sacred book.”—Sandra Ingerman, author of Soul Retrieval: Mending the Fragmented Self and The Book of Ceremony

 “This book could not be done at a more auspicious time. And the message is mystical perfection, not to mention a courageous one. These authors were drafted by the Madonna—I deeply believe that. Not only do they have my endorsement, they have my support in promoting the message.”—Caroline Myss, New York Times bestselling author of Anatomy of the Spirit

Clark Strand and Perdita Finn are co-founders of The Way of the Rose, an inclusive fellowship of rosary friends dedicated to the Earth and to the Lady “by any name we wish to call Her.” Strand is the author of numerous books and articles on spiritual practices, including Seeds from a Birch Tree: Writing Haiku and the Spiritual Journeyand Waking Up to the Dark: Ancient Wisdom for a Sleepless Age. Finn is a children’s book author and former high school teacher. They live with their family in the Catskill Mountains.