100 Books Like If Women Rose Rooted

This book helped me release shame after a colleague of mine told me my work wasn’t “science.”

Here’s the truth: to create a healing platform, I needed to tap into ways of thinking that academia sees as “woo woo” and “savage.” I looked to the stars. I meditated. I did rituals and read myths.

Dr. Kimmerer, trained as a traditional botanist, realized that the Indigenous myths and stories she was told as a child contained scientific knowledge passed down for generations by her tribe.

She realized there were scientific truths her community knew for millennia that traditional scientists only discovered within the last 100 years. This is the power of Ancestral Intelligence, disregarded by the same science that ultimately created AI.

What stories, fables, and myths have taught you valuable lessons about the world?

If you are witch-curious or trying to reclaim the word from the long-nosed, wart-faced, evil images that have been forced upon us by a misunderstanding society, Witch is a fun read, filled with wit and wisdom for beginning witches. “Witch” is a powerful woman, a wise healer, who lives with the cycles of Mother Earth. This book helps women remember, reconnect, and reclaim the word “witch” and the power that comes with it.

This book put me on the quest to discover my inner magick, the power within, the Witch locked in my DNA. Silver Ravenwolf helps us create a magickal practice and write our spells and rituals in harmony with Mother Earth's energy and the natural world. Hedgewitch allows you to go deeper into your brand of magick and create traditions and celebrations that align with your world.

Our ancestors were deeply connected to the rhythms of the Earth and Heavens to inform and predict their lives. We’ve all but forgotten these connections. Moon Magic helps us return to this ancient wisdom and understand the powerful energy of the Universe to help manifest our goals, find emotional balance, and maintain physical wellness. You are in control of this one enchanted life, so navigate by the moon for health and prosperity.

Quite honestly, any book by Glennie Kindred is a must-read. I was introduced to her writing while on a pilgrimage to Glastonbury, England. Earth Alchemy is a favorite as it explores a powerful fusion between the science of alchemy and the energy inherent in the Earth. This practical guide shows us how to work with the cycles of the seasons and use this natural, alchemical energy of transformation to experience ourselves on a deeper level. The little book takes us on a journey of discovery to find our inner golden threads to weave a blanket of healing and happiness.

While there has been some controversy about the science in Simard’s book, there’s no doubt that it’s a great read that juxtaposes Simard’s personal life with her scientific life.

I was drawn to her personal story, which takes place in both government and academic spheres. I cried with her when her brother passed away, and I was proud with her when her daughter said she might want to study forestry at university.

The mix of science and memoir works well in this book, showing how the two are inextricably entwined. I was impressed by how hard Simard worked to keep her family together, particularly when she was a professor at UBC in Vancouver, and they were living in Nelson.  

After running into 5 mountain lions while hiking alone in the ancient redwood forests near my home, I was really blown away reading The Puma Years about Laura Coleman's relationships with the big cats. I cannot imagine getting as close to one of them as she does in her memoir about spending time in the middle of the jungle in Bolivia taking care of wild pumas. Set against a background of logging destruction of habitat and illegal wild animal poaching, the author valiantly tries to rehabilitate damaged pumas. The relationships she and her volunteer colleagues have with the big cats are astonishing. They take them out for walks! The author is so candid about how broken she feels in our environmentally and often socially broken world, and yet in the end still manages to leave me with hope and belief in the human spirit.

To Speak for the Trees is one of my favorite books ever, partly because I love trees, and partly because of my own Celtic heritage from my maternal line. Diana Beresord-Kroeger, a scientist in biochemistry and botany, begins with her childhood in Ireland. After losing her parents at a young age, she is raised in the ancient Celtic nature wisdom and Druid beliefs by an entire community, and literally taught the language of trees: Ogham. Blending scientific discoveries about trees and the importance of forests to our species' survival, this book is a fast and delightful read that I won’t forget. I feel enriched from having been blessed to spend time with such a brilliant woman through the pages of her book. 

Reading High Magick, opened my eyes. Before my formal magickal training, I innately knew that Magick and Witchcraft open a path to access the divinity within. My Wiccan Elder High Priestess recognized this inner sight and chose me for private Magickal lessons with tailored parables in the oral, storytelling Goddess tradition. I didn’t realize I had been learning High Magick. Although structured in a linear, Divine Male perspective, this book offers the same endpoint: Magick is a direct connection to the Divine Source. I have always applied magick to transform trauma into wellbeing and Damien Echols, sentenced to death and later acquitted, did the same. By incorporating magickal practices, he preserved his humanity and safeguarded himself against negativity, thus elevating his awareness to envision his release from prison.

I particularly like the way this book embraces pluralism. Although the term "pluralism" is sometimes maligned by friends who lean right politically, a few facts are clear, including that our society is becoming more and more multicultural and pluralistic, and that diverse people will generally live more harmoniously together the more they understand and respect each other. This is a profoundly important truth for kids to learn in this book. The less we and our kids "other" (exclude or see as a threatening other) people outside of our own ingroup, and the more we live by the Golden Rule, applied to all other humans, not just to people in our ingroup(s), the better off we will all be in our increasingly diverse religious landscape. Religious literacy is more important now than ever.