This page is where I post books that I love to my reading list and music and podcasts that I love to my listening list.  Here you can also find links to some of the websites that I like.  Happy reading!

I strongly recommend this recording of solo piano by Paul English that is titled “Peace Offering.”  It is deeply moving music that Paul wrote and recorded with great care, during a difficult time. It is really great music to play when you want to relax or are having a hard time falling asleep.  Think George Winston but better and more meditative. This is absolutely my favorite album when I am looking for background music for spiritual and relaxation exercises.

My friend Natalie has started a monthly podcast called Can We Chat? that I would like to recommend.  It’s hosted by 4 diverse women, brought together by years of collaboration and learning from one another.  Natalie, Gloria, Yolanda, and Debbie have started this effort to research and discuss complex societal issues such as racism and social injustices.  The overall goal is to bring their collective experience, personally and professionally, to offer diverse perspectives to their listeners.  Their hope is that Can We Chat? will encourage others to begin their own discussion groups to promote learning, understanding and, ultimately, to inspire change.

One of the organizations that I have become attached to is called Sisters of Earth.  This is an informal network of roughly 250 women who share a deep concern for the ecological and spiritual crises of our times and who wish to support one another in work toward healing the human spirit and restoring Earth’s life support systems.  Check out the website at https://www.sisters-of-earth.net/.  Under the tab called Connections, there are many links to individual member and group websites.

There are a number of different books available on the subject of lectio divina.  I really love the book Sacred Reading by Michael Casey – it is a rigorous treatment of the prayer form and even has a chapter about the theological basis of lectio.  You can definitely do a deep dive in this book, which also gives you the structure of the levels of meaning behind it.  But I really love the less analytical book, Lectio Divina – The Sacred Art by Christine Valters Paintner too.  This book comprehensively describes how to use lectio divina as a spiritual practice, with many practical suggestions related to the four movements of the lectio meditation process.  I have definitely found a place in my library for both books and highly recommend them.

I have recently started listening to a podcast called Wise Women Speak: Giving Voice to the Wisdom in Women. Linda Pritcher and Lana Bastianutti are life coaches who host conversations with other women who share how they use wisdom and inner guidance to recognize and navigate a life of meaning, and to discover and speak with their own authentic voice. There are 37 episodes that span the timeframe of May 2018-March 2019, and they hope to inspire women to listen more deeply to the small still voice of wisdom within them.