Women in Love with the Divine - by Erica Bassani (Paperback)

About the Book

"Women in Love with the Divine shares the stories and teachings of contemporary female teachers from different spiritual traditions, exploring the unique ways that spirituality is experienced by women in the world today"-- Provided by publisher.

Book Synopsis

What does it mean to be a woman committed to a relationship with the sacred in today's world?

On a quest to answer this question for herself, Erica Bassani shares stories from her encounters with a dozen women spiritual teachers from Buddhist, Taoist, Hindu, Christian, Muslim, Jewish, and Nondual traditions.

In Women in Love with the Divine, Erica Bassani embarks on a deeply personal journey of spiritual rediscovery after years of disciplined Buddhist practice during her 20s. Facing the end of a relationship, job loss, and physical injury, she felt the need to connect with female spiritual role models, only to realize she knew almost none.

Her search for inspiration leads her to the banks of the Ganges, the peaks of the Himalayas, the streets of Florence, and the highways of the United States, where she engages in transformative conversations with twelve extraordinary female spiritual teachers from diverse traditions.

Through heartfelt and intimate exchanges, Bassani bridges generations as she shares what she learns from women like Tibetan Buddhist nun Lama Tsultrim Allione, yoga and Zen teacher Elena Brower, Taoist priestess Karine Martin, and Hindu teacher Vanamali Mataji, who share their insights on navigating the spiritual path as a woman.

Together, they explore themes of vulnerability, resilience, and surrender, contemplating questions like:

• What does it mean to approach spiritual practice as a woman?
• How do we surrender without losing our sense of agency and strength?
• In what ways can women reclaim their voices in traditions that often silence them?
• What practices help us balance the masculine and feminine energies within?
• What does it mean to be a woman in love with the Divine while trying to balance family, career, and self-care?

With evocative storytelling and meaningful insights, this book is an invitation to deepen your own spiritual journey or begin anew--guided by the voices of women who embody the fierce strength, wisdom, devotion, and tenderness of the feminine spirit.

Review Quotes

"What a feast of feminine spirit! In this luminous collection of conversations and reflections, Erica Bassani distills the essence of women's wisdom across spiritual traditions and feeds us all--women, men, soul-seekers of all genders and every faith. I love that Erica's quest to find these hidden masters began with a transformative crisis and led to whole-making. This is the way of the sacred feminine, from mystery to embodiment, through beauty into truth."
--Mirabai Starr, author of Wild Mercy and Ordinary Mysticism

"Like so many spiritual seekers, Erica Bassani wondered where all the female teachers were. Speaking with deeply practiced tantrikas, yoginis, rabbis, scholars, and mystics around the world, she has created a compendium that will be useful for anyone seeking to hear the feminine principle elucidated with clarity and intimacy."
--Susan Piver, author of The Wisdom of a Broken Heart and Inexplicable Joy: On the Heart Sutra

"Women in Love with the Divine is a treasure for our time, a living testament to the power of the sacred feminine. With grace and vulnerability, Erica Bassani invites us to join her on a transformative pilgrimage into the heart of the goddess. Guided by the wisdom of deeply practiced humans who have devoted their lives to the path, this powerful collection of voices inspires the birth of our own unique sense of love, embodiment, and divinity within."
--Willa Blythe Baker, author of The Wakeful Body and guiding teacher of Natural Dharma Fellowship

About the Author

ERICA BASSANI is a writer based in Italy. A graduate of the Academy of Storytelling in Turin, she spent a year living in a Theravadan Buddhist monastery at the age of 23. Since then, she has turned to female spiritual teachers from diverse traditions to help her navigate her inner journey. She created the Women Awakening Project--an initiative that highlights the wisdom of female spiritual role models and explores spiritual practice through the lens of women's experiences--to share their wisdom and create a bridge between generations of seekers. Bassani is author of Donne che Eslporano il Divino, coauthor (with Massimo Bonomelli) of Va Bene Così, and the Italian translator of The Four Noble Truths of Love by Susan Piver.