The Flowering Wand: Rewilding the Sacred Masculine

A beautiful book. Lots of gems and moments of realisations. Couldn’t put it down.

I am in awe at the insights Sophie has had about the deforming of myths to fit the needs of the patriarchy, and how straitjacketed I have been, as a man, into the masculine choices I have been limited to. As a long-time adherent of the Hero's Journey, it was disconcerting to be faced with the need for a more collective, communal monomyth, but surely these times demand it. I think the effects of this book will never leave me. Truly a belief-changer.

This is the only work of non fiction that's ever made me cry tears of joy. I'll be buying it for many of my friends. Everybody should read it

The depth of Sophie's explorations and the vitalness, dance and generosity of her storying is beautiful.
It’s like imaginal spores leaping off pages and seeding in me.There’s an abundance of creative fertiliser in here to help sow new and ancient stories of masculinity, which if they grow could very well shape diverse cultures of care, connection and community in the compost of these destructive times. And that is heart expanding.Patriarchy is not masculinity. Masculinity has been co-opted, hardened into a one dimensional illusion for an extractive dominator culture which is causing so much pain and suffering to humans and more than humans.The Flowering Wand can help to break this spell.An essential book for those alive to the uncomfort of these times.

I love Sophie Strand's wild thinking and her deep minded writing, and so was very much looking forward to reading 'The Flowering Wand'. I enjoyed the format of exploring different masculine figures from myth as a way to weave a new masculinity for our times, one that is deeply woven into, and wedded to, the earth. The imperative to do this is a matter of survival and there was much in this book that aids that new weaving.I have heard Sophie talk about this subject and felt that she drew out themes that are less well explored in the book. It sometimes feels they there is a beautiful truth here that is never quite drawn out and that left me feeling rather frustrated in a way that I can't quite pinpoint. I loved the theme of mycelial rootedness that moves through the book and felt that that could have been drawn out even more. Somehow, the book lacks an anchor, or a tap root, that might aid understanding. But perhaps that was the intention.There is some beautiful writing here, and some difficult and important themes. Ultimately, I gained more from her short essay 'Jesus is a Fungal God', which can be found on her blog, but there is much in 'A Flowering Wand' that is valuable and worth further exploration. I am so grateful that Sophie Strand added to the conversation.

From the opening introduction of this book it is clear the author does not understand symbolism in Myth - taking literally the function of a sword rather than what it symbolically represents. The ideas are bold and imaginative but are tangential and they have no depth or follow through, to call them essays is a stretch - they are more like loosely formed opinions, puddle deep with no follow through. Strand is articulate, and obviously well-read but she offers nothing of real substance to the debate on masculinity and ignores a great deal of important work in the process that could helped her understand the subject better.Read "Iron John" by Robert Bly, and "He" by Robert A. Johnson for a far more appropriate take on how masculinity and myth/story meet.

This is a right jumble!Rewilding is an ecological term that the author has 'stolen' and is using as a slang. Sacred masculine is a bit dodgy for various reasons (surely the sacred is a definition higher than mortals, themselves being profane, and therefore not being within grasp?!), and finally what would give anyone sufficient expertise in this to start to write/teach others?Actually being a man would be good first step, but relevant study, credentials etc. would be needed to add any credence to it.I wouldn't ask an accountant to fix my boiler; from where is here expert opinion derived?

I feel like this book is what I've been looking for in my quest to better understand the origins of current archetypes as well as space for the amazing, fluidity and diversity that I see in the people I know but not in the histories or myths that get widely shared. LOVE LOVE LOVE

100%

Wondrous - a quivering gift of healing for the maimed myths and painfully partial masculinities of the modern era. Sophie Strand's book stands apart from so much of the shallow hucksterism that beckons to the mythic man-child these days. It's wise, it's crackling with wisdom, intimacy and animacy. Like Deardorff & Yunkaporta, it's best read slowly with periods of wandering between chapters and I was sorry when it came to an end. It's truly a work of en-soiled beauty and deep medicine for these times. Thank you!

Reading her essays and following her work for years now, I truly believe Sophie Strand might be one of the wisest, most literate and most clairvoyant people alive. She is like a source of knowledge, wit and spirit. What a gift to have her, may she be found and read by many, many people. Thank you for sharing your thoughts, Sophie.

I really wanted to like this book - however, it doesn't include any of the original myths, instead opting for 2 or 3 page summaries that read more like social media quips than in-depth analysis. Not sure what others are reading when leaving 5 star reviews. Read the myths themselves, talk about them with friends and wise people.Edit: goodness, I went through it again last night and found it to be so vapid and tangential, never daring to sink her teeth into a particular myth and instead reconstructing masculinity into whatever the author seems to think it is. In her commentary on Parzifal she flits between the patriarchal school system and the power of learning stories, but tries to do it within a couple of paragraphs when these ideas need multiple chapters to flesh out. There are some good seeds here but nothing of substantial nourishment.