100 Best Books in Women's Spirituality

Women's Spirituality Book Awards & 25th Anniversary Library Collection

The Women's Spirituality program CIIS is pleased to honor one hundred of the best new books in the genre of Women's Spirituality. These books include a broad diversity of scholars and artists who are contributing to the emerging academic field of Women's Spirituality.

The Women's Spirituality program at CIIS is one of the few places where students can earn a Ph.D. or M.A. that centers on Women's Spirituality and eco-social justice as a global field of studies. Our curriculum emphasizes three tracks: women's mysteries, sacred arts, and healing; women and world religions; and feminist/eco-feminist philosophy and activism.

Our faculty and students are especially grateful to the many hundreds of Women's Spirituality authors and artists who inspire and nourish the work we do in higher education to support women's spiritual freedoms, cultural agency, and eco-social justice around the world.

After nomination, the books donated to CIIS and will be included in the Women's Spirituality 25th Anniversary Library Collection.

1. Allan, Freeman. Sacred Source: One Man's Journey of Reunion with the Divine Feminine.
2. Alvizo, Xochitl and Gina Messina eds. Women, Religion, Revolution.
3. Amazzone, Laura. Goddess Durga: Sacred Female Power.
4. Ashcraft-Eason, Lillian, Darnese C. Martin, and Oyeronke Olademo, eds. Women and New and Africana Religions.
5. Barrett, Ruth. Women's Rites, Women's Mysteries: Intuitive Ritual Creation.
6. Beavis, Mary Ann. Christian Goddess Spirituality: Enchanting Christianity.
7. Beavis, Mary Ann and Helen Hye-Sook Hwang, eds. Goddesses in Myth, History and Culture.
8. Biaggi, Cristina. Activism into Art into Activism into Art.
9. Birnbaum, Lucia Chiavola. The Future Has an Ancient Heart.
10. Bolen, Jean Shinoda. Like a Tree: How Trees, Women and Tree People Can Save the Planet.
11. Bolen, Jean Shinoda. Artemis: The Indomitable Spirit in Everywoman.
12. Bolen, Jean Shinoda. Moving Toward the Millionth Circle: Energizing the Global Women's Movement.
13. Boucher, Sandy. She Appears! Encounters with Kwan Yin.
14. Carrico, Eila. The Other Side of the River: Stories of Women, Water, and the World.
15. Christ, Carol and Judith Plaskow. Goddess and God in the World. Conversations in Embodied Theology.
16. Christian, Victoria and Susan Stedman, eds. Feminine Mysticism in Art: Artists Envisioning the Divine.
17. Coleman, Monica A. Bipolar Faith: A Black Woman's Journey with Depression and Faith.
18. Coleman, Monica A. Ed. Ain't I A Womanist Too? Third Wave Womanist Religious Thought.
19. Cross, Jen. Writing Ourselves Whole: Using the Power of Your Own Creativity to Recover and Heal from Sexual Trauma.
20. De Veaux, Alexis. Yabo.
21. Dexter, Miriam Robbins and Victor H. Mair. Sacred Display: Divine and Magical Female Figures of Eurasia.
22. Dexter, Miriam Robbins and Vicki Noble. Foremothers of Women's Spirituality Movement: Elders and Visionaries.
23. Duckett, Kim. The Wheel of the Year as an Earth-Based Spiritual Psychology for Women.
24. Dumont, Marion and Gayatri Devi, eds. Myths Shattered and Restored. Proceedings of the Association for the Study of Women and Mythology. Volume 1.
25. Dunbar-Ortiz, Roxanne. An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States.
26. Elkins, Kathleen Gallagher. Mary Mother of Martyrs: How Motherhood Became Self-Sacrifice in Early Christianity.
27. Eltahawy, Mona. Headscarves and Hymens: Why the Middle East Needs a Sexual Revolution.
28. Ensler, Eve. In the Body of the World: A Memoir of Cancer and Connection.
29. Facio, Elisa and Irene Lara, eds. Fleshing the Spirit: Spirituality and Activism in Chicana, Latina, and Indigenous Women's Lives.
30. Gidla, Sujatha. Ants Among Elephants: An Untouchable Family and the Making of Modern India.
31. Goldberg, Susan and Chloe Brushwood Rose, eds. And Baby Makes More: Known Donors, Queer Parents and Our Unexpected Families.
32. Goldstein, Rabbi Elyse, Ed. New Jewish Feminism: Probing the Past, Forging the Future.
33. Goode, Starr. Sheela na gig: The Dark Goddess of Sacred Power.
34. Goettner-Abendroth, Heide. Societies of Peace: Matriarchies Past, Present and Future.
35. Grahn, Judy. Hanging on Our Own Bones.
36. Grahn, Judy. A Simple Revolution: The Makings of an Activist Poet.
37. Gren, D'vorah J. Talking to Goddess: Powerful Voices from Many Traditions.
38. Gonzales, Patrisia. Red Medicine: Traditional Indigenous Rites of Birthing and Healing. 2012
39. Griffin, Susan. Wrestling with the Angel of Democracy: On Being an American Citizen.
40. Gurr, Barbara. Reproductive Justice: The Politics of Health Care for Native American Women.
41. Hale, Thomas A. and Assiata G. Sidikou. eds. Women's Songs from West Africa.
42. Hammer, Jill and Taya Shere. The Hebrew Priestess: Ancient and New Visions of Jewish Women's Spiritual Leadership.
43. Harris, Melanie. Gifts of Virtue: Alice Walker and Womanist Ethics.
44. Harris, Melanie. Ecowomanism: African-American Women and Earth-honoring Faiths.
45. Hidayatullah, Ayesha A. Feminist Edges of the Qur'an.
46. Hucks, Tracey. Yoruba Traditions and African American Religious Nationalism.
47. Hunt, Mary E. and Diann L. Neu., eds. New Feminist Christianity: Many Voices, Many Views.
48. Hwang, Helen Hye-Sook. The Mago Way: Re-discovering Mago the Goddess from East Asia.
49. Hwang, Helen Hye-Sook Hwang and Mary Ann Beavis, eds. Celebrating Seasons of the Goddess.
50. Hwang, Helen Hye-Sook and Kaalii Cargill, eds. She Rises: Why Goddess Feminism, Activism and Spirituality? Volume 1.
51. Joan, Eahr A. ReGenesis Encyclopedia: Synthesis of the Spiritual Dark-Motherline, Integral Research, Labyrinth Learning, and Eco-thea-logy.
52. Jones, Kathy. Soul and Shadow: Birthing MotherWorld: The Healing Journey of a Priestess of Avalon.
53. Jordan, Nane. Placenta Wit: Mother Stories, Rituals and Research.
54. Kalmanofsky, Amy. Sexual Violence and Sacred Texts.
55. Karim, Jamilah. American Muslim Women: Negotiating Race, Class and Gender Within the Ummah.
56. Kant, Candace. C. and Anne Key, eds. Heart of the Sun: An Anthology in Exaltation of Sekhmet.
57. Key, Anne and Candace C. Kant, eds. Stepping into Ourselves: An Anthology of Writing on Priestesses.
58. Knight, Jennie S. Feminist Mysticism and IMAGES of God: A Practical Theology.
59. Kraemer, Christine Hoff. Eros and Touch from a Pagan Perspective: Divided for Love's Sake.
60. Kumari, Ayele. IYANIFA: Women of Wisdom.
61. Kwok, Pui-lan, ed. Hope Abundant: Third World and Indigenous Women's Theology.
62. Levart, Lisa. Goddess on Earth: Portraits of the Divine Feminine.
63. Ma, Vajra. Foremothers of Women's Spirituality Online Resource.
64. Mackey, Mary. The Village of Bones: Sabala's Tale.
65. Mackey, Mary. The Jaguars That Prowl Our Dreams: New and Selected Poems 1974 - 2018.
66. Messina-Dysert, Gina. Rape Culture and Spiritual Violence: Religion, Testimony, and Visions of Healing.
67. Mitchell, Sherri / Weh'na Ha'Mu' Kwasset (She Who Brings the Light). Sacred Instructions: Indigenous Wisdom for Living Spirit-Based Change.
68. Monaghan, Patricia and Michael McDermott, eds. Brigit: Sun of Womanhood.
69. Nkabinde. Nkunzi Zandile. Black Bull, Ancestors and Me: My Life as a Lesbian Sangoma.
70. Oleszkiewicz-Peralba, Malgorzata. Fierce Feminine Divinities of Eurasia and Latin America: Baba Yaga, Kali, Pombagira and Santa Muerte.
71. Oparah, Julia Chinyere and Alicia Bonaparte, eds. Birthing Justice: Black Women, Pregnancy and Childbirth.
72. Otero, Solimar and Toyin Falola, eds. Yemoja: Gender, Sexuality and Creativity in the Latina/o and Afro-Atlantic Diasporas.
73. Pearce, Lucy H. Medicine Woman: Reclaiming the Soul of Healing.
74. Perez, Elizabeth. Religion in the Kitchen: Cooking, Talking and Making of Black Atlantic Traditions.
75. Ravenwood, Kathryn W. How to Create Sacred Water: A Guide to Rituals and Practices.
76. Rajeev, Lekshmy. Attukal Amma: The Goddess of Millions.
77. Reger, Sid and Marna Hauk, eds. Vibrant Voices: Women, Myth and the Arts. Proceedings of the Association of Women and Mythology. Volume 2.
78. Rigoglioso, Marguerite. The Cult of Divine Birth in Ancient Greece.
79. Roy, Arundhati. Ministry of Utmost Happiness.
80. Ruyle, Lydia. Goddesses of the Americas: Spirit Banners of the Divine Feminine.
81. Santana, Deborah, Ed. All the Women in My Family Sing: Women Write the World: Essays on Equality, Justice and Freedom (Nothing but the Truth so Help Me God).
82. Saracino, Mary and Mary Beth Moser, eds. She is Everywhere! An Anthology of Writings in Womanist/Feminist Spirituality. Volume 3.
83. Schultz, Dagmar, Film Director. Audre Lorde: The Berlin Years.
84. Schussler-Fiorenza, Elisabeth. Congress of Wo/men: Religion, Gender and Kyriarchal Power.
85. Schwab, Nicole. The Heart of the Labyrinth.
86. Skott-Myhre, Kathleen. Feminist Spirituality Under Capitalism: Witches, Fairies and Nomads.
87. Spretnak, Charlene. Relational Reality: New Discoveries of Interrelatedness that are Transforming the Modern World.
88. Starhawk. The Empowerment Manual. A Guide for Collaborative Groups.
89. Strobel, Leny Mendoza, ed. Babaylan: Filipinos and the Call of the Indigenous.
90. Subramanian, Meera. A River Runs Again: India's Natural World in Crisis from the Barren Cliffs of Rajasthan to the Farmlands of Karnataka.
91. Tanenbaum, Leora. Taking Back God: American Women Rising Up for Religious Equality.
92. Turner, Kristina. Natural Birth: A Holistic Guide to Pregnancy, Childbirth, and Breastfeeding.
93. Ursic, Elizabeth. Women, Ritual, and Power: Placing Female Imagery of God in Christian Worship.
94. Van de Meer, Annine. The Language of MA the Primal Mother: The Evolution of the Female Image in 40,000 Years of Global Venus Art.
95. Vaughan, Genevieve. The Gift in the Heart of Language: The Maternal Source of Meaning.
96. Vedder-Schultz, Nancy. The World is Your Oracle.
97. Walker, Alice. Taking the Arrow Out of the Heart.
98. Wilding, Amy Bammel. Wild and Wise: Sacred Feminine Meditations for Women's Circles & Personal Awakening.
99. Wilson, Beth. The Recovering Feminist. Empowering All People to Create a Whole World.
100. Washington, Teresa N. The Architects of Existence: Aje in Yoruba Cosmology, Ontology and Orature.

The Women's Spirituality Book Awards Committee of Professors May Elawar, Mara Lynn Keller, and Arisika Razak wish to thank those who nominated and donated these books: Freeman Allan, J. J. Anderson, Jean Shinoda Bolen, Alexandra K. Cichon, Carol P. Christ, Patti Davis, May Elawar, Feminist Studies in Religion Books, Goddess, Ink., Devorah Gren, Starr Goode, Dianne Jenett, Kathy Jones, Nané Jordan, Mara Lynn Keller, Margaret Lee, Vajra Ma, Mary Mackey, Mago Books, Mary Beth Moser, Malgorzata Olesckiewicz-Peralta, Kohanet Cedar Ranney and Kohenet Yael Schonzeit, Arisika Razak, Kristina Turner, Annine van de Meer, Nancy Vedder- Schultz, Beth Wilson, and Woman Craft Publishing.