Liturgies of the Wild

About this book

AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER "Here is a rosary of soaring myth, gripping narrative, and deep wisdom, all told with breathtaking verve that enchants and sweeps us along, from first word to last. A superb, inspiring read." --GABOR MATÉ, author of The Myth of Normal From "one of the greatest storytellers we have" (Robert Bly), an urgent invitation to allow the oldest stories--and the Greatest Story--to reshape our own. There's an old Irish belief that if you aren't wrapped in a cloak of story you will be unprepared for what the world will hurl at you. You remain adolescent at just the moment a culture worth its salt requires you to become a real, grown, human being. In Liturgies of the Wild, acclaimed mythographer, storyteller and Christian thinker Martin Shaw argues that we live in a myth-impoverished age and that such poverty has left us vulnerable to stories that may not wish us well. Drawing on the "ancient technologies" of myths and initiatory rites, Shaw provides a road to wholeness, maturity and connection. He teaches us to read a myth the way it wants to be read; provides vivid retellings of tales powerful enough to carry you through life's travails; and shows you how to gather and reshape your own thrown-away stories. Most vividly, he shares how these ancient technologies led him--unexpectedly--to Christ, "the True Myth," by way of a thirty-year journey and a 101-night vigil in a Dartmoor forest. Combining scholarly erudition with nimble storytelling in the tradition of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, Liturgies of the Wild is a thrilling counsel of resistance and delight in the face of many modern monsters.