These books are the collective recommendations of the Sisters of Belle Coeur. Many of these titles are in our personal libraries and have provided countless moments of grace, contemplation, and inspiration. We hope you find a new resource from among these suggestions.
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Books by Sibyl Dana Reynolds
Ink and Honey is the story of a sacred journey through the medieval French countryside with the sisters of Belle Cœur, a community of radically independent healers, visionaries, mystics and artisans who live by their wits and their prayers. Goscelin, the dedicated scribe, records her sisterhood’s stories, visions and prophecies in her community’s journal while surrounded by holy madness, suspicion and the imminent threat of death at the stake. The sisters guard a life-threatening secret as they navigate spiritual terrain where faith and creative passion forge the way to labyrinths and cathedrals, hidden rooms and honey drenched hives. This book is alive with women’s ancient wisdom and spiritual practices to inform our lives today.
This spiritual companion guidebook is an accompaniment for the author's award winning novel, Ink and Honey. The Way of Belle Coeur: A Woman's Vade Mecum details four spiritual pathways of Spirit, Sacrament, Sisterhood, and Service. Readers will also discover four alchemical chambers: Devotion, Craft, Story, and Study. Journal prompts and creative exercises, throughout, enrich the experience. Inspired by the Belle Coeur way of life depicted in the story of Ink and Honey, The Way of Belle Coeur is centered within the heart and teachings of the Beloved, Jesus the Christ, and the Sacred Feminine, Wisdom Sophia. Iconotypal portraits of the characters of Ink and Honey invite personal archetypal/iconotypal reflection. Woven throughout the book are the stories and wisdom of the contemporary Sisters of Belle Coeur. Additional inspiration is provided through seasonal reflection, a lexicon of symbols and vocabulary, and prayers and personal sacraments for everyday and special occasions. This is a book for the woman who is seeking spiritual and creative enrichment. The reader is encouraged to journal and craft her Belle Coeur Sacred Wisdom Codex. Detailed guidance is provided. The Way of Belle Coeur: A Woman's Vade Mecum offers a cosmology that is spiritual and practical, creative and evolutionary. This book invites the reader to become a sacred life-artisan and to make an inner pilgrimage to discover the beauty and sacred wisdom of Belle Coeur...the Beautiful Heart.
Books by Belle Coeur Sisters
The traumas and losses of childhood are often buried. The child grows up appearing normal, unscathed and perhaps even successful. But often what is buried comes back to attack at the very moment when life is reaching its pinnacle. This is the story of one woman’s spiral downward into physical and mental breakdown and her return to wholeness by courageously, and some would say recklessly, following her intuition.
Feeling Our Way: Embracing the Tender Heart offers a multidimensional approach to better appreciate how our feelings serve as messengers of important information and that the heart is their best interpreter. When we learn to embrace our tender heart, and reconnect the healing with the hurting, a new conscious alignment with our soulful essence becomes possible and the inner critic comes to peace. We also reap the added benefit of positively impacting child development, our personal and professional relationships, and the world.
The traumas and losses of childhood are often buried. The child grows up appearing normal, unscathed and perhaps even successful. But often what is buried comes back to attack at the very moment when life is reaching its pinnacle. This is the story of one woman’s spiral downward into physical and mental breakdown and her return to wholeness by courageously, and some would say recklessly, following her intuition.
Books by Belle Coeur Sisters
In an extraordinary sequence of quieting verse and meditative writing, Joyce Rupp reflects on Sophia--Feminine Wisdom in the Hebrew Scriptures. Each healing reflection invites us to dip into Sophia's quiet guidance and come away refreshed. Sophia emerges as a comforting presence in the process of examining our old beliefs, left-over hurts, self-acceptance and connections with the earth. Accompanying mandalas and suggestions for spiritual exercises and journaling make this book especially valuable for personal meditation and growth, and as a group resource/study guide.
Starting with a dark-skinned girl barely out of adolescence when she gives birth, Lesley Hazleton weaves together the many facets of Mary's existence: peasant villager, wise woman and healer, activist, mother, teacher, and yes, virgin, though in a sense we have long forgotten. She follows her through the worst any mother can experience-the excruciating death of her child-and then looks at how she transforms grief into wisdom, disaster into renewal. Strong and courageous, the Mary we see here does not merely assent to her role in history, but chooses it and lives it to the fullest.
For more than a decade, Joyce Rupp's classic, THE STAR IN MY HEART, has invited readers to experience the healing images of Sophia--Feminine Wisdom in the Hebrew Scriptures. Now in this beautiful new companion book, PRAYERS TO SOPHIA, Joyce Rupp enriches our spiritual journey with prayers from her personal journal, accompanied by journaling suggestions for reflection. Steeped in life experience and enriched with poetic metaphor, Rupp's courageous sharing invites us to new spiritual depth as we explore the Feminine image of God.
Life demands so much of us. From the moment we open our eyes till the moment we go to sleep, we're pulled in multiple directions and besieged with the white noise of a busy, busy world. We find ourselves worried and upset about many things. But only one thing is needed. In Seeking Spiritual Intimacy Glenn Myers introduces us to the Beguines, a network of faith communities in Medieval Europe, where women organized their world around the one thing needed--a simple life with Christ at the center. Here you'll learn from the insights of wise women of faith who, from their modest homes and quiet communities, revitalized the faith of a continent.
Experiencing Hildegard offers a synthesis of Hildegard of Bingen's spirituality with insights from Jungian depth psychology, particularly regarding the unconscious and the reality of the soul. In this revised and expanded edition, Clendenen brings the scholarship up to date and addresses the changes wrought by Hildegard being named a Doctor of the Church.
Margaret Starbird’s theological beliefs were profoundly shaken when she read Holy Blood, Holy Grail, a book that dared to suggest that Jesus Christ was married to Mary Magdalen and that their descendants carried on his holy bloodline in Western Europe. Shocked by such heresy, this Roman Catholic scholar set out to refute it, but instead found new and compelling evidence for the existence of the bride of Jesus--the same enigmatic woman who anointed him with precious unguent from her “alabaster jar.”
Exploring Prayer and Sacred Practices
Some of Sr. Joyce Rupp's most perennially popular books have been collections of her original prayers, blessings, poems, and reflections. In Prayer Seeds, the bestselling author and retreat leader offers almost a hundred new selections on a variety of themes such as the feasts and seasons of the liturgical year, compassion, ministry, difficult times, and important events--all suitable for personal or group prayer.
What was old is new and relevant again. For many Christians today, the growing desire for a deeper faith experience is being met in the study and application of ancient worship practices. Traditions of the Ancients is filled with candidly informative looks at such themes as mysticism, praying for the gift of tears, reciting the Jesus prayer, and asking God for the gift of bereavement.
The traumas and losses of childhood are often buried. The child grows up appearing normal, unscathed and perhaps even successful. But often what is buried comes back to attack at the very moment when life is reaching its pinnacle. This is the story of one woman’s spiral downward into physical and mental breakdown and her return to wholeness by courageously, and some would say recklessly, following her intuition.
Using scripture, poetry, reflections, personal stories, and quotes from a rich array of spiritual teachers for many religions, Wiederkehr helps readers become more attuned to living in the present moment and develop a kindred spirit with the rich tradition of the sacred hours. Seven Sacred Pauses is a wonderful gift to those who seek to find balance in their busy days and to bring the practice of the Divine Hours home to their own hearts.
n Pilgrim Principles: Journeying with Intention in Everyday Life, author Lacy Clark Ellman leads you on a seven-week journey to embrace the practice of pilgrimage right at home. Each week, she explores a different guiding principle of the pilgrim, with themes ranging from looking for the Sacred in the ordinary and immersing oneself in culture, to uncovering the true self and the presence of the Divine within.
Catherine emphasizes 'poustinia of the heart,' an interiorized poustinia, a silent chamber carried always and everywhere in which to contemplate God within. Learn how our desert can be in the marketplace, in the midst of countless conferences, traffic jams, bus trips--or a hospital ward. Written by one who knows by experience, Poustinia brings consolation with its vision of a personal desert that can bloom in simple, profound prayer.
In this collection, Roger introduces us to some of the foremost poets of both the Eastern and Western Christian traditions. He takes us from the wisdom of the Desert Fathers to the passion of St. Augustine, through the medieval ecstasies of St. Francis of Assisi and St. Catherine of Siena, to the subtleties of St. John of the Cross and St. Teresa of Avila; and on to contemporary voices such as Rainer Maria Rilke, T.S. Eliot, and Mary Oliver. Roger’s insightful commentary on each poem inspires us to take its words more deeply into our souls and shows how the mystical tradition transcends sectarian divides and speaks to the heart of humanity.
The Beekeeper’s Bible is as much an ultimate guide to the practical essentials of beekeeping as it is a beautiful almanac to be read from cover to cover. Part history book, part handbook, and part cookbook, this illustrated tome covers every facet of the ancient hobby of beekeeping, from how to manage hives safely to harvesting one's own honey, and ideas for how to use honey and beeswax. Detailed instructions for making candles, furniture polish, beauty products, and nearly 100 honey-themed recipes are included. Fully illustrated with how-to photography and unique etchings, any backyard enthusiast or gardener can confidently dive into beekeeping with this book in hand (or daydream about harvesting their own honey while relaxing in the comfort of an armchair).
Summarized in the phrase "pray and work," The Rule of St. Benedict provides the inspiration for Christine Valters Paintner's newest exploration of the mutually nourishing relationship between contemplative practices and creative expression. Artists of all stripes and stations in life--poets or painters, potters or photographers--will discover how traditions of Benedictine, Celtic, and desert spirituality can offer new sources of inspiration for their work.