Hey, there! I'm glad you stopped by! I'd like to take a moment to introduce you to the new Goddess of the Desert Books Substack.
We are an imprint of God of the Desert Books, overseen by David Swindle. David and I are engaged, and one of the best facets of our partnership is our freedom to revel in our differences. God of the Desert reflects David's Zionist, hawkish, militant-feminist activist tendencies, and Goddess of the Desert reflects my own. And my tendencies are, well, different.
How so? I needed to create a gentle space as a writing home - a retreat. It's a place to celebrate the cozy, the hippie-dippy, the fun, and the poignant parts of life, faith, and culture. Crucial to my happiness in life is my conviction that these joys are just as worthy of honor as the world's ills: after all, it's only by nourishing our souls and comforting our spirits that we have the energy to face the world's harshness. And there are times when we all must face that.
That's why this is is a positive and nurturing space, created out of gratitude for life's blessings we've enjoyed and curiosity about the ones we haven't discovered yet. It's also a place to examine difficulty, but with a spirit of honor and exploration, never indictment.
This worldview has inspired the name of this publication: Goddess of the Desert. Sure, there's a literal element: last year, I moved to the Morongo Basin of California's Mojave Desert, and I've never felt so peaceful, so powerful, and so connected to God anywhere else. (By the way, if you see uncredited photos, such as the ones accompanying this post, those will be my own pictures of my new, gorgeous hometown!)
But the goddess spirit resides in everyone. To me, a goddess of the desert is a spirit able to take the harshest environment and turn it into a lush, beautiful ecosystem. And that's worthy of honor and celebration.
We all have that ability. If you want to lean into yours, you're in the right place.
Welcome to the Goddess of the Desert Substack!