Our next book is Sophie Strands’s sumptuous The Flowering Wand - Rewilding the Sacred Masculine.
“Lunar kings, trans-species magicians, and rhizomatic harpists.”
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60138088-the-flowering-wand
Are you interested in coming on a journey exploring regenerative and magical secrets of sacred masculinity hidden in familiar myths both ancient and modern?
Let’s Zoom on Monday 24th November, having ideally read the book.
Here are some thoughts on the book from goodreads.com :
• Reveals the restorative fungi archetype of Osiris, the Orphic mysteries as an underground mycelium linking forests and people, how Dionysus teaches us about invasive species and playful sexuality, and the ecology of Jesus as depicted in his nature-focused parables
• Liberates Tristan, Merlin, and the Grail legends from the bounds of Campbell’s hero’s journey and invites the masculine into more nuanced, complex ways of dealing with trauma, growth, and self-knowledge
Long before the sword-wielding heroes of legend readily cut down forests, slaughtered the old deities, and vanquished their enemies, there were playful gods, animal-headed kings, mischievous lovers, trickster harpists, and vegetal magicians with flowering wands. As eco-feminist scholar Sophie Strand discovered, these wilder, more magical modes of the masculine have always been hidden in plain sight.
Sharing the culmination of eight years of research into myth, folklore, and the history of religion, Strand leads us back into the forgotten landscapes and hidden secrets of familiar myths, revealing the beautiful range of the divine masculine, including expressions of male friendship, male intimacy, and male creative collaboration. In discussing Dionysus and Osiris, Strand encourages us to think like an ecosystem instead of like an individual. She connects dying, vegetal gods to the virtuous cycle of composting and decay, highlighting the ways in which mushrooms can restore soil and heal polluted landscapes. Exploring esoteric Christianity, the author celebrates the Gnostic Jesus of the Gospel of Thomas, imagining the ecology that the Rabbi Yeshua would have actually been referencing in his nature-focused parables. Strand frees Tristan, Merlin, and the Grail legends from the bounds of Campbell’s hero’s journey and invites the masculine into more nuanced, complex ways of dealing with trauma, growth, and self-knowledge.
Strand reseeds our minds with new visions of male identity and shows how each of us, regardless of gender, can develop a matured ecological empathy and witness a blossoming of sacred masculine powers that are soft, curious, connective, and celebratory.
Are you interested?
Malwen Book Club recently explored Active Hope, and before that Wild Mind, and developed a weekly format that supported our exploration of the books. We hope to follow a similar format with The Flowering Wand, but rather than do exercises, focus more on sharing how the stories resonated and inspire us.
Let’s come together on Zoom on Monday 24th November 2025, giving everyone time to read the book at least once. On the 24th we can agree a process that works for all of us.
We hope to complete our time with the book on 23rd February 2026.
There are 33 short chapters (3 to 6 pages each) and a short Conclusion. We are planning to group the chapters in themes (Celtic, Greek, Tarot, Biblical, Jesus, Tolkein & Shakespeare, … ). Or we might choose to go through the book as it’s written, choosing 3 chapters each week. We can make a decision together when we meet on the 24th.