Exploring the Sacred Through Nature: A Guide to the Church of the Wild

ConsciousCat: This book gave me some revelations and I love that I was able to take away some gifts from this book. I highly recommend it. For people researching to see if this book is for them, please keep an open mind to the ideas of this book, especially if you are coming from a religious background, and still carry a strong belief. This book unboxes religion and brings you into nature to expand and explore another side to spirituality.

United States on Oct 12, 2023

Carol Potter: Victoria Lopez takes us on a journey deep into the wilds of nature and our relationship to Her. In this time of climate catastrophe, she reminds us that we are part of nature, and that our relationship with the rest of Creation can be one of mutuality and interconnectedness rather than exploitation. She shares guidance on how to reset and in the process becomes a prophet of a new way of being with Nature. Beautifully written, it also traces some of the historical antecedents of our divergence from this path, and encourages us to find a way back. Highly recommend.

United States on May 15, 2023

Amazon Customer: This is a beautiful, thought provoking, joy inspiring book. And accessible to all. A great read.

United Kingdom on Aug 08, 2022

YogiTom: Church of the Wild: How Nature Invites Us into the Sacred was one of the best books I read in 2021, and that is saying a lot from a person who reads about a book a week. I read this book several times because I lead retreats in nature and for a long time I have led groups to "conquer" a hike or to name all of the wildflowers along a particular trail. And those have always been wonderful experiences. But, they were still a way of consuming nature and not having a relationship with her.

This book offers invitations to become in a true relationship with Nature through reverence and sacred reciprocity. And there is a very strong case that doing so opens one to their Spirit, whatever name you may subscribe to that entity. The "Terra Divina" practice, which is an adaptation of Lectio Divina, offered in the Resources section is now a regular practice. I used to "hit the trail" with my earbuds in and listen to music or a podcast. It was just a more healthy form of entertainment. Using the Terra Divina practice, I get so much more by being open to the unfolding conversation and relationship that I have with Great Mystery through creation.

And I mentioned that I am a retreat...

United States on Jan 09, 2022

Canyonwoman: I read Church of the Wild alone, in silence, in a remote desert canyon. There I was reminded of these lines from Rilke:

"I was there with the first myth makers and monks
who made up your stories, traced your runes,

But now I see you:
wind, woods, and water,
roaring at the rim of Christendom--
you, land,
to be left in darkness."
(Rilke, Book of Hours, I, 60)

Church of the Wild also roars "at the rim of Christendom." Roars, and whispers, dances, invites, seduces, imagines. "Come out deeper, friend, where the maps end, where the trail fades, where the weather is dicey, where 'You will see rare beasts and have unique adventures.'" (WH Auden, A Christmas Oratorio).

This is a deeply personal book, but it is not a memoir. Loorz retells some history, but it is not a history book. She does a deep dive into the meanings of important words and the kind of power they have (in historical context) for building empires, but it is not an epistemological writing. She unpacks the theological structures that humanity (mostly male humanity) have built around those words, and the concepts they wield, but it is not a book of theology - at least - not in the...

United States on Oct 24, 2021

Michele Walker: This is a book that gives permission to look at church and the sacred in a new way, one that is outside the confines of the church building and the oppressive and patriarchal systems that turn people off church and religion. Victoria invites you into her encounters with the wild, painting a picture of the profound experiences that make you want to have your own encounters with the sacred wild. If you long for connection to sacred and have found you are not fed by the traditional church this will start you down a wonderful and wild path.

Canada on Oct 20, 2021

Monique S.Monique S.: What a gift! This is a great book to read if you have known all along that church can be found in the cathedrals of trees and that God and the sacred simply cannot be confined to the limitations of buildings and structure. Very inspiring!

Canada on Oct 05, 2021

Liz Rees: An intimate, urgent and achingly beautiful book. I'm so grateful that Victoria Loorz has joined the great conversation. This is a sacred love story about the whole living world. I feel my heart opening and my knees buckling.

Canada on Oct 05, 2021