Snake Oil: The Art of Healing and Truth-Telling
Stevens is an Episcopal priest and founder of the not-for-profit Thistle Farms, which produces all-natural body products incorporating traditional oil blends. It’s these oils, and the alchemy Stevens and her coworkers use to turn them into healing balms and lotions, that inspired both this book and its cleverly incongruous title. The daughter of a pastor, Stevens lost her father young and suffered years of sexual abuse at the hands of a family friend. The profound effects that these experiences had in shaping her life are apparent in her understanding of the work required to heal oneself of spiritual and psychological ills. Stevens is a big believer in faith healing and backwoods medicine, and she discusses these practices in a way that is wise, gentle, and firmly nondogmatic. Recipes for healing oil blends like The Best Healing Salve Ever are included at the beginning of each chapter, giving the reader a wonderful way to connect to the healing principles discussed in the book. Rich and insightful, this is a rambling contemplation on the power of faith and the strength of simplicity to heal. --Taina Lagodzinski