Snake Oil: The Art of Healing and Truth-Telling

I love Becca Stevens! I was first introduced to her at a local church in Nashville when she was making the rounds with several of the women in recovery with Thistle Farms. I then had an opportunity to learn more about her when I entered Divinity school. Originally, I purchased this book on Audible -- I highly recommend listening to the authors read their own work. There's just something about it that makes it much more meaningful. I enjoyed listening to the story so much I knew I wanted to have a hard copy of this book to hold in my hands. From recipes for essential oils and routines and rituals of self-care, to the descriptions of pastoral moments of both doubt and clarity, Stevens moves us through the journey toward creating and holding space for those who feel broken to be reminded they've always been whole. Beautiful work!

I love this book. This purchase was actually a gift for my daughter. I have had mine for years. I read it once a year and it's just so insightful. Very encouraging. I like how she starts each chapter with a essential oil recipe and brings it into the chapter. My copy has so many highlighted

I first heard Becca Stevens speak several years ago at the ELCA's Youth Ministry Extravaganza. That year, she also spoke at the ELCA's triennial Youth Gathering. I was intrigued by her work. She's an Episcopal priest who founded a non-profit, Thistle Farms, dedicated to giving women a second chance. At Thistle Farms, women, many of whom have been on the streets, use thistles – a plant typically despised by farmers – to create beautiful hand lotions and soaps. They redeem the thistles and in the process, their work and community redeems them, bringing them healing and giving them dignity and value, often for the first time in their lives. Since I was a little familiar with Becca's work, I was excited to read her book, Snake Oil: The Art of Healing and Truth Telling. Snake Oil blends Becca's own story with the story of Thistle Farms. Among other things, Snake Oil explains Becca's understanding of healing. According to her, “Healing is grounded in four of love's basic axioms: love is eternal, love is sufficient, love is God unfolding in our lives, and love is not concerned with dogma so much as it is a dogged determination to bloom and speak... The axioms of love are written into the fabric of creation, so it is right that in the fabric we find the gifts we need to heal one another.” The last part of that quote demonstrates one of the many things I love and respect about Becca's work: She deeply values all of creation, even the thistle. For Becca, there's a deep link between healing and faith. In her words, “The suffering of the innocent in the world is not a question to be answered but a space of deep relationship, where God comes out of the whirlwind and you are with God, addressing the deepest issues of life itself... While there may never be an adequate answer to the question of why there's suffering in the world, faith asks us to engage the question deeply and with our whole hearts.” Even so, it can be tempting to devalue our own suffering in comparison to that of others. To that end, Becca says, “I used to wonder if I could ever complain about the suffering I have known in my own life given that it pales in comparison to others' suffering... Now I try to honor the suffering I have known and respect the suffering of others. I try to remember that when I encounter the suffering of others, I am encountering God.” Lest you think that Becca's form of healing is all spiritual, she's also clear that “Healing isn't just physical, emotional, and spiritual, but also economic.” To this end, her description of her ministry at Thistle Farms is fascinating, as she shares countless stories of helping the women there to “find jobs and develop marketable skills.” Though Becca's book isn't a practical how-to guide, she's clear that healing isn't limited to the work she does as a priest nor is it limited to the work non-profits do. Instead, we're all meant to participate in healing rituals. As Becca reminds us, casseroles are “sacraments and tools of healing – an outward and visible sign of the inward and spiritual grace of friendship” and “bonds deepen whenever people share stories with one another.” Without a doubt, Snake Oil is a beautiful read. It's a story of healing, hope, and love that will inspire you to seek healing in your own life and find ways to participate in healing the world around you.

Becca Stevens' honest and eloquent portrayal of her experiences and perceptions of the world she moves in offers a wonderful read: her writing has deepened my awareness of our common humanity. The author's profound faith and the integrity that pervades her writing are inspiring.

To rise above childhood wounds and become not only a self-actualizing adult and spiritual guide, but embrace the global community of victimized women and children through creation of a Botswana hospice and orphanage, Ecuadorian mission school, safe housing haven and employment for Nashville prostitutes and addicts is the amazing journey of the Reverend Becca Stevens. Her heart's outpouring is endless, even as she serves as the full time Episcopal chaplain on the Vanderbilt University campus, and pursues her spiritual writing and poetry. This book invites, inspires and motivates others to become involved in loving deeper, truer, and unabashedly.

It is 2016, and I still follow all of Becca's books. Whatever valley I have walked, there her words walk with me. The last few years have been the most difficult times of my life. God it would seem, has been silent. Therefore, I have borrowed the hope and faith Becca has vigilantly walked towards. In my loneliest moments I have remember her, her beautiful and honest ways and faith, and the words she once told me, that she had never heard of someone dying from grief. I live on that faith. Thank you Becca for never offering me a pad answer(snake oil). You have always spoken from the heart, regardless of all. Emily M.

I had the opportunity to hear Becca speak in N.H. yesterday. She is inspirational and so is her book. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in healing and transformation. Becca is making a difference in the lives of women who have often been overlooked and forgotten. She proves that one woman can have an enormous impact. Her writing is descriptive and I promise you will not regret buying this book.

Becca has a way with words and speaks from a place of authenticity and candor. She reaffirms that the great of all is Love and that Love always is more powerful.