For women and men who appreciate the perpetual, ever-deepening wisdom imparted by women Spinning Straw, Weaving Gold offers spiritual wisdom drawn from a woman s world; word paintings expressed in the poetry of mother-daughter dialogue. Spinning Straw, Weaving Gold has the tone of a conversation between guru and disciple: refreshingly recast in feminine form. Like the gold of the thread, wisdom shines through the text: a beautiful expression of woman’s grounded spirituality. ~ ebooks.com, http://www.ebooks.com/954721/spinning-straw-weaving-gold/anders-isabel/

The Daughter was weary at her spinning, and reflected aloud, "What if we really could spin coarse straw into fine, pure strands of gold?" "If you could accomplish that miracle," her mother admonished, "the responsibility it would entail would tax and exhaust you — mind and body — far beyond the demands of the quotidian tasks you have been given. How blessed it is to live a human, limited life.” ― Isabel Anders in Spinning Straw, Weaving Gold. Goodreads quote. http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/172740.Isabel_Anders ~ Goodreads.com author quotes, Goodreads.com

What could be more natural and timely than … Spiritual wisdom drawn from a woman's world; word paintings expressed in the poetry of mother-daughter dialogue? Home and hearth lessons in eternal truth, firmly grounded in day-to-day experience? Small scenarios of inquiry and response, deep questioning and fledgling faith, that reverberate with quiet insight? Dialogues that reflect modern levels of questioning; knots of paradox that require a woman's patient attention and inner care to tease out true, gentle wisdom? A poetic exploration of the large and the small issues of women's life-nested, braided, interwoven, never fully unraveled-in precise language that retains the mystery but awakens the soul? Dialogues with questions at the end for individual and group study. ~ Wipfandstock.com

SPINNING STRAW, WEAVING GOLD. The title, first of all, is inspired and [the] book itself is a shimmering inspiration that lifted me to the transcendent. [Isabel has a] great gift for capturing splendor in the ordinary--and creating such beauty in the truth of telling it. ... What a treasure for me--and so many--[to] keep doing that. —Anita Deyneka Coordinator, HOME FOR EVERY ORPHAN Partnership. Russian Ministries Wheaton, IL (USA) ~ Anita Deyneka, Russian Ministries

A daughter to my mother, a mother to my daughter, the circle spirals ever onward, and this thoughtful book of "word paintings" by Isabel Anders provides much to mull over and ponder upon. Beginning with the introduction, Anders talks about spinning and weaving, the evolution of wise crone-words, and the nature of this theme in the lives of women. She also addresses the all-too-often belittled value of the stories of women ("old wives' tales" told by "spinsters") and the desire to not only express the worth, but also the innate beauty, wisdom, and power of feminine thoughts. As Anders states, "Can we then propose that the blended elements of women, work and wisdom--and even of age and endurance--be reconsidered for our time in new and fresh lights?" In each segment of this book, a dialog between the daughter and the mother (who are seen not only in their relationship to one another but also in the light of crone-to-maiden conversations, which enrich all the lives they touch), the daughter questions or seeks enlightenment on mundane yet worthy questions. "How will I know what Work I am to do in the world when I leave our Home?" "Where is the Center of things, and how can I get there?" "Does life become easier as you increase in years?" The mother interacts, replies thoughtfully, and teaches her daughter the nature of spinning our lives into form and shape. "The strands of your adult life are being gathered together, day by day..." "It is where love resides..." "...each day she must still sweep the rooms, tend the fire, and spread the board." The book is rich with metaphor and parable, wisdom that reaches beyond mere words, into the realm of heart-felt answers to questions that have unsettled women for millennia. The biblically-based book is occasionally made less palatable by its focus on biblical teachings, for the message truly transcends any one religion or school of thought. There is little mention of the interpersonal relationships between the sexes, although the mother does say, at one point, "...It is all about balance. Too heavy a hand in any work can limit the outcome. Perhaps this is something that women can teach men." Yet the interplay of how the relationships between us, our weavings, and the incorporation of others' creations affect the pattern of the whole is also a subtext here; for in learning to spin our own life-story, we are also learning how to include the texture and thread of another. This small book (43 pages) comes with questions for study groups that will enhance the readings in the book, and make the book intimately sharable. These conversations, between two women, could as easily be connecting two sisters, two very close friends, or a guru and disciple who are working together to teach one another, and enable each other to find their eventual "finished work." A gentle meditative reading, this book lends itself to a variety of uses, depending on the enrichment you seek. by Laura Strathman Hulka for Story Circle Book Reviews reviewing books by, for, and about women ~ Story Circle Book Reviews, Amazon.com

http://www.blogher.com/book-giveaway-spinning-straw-weaving-gold http://www.alphabetsalad.com/book-giveaway-spinning-straw-weaving-gold/ Dear Readers: I'm excited to announce that it's time for my very first book giveaway! The contest is open to everyone (no country restrictions), and there are several ways for you to enter, so please join in the fun! You are invited to enter to win a copy of Spinning Straw, Weaving Gold: A Tapestry of Mother-Daughter Wisdom, signed by author Isabel Anders. Spinning Straw, Weaving Gold, published by John Hunt Publishing (Facebook Page), is a thoughtful book of spiritual insights, presented in the form of conversations between a mother and daughter as they spin and weave. This is a book to be savoured, each dialogue a gem of wisdom to be revisited often for contemplation and meditation. "For women and men who appreciate the perpetual, ever-deepening wisdom imparted by women." The author, Isabel Anders, blogs regularly on BlogHer and may also be found on Twitter @IsabelAnders. For further information about the author and her work, please visit her web site. http://isabelanders.wordpress.com/2012/05/25/spinning-straw-weaving-gold/ ~ Dawn Storey, BlogHer.com

Weaving Discipline into Gold We women are all daughters, someone's daughter. Some of us are mothers, too. This tapestry is an intricate weaving of the growing process from childhood to maturity, the discipline of wisdom, reminding us that wisdom is not inevitable--it requires work. "Spinning Straw, Weaving Gold" builds on the foundation of "Becoming Flame" and the dialogue continues in greater depth. As a daughter, I read Anders' words and am reminded of the wealth my mother passed on to me. In her mothering days she was orderly, precise, a model of doing things well. Words were not her strength, but she wove into her children faithfulness and diligence, "building her house." Her legacy remains and weaving gold becomes an on-going process. "Savor the journey, my Child," Anders writes, "learn and grow along with those you love." As a mother, my own mortality becomes part of that journey's realities. My college-age Isabel commented one day: "Mom, when I was little you were so tall and you could do anything." Now she knows better, but the weaving has been true and "our souls remain connected regardless of dimensions of physical space." Anders touches on a breadth of Truth defied by the brevity of the book. With the pithy focus of Brother Lawrence, she uses a macro lens to bring home the details that remind us of our interconnectedness. ~ KareninQ, Amazon.com

Spinning Straw/ Weaving Gold by Isabel Anders is a treasure of a book. It is a series of mother/daughter exchanges while they both spin and weave. These short exchanges are very intimate and beautiful. Here is my favorite: The Mother reflected aloud as they worked: 'It is said in a mystery that `You did knit me together in my mother's womb...--that God too `spins' and weaves us of the stuff of life." "I am thankful that I was `spun' near your heart," the Daughter acknowledged quietly. (Pg 11) The dialogues progress into deeper and deeper questions about life. The Mother tells the daughter that our lives are woven together as the spinning and weaving of our practical work. We weave the straw of our lives into meaning. This connection between the work women do and the unfolding of the Pattern of their lives, Ms. Anders says, is something women do best. It is waiting and learning and doing; not a grasping and taking. This is a feminist book in its own quiet, strong way. I loved it. ~ Barbara Hughes, Amazon.com

I try in my books simply to give space and attention to some of women’s unique transforming experiences: small scenarios—but often with wider implications. What I have crafted are little cameos of a mother and daughter—twisting and pulling on truth as they encounter it; some have called them “miniature parables” of life. Spinning and weaving are excellent metaphors for this process that women naturally experience in their lives, which can sometimes produce different shades and forms of result than those commonly valued by men. One of the tasks that women especially struggle with is the quest for time—more of it, and a better quality of experience. The story of Penelope, wife of Odysseus in Homer’s epic The Odyssey, is an instance of this. It shows how weaving—of actual materials and of experiences, including those of the spirit—allows women time. They can, in solitary or shared labor, begin to evaluate, choose, and reflect, while creating in a slow but steady way the necessary conditions for their lives. Spinning and weaving can also symbolize a process through which to proceed to another stage in life. Penelope, in the absence of her husband on his travels, was besieged by many suitors. But she managed to put off choosing who would replace Odysseus in the event of his not coming back. She did this by asserting that she would not decide until she had finished weaving a shroud for her father-in-law Laertes. But for three years she would weave during the day and then unravel her work at night, so that no progress ensued. And thus she “gained” time, the most precious commodity to the wise woman in learning how to live her life. Her task: to arrange for good the pieces of reality to which she has access. In my mother-daughter dialogues I envision a timeless feminine context in which not only carding, spinning, and weaving could occur, but in which two women (the daughter has grown and now works side-by-side with her mother) can actively participate in mining the wisdom that comes through their shared experience. “How will I know what Work I am to do in the world when I leave our Home?” the Daughter asked aloud. “The strands of your adult life are being gathered together day by day,” her Mother assured her. “Over time you will be able to discern a distinct configuration that reveals itself, more and more, to be a Pattern.” *** “Father has built our house of many types of materials,” the Daughter noted, “beam and brick, board-and-batten, stone and shingle.” “Just so,” her Mother noted, “a wise woman builds her ‘house’ from the substances of discipline and purpose, joy and love, tears and hard work.” “I want to live here with you and Father for as long as I need to learn from you,” the Daughter said. “And from these thoughts and intents ... the house of your Soul grows also. Eventually it will ‘house’ you well, when you have gone into the world.” “But that will not be for quite a long time!” the Daughter said, hugging her Mother. ~ http://www.blogher.com/finding-time-gaining-time, BlogHer.com

[Isabel Anders'] Becoming Flame was a beautifully written piece of folk art. Containing valuable life lessons, written in a simplistic, yet poetic and beautiful language, it imparted biblically based values without being an actual biblically based book. (Anders has, however, written other books which have a biblical basis and are full of scriptural references.) Isabel quickly became one of my favorite authors, a mentor and friend. Recently, she honored me with the chance to review her newest book, a sequel to Becoming Flame. Spinning Straw, Weaving Gold: A Tapestry of Mother-Daughter Wisdom continues with the same impartation of wisdom and literary beauty that began with BecomingFlame. Spinning Straw, Weaving Gold presents more dialogue between a mother and her daughter as they discuss the strength and beauty contained in the essence of womanhood. Drawing on various biblical and literary references, Isabel Anders once again presents a poetic treasury of spiritual lessons as the daughter consults her mother for an impartation of wisdom on life. The mother lovingly provides guidance, direction and answers to her daughter. We, as modern women, will be able to draw upon some of the sage’s advice and direction and apply it to our own lives. This book is available from online retailers such as www.amazon.com. ~ http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art52697.asp, BellaOnline.com

One of the sage observations in Spinning Straw, Weaving Gold is the quotation from St. Catherine of Siena: 'Make two homes for thyself, my daughter. One actual home…and the other a spiritual home, which thou are to carry with thee always. These are the two lives we are building as we labor, sometimes all in one motion.' Complete with notes, Study Questions, and Bibliography, this small volume is tightly woven with wisdom in dialogues created from the pieces and scraps of Anders’ own life…and that of many writers of wisdom literature. The result is a rich tapestry of carefully-chosen colors. ~ Diane Marquart Moore., Blogspot

"I just wanted to let you know that a little group of women who meet regularly as a worshipful community had a little ritual where someone was sewing something, and the rest of us read little bits of your book while she did so. It was beautiful, so thank you for the gift of your writing!" —Jennifer Kavanagh, author of Journey Home. ~ Jennnifer Kavanagh, correspondence

Spinning Straw, Weaving Gold is a lyrical little book, rooted in myth. References to stories from the Bible and such as those of Ariadne and Penelope enrich the simple form of a dialogue between mother and daughter. As Isabel Anders says in the introduction, 'woman's work and woman's wisdom come to us…as two inseparable strands, braided within her very person', and it is in the two womens spinning and weaving that they express their wisdom, and reveal a female spirituality deeply rooted in the physical. 'Work and love. Love and work. It is in the artful weaving of these two primary life strands…that deep fulfilment is sought.' The book has the tone of a conversation between guru and disciple: refreshingly recast in feminine form. Like the gold of the thread, wisdom shines through the text: a beautiful expression of woman's grounded spirituality. A little reservation: the text works better when uninterrupted by phrases such as 'said/acknowledged/ noted the Mother/Daughter', and has no need of externalised moral judgements such as 'wisely'. ~ Jennifer Kavanagh, author of The O of Home

Isabel Anders has woven straw into gold with her wisdom-filled mother-daughter dialogues. This is a wonderful book to sit with and reflect on the treasures Anders brings that are as new as each day, and as old as the first mother and daughter conversation. Isabel Anders is a teacher pulling up threads in the tapestry of our collective lives so that we might examine them and then weave them into our own personal tapestry. I found myself wanting to enter into the dialogue and to be included in the conversation. ~ Marian Windel, Sophia House Executive Director

I like [Isabel’s] mixture of profundity and populism—her sense of addressing something accessible but without leaving behind the most serious paradoxes. ~ Richard Grossinger, Noted anthropologist and author of On the Integration of Nature