The Must-Read Book Club
Sierra Hollister: Strand’s book is about our relationship to the dark, to the organic night without artificial lighting. It's about the consequences of not having the dark and how this is impacting not only our health, but also the health of our planet. It's a fairly quick and easy read and I found myself reading out loud, to whomever might be in the room as it was always fascinating enough to share.
YCNYC: Favorite quote?
SH: “All time is ancestral time. We stand atop Mothers and Fathers without end. Waking up in the dark helps us to remember that great reality, and helps us to remain connected to it once we do.”
YCNYC: What one person would you recommend this book to?
SH: Humphry Davy, the creator of the first electric light in 1800.
YCNYC: What moment or part resonates with you the most?
SH: My favorite part of the book might be where he quotes from the Song of Songs- “I sleep, but my heart is awake”. This section of the book is about the time between what Strand refers to as “our two sleeps”. This was the time when we would turn to our beloved and share ourselves or perhaps turn inward and communicate with the divine from our deepest selves. There was no real fear of the dark as the dark was natural, part of the cycle and full of love and the mystical.
This book is full of eloquent reminders of what our hearts know, what our souls know but what we have lost in our modern, busy lives. Reading this book has been an affirmation, moment after moment of remembering what I know in my deepest self: that the natural world holds the key to our wellness in more ways than we can begin to guess.
You can purchase Waking Up to the Dark, Ancient Wisdom for a Sleepless Age here.
Have a Must-Read book to recommend? Email us here.
—Interview by Allison Richard
