Snake Oil

Reflect on your day, collect your thoughts, or add sophistication to your business notes with this custom made journal stamped with Love Heals. The unlined pages are perfect for journaling or drawing. 

• 100% oil tanned leather
• Large is 8” tall x 7” wide, Medium is 6" tall x 5" wide

The divine is all around us, calling us to see and taste it for ourselves.

• We can find our deep truth and purpose while we are on the way to the grocery store or struggling to make a marriage work.
• We can find beauty while we go through a TSA checkpoint or walk along any sidewalk.
• We can feel gratitude sitting in a waiting room or forgiving ourselves for one thing we didn’t get done.

Love is where the temporal and the eternal meet. The love explored in this writing is love that feels practical and specific. It is the kind of love that moves from ideals into practices that take on flesh and bone.

Practically Divine is not an oxymoron. It is as poetic as being optimistic in the midst of depression or as vital as sitting in silence with a friend who can’t take any more advice. It is both and, not either or.

Practice might not lead to perfection, but it will lead us closer to love.

While tea has helped usher in economic and spiritual growth in its 3,500 year history, it has also been part of the oppression of women. It’s tied to the mission of Thistle Farms through the stories of the oldest forms of human trafficking, trading of opiates in China, and sexual violence in the fields of India.

But tea has a noble story too, as its rituals and symbolism are great companions for cultivating justice. Whether being dumped into a harbor, served by Gandhi as he negotiated freedom, or fundraising for the Women’s Suffrage Movement, tea has played a part in every revolution since the 1700s. Tea creates an environment of rituals, offering dignity and creating dialogue.

These twenty practices come from lessons learned from living and working in the community of Thistle Farms for the past twenty-five years. Thistle Farms has grown slowly, but surely, by using these practices. We have tried to distill ancient truths into practical disciplines that can change individuals, communities, and corporate culture.

Enjoy the wisdom from thoughtful leaders, survivors, and advocates. All of the reflections are written by women and men who have learned that together we are stronger, more loving, and better able to handle the joys and sorrows of this world that inevitably come our way. The 92 contributors live in 12 states and 5 countries.

We have learned these practices can transform the mission of companies, inspire religious communities, and change the work of non-profits. The hope is that by using these practices formed from a 21st-century community of survivors, you can be more intentional and consider, once again, how your life can broaden with the depth of love.

Through these practices, you are invited to look again at ancient insights and well-worn words with wisdom from the streets and truth from stories. We want this book to be a gift to you, whether you are reading it from an ivory tower or under the top bunk in a cell. We want it to carry you through your everyday life, to broaden its joys, lessen its sorrows, and console you beyond grief.