In an earlier post, we introduced Becca Stevens' latest book: Snake Oil: The Art of Healing and Truth-Telling and the line of Healing Oils being launched in tandem. In the upcoming weeks, we'll share a glimpse of five chapters of the book and the healing oil inspired by that chapter.
In Chapter Two of Snake Oil, Becca discusses healing through a lens of compassion, and reflects on how one’s own suffering can create empathy and mercy for others.
Becca’s father died when she was only 5. An Episcopal priest who had recently moved his family from the east coast to pastor a church in Nashville, he was hit by a drunk driver, leaving Becca’s mom to raise five children alone. In the aftermath of his death, Becca experienced sexual abuse by one of the elders in her father’s church.
Inspired by a note she finds from her father, “In the shadow of his cross, may your soul find rest,” Becca begins to seek healing, for herself and others.
In Snake Oil, Becca shares lessons learned from the abuse and the healing: that the healing journey takes time, and is made easier to bear through mercy, not judgment. It isn’t until the first Magdalene house opens, that she realizes that healing as a community is successful because of the empathy that each person has for others’ sufferings.
Finding compassion can be a slow and deliberate process as well, but it is a virtue that is necessary to healing and helping others heal. Our “Compassion” healing oil is meant to help open the heart to prayer and mindfulness. With geranium, chamomile, lavender, and myrrh, Compassion can help you to slow down and appreciate that good things take time, and that love and respect for others are important components to everyone’s healing process.
Join us on Tuesday March 12th for a special event to celebrate the release of a book Snake Oil as well as the launch of the Healing Oils line. The Salon@615 event, sponsored by Parnassus Books, the Nashville Public Library and Humanities Tennessee, will begin at 6:15pm at the Nashville Downtown Public Library. Becca will be speaking and signing books. Thistle Farms products will also be on sale.
To order healing oils, visit thistlefarms.org beginning March 13th.
Story by Meli Gass
Photos by Peggy Napier & Carolyn Snell
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