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(More customer reviews)Ginny Anderson's Circling San Francisco Bay gives a whole new meaning to the concept of "guidebook." Though the author acts as practical and capable guide through every chapter, she is wise enough to let Nature do the guiding on her own terms. Anderson demonstrates through prototypical journeys and destinations how Nature is in turn wise enough to let the reader guide herself through any territory being explored.
Readers may ask, "If Nature will guide us, why do we need this book?" Without arguing the question of need, Circling San Francisco Bay offers itself as a resource embodying two of the essential skills and qualities of a guide: experience and connection. The author draws on a lifetime of experience ministering to both individuals and communities, as well as extensive experience interacting with the "personalities" of the Bay Area sites she includes as examples. She draws on this experience to establish sure and nourishing connections with the reader and to motivate and deepen the reader's ability to connect with Nature.
What makes this book work is its easy mobility among the realms of the psyche or soul, the immediate natural environment, and the world at large. The book discusses important stops along the way in each of these territories and identifies interconnections among them, as well as bringing the focus "full circle" through meditations and exercises so that the reader is continually empowered at the most basic level: individual action.
While Circling San Francisco Bay teaches us to guide ourselves, it promotes and preserves a sense of interdependence. Without arguing the question of need, it makes a compelling case for choosing connection, with ourselves, with each other, and with our surroundings.
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"Ginny Anderson is a sure-footed guide, not only to natural treasures in the Bay Area, but to the richness of our inner experience. Circling San Francisco Bay brings the outer and inner worlds together. It is a gift to the community of life and a valuable tool for deeper connection—a book that not only informs but also enchants."—Lauren deBoer, executive editor, EarthLight magazine
"Shamanic naturalist Ginny Anderson takes us to seven sacred sites around San Francisco Bay to gain a better understanding of their connections, and ours, in the complex web of life... This is a celebration of our glorious bioregion, and our responsibility to it—and not a moment too soon."—M. Macha NightMare, priestess, ritualist, and author
"Anderson shows us how to find these pillars of our paradise, as we come into a deeper and more spiritual bond with Mother Earth. A numinous, sentient work, and a signpost on the path to true joy in life."—Sandy Miranda, KPFA FM host/producer.
"In Circling San Francisco Bay, a graceful meditation on reciprocity with the natural world, Ginny Anderson shows us that we need look no farther than our own Bay Area greenbelt for the balm that soothes the nerves and feeds the soul."—Lorraine Anderson, editor, Sisters of the Earth: Women's Prose and Poetry About Nature
"Ginny Anderson's tour of Bay Area sacred mountains elicits the fragrance of native herbs, the sparkle of crystal rock outcroppings, and the wisdom of the natives who dwelled in this land we now call home. Circling offers its readers exercises to enhance their sensory awareness of specific sites – and pathways to greater methaphorical insights. At every stop, we read the voices of other Circling participants, telling how the wide vistas and meditations on nature's patterns have opened their souls to new understanding."—Debbie Mytels, Associate Director of Acterra:Action for a Sustainable Earth, and a participant in Circling the Bay 1991
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