Ariana Serpentine delivers with this highly-needed and perceptive look into gender from an animist viewpoint.
(Image description: A photo of the reviewed book. The black book cover features a rainbow-hued flower of life within two overlapping pentagons, with the transgender symbol woven into the image. The title Sacred Gender is placed in the middle of the design with the author’s name, Ariana Serpentine above and subtitle Create Trans & Nonbinary Spiritual Connections below. A decorative border surrounds all of it.) Credit: Photo by me.
It’s been a while since I did a book review, and the one I selected to do was released earlier this month through Llewellyn Publications. The book is Sacred Gender: Create Trans & Nonbinary Spiritual Connections by Ariana Serpentine.
Going by the title, some readers might not have interest in the book, but I think it’s a valuable resource for anyone of any gender and any age. It’s worth keeping an open mind, as that trait is generally important to have if you’re on any sort of Polytheistic Monastic path. There’s always something new to learn about the spiritual world and yourself.
The book features six chapters and an appendix with many, in-depth exercises and rituals that revolve around the pertinent maxim of “Know thyself”. This adage is well known enough to surface in pop culture in film franchises like The Matrix tetralogy, but there’s not always an accessible method for doing this. The author aims to have the reader explore the Self through the concept of gender and beyond it.
Serpentine lays this journey out in steps that build upon one another. She goes over different gender terminology, from what is more commonly known to the deeper intricacies within those definitions. A part within some of the anecdotal explanations that was quite beautiful was the idea of using facets of nature in a poetic sense to describe how gender feels. Applying this approach feels very much in line with Brighid the Poet.
One of the many draws to the Pagan and Polytheist movements was and is the broader understanding and honoring of the Divine. In the past decades and even today, there were and are limitations to these concepts that excluded gender diversity in deities, spirits, and their devotees. These issues are discussed in the historical context of earlier feminism movements and how they can be corrected for the better of individuals and communities. Hospitality is an important value within several Polytheistic traditions, and it seems unkind to keep people out if they don’t fall into a certain mold.
Continuing on that thread, the book delves into ancestor veneration and seeing the gods through a transgender viewpoint. A big part of honoring ancestors, whether of blood, land, or spirit, is talking with them. In one of the exercises, the author poignantly suggests associating the stars as a focus for communicating with the masculine, feminine, and nonbinary ancestors. The image of tuning out external noise, gazing at those distant points of light, and conversing with the Dead feels comforting and works nicely with a contemplative practice.
Later on, she discusses deities who don’t easily categorize into a male or female binary from Anatolian, Norse, and Greek cultures and invites devotees to view other gods in a similar fashion. While Brighid has many feminine attributes in the lore, I think of The Seven Elements Prayer in the Clann Bhríde Book of Hours that doesn’t really pertain to gender at all; after all, the name Brighid (and its variations) simply means exalted, high, or lofty and is an epithet for a powerful, inspiring, and compassionate force.
The last parts bring the knowledge learned from the previous chapters together with questions for how gender can affect identity through personal belongings, communities, ancestors, and more. Gender is less of a focus in this book but more of a jumping off point to self-discovery. It can be a means of understanding your links with your ancestors, your body, nature, and the universe, rather than just a label you were given on your birth certificate.
I give Sacred Gender 5 out of 5 stars.
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