“In my training as a psychologist and sex therapist, I have spent years helping others reclaim their bodies from the grip of trauma, repression, and disconnection. I have seen firsthand the ways in which the body becomes a battleground, the ways we learn to leave ourselves in order to just survive… to get by with the bare minimum. But I have also witnessed the profound healing that comes when we return—not just to sensation, but to reverence. When I move, when I breathe with awareness, when I touch my own skin with kindness, I am not merely engaging in self-care. I am performing a ritual of reclamation. I am standing at the base of the Mother Tree, placing my hands against her bark, feeling the pulse of something ancient move through me. This is what I invite those I work with into—not just healing, but remembering.” -Dr. Denise Renye, excerpt from “The Embodied Goddess: Healing, Sensuality, and the Legacy of Asherah” - featured in our upcoming anthology, Asherah: Roots of the Mother Tree.” Asherah Author:Denise Renye
“To reclaim the Mother Tree is to reclaim ourselves. It is to honor the body as holy ground, to see pleasure as prayer, to root into the truth that we were never meant to be separate from the Divine. In my own life, this has meant surrendering to the wisdom of my own rhythms, embracing slowness, honoring desire, and trusting the deep knowing that lives in my body. For those of us who have spent years estranged from ourselves, this is not always an easy journey. There are times when the old stories—of unworthiness, of shame—rise up like ghosts among the roots. But the tree is patient. She waits for us to return, offering her strength when we feel weak, her shade when we need rest, her roots when we long for grounding.” -Dr. Denise Renye, excerpt from “The Embodied Goddess: Healing, Sensuality, and the Legacy of Asherah” - featured in our upcoming anthology, Asherah: Roots of the Mother Tree.” Asherah Author:Denise Renye