About the author
Clark Strand is a former Zen Buddhist monk who became a writer on Christian and Marian mysticism, often working alongside his wife, Perdita Finn. His book The Way of the Rose: The Radical Path of the Divine Feminine Hidden in the Rosary (Random House, 2019) reinterprets the rosary as a devotional practice connected to the divine feminine, drawing on his own account of an apparition experience. Waking Up to the Dark: The Black Madonna's Gospel for an Age of Extinction and Collapse (Monkfish, 2022), winner of a Foreword INDIES award and an IPPY award, extends that focus to the Black Madonna as a figure of ancient, suppressed feminine wisdom relevant to contemporary ecological crisis. Strand's writing moves between memoir, theology and cultural critique, aimed at readers interested in Marian devotion and the divine feminine approached from outside strict doctrinal Catholicism.
📖 Where to start with Clark Strand
💬 What our editors say about Clark Strand's books
“Strand delivers a passionate manifesto against our societal addiction to light, arguing that this bias fuels our ecological disaster. The book succeeds in weaving personal reflection with historical research to create a cohesive…”
Esoterica Books editorial team, Occult literature desk · on Waking Up to the Dark: The Black Madonna's Gospel for an Age of Extinction and Collapse
“Strand and Finn offer a bold reinterpretation of the Rosary, stripping away institutional Catholicism to reveal an ecological, feminine core. While innovative, this approach may frustrate readers seeking theological orthodoxy or…”
Esoterica Books editorial team, Occult literature desk · on The Way of the Rose: The Radical Path of the Divine Feminine Hidden in the Rosary
