The Song of the Seed

October 2, 1995
Wiederkehr (A Tree Full of Angels and Seasons of Your Heart) is a Benedictine nun who leads workshops and retreats. Using the parable of the sower as her touchstone, she has now written a guidebook for use in a personal, spiritual exercise that can be conducted either in solitude or with a group. Split into three parts of 10 days each, Song offers a focus for each day. Each focus is followed by a meditation, a reading from the Christian Bible with a reflection upon that reading, a brief poem, a ``songline'' (i.e., ``a verbal pathway of the spirit''), a prayer and a journal entry. The final chapters present a communal service and resources. The book's unvarying format, insistently organic metaphors and somewhat overripe prose quickly become tiresome, but the volume may nevertheless prove valuable for personal or group study.