Snake Oil

February 11, 2013
In the beginning of her book on healing, the writer compares herself to a “snake oil salesman”—an image she will spend the rest of the volume exploring. “I am a snake oil seller, and I am selling a movement along with a product,” writes Stevens (Find Your Way Home), the author of numerous Bible studies and an Episcopal chaplain at Vanderbilt University. A blend of memoir, social commentary, Bible study and storytelling, the volume includes essays on the many ways in which healing, particularly through oil anointing, can occur; healing methods include laughter, the use of fragrance, and anointing at the time of death. Through it all Stevens, an abuse survivor, tells the story of how she came to found Magdalene, a group of residential communities for women escaping prostitution, addiction, and trafficking, and Thistle Farms, an enterprise employing Magdalene graduates that sells all-natural beauty and bath products. Chapters begin with aromatic and healing oil recipes so that readers can try them at home. Though her artless voice sometimes seems rambling, Stevens’s sincerity and can-do attitude shine forth on every page.

February 15, 2013
A memoir of hands-on healing. Concerned that abused women and victims of prostitution, sex trafficking and drug addictions often have no place to turn for help, Rev. Stevens founded Magdalene and Thistle Farms, a program named by the White House as one of 2011's "15 champions of change." The author provides women with two years of "housing, food, medical and dental expenses, therapy, education and job training--all at no cost to them." The residents have ready-made employment creating healing oils and natural body-care products that are sold across the United States. No stranger to sexual abuse herself, Stevens feels deeply that a hands-on approach is necessary to help these battered women on a lifelong journey toward recuperation. "The Magdalene homes needed to be creative, practical, and joyful," she writes. "They needed to be sanctuaries where women were absolutely safe, not just physically, but safe enough to follow their own instincts toward healing." Stories of Stevens' past and her determination to become a minister blend with stories of some of the women who have lived and thrived in the Magdalene program. The author spends considerable time analyzing the origins of the term "snake oil" and how, over time, it morphed from meaning something having healing properties to the more current connotation of something shifty or shady. But her program is anything but underhanded. Christian readers will connect with Stevens' philosophies, and those interested in creating healing oils will find the included recipes helpful. A simple, comforting reflection on one woman's crusade to make a difference in the world.

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February 15, 2013
Stevens is an Episcopal priest and founder of the not-for-profit Thistle Farms, which produces all-natural body products incorporating traditional oil blends. It's these oils, and the alchemy Stevens and her coworkers use to turn them into healing balms and lotions, that inspired both this book and its cleverly incongruous title. The daughter of a pastor, Stevens lost her father young and suffered years of sexual abuse at the hands of a family friend. The profound effects that these experiences had in shaping her life are apparent in her understanding of the work required to heal oneself of spiritual and psychological ills. Stevens is a big believer in faith healing and backwoods medicine, and she discusses these practices in a way that is wise, gentle, and firmly nondogmatic. Recipes for healing oil blends like The Best Healing Salve Ever are included at the beginning of each chapter, giving the reader a wonderful way to connect to the healing principles discussed in the book. Rich and insightful, this is a rambling contemplation on the power of faith and the strength of simplicity to heal.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)