The Moonstone Covenant - a book launch
Facilitated By: Jill Hammer
Published by: Ayin Press
Sunday Aug. 24, 3-7pm
The author will begin with some breath meditation and then a meditation using themes for the novel, including trees, magical books, and traveling by water. Then dancers will embody the four main characters by offering essential movements, and participants will be able to echo each movement as part of a free movement session. Then the author will take people down to the lake for a brief nature walk, noticing what kinds of creatures and phenomena appear in the places where earth and water touch.
The next stage will be a reading from Chapter 1 and perhaps another chapter from Moonstone. There will be an interview with the author about the book, and the interviewer will also facilitate questions from the audience. Then there will be casual hang-out time with snacks and the opportunity to have books signed by the author.
Books will be available to purchase.
Sample Schedule:
3-3:25: Opening and Meditation
3:25-3:45 Creative Movement
3:45-4:15 Nature Encounter
4:30: Reading
4:45 Interview
5:15 Q and A
5:45 Snacks and Mingling, and Book Signing.
6:30 End
Option to stay overnight at WildHeart before or after – come early or stay late. Reach out to us at contact@wildheartcenter.art to confirm your stay.
Who is it for?
- Fans of Jill Hammer,
- readers of fantasy,
- those interested in creativity and creative play.
“Jill Hammer is one of the most original thinkers in contemporary spirituality.”
–Bruce Feiler, New York Times-bestselling author of Walking the Bible and Life Is in the
Transitions
“The Moonstone Covenant is a many-layered feat of the imagination, gathering the stories of four very different women who share a marriage—as difficult a feat in their world as it would be in ours—and spinning them through the traumas of a world on the edge of chaos, a place where magic is core to the lives of the women who wield it, but is loathed and feared by those who surround them. Each wife’s viewpoint, her unique voice, opens up the weave of this world, leading us by the hand into a magical and spiritual system deeply embedded in the earth: trees speak here, and have opinions that can change the way the world works.
In lyrical and beautiful language, Jill Hammer lays bare the prejudices of an island landscape where the waterways are as important as highways. Through the tale of a four-way marriage, she carries us into the depths of relationships between women, the flows of feeling and passion, history and trust, treachery both imagined and real. Betrayal lies at the heart of this story, but its healing is a thread running through from the start. A genuinely engaging, enlivening, and inspiring read!”
—Manda Scott, author of Any Human Power and host of the Accidental Gods podcast
“Part murder mystery, part political thriller, part fantasy epic, The Moonstone Covenant celebrates the power and wisdom of books, the natural world, and queer love. This wondrous novel is a gift of imagination for readers everywhere.”
—Jonathan Vatner, author of Carnegie Hill and The Bridesmaids’ Union
“Like Tolkien and Le Guin, Jill Hammer has conjured up a richly detailed world, alive with magic, political intrigue, and a robust cast of fascinating characters. Readers of fantasy will love this book!”
—Ellen Frankel, author of The Deadly Scrolls
“In the romance-laden, mysterious fantasy novel The Moonstone Covenant, a women quartet’s collective gifts alter their homeland’s future.”
—Foreword Reviews
“Set in an archipelago, a land of boats and bridges, Moonstone, the backdrop for Jill Hammer’s debut novel, is a nation so devoted to books and knowledge, it’s like a university that morphed into a city-state. As its national focus on books along might suggest, this is a kind of Jewish Narnia.”
—Mildred Faintly, Jewish Women’s Archive
” Jill Hammer’s first fantasy novel offers beautifully detailed worldbuilding and, like Le Guin’s work, is underpinned by themes of gender, sexuality, prejudice, and politics.”
—Dr. Zoe L. Tongue, Ancillary Review of Books
About Jill Hammer
Rabbi Jill Hammer, PhD, author, scholar, ritualist, poet, dreamworker and midrashist, is the Director of Spiritual Education at the Academy for Jewish Religion (www.ajrsem.org), and a co-founder of Beit Kohenet, a house of Jewish, mystical, earth-based, feminist seeking. Her new novel is called The Moonstone Covenant, and she is the author of Undertorah: An Earth-Based Kabbalah of Dreaming, Return to the Place: The Magic, Meditation, and Mystery of Sefer Yetzirah, The Hebrew Priestess: Ancient and New Visions of Jewish Women’s Spiritual Leadership (with Taya Shere), The Jewish Book of Days: A Companion for All Seasons, The Omer Calendar of Biblical Women, Sisters at Sinai: New Tales of Biblical Women, and The Book of Earth and Other Mysteries. She is also the author of academic articles, essays, and poems. She lives in Manhattan with her family.
themoonstonecovenant.net
jillhammer.net
beitkohenet.org
on Facebook
on Instagram
Published by @ayinpress.org
Location
This event will take place by the lake and in the barn. If you’re coming to WildHeart for the first time, please visit our Directions page for arrival info.
Registration
Tickets
$20-40 sliding scale
There will be signed books available to purchase (heavily discounted)
NOTAFLOF (no one turned away for lack of funds)
We are offering 2 free spots for BIPOC folx. Please email contact@wildheartcenter.art to get the registration code for one of these spots.
Refund policy
No refunds, no transfers
Illness policy
To protect the group, please don’t come if you have any symptoms of illness or had contact in the last 3 days with anyone who has COVID.
