The Desert Pilgrim: En Route to Mysticism and Miracles

by Mary Swander

Recounts the author's rediscovery of faith and purpose after a disabling accident, describing her painful recovery period, her tenure at the University of New Mexico, and her encounters with numerous people of faith. 17,500 first printing.

Genres: Biography Memoir, Nonfiction, Spirituality

352 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2003

Reviews

[Zach Dankert]

Okay now I’m caught up

[Jenny Mckeel]

I have mixed feelings about this book. It wasn't a great masterpiece, but I did get some good things from it. It's about how this woman heals from a terrible, chronic spinal cord infection that is extremely painful and makes it almost impossible to move around. I read it because I wanted to see how a memoirist writes about healing, how that topic can be made compelling and I think I learned a lot about that. She handles the healing memoir thing competently and her story is interesting. But it dragged for me, in various places and I often found it overly sentimental. But she does a good job at showing how healing happens -- which is a hard thing to do. I also think there's some good wisdom in this book. A lot of the book focused on how the narrator returns to her Catholic roots through connecting with some unconventional Catholic healers she meets and from studying about ancient Catholic mystics. She approaches Catholicism in a skeptical way that would appeal to people unfriendly or suspicious of Catholicism, and the way she writes about spirituality is very open, not dogmatic, very reasonable. But at the same time, because of my ... oppositional relationship to Catholicism, all the Catholic stuff got on my nerves a bit. Still, I learned a lot from this book.

[Rachelle Seymore]

Mary Swander's memoirs about her journey to get healing is a book with many lessons and many facets. After being involved in a car accident that left her almost completely paralysed, she starts searching for healing - she ends up in New Mexico and looks at alternative medicine. She meets up with a natural healer who uses herbs but also meets Father Sergei, a Russian Orthodox monk who helps restore her faith. Between the two the mind and body are restored.

This book reminded me how important it is to deal with your past and those of your family members whose influence is relevant in and on your life. I learnt about the mystics and I am now inspired to read about St Francis, St Theresa of Avilla, St John on the Cross etc. who found inspiration and wrote beautiful poetry in times of hardship. I was shown the difference between spirituality and religion and how important it is to find inner stillness, especially through meditation. Father Sergei reminded the author that everything in life is part of a whole. No one event ever stands on its own and we need to look for the link to understand what is happening to us.

[Hope]

An honest and wise memoir. I love what I call 'women's stories' -- sometimes painful memoirs by women who have lived enough of life and wrestled with enough personal demons to have reached a degree of self-acceptance, some conclusions (if not answers,) and a certain hard-earned wisdom. This is one of those.

[Manhattan]

This was a slow read for me because it wasn't very engaging. I kept reading because I was interested in the theme of faith and healing, especially a reexamination of faith. The author finds new meaning in faith from mysticism. She touches on her health problems, her life path, the religious community in New Mexico, and the history of Christian mystics, but her writing reads more like a diary, it just wasn't that interesting to me as a reader. It kind of answered my main question going in: why and how do we often return to faith when we need it most? But she accepts some pretty ridiculous concepts like levitation and the stigmata. I was hoping for a more realistic examination that made more sense, scientifically and sociologically. I've been looking for the best words to describe the kind of person she seems to be in the book. At her best she comes off observant and kind and harmless and spiritual, but sometimes it's forced and kooky.

[Margaret Brumm]

Excellent read---Mary knows how to weave her life's journey so interest for all

[Jennie Floyd]

Really enjoyed this beautifully written memoir of a middle-aged woman who found healing for her chronic pain in the desert near Albequerque, NM. Very relatable and inspiring.

[Ava Chin]

I'm only about a quarter into this absorbing memoir, but I'm finding it hard to put down. It's a beautiful account of pain and healing in the desert climes of New Mexico, with some very intriguing Castenada-esque characters. (So far, I'm finding it more engaging than "Out of This World.")

[Barbara Brockman]

A woman's journey of healing with the help of a change of venue, a curandera and an Orthodox monk. I think I liked it so well because There were things that are applicable and helpful for my own journey.

[Ronel]

hmmmm nothing new....

[Elizabeth Schurman]

In four days. I like most spiritual/religious memoirs. This isn't a great one, but it's got a little different setting and focus than usual-- the southwest, and the author's physical illness.

[Karen Koenig]

I love her writing!