It's
International Women's Day and the Constant Shopper suggests a
visit to the speciality bookshop WonderWorks as a means of celebrating
all that is naturally and powerfully feminine.
I've long been a fan of this
spiritual bookstore and meeting place on Harbord St. near Spadina.
With a space in the back of the shop available for Goddess gatherings
and healing seminars (see http://www.gowonderworks.com/workshops.html),
the shop has become a resource on the subjects of creativity,
spirituality and healing over the past 20 years, under the ownership
of Mary Anderson.
Anderson recently sold the
store to a new owner, and the Constant Shopper is excited about
Rochelle Holt's plans for WonderWorks.
Holt, 40, will continue to
stock the books, audio and video tools, and healing flower essences
for which WonderWorks is known. But there will be some subtle
and interesting changes.
With a degree in art history
and a background as administrator in the local visual arts scene,
Holt is poised to renovate the workshop space into an art gallery,
and will show work that addresses ideas of spirituality.
It's a subject that has long
been avoided in the art world, says Holt, who previously worked
at A-Space, an artist-run centre that focuses on experimental
work, and Leo Kamen gallery, a successful commercial gallery.
She has always been attracted to works that examine the role of
women and spirituality in the wider culture.
"In the '70s and '80s
you had a huge outpouring of Goddess imagery. It was very important
and very political. But we're moving to a more conceptual, challenging
imagery around spirituality," she says, pointing to the first
exhibition at the WonderWorks gallery, a video installation by
local artist Deanna Bowen (http://www.deannabowen.ca)
called (truth)seer, as an example of such challenging work. The
show opens this summer.
Holt is also a practising
Wiccan and she plans to expand the shop's selection of books,
tools and accessories devoted to the pagan religion. Despite its
ancient roots, Wicca is relevant to the lives of modern women,
she says.
"It's an earth-based
religion, and reverence for the earth is hugely important for
us as humans, to understand that the earth is part of us and we
are part of the earth," she says, explaining that environmental
activism is a natural extension of Wiccan beliefs.
To fill the shelves with modern
spiritual tools for pagan practitioners, Holt is planning a road
trip, with a fellow Wiccan friend of hers, to Salem, Mass. The
area is a pilgrimage for Wiccans, particularly at the spring equinox,
and the shopping is said to be wicked. There, Holt will source
modern Tarot cards, challices and swords — necessary tools
for performing ancient pagan rituals.
The store has always been
a resource for books and tools related to natural healing methods.
Expanding on that focus, Holt plans to invite a Shiatsu practitioner
to work at the store. And she wants to create an online shopping
site devoted to flower essences, aiming to serve rural and suburban
customers who can't buy the healing tinctures close to home.
She's also added a unique
line of essences made from trees native to our forests. Formulated
in Quebec, Canadian Forest Tree Essences are said to have a healing
effect on the body, emotions and psyche. (For more info, see http://www.essences.ca.)
Holt's goal is to bring spirituality
and contemporary culture together, she says, noting that WonderWorks
customers aren't all new age hippies. Alternative practices have
gone mainstream.
"You've got corporate
types meditating and using flower essences and going back into
a big meeting," she says. "We're really waking up to
the body and waking up to the spirit. People are becoming aware
of the need to integrate all of these levels of experience."
IN THE NEIGHBHOURHOOD: The
strip of Harbord St. between Spadina and Bathurst is a shopping
hot spot for women who love books. Visit the Toronto Women's Bookstore
(73 Harbord St.) for a wide range of estro-charged books both
fiction and non, Caversham Bookseller (98 Harbord St.) for self-help
and psychology resources, Atticus Books (84 Harbord St.) for scholarly
finds about anthropology, art history, philosophy and religion,
and Good For Her (175 Harbord St.) for erotica.
Daphne Gordon's Constant
Shopper column appears every Saturday in the Shopping section
and Monday to Friday online at http://www.thestar.com/constantshopper.
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At
WonderWorks we offer tools, both ancient and modern,
to help people deepen their view into their own hearts and illuminate
their path in the world. We specialize in books about spirituality,
creativity, holistic health, and death and dying. At WonderWorks
you can also find out about bodywork and Buddhism, tarot and tantra,
goddesses and gardens.
