Best fiction with spiritual depth

by Melanie Dufty
|
6 books
Sometimes we read a novel and get a deeper understanding of profound spiritual themes than we might from years of study and self-development effort. The power of story is immense, as we connect with the path of others and feel their pain and glories and share the wisdoms they gain. Fiction allows us to let go of critical thought about what can be a fraught subject - spiritual understandings - and just go with the flow. This list suggests a few books that can take you for a spiritually deep ride.
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The Red Tent

Anita Diamant, 1998
This is a sensual, warm and alive book carrying a profound depth of feminine understanding. It is beautifully written and transports me to another world, with characters who are flawed and wonderful. The concept of women gathering happily to bleed together in a restful red tent while eating honey cakes was, for me at least, groundbreaking. There is real love for the feminine and our ability to bleed, to conceive and birth, and to enjoy sexuality fully. The sexism and cruelty of the age are not shyed away from, and the women handle it with strength, resourcefulness, and dignity. This is a book that deepened my love for what it is to be a woman.

I Am Lilith

Melanie Dufty, 2020
This is my own novel, a metaphysical fantasy reimagining the story of Lilith, based on a real 24,000 year astrological cycle that sees the feminine then the masculine on top, before unity occurs - that time is now. In a female-ruled society, she's trapped in an ancient struggle between the sexes. Will she be the spark to restore unity? 6,000 years ago, the mighty High Priestess Lilith is torn between her sacred duty and following the truth in her heart. Haunted by the injustice she oversees, Lilith yearns to set men and boys free from her temple's tyranny. But with a secret prophecy of masculine domination threatening chaos, Lilith is forced to quell a mounting male-led revolt. She finds herself falling for the one man who inspires her trust. But his growing ambitions and a rising war trigger events that demand a starry destiny plays out.

The Celestine Prophecy

James Redfield, 2008
This book opened my mind and planted a quality seed that took a long time to germinate. When I read it so long ago, I was oblivious to the realms of energy and consciousness, and it was incredibly exciting to feel the resonance of truth in the pages… to know there’s something more. Nowadays it’s very simplistic because of how consciousness has moved on, but it was groundbreaking at the time. It carries real power to have rocked human consciousness to the extent it did, and bump us along the road of awakening. The story and writing are simple but does the trick as a vehicle to share understandings on how the world of energy and human consciousness works.

Initiation

Elisabeth Haich, 2000
This may be my favourite book. It shares lucid past life memories of the author in very ancient Egypt which some may call fantasy (but I don’t), as well as her experiences living through World War II in Eastern Europe, revealing purposeful links between souls incarnated in both lives. The spiritual knowledge is astounding, and the depth seems endless. I’ve read it multiple times and often randomly read a few pages, each time seeing something new. It’s very evocative, with fascinating descriptions of life and spiritual practices in very ancient Egypt while highly evolved beings were still active. It explains how the pyramids were made, and that a long era of separation and dense consciousness was due before a return to unity again would rise. It also explains the truth of passionate human love and sexual connection, through spiritual yet also very human eyes. It’s a mighty tome to take on, but if it speaks to you, you’ll be hooked.

The Mists of Avalon

A Novel
Marion Zimmer Bradley, 2001
This ambitious and magical doorstopper of a book carries a big energy that has never left me. What I most love is the way the complex feminine is captured, especially through the character Morgaine. She has been vilified in Arthurian stories but in this book, we know her as a deeply intelligent, sensitive, powerful, and vulnerable woman, doing the best she can to hold to her pagan faith through her glories as well as her falls into shadow. Her yearning for love and true passion, and bereftness when she can’t get it, spoke to me as a woman. There was a time I wanted to reject this book due to controversy over the author, but I’ve continued to value it as an expression of complex light and dark feminine energy.

The Alchemist

Paulo Coelho, 2006
I love this simple and delightful story filled with symbolism and meaning. There’s a clarity in these pages that makes it easy to see how we are similarly guided through synchronicities and divine messages in our own lives. It’s easy to feel the truth that courageously holding to our dreams with determination will lead us to fulfillment. The book shows it’s just as easy to fall off the good path and lose hope, vigour, and courage, and not progress our destiny. I love that it’s never too earnest or self-conscious - it keeps the feels real