In Milkweed and Honey Cake: A Memoir in Ritual Moments, Wendy A. Horwitz shares stories about celebration, loss, change, and the best way to open a pomegranate.

Holidays delight – and disappoint. A couple marrying in the pandemic finds a surprise after a rainstorm, and a topsy-turvy search for a gravestone honors her ancestors. When a graduation is cancelled, Horwitz serves pomp and circumstance on the front porch, and through the shifting seasons of a life, amid the scramble of pet guinea pigs and birthday parties, her children add wonder and comedy to tradition.

With observations from nature, religion, and literature, Horwitz explores how ritual can exalt ordinary moments and frame the extraordinary. A blue heron, an old cupboard's scent, and the lingering feel of an engagement ring long gone prompt reflections laced with yearning and humor. Guiding us along a wooded path, to the kitchen table, in a messy garden, and under a tent reverberating with song, she traces the boundaries of ritual, considering what we do when ritual falls short, and how we might adapt each other's practices. And when the wider world seems broken, new rituals provide hope.

Lyrical and funny, thought-provoking and deeply moving, Milkweed and Honey Cake is at once a meditation on our desire for meaning and the story of a woman's lifelong efforts to create it.

Wendy A. Horwitz's essays have been published in The Philadelphia Inquirer, Afterimage, Neurology (Humanities Section), Jewish Literary Journal, Intrepid Times, and McClatchy-Tribune News Service, among others. Originally trained as a pediatric psychologist, she lives in Philadelphia, where she teaches writing and health humanities.

"Wendy Horwitz's keen insights and gentle wisdom reveal the transformative power of rituals to enrich our everyday experiences, infusing purpose and reverence into our lives. A profound and illuminating read for anyone seeking deeper meaning in their daily journey."--Lori Erikson, author of Every Step is Home: A Spiritual Geography from Appalachia to Alaska

"Reading this lovely, lyrical book during the holidays, I found myself moved by Wendy Horwitz's tales of finding meaning even in those rituals that may have once seemed old-fashioned, stale, or gratuitous. For as she reminds us, it is often through ritual, through attentive, careful practice, religious and otherwise, that we can catch glimpses of the transcendent and thereby renew our sense of wonder at, and gratitude for, the world's too often unseen bounty--a real delight.CoC"--Mark Freeman, Professor Emeritus of Psychology, College of the Holy Cross

"A testament to the power of ritual written with tenderness and charm."--Casper ter Kuile, author of The Power of Ritual: Turning Every Activities into Soulful Practices