Kissed by a Fox: And Other Stories of Friendship in Nature

by Priscilla Stuckey

Through heart-opening stories from her own life, Stuckey shows the depth of relationship possible with the birch tree in our backyard, the nearby urban creek, the dog who settles on our bed each night. She invites readers into a different story of nature—into a livelier, more personal universe where people and place are not separate and where other creatures respond to human need. With the eloquence of the great nature writers before her, Stuckey encourages us to open ourselves to the possibilities of a truly connected life.

Genres: Animals, Nature, Nonfiction, Natural History, Memoir

384 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

Priscilla Stuckey is a writer and spiritual counselor with a passion for reconnecting people with nature. Her first book, Kissed by a Fox: And Other Stories of Friendship in Nature, won the 2013 WILLA Award for Creative Nonfiction. She received a PhD from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley and has taught in the graduate programs of Prescott College (AZ) and Naropa University (CO). She has worked on behalf of the Earth through volunteering in wildlife rehab, revegetating urban creeks, and cofounding a local rights-of-nature group. From her home next to the Sandia Mountains in New Mexico, she mentors people (by phone) in the art of listening to nature, especially the nature-wisdom source that a person can reach through their own heart.

Reviews

[Debbie "DJ" · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book takes an in-depth look at our relationship with the earth. I loved reading about the emotions of animals, and all things living...including rocks. This is a powerful read that is part memoir, part philosophical / religious and thus historical account of why we hold the feelings we do. The author has spent a lot of time researching how our current attitudes have taken hold. How we see the world in a mechanical way and our need to dominate the earth instead of live in tune with it. The old ideas she exposes can lead us to a new way of thinking. We can communicate with animals. We alone can make a difference. We live in a world of limited resources and a new way of understanding our world is imperative. One of the most important messages i took away from this book is our need to live in community not competition.

[Dnicebear · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ms Stuckey helps me commune with the spirit of one of my favorite fairy tale in childhood, The White Snake, in which whisperings of the animal world become intelligible.

This is one of many important paragraphs: "More than a spiritual flaw within an individual person, greed is a failure of relationship. It is a symptom of forgetting--failing to remember that there are others, that one is not alone. It is a lack of reciprocity, an assumption that the benefits of the Earth can flow continuously in one direction without being given back or cycled again into the whole. It is treating the Earth as resource instead of relative.

The direction we are going: towards the world...towards communion...towards loving and nurturing each member of the land-community.

[Jenny Skinner · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has challenged the way I preceive my world. I live in New York City, a place I considered having no nature and no connection to the planet as it use to be. After reading Kissed by a Fox I see nature everywhere! And I say hello. In return I find myself less lonely and isolated. Bugs, plants, animals, the sky, all of it is beautiful and interesting and I am connected to it. This gentle writer taught me about how humans have evolved in their relationship to the earth and how illness and sadness caused her to reavaluate her personal relationship to it. After Kissed By A Fox I can feel the earth under my feet and meet a friend in every tree. Going on my favorites shelf.

[Page Lambert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Okay, I confess. I want this title. I want this cover. I covet the complexity of this accomplished work and the gracious wisdom of this accomplished author.

To read Priscilla Stuckey’s memoir KISSED BY A FOX requires patience – it is not for the reader seeking a “fast book” experience. But if you’re drawn to the slow food movement, which is all about savoring each bite and commitment to environment and community, then you’re the perfect reader for this Counterpoint Press release.

I just posted my complete review at All Things Literary. All Things Natural. You can read it here: http://pagelambert.blogspot.com/2012/...

[Marilyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

An important new writer named Priscilla Stuckey comes to us now with her first delicious nonfiction memoir Kissed By a Fox. I was drawn to it so intensely that I did something I have never done. I read the whole of it over one 24 hour period. You might say I steeped myself in it, and this steeping richly fed me.
It’s a personal story, and that story gains compelling depth because Stuckey offers not just her story of disaffection from nature and the long journey back into oneness with the earth. She also educates us about the historical and philosophical context of her subject: the long eons of time during which humans were one with the live world (Eden, if you will) and the eons and centuries during which we gradually separated from “that world.”

I'm impressed by the skillful way in which she moves between the two worlds, weaving a tapestry of scientific facts, philosophical and personal experience. The weaving of the two modes is artful, and utterly appropriate, for it is her purpose in this work to help us remember how to live at one with nature and thus to heal our long exile.
I tried to imagine myself wearing the scholar’s hat, then the ignorant human being’s cap, and I doubt that I could manage to integrate the two in the graceful and erudite way that she has done.
Even her choosing the right quotations is artful, in that they are all clearly to the point in the place where they appear, and they say just enough to illuminate and forward the reader’s own thought. Kissed By a Fox is an elegant and moving work of art.

[Leslee Breene · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing nature-themed book combined with interwoven personal story of the author, Priscilla Stuckey. I savored this deeply felt novel which, at times, brought me to a sense of the author's early depression, as well as lifted me to enlightenment of her palpable reaching out to the natural world of animals, plant life, birds, etc. The natural world responds to Ms. Stuckey in a way that seems both fantasy and reality. Her meticulous literary journey is admirable. The kind of a book that one can set down for a time, then pick up and easily resume.

[Donna · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a beautifully written biography that also goes deep into our relations with nature, plants, animals and spirituality. You will also learn much about spiritual traditions, economics, history, western cultures, other cultures and much more. Priscilla is an acquaintance that I have known through environmental groups and now having bought this book from her as she was moving away from Boulder, I felt like this book has gotten me to know her on a much deeper level. Blessings, Priscilla, I hope you and Tim love Santa Fe.

[Kathy Kaiser · Rating 4 out of 5]

I couldn't put this book down. Stuckey has an amazing ability to "communicate" with nature, and her stories stretched my awareness of the animal and plant world. She combines these tales with the shameful history of how humans have treated nature, which is made worse by the realization of nature's "intelligence." This book made me,in turn, angry, sad and inspired. In the end it is hopeful, especially if we consider a change in our attitudes.

[Sylvia Walker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully written. Explains in detail how we've become alienated from and indifferent to nature. I would point out that it's not only native peoples who have special insights into nature; many Christians are drawn into Creation Care, too. No disagreements about where our greed and materialism are leading us, and the Planet, though!

[Deidre · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you have a deep desire to reconnect to nature and to live a more meaningful and authentic life, consider this book to be your guide. Stuckey weaves together personal stories with thoroughly researched historical, anthropological, religious, indigenous, and scientific information. Kissed by a Fox is engaging and compelling.

[Caroline Cottom · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. It is much more than stories about the author's encounters with nature. Stuckey uses each personal encounter as a jumping off point to explore the meaning of life, death, love, commitment, and many other big issues. It is beautifully and thoughtfully written.

[Chloe A · Rating 5 out of 5]

What I love about this synopsis is how it immediately makes you pause and think differently about the world around you. The way Stuckey connects simple, everyday things a tree in the backyard, a flowing creek, even a loyal dog to the deeper idea of relationship and connection feels both grounding and inspiring. It suggests that nature isn’t something “out there,” but something personal, alive, and responsive to us in ways we may overlook. Even without having read the book yet, it feels like the kind of work that could gently shift the way you see your own environment and help you live with more awareness, gratitude, and connection. Truly uplifting and timely!

[David Holtzclaw · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kissed By A Fox, is an elegantly written book, that puts nature into a whole new perspective. From the poetry of Rumi, to the thorough historical narrative, it's enlightening,delightful,& completely entertaining! I won this book through the Goodreads-First Read giveaway,& would highly recommend it!

[Babs · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book seem to have elements I would really enjoy. However, it fell short for me.

[LibraryLady · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting read with metaphysical and historical information in addition to the author's personal anecdotes.

[Verna · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautifully written memoir that extends the genre with stories of animals--in their own right and in the ways they have affected the author's growth and understanding of the world.

[Skye · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the direct interactions with animals and nature, the beautiful section on saving the creek in Berkeley. The rest rest got a bit heady for me.

[Anna Gabur · Rating 1 out of 5]

To me this book was the love child of a hipster diary and a bad doctorate thesis which contains so many fallacies that I will not even bother enumerating them.