The Fifth Sacred Thing Audiobook By Starhawk cover art

The Fifth Sacred Thing

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The Fifth Sacred Thing

By: Starhawk
Narrated by: Maya Lilly
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About this listen

One act of courage can change the world.

The year is 2048. Climate change and bio-warfare have ravaged much of the Earth, and societal meltdown has splintered the US into fragments. But out of the ruins, Northern California has built a thriving culture based on respect for the four sacred things: air, fire, water and earth.

The Fifth Sacred Thing is an epic tale of freedom and slavery, love and war, and the potential futures of humankind. It tells of a 21st century California clan caught between two clashing worlds: one based on tolerance, the other on repression. It is both a love story between two people and a war story between two opposing ideals.

©1993, 1994 Miriam Simos (P)2016 Miriam Simos
Contemporary Fiction Magical Realism Occult Political Science Fiction Fantasy Scary Thought-Provoking Heartfelt

Featured Article: The Best New Age Listens for Your Mind, Body, and Soul


The New Age movement encompasses a wide range of spiritual beliefs, practices, and traditions. And many of them, including newer philosophies, draw on ancient religions or revered teachings. Whether you're looking to expand your consciousness, deepen your spiritual practice, learn about witchcraft, explore tarot cards, or just need some inspiration to make a change in your life, you'll be sure to find something that resonates with you on this list.

What listeners say about The Fifth Sacred Thing

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Captivating Story Engaging Characters Imaginative World-building Thought-provoking Themes Skilled Voice Acting
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The world hurts right now. This book helps.

I've waited a little while to write up this book. I'm glad to do so today. If we can'd imagine the future, we won't be able to live into it. That is where this book comes in.

In this work, Starhawk gives a stark showcase of two futures we may live ourselves into: on the one hand, a dystopia of control, dehumanization and inequality ranked by skin and money.
On the other hand, a solarpunk future. Not a utopia, please understand. It is not perfect. There are dozens of things in the process of being improved. But this is a future where we choose food over weapons. Water over money. Community over individual gain. A very real cast of characters inhabits this world. They are people: kind and cruel, broken and healing, soft and hard. They are healers and warriors, criminals and los curanderos. They are human, in all our natures: our fears and our loves, our shames and our sins, our connections and our joys. Each character has their own flaws: Madrone's mule head, Bird's anger, Mia's hot tongue. And each has their beauties: Little John's loyalty. The magic of the Bee Women. Resolve. And compassion. Such stunning compassion.
While there is a weakness for preaching in Starhawk's style than can come off just a little heavy handed, the beautiful poetry of the prose kneads the lessons into the story, making them easy to take in and listen to. And though some of the characters lecture, they are all such powerful and interesting individuals that I found it a story flowing like water, blooming like flowers.
A powerful story that shows us another way to be, it winds together past and present, adventure and magic into a fascinating interpersonal tale that is wound around with an epic adventure. Deftly showcasing what it means to value human rights, ecological rights, and the living world around us, it is the tale we need today. This book shows us an achievable future, and how we could reach it.
The future we will live in? That's up to us.

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8 people found this helpful

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Epic <3

I feel like a changed person....what a beautiful and powerful story. I hope to see it put on the screen.... The narrators voice was perfect. I thoroughly enjoyed listening and found it hard to stop. kinda sad it's over ;)

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1 person found this helpful

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Rare new voice

This book felt fresh and inviting throughout a post religous take over world. I will be revisitng this story soon

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A tale of the power of non-violence

Strangely enough when one goes to the library their is no section for utopia. Dystopias abound and actually even have their own section in the library....a rather poor statement on our collective ability to dream and hope.
But in the 5th Sacred Thing Starhawk brings us a vision of possibility and how to maintain that idealism in the face of horrific odds. A great story with teachings that will stay with you for years.

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so great

Sometimes sound volume varied too much to listen to in noisier environments but otherwise so so good

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Wish I had read this sooner

I had been putting off reading this, feeling like it might be too silly. Boy, was I wrong. I now have a vision about how non-violence can be more powerful than violence. I really appreciated the magical aspects. I totally enjoyed the story and the narrator was above average.

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I am a changed human now

What can I say? There was me before I read this and the me after... Deeply moving and inspiring as an artist. The narration is NEXT LEVEL. Each character is personified perfectly, and the story is beautiful and heart wrenching. 10/10 would recommend to any liberal person (if you’re conservative in any way, this book is not for you, unless you want to fundamentally shift your perspective towards liberation & abolishition)

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Highly recommended

Highly recommended. I enjoyed every page. Suspenseful and so much teaching of human-Spirit connection.
Excellent!

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Wow!! And a piece of feedback

I loved this book so much. I was / am incredibly touched by the details, the connection and deep wisdom.

The performance of the book was mostly really well done.

I have a feedback piece around the Jewish words. It was really difficult and took me out of the book to hear words like “charoset” being pronounced wrong. I thought she may have been purposely doing that and then I realized that they weren’t after many mispronounced Jewish words. I was surprised because this book for me seems to be all about connection and honoring each other’s culture. I made an assumption she would have checked before.

Other than that. Holy moly goddess Yessss.

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Stirring

A wonderful and inspiring book and performance. Read this years ago, now find it so relavent and moving. Inspiring and well written. So worth experiencing. Narrator excellent.

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