In her new book "Milkweed and Honey Cake," West Mt. Airy resident Wendy Horwitz explores how ritual transforms everyday moments into something sacred - whether it's opening a pomegranate, visiting family graves, or participating in a Native American sweat lodge ceremony. The book, released Feb. 4 by Red Lightning, the trade arm of the University of Indiana Press, weaves together nature observations, religious traditions, and literature to examine how humans create meaning in their lives.

"I worked on the book for three years, although in a way I worked on it for 30 years," Horwitz said in an interview in her home. "I came up with 50 to 60 titles, but the editor, Dan Crissman, came up with the one we used. I pushed back at first, but I love it now. Milkweed is a wildflower, and honey is sweet and represents a traditional gathering together."

According to the publisher, the memoir "explores how ritual can exalt ordinary moments and frame the extraordinary. With observations from nature, religion and literature, she tells (true, real-life) stories about celebration, loss, change and the best way to open a pomegranate. Lyrical and funny, thought-provoking and deeply moving, this book is at once a meditation on our desire for meaning and the story of a woman's lifelong efforts to create it."

"Many stories in the book have a Jewish theme," Horwitz explained. "One point I make is that one should never take oneself too seriously. I follow Jewish rituals like the Passover Seder (the book cover is a photo of the Horwitz family at a Passover Seder when Wendy was a child). One of the funniest chapters is 'Visiting the Graves.' I could not find my in-laws' graves. My father would have thought it was great that we were laughing on the day of his funeral."

"And I am open to belief systems that are not mine," she continued. "For example, Chapter 6, 'Shared Spaces,' is about my experience in a sweat lodge. I wrestled with ideas of intruding on people's rituals, but I loved the sweat lodge. I had made assumptions about cultural appropriation, and in this case, I was wrong. Rituals are a good way to mark things. Human beings are more than just water and bones."

Horwitz grew up in Manchester, Connecticut, in the 1960s and '70s. Her father, Melvin, was a surgeon who also finished law school and was in a MASH unit in the Korean War. Her mother, Dorothy, taught Romance languages and wrote "We Will Not be Strangers," a "wonderful testament to the power of faith, hope, love, and good people doing very hard work," according to an amazon.com review. Both parents were in a documentary film, "The Real MASH," written and directed by Min Sook Lee, a critically acclaimed Canadian screenwriter and filmmaker.

After graduating from Harvard University, Horwitz came to Philadelphia to attend graduate school at Temple University, where she earned a Ph.D. She worked at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia as a pediatric psychologist and spent 14 years at Swarthmore College, where she taught psychology and writing and helped develop the writing program. She later taught humanities courses at the Stanley Katz School of Medicine at Temple University and contributed to the development of the health humanities program and major at Penn State. From 2015 to 2022, she taught writing at Penn State Abington before leaving to devote full-time to writing.

A peripatetic traveler who has lived in other countries, Horwitz describes herself as a haphazard but passionate birder and close observer of butterflies, unspoiled habitats, and turtles. The local polymath is infused with a passion for hiking, family, books, close friends, religious observance and secular ritual, music, and dance.

Horwitz was formerly married to Thomas Shipley, professor of psychology at Temple University who still lives in Mt Airy, just a few blocks from her. They have two children — Noah, 27, who teaches art in Brooklyn, and Chrys, 23, a circus artist in London.

Why did Horwitz choose Mt. Airy as her home 33 years ago? "I had friends here," she said. "It struck me as a comfortable place to live. Safe, a lot of nature, lifestyle and values, diversity, and activism were all appealing to me. I walk a lot. I don't get into a car for days at a time. I love this block. I go into the park four days a week."

Horwitz's essays have been published in The Philadelphia Inquirer, Jewish Literary Journal, Intrepid Times and McClatchy-Tribune News Service, among others. She now only teaches writing workshops and has been in a blizzard of appearances at local venues to discuss her book.

Upcoming events include discussion/book signing events on Sunday, March 9, 10 a.m., at the Germantown Jewish Centre; Tuesday, March 18, 6:30 p.m., at Penn State Abington in Jenkintown; and Wednesday, March 19, 7 p.m., at the Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields in Chestnut Hill.

For more information, visit wendyhorwitzauthor.com. Len Lear can be reached at lenlear@chestnuthilllocal.com.