Coming Home to Myself: Reflections for Nurturing a Woman's Body and Soul [Paperback]

Marion Woodman (Author), Jill Mellick (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 14, 2001

Half a million readers have found substance and sustenance in Marion Woodman's previous landmark works such as Addiction to Perfection and Leaving My Father's House. Now, even more readers will have access to Woodman's brilliant insights through this volume, in which 365 of her core teachings have been formatted for daily contemplation. he result is a series of sacred reminders to help readers connect to their feminine essence and gain a higher vision for the day. With chapter introductions, watercolors, and selections by Jill Mellick, Coming Home to Myself helps women connect to their feminine essence.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The second printing of Coming Home to Myself revives a popular and noteworthy book that does indeed bring women home to a more intimate connection with their feminine selves. Not quite poetry and not quite prose, this collection of quotes offers a series of bite-size excerpts from the writings of Jungian therapist Marion Woodman (Leaving My Father's House, Dancing in the Flames). As Woodman calls it, this is a "surprise child" that was born from the creative mind of artist and psychotherapist Jill Mellick (The Natural Artistry of Dreams), who initially imagined excerpting Woodman's quotes and illustrating them with her watery, Zen-like paintings. Woodman's kernels of wisdom are organized beneath 34 different headings, such as "Unmasking Myself," "Rites of Passage," and "Coming to Love." For example, under the heading of "My Body" a Woodman quote reads as follows: "If the dream says something is wrong with your body, check. Long before you do, your body knows when something is wrong." Or, "Give your body an hour a day. If it's not worth an hour an a day, there's nothing your body can tell you and not much else anyone else can do." Under "Reclaiming My Own Energies," we find this nugget: "A mother who is identified with being mother has to have children who will eat what she gives them and do what she wants them to do. They must remain children." This is the kind of book you can open to any page and find a quote worth pondering for a moment or a lifetime. --Gail Hudson

About the Author

Marion Woodman, Ph.D. (Hon.) is the author of many widely respected books, including the bestselling Addiction to Perfection. She lives in Canada.

Poet, artist, and writer Jill Mellick, Ph.D., is the co-author of The Worlds of P'otsunu, and author of The Natural Artistry of Dreams. She travels and teaches internationally, focusing on the use of the arts for psychospiritual dimensions and has been in private practice for many years as a Jungian-oriented clinical psychologist and registered expressive arts therapist. She lives in Palo Alto, California.

Product Details

• Paperback: 280 pages
• Publisher: Conari Press (April 14, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1573245666
• ISBN-13: 978-1573245661
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #239,082 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

58 of 60 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Daily food for my soul!, October 29, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (San Jose, California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Coming Home to Myself: Daily Reflections for a Woman's Body and Soul (Hardcover)

I've opened this book from my desk at work, at a stoplight in the car, by candle light in the bathtub, walking in the rain for coffee on a Saturday morning. Each time a passage speaks to me and soothes my soul. I've read passages over several times, sometimes getting a bit of a different meaning as I personalize it. The pages are dogeared, tagged with post-it notes, and many of the passages have been shared with friends and family to engage introspective discussions.

50 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A pleasing compilation of Marion Woodman's ideas., June 11, 1998

By 

E. Widerski "Viola-identified with an E string" (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Coming Home to Myself: Daily Reflections for a Woman's Body and Soul (Hardcover)

This book makes more accessible many of Marion Woodman's ideas, observations and stories found in her previous books and audiocassettes. Jill Mellick has sensitively gathered Marion's words, organized them by topic, and formatted them in a pleasing visual style, adding her own watercolor illustrations. This is not a book to sit down and read from cover to cover; rather it is best used for dipping into, perhaps at random, perhaps as a starting point for daily meditation. Readers do not need to be familiar with Marion's other books to enjoy these extracts, but may find they wish to look further at her work after this taste.

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Wonderful and Soulful Meditation, August 3, 2005

By 

Theresa Williams "Zen" (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Coming Home to Myself: Reflections for Nurturing a Woman's Body and Soul (Paperback)

This is a wonderful book on identity. It's a collection of short, easy-to-read chapters for women about "loving their femininity, themselves and each other" and for men "who are coming to grips with the lost feminine in themselves."

One of the most heartening chapters for me is the one on creativity. I'm a writer, so this chapter really spoke to me. This is some of what they say:

"Some people think of creativity as something that artists possess. It might be more helpful to think of it as Jung did, as an instinct. We can bring creativity to almost every life activity. Moreover, we can use certain imaginative forms of creative expression through the arts to explore personal, spiritual, and psychological development."

Herein, by the way, is a major difference between Jung and Freud. Freud thought the highest evolution of humans was toward rational thought. One this was achieved, we would no longer have a need for art, he thought. (Freud was an athiest.) Jung, however, believed in the mysterious possibilities of life, in a spiritual life, and in the importance of art in expressing not only our pain but also our joy. I find Jung's philosophy to be much more to my liking.

Woodman and Mellick also write:

"Creativity is divine:

the virgin soul opens to spirit

and conceives the divine child.

We cannot live without it.

It is the meaning of life,

this creative fire."

In the chapter on creativity, Woodman and Mellick also touch on the difference between "doing" and "being." They say:

"When doing is all we know,

being is just another word

for ceasing to exist.

When being begins to flow

through dance and paint and song,

joy is no longer luxury

but absolute need."

This is a terrific book. I keep it within easy reach at all times. It gives me comfort, revelation, and inspiration.