Creation's Heartbeat: Following the Reindeer Spirit [Paperback]

Linda Schierse Leonard (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1996

Bestselling author of The Wounded Woman and Meeting the Madwoman, Jungian analyst Linda Schierse Leonard offers an exciting new way to understand the instinctual energies that affect us in our search for wholeness and healing and in the expression of our creativity. Inspired by a dream of a woman who runs with a herd of reindeer, she devoted years to the exploration of the reindeer in nature and as an archetype of feminine instinctual energy -- a living symbol that can inspire both men and women in their spiritual development and an image of hope in the ecological dark times in which we now live.

Dr. Leonard takes readers along on her journeys to Siberia, Lapland, and Alaska, where reindeer and caribou are messengers between heaven and earth, bridges between spirit and nature. Drawing upon myths, dreams, stories, and films, she explores the reindeer's power, beauty, resilience, and vulnerability. This archetype leads us to our own inner force that is feminine, free-spirited, and strong yet imbued with a gentle and compassionate heart. Chronicling travels across the top of the world and deep into the regions of the soul, Creation's Heartbeat takes us along on a luminous pilgrimage, giving us a map of the sacred and nourishing us with unforgettable ideas.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Jungian philosopher Leonard (Meeting a Madwoman, LJ 2/1/93) takes the reader on a spiritual journey to Lapland, Alaska, and Siberia to run with the reindeer. Using images from a dream, Leonard conjures the Reindeer Woman, a free spirit and nonpredator image, and ties together inspirational writings, stories, fables, and legends from nomadic peoples of the north. Along the way, she interprets related poems from Auden and Rilke and modern films such as The Yearling and The Deer Hunter, which consider human interaction with deer. The deer becomes a spiritual power that can guide our lives; for example, pregnant reindeer, which travel north to deliver their young and face perils along the way from predators while constantly hunting for food, become a metaphor for the creative struggle of humans. Leonard's musings are interesting but not essential for public libraries.?L. Kriz, Sioux City P.L., Ia.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Leonard, author of several books that conflate women's spirituality and Jungian psychology, weaves a magical tale of questing and transformation. Inspired by a dream of white reindeer, she sets out to understand the animal's complex spiritual meaning and to visit shamanistic reindeer tribes in their arctic domain. Some of the most beautiful passages in this inspiring book are those that record Leonard's encounters with the reindeer and the native peoples who live with and depend upon the animals in Siberia, Lapland, and Alaska. As she describes her voyage of discovery through both books and landscapes, Leonard draws us into the inner meanings of an animal whose debased images fly across Christmas cards, and she discloses the gifts of the reindeer--the strength of their woundedness, their messages of transformation, and the spiritual ecology they represent. Patricia Monaghan --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Bantam (October 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553375296
• ISBN-13: 978-0553375299
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #970,269 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars New Age spirituality from a philosopher analyst., March 11, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Creation's Heartbeat: Following the Reindeer Spirit (Paperback)

Linda Leonard shares her shaky brand of New Age shaman spirituality legitimized by her certification as a Jungian analyst yet ironically inspired by objectifying a dream image and seeking it in the outer world. Jungian analysts do not necessarily have psychiatric training or a continually updated background in psychology/psychiatry, and Linda Leonard was at her best writing about what she knows -- twelve step programs, creative achievement and the madness of alcoholism in Witness to the Fire, her most valuable and intelligent contribution as a recovering alcoholic who nearly lost her profession and life to her disease. Creation's Heartbeat, in comparison, if you're familiar with her other books, seems the "puella-madwoman" in romantic flight with a "soulmate," a shaky trip with the feel of a substitute for the romantic escape no longer provided by alcohol. Tragically and embarrassingly, though this tale often reads like a woman in her twenties wrote it, you will find a woman in her sixties questioning her separate existence at the relatively peaceful death of her aged mother. A fashionable contribution to the popular "Jungian," "shamanic" literature that reached its peak in the eighties, with an interesting but romantic (objectified dream image) portrayal of the reindeer and nomadic laplands.