Customer Reviews

Grandmothers of The Light: A Medicine Woman's Sourcebook

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i read this book awhile ago and can't really write a review that gives it justice. i will reread it and post another review.... no where in the book does allen talk about facts.it is a book of mythology. myths and tales are not meant to be taken as fact in the scientific sense--they are true on a spiritual level. the book does not claim to be portraying an acurate picture of native american life. it is a picture of the mythic or spiritual life of native american women. this is not a book of anthropology and never claims to be.we are lucky to have p.g. allen. the work she does is important both in remembering the past and remytholgizing the present. the author does not make up stories as she goes along. she is a storyteller and every storyteller tells a story in her own way. but these are legitimate myths, not something that allen made up.i pray that this book finds its way to readers who need to hear its healing message. i pray that more people will take the time to review this book. and i will get to rereading it so i can give it a decent review.you can't go wrong with this book if you are intersted in women's spirituality or native spirituality or if you have a spirit ...

I would just like to respond to the person, a so-called "reader" below who called this book and Paula Gunn Allen a "sham." They base their authority on Ward Churchill. Now, Ward Churchill is an interesting person and an important voice, but even his "credentials" as an Indian are a matter of contention. He claims to belong to the United Keetoowah Band, but this is an honorary title at best and at worst a contrived one. However, this is all essentially water under the bridge. The most important point that I wish to make is that Paula Gunn Allen is not "sham" and neither is this book. All "myths" are told and retold as we understand them and that the author needs for them to be "cohesive and non-confusing bespeaks her own shortcomings and need for linearity and an incomplete understanding of native spirituality. Thhhis book is certainly not "yet another attempt to validate the crock of bull that she puts out there under the label of 'Native American/Goddess Spirituality'; it is a thoughtful and thought-provoking exploration of the stories of traditional women and the roles that these stories play in their spiritual life.

Let me also correct another error. I have read many of Paula Gunn Allen's works and a lot about her. I have never hear her say nor even read that she "she claims to channel the teachings of Native American goddesses." Perhaps I am on the wrong "channel", but this suggestion that she makes this claim holds little water for me.

People who think that Native American culture stopped changing prior to European contact will not like this book. It is part of the ongoing change that all cultures enjoy. Gunn Allen is a vital contempory voice that embodies the projection of Indian past into the Indian future.

Another reviewer criticzed her for making up these stories. That's what literature does, it makes up stories - duh.

I had to read this book for a Women and Spirituality class at my college. Coincidentally, I also has to read (for a different class) "Fantasies of the Master Race" by Ward Churchill. WEll, thank God! Churchill's book exposes people like Paula Gunn Allen for the shams that they are in Native American studies! You're tipped off to it in her preface which states,"THe first section, like the others, contains myths, not necessarily as recorded or told, but as I understand them." WEll, there you have it--the stories are being made up as she goes along with scant references that are often taken out of context to suit her needs. THe stories themselves are confusing and non-cohesive. In her intros to each chapter, Allen often attempts to connect her story to completely irrelevant pieces of history. Yet another attempt to validate the crock of bull that she puts out there under the label of "Native American/Goddess Spirituality". You know what's really sad? This is the last thing that the Women's Movement needs...another reason to halt our progress. Inaccurate dribble portrayed as fact. I wanted to love this book!....