Imagine a Woman in Love with Herself: Embracing Your Wisdom and Wholeness [Paperback]

Patricia Lynn Reilly (Author), SARK (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1999

Vanquishing once and for all the tired biblical theory of woman as the cause of man's fall from grace, Imagine a Woman in Love with Herself empowers women to move from self-loathing to self-love, from self-criticism to self-celebration. It dismantles the question "What's wrong with me?" by exploring its historical, theological, and personal origins. Patricia Lynn Reilly explores 20 self-affirming qualities that encourage women to be the authors of their own lives and to cultivate knowledge and love of themselves. Each section is filled with reflections and meditations that ask readers to reclaim their inner resources and reconnect with the essential truth about themselves.

Editorial Reviews

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Imagine a woman who believes it is right and good she is a woman.
A woman who honors her experience and tells her stories.
Who refuses to carry the sins of others within her body and life.

Imagine a woman who has acknowledged the past's influence on the present.
A woman who has walked through her past.
Who has healed into the present.

Imagine a woman who names her own gods.
A woman who imagines the divine in her image and likeness.
Who designs her own spirituality and allows it to inform her daily life.

Imagine a woman in love with her own body.
A woman who believes her body is enough, just as it is.
Who celebrates her body's rhythms and cycles as an exquisite resource.

Imagine a woman who honors the body of the Goddess in her changing body.
A woman who celebrates the accumulation of her years and her wisdom.
Who refuses to use her precious life-energy disguising the changes in her body and life.

Imagine a woman who values the women in her life.
A woman who sits in circles of women.
Who is reminded of the truth about herself when she forgets.

IMAGINE YOURSELF AS THIS WOMAN.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Conari Press (September 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1573241695
• ISBN-13: 978-1573241694
• Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 7.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #326,389 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

54 of 56 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Believe you are this woman and you will be., October 26, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Imagine a Woman in Love with Herself: Embracing Your Wisdom and Wholeness (Paperback)

Patricia Lynn Reilly has written a wonderful book that gently applies words of healing as soothing as ointment to a wound. Women learn to love and appreciate themselves even with warts and blemishes. They learn self-healing, of shallow wounds, deep wounds of the heart, emotional wounds and most importantly, self-acceptance. Women who have gone though battles need more self-love and appreciation for the sccars they carry. Self-inflicted doubt, criticism, fear and comparison have wounded women; "Embracing your wisdom and wholeness" are words women should be hearing. Women need to see beyond her outward appearance and be encouraged to look inward to the real beauty beneath her skin. Women are wounded by society's standard of womanhood, the "who" "what" and "how" women should look, act and express themselves. The twenty stanzas of the poem are aimed at each need, each scar, and each offers, a reassuring of a woman's self worth. All women should read this book, especially women who have gone from child to adult because of incest, abuse or rape, all women who have been scared from disease or injuries. Emotional scars of neglect, reminders of past mistakes, all will be turned into positive bandages of healing by reading the poem over and over again, by using it's advice and suggestions on forgiving, toughing and healing your own body. Patricia Lynn Reilly appreciates the wonder and beauty of all women. She helps us to see, as we should, the whole woman, her body, her mind and her soul, the character of a woman. "Imagine a woman in love with her ouwn body. A woman who believes her body is enough, just as it is. Who celebrates her body's rhythms and cycles as an exquisite resource." As you gently breathe in this affirmation, believe you are this woman and you will be.

51 of 53 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Holds Up A Woman-Affirming Mirror, January 21, 2000

By 

Jessica Allen (From Michigan, Visiting Valifornia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Imagine a Woman in Love with Herself: Embracing Your Wisdom and Wholeness (Paperback)

In her intro, Patricia Lynn Reilly states that her intention in writing "Imagine a Woman in Love with Herself" was to hold up a "woman-affirming mirror," reminding women of the truth about themselves when they forget. I was drawn to her book by the poem "Imagine a Woman." I stayed with the book to the very end because in gentle, yet bold language, Patricia stayed true to her intention. Reading each word, each meditation, each blessing was like looking into a kind-hearted, truth-telling, essence-honoring mirror. By the time I finished the book I was grateful to be a woman and I wrote a vow of faithfulness to my own life and capacities. I am now a woman who loves herself as I did "in the very beginning." As Patricia reminded me: "In the very beginning the girl-child loves herself." Read it and give it to every woman in your life!

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Guidebook for Regaining Strength, January 18, 2004

By 

"kiruso" (Connecticut, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Imagine a Woman in Love with Herself: Embracing Your Wisdom and Wholeness (Paperback)

I am impressed with the deliberate focus on women's socialization and it's translation into adulthood. It's activities are incredible - but not easy to do. Keep a journal by your side for this read as you will need it. It's uninteded consequence is that I can be a better mom to my daughter - helping her to navigate through her unique development with clarity.