A tender and funny exploration of the sacred dimension of motherhood. When a woman becomes pregnant she is suddenly carried far beyond the self she previously knew. She becomes a vessel through which life proceeds, and she begins to learn something of the spiritual forces that ignite all of life. Maren Hansen's book explores this inner experience of motherhood as a timeless and universal expression of feminine spirituality. Drawing on the experience of her own three pregnancies in chapters like "Raging Hormones" and "The Venus of Willendorf and Me," she takes the reader on an amusing but thought-provoking tour through morning sickness, amniocentesis, preparing a nest, birth, postpartum depression, nursing, and working outside the home. The deepest spiritual realities, she shows, are intertwined with the commonest daily events.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
In this tender memoir, author Maren Hansen vividly and humorously demonstrates how mothering overlaps with the divine. Hansen, who is a psychotherapist and an ordained Unitarian Universalist minister, also has the gift of storytelling. As we follow the births of her three children, she deftly leads us through her stages of motherhood: the dismay of morning sickness, the ambivalence of amniocentesis, the hilarious post-birth waddling, the betrayal of the maiden babysitter, and the horrifying epiphany that her body has come to resemble that of the stout and ancient Venus of Willendorf. Always on the lookout for spiritual insight as well as a good laugh, Hansen offers mothers two of the most valuable tools of motherhood.
Review
"Neither a run-of-the-mill manual for new mothers nor a collection of amusing anecdotes about mothering, this book is instead a treasure-house of angry, poignant, fearful, ethereal and painful observations on the subject, revealing fascinating mythological parallels to the deeply personal experiences of present-day mothers. From assuming that she "knew what it meant to be a mother," to being "abducted" by the Great Mother Goddess into the realm of "the collective Feminine soul," California psychotherapist and former Unitarian minister Hansen guides readers through her own transition "from maiden to mother." Through three pregnancies and births that, she says, marked turning points in the growth, "death" and rebirth of her family. Hansen leaves no stone unturned, no topic taboo, no feeling unexamined. Many of the common experiences that women share but rarely talk about are illuminated by her bright focus. Equally brought to light is the succession of emotions she experienced during and after giving birth: her extremely painful first delivery, her unreadiness to leave the hospital after three days, her hypervigilance for her son's safety, her stress and rage after months of colic and, finally, her feelings of love and joy. This is a thoughtful, honest, wonder-filled exploration of one of life's most common, yet very special, spiritual paths."—Publishers Weekly
"Maren Hansen is nothing less than a multi-mythic momma. Hers is a brilliant, intuitive grasp of the essential myths of Mother/Goddess." —Jean Houston, author of A Mythic Life
"Maren Hansen is nothing less than a multi-mythic momma. Hers is a brilliant, intuitive grasp of the essential myths of Mother/Goddess." —Jean Houston, author of A Mythic Life
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
excellent and real,
By A Customer
This review is from: Mother Mysteries (Paperback)
I thought this book captured the wonder and agony of childbirth and motherhood. I read it during the last part of my 2nd pregnancy and wish I had read it during the 1st!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The mythic quality of motherhood,
By
This review is from: Mother Mysteries (Paperback)
I really enjoyed this book. The author approaches the transition to motherhood from a universal, mythic perspective. She talks both about her personal experieces with motherhood as well as about how those experiences relate to the depiction of motherhood in myth and religion around the world. She draws very interesting parallels and really elucidates the sense of motherhood as being bigger than oneself. For example, the author talks about her initial desire to have children not as something soft and sweet, but instead like being forcibly abducted by the mother goddess and dragged into some subterranean realm.
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