Mother Mysteries [Abridged, Audiobook] [Audio Cassette]

Maren Tonder Hansen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1998

Drawing on the experience of her own three pregnancies, births, and babies, Maren Hansen invites listeners on the journey into motherhood, showing how the most common daily events are intertwined with the deepest spiritual realities.

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. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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 --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: Shambhala Publications; abridged edition edition (February 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1570623759
• ISBN-13: 978-1570623752
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.3 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,583,092 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars excellent and real, October 4, 1999

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, January 17, 2005

By 

R. Murphy (St. Louis, MO USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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.