Losing a Parent: Passage to a New Way of Living (Paperback)

~ (Author) "The death of a parent is one of the most significant events of our lives..." (more)
Key Phrases: sanctuary time, nonordinary reality, shamanic journey, Carl Jung, Stephen Levine, Lower World (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Most people will eventually face a parent's death. Kennedy's book can help us prepare for this painful and transformative experience." -- Yoga Journal Nov/Dec 1991

"This is an extraordinary book, beautifully written, instructive, brimming with insights. . ." -- Natural Health May/June 1992

"a compelling account. . . might well apply to the ending of any powerful relationship between people who love each other." -- Science of Mind April 1992

Product Description

Kennedy shares her own story of facing the loss of a parent and offers innovative strategies for healing and transformation.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: HarperOne; 1 edition (June 21, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0062504983
• ISBN-13: 978-0062504982
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #100,845 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #64 in	Books > Nonfiction > Social Sciences > Sociology > Death
  #85 in	Books > Religion & Spirituality > Earth-Based Religions > Shamanism

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lightpost for the inner journey, April 12, 2005

By	M. Cleckley "Asha C." (San Jose, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book offers valuable insights into the personal journey each person must go through in grieving the loss of a parent, or even someone as close as a parent. Unlike some of the other reviewers on this page, I found her explanations of shamanism and spirit guides a refreshing and useful way to explore my own inner wisdom and find support and healing. For those unfamiliar with shamanism, or uncomfortable with practices different than their own, I encourage anyone to open their heart and mind to a new way of healing.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Losing a Parent, June 28, 2001

By	"swenix" (Soquel, CA USA) - See all my reviews

I found Ms. Kennedy's book extraordinarily helpful. Although both of my parents are alive, I had a stepmother whom I loved dearly who died when I was 20 and away at college. I had been told that she died of a broken heart. ( She was mentally ill and depressed and had ten shock treatments.) Twenty years later, my father informed me that Leila, whom I had loved like a second mother, had killed herself. I had lived with a lie for twenty years. The grief I felt was almost overwhelming: to think that she had died in such a terrible lonely way. Ms. Kennedy's book helped me find ways to clarify my relationshiop with Leila, with her death, and to work through all those years of unresolved loss, confronting the truth from a different perspective. Although my parents are alive, her book has also prepared me for the fact that although I will never really be ready for their death, being clear and direct in the relationships I have now will help when it is time for them to pass, and that I will have tools with which to cope when it is their time to leave this Earth. I am glad to have this book in my library. I gave it to all four of my cousins when their wonderful father dropped dead of a heart attack at 63.( The circumstances, in which he chose not to go to the hospital, made it almost like a suicide, creating unresolved feelings).They found it remarkably helpful. Death seems so final when we think of the object as being unable to receive our communication or to transform. Ms. Kennedy's book points out in a very meaningful way, that "the object", the loved one, in this case is anything but an object, but a living spirit with which we can continue to interact... " the object" is no more outside ourselves than we are outside ourselves: it is a matter of defining who they are and how they live within us that creates the healing. I recommend this book wholeheartedly.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A NEW WAY OF SEEING LIFE AND DEATH, October 2, 2001

By	KAREN MATULICH (SANTA CRUZ, CA USA) - See all my reviews

LOSING A PARENT IS A BOOK WITH A UNIQUE WAY TO WORK THROUGH GRIEF. EVEN IF A PARENT DIED YEARS EARLIER, THE BOOK PROVIDES NEW, INSIGHTFUL WAYS TO DEAL WITH ISSUES AS THEY COME UP IN LIFE. ALEXANDRA IS BRAVE AND GENEROUS TO SHARE HER OWN EXPERIENCES WITH US. JUST KNOWING OTHERS EXPERIENCE THOSE MOMENTS IS EMPOWERING.