Face to Face : Women Writers on Faith, Mysticism, and Awakening

by Edited by Linda Hogan and Brenda Peterson

• ISBN13: 9780865475588
• ISBN10: 086547558X
• Format: Trade Book
• Copyright: 2004-08-18
• Publisher: North Point Pr

Summary

From the editors of theSweet Breathing of Plants, a new anthology of women's writing on faith and spirituality From the vantage points of diverse backgrounds and beliefs, the writings gathered here describe a vast range of spiritual searches and encounters. Sy Montgomery writes about shamans, Terry Tempest Williams about her Mormon heritage, and Starhawk about witchcraft. Mary Gordon captures the attractions of the contemplative life. Ursula Le Guin speaks about the feminine aspects of theTao te Ching. Jane Goodall reflects on the symbiosis of science and religion after experiencing an ecstatic loss of self in the company of chimpanzees. Facet by facet, these essays and poems--by Molly Peacock, Anne Sexton, Kathleen Norris, Diane Ackerman, and Joy Harjo, among others--reveal and celebrate the special relationship of women to the spiritual realm in a volume that will comfort, provoke, and inspire.

Author Biography

A poet, novelist, and essayist, Linda Hogan is the author of eleven previous books. Brenda Peterson is the author of fifteen books, including four novels, two collections of essays, and a memoir. They live, respectively, in Colorado and Seattle.

Table of Contents

Preface	xi
Heritage and Beyond
Around the Ka'ba and Over the Crick	3	(6)
Mohja Kalif
FROM Refuge	9	(8)
Terry Tempest Williams
Yemaya	17	(11)
Flor Fernandez Barrios
Wonder Voyages	28	(11)
Barbara Sjoholm
Where the Past Takes Us	39	(8)
Colleen J. McElroy
Shall We Gather at the River?	47	(8)
Brenda Peterson
Where I Come from Is Like This	55	(8)
Paula Gunn Allen
Women of God	63	(4)
Mary Gordon
Ramadan Redux	67	(6)
Susanne Pari
God the Mother
What Became of God the Mother?	73	(14)
Elaine H. Pagels
Looking Back at Lot's Wife	87	(6)
Rebecca Goldstein
The Medicine Woman's Daughter	93	(1)
Anita Endrezze
Shoplifting for Jesus	94	(6)
Marlene Blessing
Songline of Dawn	100	(2)
Joy Harjo
Native Origin	102	(3)
Beth Brant
Resurrection	105	(2)
Suzanne Edison
Have You Forgotten? I Am Your Mother	107	(6)
Clarissa Pinkola Estes
Holy Land	113	(4)
Naomi Shihab Nye
At One with the World
The Possible Suffering of a God During Creation	117	(2)
Pattiann Rogers
Shamans	119	(12)
Sy Montgomery
Poamoho	131	(12)
Alison Hawthorne Deming
Healing	143	(8)
Jane Goodall with Phillip Berman
Imagining the Divine	151	(3)
Diane Ackerman
The Great Without	154	(5)
Linda Hogan
Cargo	159	(2)
Amy Schuring
Initiation	161	(12)
Kim Chernin
God in the Art of the everyday
The Sound of Grace	173	(3)
Catherine Johnson
Rapture	176	(1)
Rita Kiefer
"Under My Napkin? In Sky? In Trees?"	177	(6)
Susan Biskeborn
The Soul House	183	(1)
Molly Peacock
Spirit Matters	184	(3)
Demetria Martinez
Light	187	(2)
Linda Hogan
The Feminine and the Tao: A Dialogue with Ursula K. Le Guin	189	(11)
Brenda Peterson
The Angels	200	(5)
Judith Roche
Practicing
Treatise on Narcissism, Evil, Good, Free Will and the Persistence of the Idea of the Self	205	(3)
Marilyn Krysl
Taking Vows	208	(10)
Kate Wheeler
Breathing the Ancestors	218	(4)
Georgiana Valoyce-Sanchez
Ordinary Mysticism	222	(5)
Elizabeth Carothers Herron
Silence	227	(6)
Sharman Apt Russell
Witchcraft and Women's Culture	233	(10)
Starhawk
Re-Vamping the World	243	(8)
Deena Metzger
Hi'iaka Chanting	251	(2)
Haunani-Kay Trask
About the Contributors	253	(10)
Acknowledgments	263