Releasing January 19, 2026 – Pre-order Today
Eight women—Jungian psychoanalysts—share our personal stories of the emergence of and transformative manifestations of the archetypal feminine, the complexities of love and the necessity for Eros – relatedness to inner and outer realities. Meaningful experiences span the heartbeats of life and reveal the significance of a woman’s emotional, sexual and spiritual awakenings as she learns to claim her own value and voice. In a zeitgeist of patriarchal attitudes in which divine archetypal feminine images and principles continue to be devalued, categorized, and pathologized, the storytellers’ desire to personally claim Her significance and authority has encouraged us to write a part of our stories—in honor of Her.
The effects of collective consciousness, religious beliefs, and parental patterns of relating are prominent aspects of these stories. There is no avoidance of this reality for any of us, and we have lived the first half of our lives in degrees of acceptance or rejection, responding to its ideals for the normal, the acceptable, the agreeable, and the expected role of a girl and a woman in a man’s world. Our mothers and fathers are the first source of these legacies and expectations, both affecting the girl’s psychological development and, later, challenging the woman’s consciousness. In that particular stage of life we have lived, for the most part, unconsciously—acquiring an ego identity and persona that establishes a sense of self and seeking love and/or power that provides a sense of fulfillment. In this endeavor we repress many of the negative and positive aspects of the feminine deemed bad, inferior, weak, unacceptable, and yet they slip into our dreams and relationships as unconscious shadow selves that we project, avoid or deny. This works for a time—until it doesn’t: until the moral dilemma, the sudden illness, the amazing dream; until the stagnation, the empty nest, the heartbreaking loss, or the final and consequential “no more.”
This book tells of the pivotal struggles, revelatory dreams, illuminating myths and the emotional fires that have informed, transformed, and supported us on our paths of individuation. The mysteries of the archetypal feminine and the devalued and repressed attributes of Her nature have enriched and strengthened our feminine identities as well as challenged and influenced our relatedness to the archetypal masculine and, thus, to the cultural milieu and the men in our lives. These experiences have been a gift of and a tribute to the complexities of love.
Contributors Include:
(Editor) Marilyn Marshall
Constance Romero
Carolyn Bates
Nancy Qualls-Corbett
Susan Negley
Janice Quinn
Barbara Friedman
Jacqueline Wright
