Coming Home to Myself: Reflections for Nurturing a Woman's Body and Soul

I purchased a copy of this book for myself, but have given one to my mother and will purchase another for myself. It is a beautiful distillation of the wisdom of Woodman's works that you want to keep close to your heart, like a friend who gently tells you the things you need to hear at the right time. I deeply appreciate the expansion of Woodman's wisdom provided by Jill Mellick. Wonderful nourishing for a woman's soul!

This is a wonderful book on identity. It's a collection of short, easy-to-read chapters for women about "loving their femininity, themselves and each other" and for men "who are coming to grips with the lost feminine in themselves." One of the most heartening chapters for me is the one on creativity. I'm a writer, so this chapter really spoke to me. This is some of what they say: "Some people think of creativity as something that artists possess. It might be more helpful to think of it as Jung did, as an instinct. We can bring creativity to almost every life activity. Moreover, we can use certain imaginative forms of creative expression through the arts to explore personal, spiritual, and psychological development." Herein, by the way, is a major difference between Jung and Freud. Freud thought the highest evolution of humans was toward rational thought. One this was achieved, we would no longer have a need for art, he thought. (Freud was an athiest.) Jung, however, believed in the mysterious possibilities of life, in a spiritual life, and in the importance of art in expressing not only our pain but also our joy. I find Jung's philosophy to be much more to my liking. Woodman and Mellick also write: "Creativity is divine: the virgin soul opens to spirit and conceives the divine child. We cannot live without it. It is the meaning of life, this creative fire." In the chapter on creativity, Woodman and Mellick also touch on the difference between "doing" and "being." They say: "When doing is all we know, being is just another word for ceasing to exist. When being begins to flow through dance and paint and song, joy is no longer luxury but absolute need." This is a terrific book. I keep it within easy reach at all times. It gives me comfort, revelation, and inspiration.

I've opened this book from my desk at work, at a stoplight in the car, by candle light in the bathtub, walking in the rain for coffee on a Saturday morning. Each time a passage speaks to me and soothes my soul. I've read passages over several times, sometimes getting a bit of a different meaning as I personalize it. The pages are dogeared, tagged with post-it notes, and many of the passages have been shared with friends and family to engage introspective discussions.

marion woodman and jill mellick have brought so many of marion's finest writings into one place, so that we can benefit from the imagery and wisdom of this wonderful woman....i highly recommend this to anyone interested in bringing images, dreams and spirit into daily life

This book makes more accessible many of Marion Woodman's ideas, observations and stories found in her previous books and audiocassettes. Jill Mellick has sensitively gathered Marion's words, organized them by topic, and formatted them in a pleasing visual style, adding her own watercolor illustrations. This is not a book to sit down and read from cover to cover; rather it is best used for dipping into, perhaps at random, perhaps as a starting point for daily meditation. Readers do not need to be familiar with Marion's other books to enjoy these extracts, but may find they wish to look further at her work after this taste.