Christine Irving

Christine Irving has taken on the archetypal myth of Inanna's descent/dismembering/and ascent through clear, readable poetry that brings the story to contemporary life. Inanna's tale is revealed through the eyes of the characters depicted in the myth as found in the Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature, a project of the University of Oxford. Her story unfolds gradually as she travels through seven gates down into her sister Ereshkigal's underground domain, It continues through death, resurrection, and ascent to culminate in a demon driven search for a scapegoat to take her place in the underworld. There is more. In the second section, Christine imagines a contemporary group of women taking part in a ritual based on Inanna's myth. Together they create a series of seven gates through which they will pass, shedding what no longer serves on the descent, and gaining new perspective and intention as they ascend. Their stories are designed to guide contemporary women toward an understanding of Inanna's myth in terms of their own life journeys. The third section of Return to Inanna offers a description of what ritual is and a generic template for creating one's own ritual. It also explores the history and efficacy of public lamentation as a balm for grief. Taken all together, this book is designed to honor the role of myth and poetry in women's history, underscore their relevance in the lives of modern women of every age, and act as a guidebook on a personal journey of renewal.

For many women, a cloak of invisibility seems to wrap us in thicker and thicker layers of obscurity as we move into old age. "You Can Tell a Crone by Her Cackle" protests that erasure, reclaiming the exciting, intensely alive time of life a woman experiences as she enters her fifth decade and begins to consider what comes next. It is a rich period full of paradox - needs of elderly parents, dramas of adult children, contrast with the exquisite freedom to be oneself. "You Can Tell a Crone by Her Cackle" celebrates the many nuances in the lives of 'women of a certain age.' Buy this book for your mom, your aunt, your sister, yourself, but also for your dad, brother, husband, son, who are rarely privy to how women experience later life, and even less, what they think about it all.

Demi-orphaned Sara, abandoned en route to Paris by her father and new stepmother, finds herself standing on the doorstep of her grandfather's villa in the hills above Nice. Opening the door, she finds herself in the midst of a new world, full of color and mystery. Why can't Grandp re know of her friendship with blind Jacques and his seeing-eye dog Ben? What do Ludmilla's mysterious tarot cards portend? Sara's new friends hint at an important task that only she can do. Meanwhile, Grandfather Matisse is teaching her about color. She begins to see the world with fresh eyes. Sara's life changes by the moment as she discovers new qualities and skills within herself. Soon, she will be tested. A lonely journey will take her deep beneath the ground to come face to face with the mystery of the Black Madonna.