The Rabbi, The Goddess, and Jung: Getting the Word from Within

A sanctuary for the soul—In The Rabbi, the Goddess, and Jung, Naomi Ruth Lowinsky shows us how to create a sacred space by cultivating one’s inner life. Admitting that this is not an easy practice in our hectic, fearful times, she demonstrates how the word from within orients—whether it comes as gift or disturbance, guest or ghost, riddle or revelation. It may force a confrontation with one’s worst fears. It may visit in nightmare images, such as the enormous spider with hairy legs and eight baleful eyes that appeared in a dream, come to warn, it would seem, of the perils facing human nature and Mother Nature. It is essential, especially in difficult times, to make space for what the Kabbalah calls “the beyond that lies within”—the still small voice of the Self, the long view of the wisdom traditions. In this collection of poetic, visionary essays, Lowinsky tells stories of the Lady Tree who showed up when she was six, and has wandered in and out of her life, revealing her Goddess nature. Active imagination enables her to work out unfinished business with ancestors including her father and Jung. Dreams introduce her to her spirit guides, and to a dancing rabbi who insists she study Kabbalah. And that scary spider turns out to be Grandmother Spider, a creator goddess who has the power, if we recognize Her, to help us reweave our relationship with earth.