Desperately Seeking Persephone is my own memoir. True stories of my healing journey from trauma to wholeness. Here are two reviews from this book: This first one was from when the book was first issued and was reviewed by Eline Kieft. You can read it here.
The second review is in two parts and was reviewed when the book was re-issued (with the blue cover). The review was written by Carolyn Lee Boyd. You can read it here: Part 1 and Part 2.
My books One Gods, When Eve Was a Goddess and When Moses Was a Shaman (and their Spanish version) present a radical new vision of biblical teachings. This is important because the stories that a culture tells itself define its values and its progression. Our world is in trouble. Our stories of western civilization are failing us. The Bible is a foundational document of our civilization. Whether we be pagan, atheist, Hindi, Muslim, Buddhist, Jewish, Christian or something else, we are affected by the writings because the most basic of our western values have been shaped by its words. The roots of our society have been built upon this foundation.
But what if the lessons are different than what we think? How would our lives be different? How would our culture be different? It is only by changing the fundamental stories underpinning our culture that we can change the paradigms we live by.
My series of three books on the Bible delves into ancient knowledge underpinning the writings of the Bible. At their roots, the stories are all shamanic explorations of the Bible’s great journeys, struggles, quests, heroes, and heroines. Noah, for example, tells a rollicking adventure story of survival against great odds while at the same time being a mystical journey about seeds and the continuation of life. Adam and Eve’s tale is replete with curses and serpents but is also a mystery tale about generating and enlivening the breath of life. The parting of the Red Sea is a breathtaking journey-story is a thrilling escape journey and also provides a treasure map to passageways between heaven and earth.
The Bible, as with other sacred books, took its teachings from the pagan peoples of its time. Such sacred writings contain a wealth of knowledge from the beliefs of the rural, country peoples of antiquity, those who lived close to the land, listened to the seasons, read the stars at night, and, sometimes, had personal relationships with divinity. When the Bible took on its final form, these original beliefs and teachings didn’t disappear, they just went underground, remaining buried, like valuable treasure, deep within the text. Because remnants of the original spiritual lessons remain, it is possible to dig into the text to uncover its mysteries. To uncover them, I have developed a technique that I call spiritual forensics.
I use two main research techniques. 1) cross-cultural explorations and 2) a deep dive into ancient Hebrew. Shamanic knowledge is a deep pool of earthly wisdom that were all born from similar roots and then grew and ripened in different cultures. Parallel knowledge developed different cultural patinas in different areas of the world. For example, what lessons about Moses can we learn by studying the Celtic tale of Taliesin? The lessons are about seeds, thresholds and divine interactions. I discuss these lessons in When Moses Was a Shaman
The second technique involves the nature of Hebrew words. Early Hebrew writing (Early Semitic) grew out of Egyptian hieroglyphs which used pictures to express ideas. Early words were composed of rebuses or picture puzzles. An examination of these puzzles reveals word meanings that have often been translated out of easy reach of the reader. For example, Eve’s name means life. The name of one of the trees in Eden that was forbidden to her was the Tree of Life. It was Her tree and forbidding her from eating it was a reversal of ancient beliefs and knowledge. I discuss these teachings in When Eve Was a Goddess.