Embrace of the Daimon: The Ecstatic Promise of the Dark Book

This is her dissertation. It is barely readable, let alone understandable by any other than someone with an advanced degree in feminist depth psychology (her colleagues and mentors). Only because I have done considerable reading over the years in this area was I able to decipher some of her onerous repetitive rambling. This is not to say that what Dennis has written isn't interesting (if almost unintelligible), but it is hardly a book for someone with even a passing interest in feminism, Jung, symbology, or personal transformation.

Interestingly, Dennis had many of her initial "visions" in the months after her daughter was born. I'd be more prone to attributing these waking dreams to postpartum depression than to much else. She seems to really stretch the envelope here. Some of her analysis is a bit over the top and round the bend. It is certainly NOT a "practical guide" to anything, let alone healing. The only suggestions for how to begin this so-called embrace in one's life are numbers one through seven under a section entitled, "Body-Centered Immersion." This section is followed up at some point with a few numbered descriptions of various bodily sensations (i.e."pressure in head,) to help one decipher what they may mean. Clearly, this section was added as an after-thought in order to market this research as a "self-help" book.

It could be that Dennis' contributions to this esoteric field are part of a small early force of academics. I think though, that this time has passed; there are more accessible materials (though admittedly, not many), available to the lay reader. I'm thinking of Women Who Run With Wolves, (Clarissa Pinkola Estes) and Descent to the Goddess (Sylvia Perera).