Journey Through Menopause: A Personal Rite of Passage Book

This intensely personal account of the little written-about sacred dimension of menopause combines religious studies with psychology to "understand menopause as soul-event . regarding its symptoms as symbols" and provides insight into what this transition can be like for those women who choose to embrace it as a meaningful part of their lives. Downing explores menopause as a rite of passage and reveals her own inner and outer journey through this process, using a trip she took to India when she turned 50 to mark the occasion. She shares with her sisters the lessons learned on the journey: "the discovery that I was done with the heroic quest, the acceptance of weakness and vulnerability, the recognition of my dependence on other women, the revelation that I am loved enough."

Library Journal

In a personal account of her own journey through menopause, Downing, past president of the American Academy of Religion, combines religious studies with psychology to ``understand menopause as soul-event . . . regarding its symptoms as symbols.'' Her ``hunger for a more symbolic connection to these mysteries of feminine life'' led her initially to explore her dreams. Finally, at the end of a low-budget journey around the world that served as a metaphor for her own rite of passage, she rediscovered Hestia, goddess of hearth and home, whom she describes as ``a soul-guide.'' Downing's experiences and reflections may illuminate the experience of menopause for other women, but the religious framework of the book will limit its appeal. For feminist collections. Cynthia Widmer, Williamstown, Mass.