EARTH AS MEDICINE: a memoir, confession, and a love song

When academic discourse makes its way into one’s soul and heals a life, it’s worthy of a book. Two confessions, St. Augustine’s and Coleridge’s Rime of the Ancient Mariner gave me the reflexive style that has transformed my memories and cultivated consciousness. In retrospect, I claim this style of confession as a therapeutic process. I confess the survival responses to religious abuse, the trauma of addiction, and the saving grace of a liberal education in a memoir that expands perception and opens me to an enlarged world where everything remembered can be re-membered. Not only the rhetorical style of the Confessions but the content of the old Saint’s engagement finds a resonance in Coleridge’s Rime, a poem that embeds confession within confession and leads to the awareness of the sacredness of "one life." The Mariner confesses to the Wedding Guest and the Hermit of the Wood and through him, Coleridge confesses to generations of readers how a random and unconscious act of violence becomes an agent of transformation that enlarges perspective and leads to connection and community. My own early wounding and rupture from my parents, under the tutelage of this reflective journey, releases me from the literal bondage of brokenness. My experience of trauma, and my soul’s need for survival, account for so many years of unconscious unconsciousness and the killing of my own albatross, which I recount with transparency. The work of reflection is alchemical as the body, not the brain, becomes the locus of transformation, the crucible of consciousness and connection. The body becomes the crucible of this sacred process of memory and re-membering, but the body must be washed with tears and blood - fluids of transformation that offer cleansing and clarity. Air too is integral to the alchemical transformation, as it provides the space that prevents too much literal compression. Fire amalgamates all of the elements into a new perception and perspective. It’s that fire that fuels the passion and melts the brokenness of the past into its new medicine where there is no shame, and everything belongs. What was once an academic dissertation, inspired by a broad liberal education, has been transformed into the work and healing of a life. My hope is that this confession will inspire others to heal and give them a path forward that is imaginal and deeply soulful, spiritual without religious or cultural requirements or obstructions. It has led me to a life I could not have imagined and a passion that continues to inspire others.
ASIN: 2386192180
VSKU: BVV.2386192180.G
Condition: Good
Author/Artist:Young, Sherry
Binding: Paperback
Note: Any images shown are stock photographs and product may differ from what is shown.
Condition Notes: The item shows wear from consistent use, but it remains in good condition and works perfectly. All pages and cover are intact including the dust cover, if applicable . Spine may show signs of wear. Pages may include limited notes and highlighting. May NOT include discs, access code or other supplemental materials.