God Who Looks like Me

"Our search for a God who looks like us begins in our own lives. She will be found there." Childhood religious images of judgment, punishment, unworthiness and shame, of male saviors, messiahs, and Higher Powers pursue all women into adulthood. Many women realize they must leave behind the traditional concepts and images for a more authentic spirituality. Yet they find to their dismay that the male symbols of God are deeply rooted in their psyches, and difficult to transform. A God Who Looks Like Me shows how the patriarchal images of early experience have wounded women and still stand in the way of a self-defined spirituality. In this book, the poignant personal memories of women of all ages and lifestyles are interwoven with the collective story of women buried in the Hebrew Scriptures and the Christian Bible. Together, these women explore the lost glory of Eve, Lilith, and Mary--and of other forgotten figures who speak to our lives in a society that prefers men. They teach us to plumb the depths of our relationships with our mothers, our bodies, and ourselves; our sexuality and vulnerability; and our journey into old age. As they glimpse in themselves and in each other the feminine faces of God, they can begin to heal. Each chapter is a rich tapestry of poetry, ritual, story, meditation, and history, a road map for anyone--alone or with a circle of women--in search of a woman-affirming spirituality that reclaims our lost power, autonomy, sexuality, wisdom, and divinity. "A profound and evocative guide to the mysteries and manifestations of the feminine face of God. It speaks to the depths of our yearning and the palpable reality of daily life as spiritual experience. --Jean Houston, Ph.D. Director of the Foundation for Mind Research Author of The Hero and the GoddessReilly, Patricia L. is the author of 'God Who Looks like Me' with ISBN 9780345375193 and ISBN 034537519X.