There is a scarcity of professional literature and research that focuses on women's spiritual development and experiences and how they may differ from those of men. For women, the spiritual is often inner-focused, rather than transcendent; relational, rather than solitary; and interdependent, rather than autonomous. Dancing the Labyrinth integrates knowledge of women's psychological and spiritual development alongside stories of a diverse group of women to examine how spirituality changes over the adult life course; the catalysts for said changes (e.g., the natural aging process or traumatic events); and feminist spirituality, which highlights the importance of relationships (to self, others, and God). While the authors focus on spirituality, they examine the experiences of women who express their spirituality within both traditional and non-traditional paths. The text also includes several chapters that highlight specific clinical interventions professionals can use to implement spirituality into their practice with women. Written in an engaging and accessible style, this book serves as a helpful resource for mental health practitioners, pastoral counselors, spiritual directors, and lay audiences interested in better understanding of the nuances of women's spiritual development and experiences.

Gerardus van der Leeuw was one of the first to attempt a rapprochement between theology and the arts, and his influence continues to be felt in what is now a burgeoning field. Sacred and Profane is the fullest expression of his pursuit of a theological aesthetics, surveying religion's relationship to all the arts -- dance, drama, literature, painting, sculpture, architecture, and music. This edition makes this seminal work, first published in Dutch in 1932, newly available. A new foreword by Diane Apostolos-Cappadona analyzes the continuing relevance of van der Leeuw's thought. Van der Leeuw's impassioned and brilliant investigation of the relationship between the holy and the beautiful is founded upon the conviction that for too long the religious have failed to seriously contemplate the beautiful, associating it as they do with the kingdom of sensuality and impermanence. Similarly it has been alien to literati and aesthetes to reflect upon the holy, for they choose to consider this physical world to be permanent, and therefore to be glorified through beauty alone. In truth, as van der Leeuw undertakes to show in Sacred and Profane Beauty, the holy has never been absent from the arts, and the arts have never been unresponsive to the holy. Whether one considers the Homeric epics, the dancing Sivas and Vedic poems, the sacred wall paintings of ancient Egypt, the primitive mask, or the range of sacred arts developed out of Latin and Byzantine Christianity, primordial creation in the arts was always directed toward the symbolization and interpretation of the holy. The fact that in our day this original connection is obscured and the artistic impulse is more generally regarded as wholly individualistic and autonomous does not contradict van der Leeuw's thesis; indeed, the breakdown of the unity of the holy and the arts is central to his thesis. Van der Leeuw was the rare thinker who combined profundity of insight, grace of style, and a willingness to take daring intellectual chances. In Sacred and Profane, he describes each of the arts in its original unity with the religious and then analyzes its historical disjunction and alienation. After a penetrating investigation of the structural elements within the arts which illumines a crucial dimension of the religious experience, van der Leeuw points toward the reemergence of an appropriate theological aesthetics on which a reunification of the arts could be founded.

Written for a variety of readers -- whether interested citizens, students, or practicing health professionals -- the book provides a systematic understanding of how health care is provided in the United States. It is a readable, candid and thoughtful dissection of the problems confronted by both individuals and institutions within the health sector. Focus is on a detailed analysis of external environmental issues, financial as well as regulatory, affecting providers, as well as on the structural shifts in health care delivery, with both intended and unintended consequences.

Return to the Kingdom of Whence in this sprawling prequel to Jim Henson's classic film Labyrinth. Finally back in print and for the first time in hardcover is the novelization of LABYRINTH written by A.C.H. Smith and personally overseen by Jim Henson. This beautiful hardcover features unpublished illustrations by legendary illustrator and concept artist Brian Froud and an exclusive peek into Jim Henson's creative process with over 40 never-before-seen pages from his personal journal, detailing the initial conception of his ideas for LABYRINTH.

The Labyrinth of Love is a love story set amid the social and political upheavals of contemporary Mexico. The legend of the plumed serpent runs through the book, illuminating the theme of love and sacrifice and guiding the protagonist, Thomas Ryan, an aging American photographer, in his quest for love and artistic success. The heros struggle takes place in the context of his relationship with Maria Lopez, a beautiful young Mexican woman. A central theme of the novel turns on the intrusiveness of the photographer in pursuit of his art. In two critical scenes, Ryan is forced to realize that he has exploited both his Mexican lover and a community of Mayan Indians for the sake of his career in the United States. The choice he ultimately makes transcends his ambition for fame and brings him to a surprisingly altered relationship with Maria.

Grief Labyrinth is the journey I began with my daughter Inga's breast cancer diagnosis and her death at the age of thirty. I felt so heartbroken I did not think I would survive. In time, I discovered and walked the labyrinth, a profound metaphor for the grief process. The only way through is forward, with many twisting turns and going back and forth over what seems like the same territory. Walking the labyrinth path with my grief repeatedly, I ultimately discovered healing, trust, hope and joy. A transforming path "With the wisdom that comes only from personal experience, Carole offers to others a transforming path through grief. Her deep sharing highlights the benefit of turning towards one's grief. What she refers to as "The 4 R's"-reviewing, releasing receiving and returning are specific reflections that lead toward healing and integration. I recommend this book to anyone who has lost a loved one." -Ange Stephens, MA LMFT, Psychotherapist specialist in grief "This honest, heartfelt, and encouraging book offers the labyrinth as a comfort for the journey of grief." -Marcia Lattanzi-Licht, author of The Hospice Choice "This book is a moving testimony of a mother's path through grief. A path that takes us from fragmentation to wholeness. It reminds us that in the intense grief surrounding the loss of someone we love we rediscover the pool of grief that we have always carried. The ordinary, everyday grief that inhabits all our lives." -Frank Ostaseski, founder Metta Institute

Ancient and medieval labyrinths embody paradox, according to Penelope Reed Doob. Their structure allows a double perspective—the baffling, fragmented prospect confronting the maze-treader within, and the comprehensive vision available to those without. Mazes simultaneously assert order and chaos, artistry and confusion, articulated clarity and bewildering complexity, perfected pattern and hesitant process. In this handsomely illustrated book, Doob reconstructs from a variety of literary and visual sources the idea of the labyrinth from the classical period through the Middle Ages. Doob first examines several complementary traditions of the maze topos, showing how ancient historical and geographical writings generate metaphors in which the labyrinth signifies admirable complexity, while poetic texts tend to suggest that the labyrinth is a sign of moral duplicity. She then describes two common models of the labyrinth and explores their formal implications: the unicursal model, with no false turnings, found almost universally in the visual arts; and the multicursal model, with blind alleys and dead ends, characteristic of literary texts. This paradigmatic clash between the labyrinths of art and of literature becomes a key to the metaphorical potential of the maze, as Doob's examination of a vast array of materials from the classical period through the Middle Ages suggests. She concludes with linked readings of four "labyrinths of words": Virgil's Aeneid, Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy, Dante's Divine Comedy, and Chaucer's House of Fame, each of which plays with and transforms received ideas of the labyrinth as well as reflecting and responding to aspects of the texts that influenced it. Doob not only provides fresh theoretical and historical perspectives on the labyrinth tradition, but also portrays a complex medieval aesthetic that helps us to approach structurally elaborate early works. Readers in such fields as Classical literature, Medieval Studies, Renaissance Studies, comparative literature, literary theory, art history, and intellectual history will welcome this wide-ranging and illuminating book.

Living In The Labyrinth is the story of how one woman found the strength and the courage to cope with a devastating disease that has afflicted five million Americans. Far from being an exercise in self-pity or a standard autobiography, this is an unflinching and ultimately uplifting look at a debilitating illness from the inside out. “Somewhere there is that ever-present reminder list of what I am supposed to do today. But I cannot find it. I attempt to do the laundry and find myself outside, in my backyard, holding soiled clothes. How did I get here? How do I get back?” Only forty-five when she first began to struggle with the memory lapses and disorientation that signal the onset of Alzheimer’s, Diana Friel McGowin has written a courageous, stirring insider’s story of the disease that is now the fourth leading killer of American adults. Diana’s personal journey through days of darkness and light, fear and hope gives us new insight into a devastating illness and the plight of its victims, complete with a list of early warning signs, medical background, and resources for further information. But Diana’s story goes far beyond a recounting of a terrifying disease. It portrays a marriage struggling to survive, a family hurt beyond words, and a woman whose humor and intelligence triumph over setbacks and loss to show us the best of what being human is. “A stunner of a book . . . it takes the reader on a terrifying but enlightening journey.”—San Antonio News Express “Touching and sometimes angry . . . a poignant insider’s view.”—The Cincinnati Enquirer

A trilogy consisting of 'Hero in the Labyrinth', 'Finding the Centre' and 'Seeing Through Different Eyes'. Like Dante who, in middle age wakes up to find himself in a dark wood and responds with The Divine Comedy, our Hero, in the seventh year of the seventh cycle of seven years in his life, wakes up to find himself in a labyrinth. His response is to spin an Ariadne thread of consciousness through time to orient himself within it and hopefully uncover the mystery of his (i)-dentity. Is this too a comedy? If so, do we laugh at or with our struggling hero?

An authority on Hinduism and renowned for his directorship of the Institute of Comparative Music Studies in Berlin and Venice, Alain Daniélou's memoir is as vivid, uninhibited, and wide-ranging as one is ever likely to ever encounter