WomanSoul: The Inner Life of Women's Spirituality

by Carole A. Rayburn, Lillian Comas-Diaz (Editor)

Overview

As a path of meaning seeking, healing, and transformation, spirituality is becoming more prominent in our society. Historically, women have been the custodians of their families' spiritual domain. This book advances the concept of Woman Soul, a gender-specific way of embracing spirituality. WomanSoul discusses the personal and professional impact of spirituality in the lives of women from a variety of ethnic, religious, and cultural backgrounds. It examines the psychological, multicultural, and personal expressions of female spirituality. More specifically, the essays collected here look at the impact of women's spirituality on identity, healing, and transformation across the lifecourse. WomanSoul focuses on how females express spirituality from their diverse backgrounds and situated realities. It cuts across ethnic identities, culture, and a multitude of spiritual experiences, such as Muslim, Jewish, Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, Sufi, Goddess, Native American, and Agnosticism.

As women tend to experience sacredness in a gender-specific manner, they frequently place more emphasis on spirituality than on religiousness. Seen as a freeing force by most women, spirituality is most often perceived to be more gender-fair, culturally liberating, and less restrictive than many religious denominations. Both informative and inspirational, WomanSoul is written by psychologists who understand the implications of spirituality on the lives of women and the people around them.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780313351099
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	05/30/2008
Series:	Women's Psychology
Pages:	296
Product dimensions:	6.40(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Carole A. Rayburn is a clinical, consulting, and research psychologist in the Independent Practice of Psychology, Silver Spring, MD. A fellow of the American Psychological Association's Divisions on General, Clinical, Consulting, Family and Youth, Media, and International Psychology, and the Psychology of Women, the Psychology of Religion, Psychotherapy, and the Psychology of State Psychogical Affairs, she is a past president of the APA Division of the Psychology of Religion, the APA Division on Clinical Psychology's Section on the Clinical Psychology of Women, the Maryland Psychological Association, and currently is the president of the Montgomery County (MD) National Organization for Women. Currently she is serving as the Fellows Committee Chair of the APA Division of Clinical Psychology. Dr. Rayburn has authored, developed, and copyrighted 22 inventories.

Lillian Comas-Díaz is the Executive Director of the Transcultural Mental Health Institute, a Clinical Professor at the George Washington University Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, and a private practitioner in Washington, D.C. The former director of the American Psychological Association's Office of Ethnic Minority Affairs, Dr. Comas-Díaz was also the director of the Yale University Department of Psychiatry Hispanic Clinic. She is the senior editor of two textbooks, Clinical Guidelines in Cross Cultural Mental Health, and Women of Color: Integrating Ethnic and Gender Identities in Psychotherapy. Additionally, she is the Founding Editor in Chief of the American Psychological Association Division 45 official journal, Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology. She is a member of numerous editorial boards, and currently serves as an Associate Editor of the American Psychologist.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents
Acknowledgment
Dedication
Introduction
1. World Views and Women's Spirituality (Eileen Eppig)
2. Saving Grace of Spirituality (Carole Rayburn)
3. The Goddess Has Returned! (Darlene Prestbo and Hazel Staats-Westover)
4. Women, Science, and Spirituality (Kathleen Reedy)
5. My "Friendship" with Women Saints (Oliva Espin)
6. Illuminating the Black Madonna (Lillian Comas-Dáz)
7. My Personal Views on Women, Spirituality, and Tibetan Buddhism (Renate Wewerka)
8. American Indian Women and Spirituality (Rose L.Weahkee)
9. Spirituality and Resilience of Filipinos (Asuncion Miteria Austria)
10. Stepping Stones in a Full Life (Jane Simon)
11. Spirituality: An Eclectic Force in Life (Aphrodite Clamar)
12 Living Kabbalah. (Marcella Bakur-Weiner)
13. African-American Women, Religion, and Oppression (Beverly Greene)
14. Colors of the Invisible (Janet Pfunder)
15. Journeying in Twilight (Mary Anne Siderits)
16. A Quiet Soul Listens to Her (Mary Gregerson)
17. Hindu Spirituality, Female Identity, and Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy (Usha Tummala-Narra)
18. Spiritual Awareness Psychotherapy with Families and Children (Lisa Miller)
19. Strange Attractors or Hand of God (Lee Richmond)
20. What Does Spirituality Mean to Me? (Guerda Nicolas, Angela M. DeSilva, Maria Coutinho, and Kimberly Prater)
21. A WomanSoul Quest (Carole Rayburn and Lillian Comas-Díaz)
About Our Contributors
Index

What People are Saying About This

Melba J. T. Vasquez

"WomanSoul is a fascinating collection of essays that give voice to the often unconscious spiritual worldview of various communities. It is important for the mental health practice community to incorporate knowledge about these issues. Also critical is the need for this knowledge to be disseminated to those educators and researchers interested in understanding the systems of meaning that exist at this particular time in various communities in our society. This major contribution promotes understanding of this very important aspect of the identities of those with whom we work. Drs Rayburn and Comas-Diaz have compiled perspectives from over 20 contributors, many of whom are scientists, who provide history of women and spirituality, the healing power of spiritual expression, a view into individual journeys, and applications to mental health practice. It is a superb discourse of the multiple and varied views of women's spirituality."

Patricia Arredondo

"The voices in WomanSoul shine soft and caring light on women's spiritual, psychological, and pragmatic selves, reminding us of the requirements to weave in and out of realities that often are not women-centered. Gentleness and patience come through the detailed descriptions of hurtful and even traumatic circumstances."

(Rev.) Samuel M. Natale

"This is an unusual and exciting book which fills a significant vacuum in spirituality literature. WomanSoul will inspire and guide all women to higher levels of awareness of their spirituality, creativity, and intuition. It is a reflection on the various stages and concerns that women face in the choice to grow in spirituality. Men too can benefit from this book as it opens the human soul and aspirations to careful and optimistic analysis with action plans to assist. I recommend this book without reservation and am certain it will soon be a classic in the field."

—

(Rev.) Samuel M. Natale, D. Phil. (Oxon.)

Margot Adler

"There are countless books on women's spirituality, but this one does a rare thing: it allowed me to look at the subject anew. WomanSoul charts the spiritual journey of women from many races and creeds: Protestants and Pagans, Tibetan Buddhists and Jews. It includes African Americans, Sufis, Native Americans, Filipinos and white North Americans. But what struck me as new and wondrous was a broadening of the whole notion of spirituality. WomanSoul includes the journeys of a women scientist who finds spirituality in science itself; it includes agnostics as well as believers and it understands spirituality broadly--as the deepening of connections in the process of becoming whole."

—

Margot Adler, Author, Drawing Down the Moon and Heretic's Heart.

Gail E. Wyatt

"Carole Rayburn and Lillian Comas-Diaz are spiritual women who have unlocked the mystery of how our womanliness and spirituality can open many doors to our soul. This is a must-read book for everyone who knows the power of the spirit in women!"

—

Gail E. Wyatt, Ph.D., Professor, Dept. of Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sciences UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior Director

Gail E. Wyatt

"Carole Rayburn and Lillian Comas-Diaz are spiritual women who have unlocked the mystery of how our womanliness and spirituality can open many doors to our soul. This is a must-read book for everyone who knows the power of the spirit in women!"

(Rev.) Samuel M. Natale

"This is an unusual and exciting book which fills a significant vacuum in spirituality literature. WomanSoul will inspire and guide all women to higher levels of awareness of their spirituality, creativity, and intuition. It is a reflection on the various stages and concerns that women face in the choice to grow in spirituality. Men too can benefit from this book as it opens the human soul and aspirations to careful and optimistic analysis with action plans to assist. I recommend this book without reservation and am certain it will soon be a classic in the field."

Florence L. Denmark

"WomanSoul is an innovative, and yet much needed look into the journey of women's spirituality, their lives and their beliefs. The material offers an in depth perspective into how women are spiritual beings not only now but throughout history, the roles that they play in being spiritual and how this intersects with various cultural beliefs and ethnicities. In sum, WomanSoul itself is vibrant, creative and affirming, as are the stories and women included in it."

—

Florence L. Denmark, Ph.D., Former President of American Psychological Association, Robert S. Pace Distinguished Research Professor Pace University

Florence L. Denmark

"WomanSoul is an innovative, and yet much needed look into the journey of women's spirituality, their lives and their beliefs. The material offers an in depth perspective into how women are spiritual beings not only now but throughout history, the roles that they play in being spiritual and how this intersects with various cultural beliefs and ethnicities. In sum, WomanSoul itself is vibrant, creative and affirming, as are the stories and women included in it."

Melba J. T. Vasquez

"WomanSoul is a fascinating collection of essays that give voice to the often unconscious spiritual worldview of various communities. It is important for the mental health practice community to incorporate knowledge about these issues. Also critical is the need for this knowledge to be disseminated to those educators and researchers interested in understanding the systems of meaning that exist at this particular time in various communities in our society. This major contribution promotes understanding of this very important aspect of the identities of those with whom we work. Drs Rayburn and Comas-Diaz have compiled perspectives from over 20 contributors, many of whom are scientists, who provide history of women and spirituality, the healing power of spiritual expression, a view into individual journeys, and applications to mental health practice. It is a superb discourse of the multiple and varied views of women's spirituality."

—

Melba J. T. Vasquez, PhD, ABPP, Past President, APA Divisions 35 and 17

Margot Adler

"There are countless books on women's spirituality, but this one does a rare thing: it allowed me to look at the subject anew. WomanSoul charts the spiritual journey of women from many races and creeds: Protestants and Pagans, Tibetan Buddhists and Jews. It includes African Americans, Sufis, Native Americans, Filipinos and white North Americans. But what struck me as new and wondrous was a broadening of the whole notion of spirituality. WomanSoul includes the journeys of a women scientist who finds spirituality in science itself; it includes agnostics as well as believers and it understands spirituality broadly—as the deepening of connections in the process of becoming whole."

Patricia Arredondo

"The voices in WomanSoul shine soft and caring light on women's spiritual, psychological, and pragmatic selves, reminding us of the requirements to weave in and out of realities that often are not women-centered. Gentleness and patience come through the detailed descriptions of hurtful and even traumatic circumstances."

—

Patricia Arredondo, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Professor, Counseling Psychology