Eight women—Jungian psychoanalysts— share our personal stories of the emergence of and transformative manifestations of the archetypal feminine, the complexities of love and the necessity for Eros – relatedness to inner and outer realities. Meaningful experiences span the heartbeats of life and reveal the significance of a woman's emotional, sexual and spiritual awakenings as she learns to claim her own value and voice.

In a zeitgeist of patriarchal attitudes in which divine archetypal feminine images and principles continue to be devalued, categorized, and pathologized, the storytellers' desire to personally claim Her significance and authority has encouraged us to write a part of our stories—in honor of Her. The effects of collective consciousness, religious beliefs, and parental patterns of relating are prominent aspects of these stories. There is no avoidance of this reality for any of us, and we have lived the first half of our lives in degrees of acceptance or rejection, responding to its ideals for the normal, the acceptable, the agreeable, and the expected role of a girl and a woman in a man's world.

This book tells of the pivotal struggles, revelatory dreams, illuminating myths and the emotional fires that have informed, transformed, and supported us on our paths of individuation. The mysteries of the archetypal feminine and the devalued and repressed attributes of Her nature have enriched and strengthened our feminine identities as well as challenged and influenced our relatedness to the archetypal masculine and, thus, to the cultural milieu and the men in our lives. These experiences have been a gift of and a tribute to the complexities of love.