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April 18, 2005
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Stories They Told Me(Theresa C. Dintino) Reviewed by Mari Ziolkowski
1500 years BCE, on the island of Crete, Aureillia is a priestess of the snake. While in a dangerous trance initiated by the venom of snakebite, she has relayed a startling prophecy about the future of their goddess centered culture. Many of the people are pushed into despair with the foretelling of the destruction of their way of life. As is also her lover, and father of her child, Danelle. Trying to understand what is happening to them, the two journey together to a place of visioning on Malta. There Danelle realizes that to understand the terrible vision he has -- of a future life in which he is involved in killing women of power &endash; he must exile himself from Crete. The rest of the story flashes back and forth between Aureillia's challenges upon her return to the island, and Danelle's descent into the underworld to confront his shadow. Aureillia must confront snake priestesses allied against her, and struggle to handle not only her own despair, but that of the people. Though she instructs them in a dance of release, it is not enough. She searches for the purpose in her vision, and the ways to work with those being sent to her for healing. This search leads to departure from her spiritual training of origin into new and uncharted depths, where her only tools are her willingness to honor her own inner guidance and her ability to interpret the signs she is given. Intermingled in the ongoing journeys of Aureillia and her lover are teaching stories of the ancestors. Whether they focus on the past, or on the future, we are not always sure . . . However, one can be sure of a depth of insight and experience into the spiritual journey, and a realistic treatment of the struggle we all face in confrontation of our collective and personal shadow in this saga of a priestess from the old goddess worshipping cultures. Through the struggle of her two main characters, this author honors questions many of us face on our own journeys. How to go forward in difficult times. How to honor pain and transform it. How to move into the next aspect of our own spiritual evolution in a culture that doesn't offer the support we seek. Through story, the story she tells us, this author offers us insight into our own spiritual path. Thank you Theresa Dintino.
Visit Theresa's web site: http://www.ritualgoddess.com
Mari Ziolkowski has her Ph.D. in Women's Spirituality. She is an avid fan of stories of women's spiritual experience which honor the depth and intensity of the journey.
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