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Goddesses, Goddesses by Janine Canan Regent Press
book review by J. Alpha
"Beauty before you, Beauty behind you, Beauty above you, Beauty below you,
Walk now with Beauty around you
And your way will be beautiful
"
Appearing for the first time in a single collection of essays, Janine Canan's Goddesses, Goddesses is a sensuous blend of her poetic prose—in addition to inspirational threads of works from a variety of poets, writers, and musicians who have personally empowered her, including modern day visionaries like Iris Murdoch, Else Lasker-Schuler, Marija Gimbutas, James Broughton, Diane Di Prima, Alma Villanueva, Ali Akbar Khan, Mata Amritanandamayi and others.
With a powerful sense of honesty, Canan writes with an open heart as she reflects upon art, poetry, spirituality, feminism, her love of nature, and the Great Mother of All... she who ever changing remains the same.
Part ode to her inspirational friendships and part memoir, Goddesses, Goddesses chronicles Canan's lyrical life journey from her earliest introduction to poetry—
...my mother, a dreamy young beauty who had grown up nurturing herself on books, soon had me propped up beside her as she read out rhymes from My Book House—a twelve volume collection of literary marvels, gathered by Olive Beaupre Miller.
to her poignant reflection on her calling as a poet and psychiatrist—
...while the Divine Mother writes my life, I copy it onto paper. The ink I use is the light within me—my writing a shimmer-strand in the infinite web of her bliss
...I feel graced and grateful to be a woman and a poet, to have known the intimacies of both poetry and psychiatry.
Canan's finely tuned blend of spirituality, wisdom, and precision with words deliver an inspirational collection of heartfelt personal narratives which will move readers to wholeheartedly share in her universally themed celebration and love of language and life.
An award winning author of thirteen books of poetry, Janine Canan, is a Stanford graduate with distinction, in addition to being a practicing psychiatrist in Sonoma, California—having received an MD from NYU School of Medicine.
For further information about her numerous other works, including Journeys with Justine, Walk Now In Beauty visit JanineCanan.com.