In this book, Lynn Andrews takes you where few Westerners have ever been: through a secret initiation ceremony of an ancient Australian society where she learns how to use mystic crystals that can heal the soul. With Agnes Whistling Elk and her Australian Aboriginal teacher Ginevee, Lynn travels into the wilderness of central Australia, where Ginevee guides Lynn into the mythic Aboriginal Dreamtime. In facing her own weaknesses, Lynn gives us all the chance to discover the power of oneness within all humans and of becoming a whole person.
'I am not an Indian and for that reason I did not at first fully understand why I was initiated by a secret society of native women. But my purpose within the Sisterhood of the Shields has since become apparent. According to Agnes Whistling Elk and Ruby Plenty Chiefs, I have walked the moccasin path of a shamaness in previous lifetimes. I am a woman who is committed to recording in written form the ancient wisdom as it relates to the needs of Mother Earth in the 20th and 21st centuries, a woman who is committed to the sacredness in life.
'On occasion, the Sisterhood of the Shields meets somewhere in the wilderness to display in a great circle our shields which represent our symbols and our position within shaman reality. At one such meeting, a woman named Ginevee, an aboriginal woman from the red center of Australia, picked up the talking stick, walked across the circle and presented herself to me. Her hair hung loosely in gray ropes that framed her kind face and she looked at me with electric eyes.
'‘Stories are like spirits,’ she said. ‘They look around for a good storyteller, someone like you, to inhabit. Stories are good sorcerers. When a story lives inside of you it makes you think that the story is your idea. There is a story lurking around you. It will make its home within you very soon, yea. I will see you in Australia maybe, hmm? You will join the women of high degree in the Outback and become a clever woman.’'
The critics’ corner:
Walter L. Williams, Ph.D, USC Professor of Anthropology and Gender Studies., author of The Spirit and the Flesh: 'Lynn Andrews has a remarkable ability to perceive women’s power in other cultures. She transcends the limits of rationalist scientific thought, into the world of those who have not forgotten their bond with the land. Her insights provide a wealth of perspective, helping us see ourselves more clearly and posting guideposts for a new relationship with mother earth.'
Rona Jaffe, author of Class Reunion and After the Reunion: 'A fascinating view of another culture, full of magic and other-worldly mystery. It reads like fiction and makes you think about how many things there are that we don’t know.'
Crystal Woman, Sisters of the Dreamtime, Book 5 of the Medicine Woman Series.
Beyond Words Publisher of the eBooks Version.
