by Crystal Green, Ph.D:  Once an English teacher, Marion Woodman is one of 2012’s spiritual leaders according to AWAKEN. Woodman is an author, international lecturer, Jungian analyst, poet, and feminist movement leader who have garnered both praise and criticism for her work. As an author she has guided thousands on a path of spiritual enlightenment, which is why she has been recognized this year on Watkins list of Spiritual Leaders.

Her books have sold more than 500,000 copies, including Dancing in the Flames, which was released in 1996 and co-authored with Elinor Dickson. This book describes the dark and powerful Black Goddess who has been a key force in world history. She has the ability to embody the energy of chaos and creativity, creation and destruction, death and rebirth. Images of her have been missing in the Western world for centuries until now. Thanks to Woodman and Dickson this book provides closure to this subject and a new level of consciousness, and wisdom in their approach of this book.

In 2001 Woodman co-authored Coming Home to Myself: Reflections for Nurturing a Woman’s Body and Soul, which in addition to being an amazingly well written book that is described as a “rite of passage” that soothes the soul. This book reflects on a women’s journey through life and includes what Woodman describes as “moments” in time and Mellick; her co-author describes as “adaptation” of our life. The authors use these terms to refer to poem-like verses that they eloquently infuse within their chapters. For example in Chapter 3: The Body, the authors shares with us the following…

A body whose wisdom

has never been honored

does not trust

easily an animal with a crazy trainer

Learns crazy habits,

runs wild.

When we take ourselves seriously,

We accept the responsibility

Of knowing and loving our body.

Give your body an hour a day.

If it’s not worth an hour a day,

there’s nothing

your body can tell you.

and not much

anyone else can do.

After a two-year battle with uterine cancer that forced her to close her Toronto practice, Woodman, reflects on her illness and wrote her next book. Bone: Dying into Life, which is a book that describes her healing process and includes a pungent description of her spiritual struggle as well as her choice to use alternative as well as conventional medicine. For anyone who is curious about the use alternative medications or know someone who is going through the tough battle of cancer; perhaps you may want to consider reading this book. It may help you gain a better understanding of the experience.

Woodman is one of the few women who can plainly yet poetically tell us like it is. Her spiritual gift to all of us is her ability to live life to the fullest and on her own terms. When asked what her thoughts on aging and death are, she stated in an interview with Jesse Kornbluth for a PBS Special, “Life is magnificent. It’s the now that matters.”

When considering Woodman’s words of wisdom, perhaps we should put her words into practice. Sometimes we all have a tendency to move so fast that we don’t slow down long enough to enjoy the here and now. The wind blowing in the trees, the smell of a flower, the sound of a child laughing; but we can learn. We can learn to enjoy life as it comes, moment by moment, and certainly we can learn to begin to start focusing more on the “NOW.”