What do you think?
Rate this book
Leaving My Father's House: A Journey to Conscious Femininity
The renowned analyst and author here provides deep insight into the process required to bring feminize wisdom to consciousness in a patriarchal culture—as struggle in which many women are more fully engaged today that ever before. Presenting the personal journeys of three wise women as maps, she points the way to the state of inner wholeness and balance she calls "conscious femininity."
400 pages, Paperback
First published April 28, 1992
93 people are currently reading
2065 people want to read
About the author
Marion Woodman
61 books423 followersMarion Woodman was a Canadian mythopoetic author and women's movement figure. She was a Jungian analyst trained at the C. G. Jung Institute in Zürich, Switzerland. She was one of the most widely read authors on feminine psychology, focusing on psyche and soma. She was also an international lecturer and poet. Her collection of audio and visual lectures, correspondence, and manuscripts are housed at OPUS Archives and Research Center, in Santa Barbara, California. Among her collaborations with other authors she wrote with Thomas Moore, Jill Mellick and Robert Bly. Her brothers were the late Canadian actor Bruce Boa and Jungian analyst Fraser Boa.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
February 10, 2021
Sometimes you come across one of those books that seem to find you at the exact time you need them. Kismet at its finest. I will admit I am not that familiar with Jungian psychology yet, still new on my journey, but Woodman's tone is accessible even for those who aren't Jungians. The passages from the 3 contributors are interesting and will make you ponder long after the last page. Challenges you to think about your own life and how you can begin to apply the lessons daily.
Recommended to anyone who is interested in pursuing a more authentic dialogue with themselves. Every word on every page is meaningful and I am so glad I got to spend time with these 4 very wise women. Woodman is a treasure and I am looking forward to reading more of her works.
I am including a few quotes that really resonated with me; perhaps others can connect to as well.
Individuation begins with the painful recognition that we are all orphans. And the liberating recognition that the whole world is our orphanage. (p. 354)
Most women who have suffered sexual incest cannot deal with the masculine inside or outside until they have worked with the feminine in their own body. (p. 355)
Destruction or creation goes on within and without. Surely our task is to claim that energy as our own and claim our own responsibility to own our greatest potential...That potential becomes actual when we work on masculinity and femininity within ourselves until we feel empowered, embodied spirit uniting with conscious matter in our soul. Then we are moving toward a genuine maturity in which the two energies interact to produce a third, which from the soul's point of view is the real. (p. 365)
Mothers and grandmothers for generations have despised their female bodies, their sexuality, "the curse" of menstruation. They were born in a female body; nothing can change that. No matter how hard they try, they feel they have failed from the start. Their contempt for their own matter is in their cells and that contempt is in the cells of their daughters. "I don't deserve to live" is blurted out as the bottom line of self-rejection. The unspeakable black hole that many women have to face in their dreams is that place of rejection. The child, as feminine being, was not reflected because centuries of patriarchal thinking have scorned matter. The whole is still jet black. It is not even despair. It is nothingness, oblivion without feeling, death without consciousness. It is shame so deep that it cannot be recognized until the ego container is strong enough to face the obliteration. It is matter so wounded, so betrayed that it is dissociated from consciousness. (p. 362-3)
I had an early belief as a child, which was the only one that made sense to me, that first you had to be a girl, and get through that, and then, you burst into real life. You became a boy! And I remember one Halloween, I ran down the street, following my brothers, dressed in my brother's outgrown suit and cap, with a black mask covering my little girl face. And through the eyes of the mask I saw another little girl coming down the sidewalk from her house, and with an eager open smile she started running after us. Us boys! She thought she could join US!
And I yelled at her: "Go away you! You girl!" And ohhhhh the high! To see her shrink back toward her house, dominated by me. Me! As I had, all through my long-short life, been dominated by them. The boys. I knew then the ecstasy of their power. (p. 336-7)
Recommended to anyone who is interested in pursuing a more authentic dialogue with themselves. Every word on every page is meaningful and I am so glad I got to spend time with these 4 very wise women. Woodman is a treasure and I am looking forward to reading more of her works.
I am including a few quotes that really resonated with me; perhaps others can connect to as well.
Individuation begins with the painful recognition that we are all orphans. And the liberating recognition that the whole world is our orphanage. (p. 354)
Most women who have suffered sexual incest cannot deal with the masculine inside or outside until they have worked with the feminine in their own body. (p. 355)
Destruction or creation goes on within and without. Surely our task is to claim that energy as our own and claim our own responsibility to own our greatest potential...That potential becomes actual when we work on masculinity and femininity within ourselves until we feel empowered, embodied spirit uniting with conscious matter in our soul. Then we are moving toward a genuine maturity in which the two energies interact to produce a third, which from the soul's point of view is the real. (p. 365)
Mothers and grandmothers for generations have despised their female bodies, their sexuality, "the curse" of menstruation. They were born in a female body; nothing can change that. No matter how hard they try, they feel they have failed from the start. Their contempt for their own matter is in their cells and that contempt is in the cells of their daughters. "I don't deserve to live" is blurted out as the bottom line of self-rejection. The unspeakable black hole that many women have to face in their dreams is that place of rejection. The child, as feminine being, was not reflected because centuries of patriarchal thinking have scorned matter. The whole is still jet black. It is not even despair. It is nothingness, oblivion without feeling, death without consciousness. It is shame so deep that it cannot be recognized until the ego container is strong enough to face the obliteration. It is matter so wounded, so betrayed that it is dissociated from consciousness. (p. 362-3)
I had an early belief as a child, which was the only one that made sense to me, that first you had to be a girl, and get through that, and then, you burst into real life. You became a boy! And I remember one Halloween, I ran down the street, following my brothers, dressed in my brother's outgrown suit and cap, with a black mask covering my little girl face. And through the eyes of the mask I saw another little girl coming down the sidewalk from her house, and with an eager open smile she started running after us. Us boys! She thought she could join US!
And I yelled at her: "Go away you! You girl!" And ohhhhh the high! To see her shrink back toward her house, dominated by me. Me! As I had, all through my long-short life, been dominated by them. The boys. I knew then the ecstasy of their power. (p. 336-7)
February 2, 2017
This book is so brilliant and so powerful. It's essentially about rising up out of the chains of the patriarchy and re-connecting with the deep, powerful wisdom of the conscious, mystical feminine.
My favorite analysand highlighted in the book is artist & writer Rita Greer Allen. She was a sculptor and wild mystic and she shares her very real and honest journal pages in this book. Her thoughts and feelings are expressed with such an admirable depth and honesty, while still being playful and completely hilarious. Her words and journey to mysticism through her art and life is so inspiring to me. From her descriptions of having hot sex with her husband (they are both over 60!) to her ever blossoming feminism, I find her words lifting my spirits on very dark days.
I just read one of her journal passages about firing and smoking two large, sculpted wings in her kiln. She raku-fires her sculptures, and it is a very risky process, where you must hope it comes out how you want, but you must also let go and let the outcome be whatever it is going to be.
She had already gone through a harrowing experience firing the head of this angel/guardian and she is starting to fear that the wings may be ruined. I now quote from the book:
"Why put them through the danger of the fire?" and then, I heard, as though it spoke, the voice of the guardian-head: "Each piece must go through the fire. The cowl, the wings, the pneuma, the source, the flow. All must go the way that I have gone. Each may crack in the process, as I have cracked. But look, the crack has healed. I did not break. Without the fire, the piece is untested, unlived, raw. Each must go through the fire." I fired the wings, first one then the other, and each emerged with some shading from the smoke in the most beautiful way. Whole. Complete. (Rita Greer Allen, September 17, 1985)
All the women go through a powerful individuation process and leave their "Father's House," which essentially means leaving the chains of patriarchy. My favorite individuating healing path is through art and creativity, but there are other paths offered as well. I just adore the empowerment of this book.
My favorite analysand highlighted in the book is artist & writer Rita Greer Allen. She was a sculptor and wild mystic and she shares her very real and honest journal pages in this book. Her thoughts and feelings are expressed with such an admirable depth and honesty, while still being playful and completely hilarious. Her words and journey to mysticism through her art and life is so inspiring to me. From her descriptions of having hot sex with her husband (they are both over 60!) to her ever blossoming feminism, I find her words lifting my spirits on very dark days.
I just read one of her journal passages about firing and smoking two large, sculpted wings in her kiln. She raku-fires her sculptures, and it is a very risky process, where you must hope it comes out how you want, but you must also let go and let the outcome be whatever it is going to be.
She had already gone through a harrowing experience firing the head of this angel/guardian and she is starting to fear that the wings may be ruined. I now quote from the book:
"Why put them through the danger of the fire?" and then, I heard, as though it spoke, the voice of the guardian-head: "Each piece must go through the fire. The cowl, the wings, the pneuma, the source, the flow. All must go the way that I have gone. Each may crack in the process, as I have cracked. But look, the crack has healed. I did not break. Without the fire, the piece is untested, unlived, raw. Each must go through the fire." I fired the wings, first one then the other, and each emerged with some shading from the smoke in the most beautiful way. Whole. Complete. (Rita Greer Allen, September 17, 1985)
All the women go through a powerful individuation process and leave their "Father's House," which essentially means leaving the chains of patriarchy. My favorite individuating healing path is through art and creativity, but there are other paths offered as well. I just adore the empowerment of this book.
May 16, 2011
An amazing book for women journeying through a deeper understanding of themselves. Again, Woodman does her mysterious work of weaving insight into a solid mantle of healing. Listen to the words that released my tears:
"While consciously holding the still point in Love, we can observe the opposites swinging through us without swinging with them. We can observe the power of the mother, who yearns to hold onto her child, letting go; we can observe the sexuality of the gypsy who wants life to serve her transforming into a love that is ready to serve life. We can remain invisible if necessary, feel ourselves being moved to a new conscious position, and sustained by Her, hold that new still point. Here mother and gypsy are one in the Bride. Gradually, we know that Her light in matter is Love. Like perfume, it permeates everything. Experiencing that Presence once changes our perception forever. Perhaps this is the real meaning of the coming to consciousness of the feminine. It must come slowly or our hears would break. In our Mother's house are many more mansions than we can yet dream of." Page 364.
"Never become too holy or too spiritual...Let the spirit align itself within you. Become what humanity can be. Nothing more and nothing less. There is no such thing as spiritual development or Higher Self or Greater Self or Lower Self. There is nothing to find, nowhere to go, nothing to reach up to. There is, however, LIFE, human life capable of Being itSelf. And that is already present in every moment of every day.
...only if you have the courage to be ruthlessly honest with yourself will the veils of illusion be removed, allowing you to meet the Self of your dreams...It is the temporal self participating with the immortal Self. By surrendering yourself to love, you participate in the creation of your life, moment by moment. Never assume, though, that surrendering is a passive letting go...true surrender is a disciplined act of love requiring many personal sacrifices."
Thank You to Marion Woodman.
On my second time through and can't get enough!
"While consciously holding the still point in Love, we can observe the opposites swinging through us without swinging with them. We can observe the power of the mother, who yearns to hold onto her child, letting go; we can observe the sexuality of the gypsy who wants life to serve her transforming into a love that is ready to serve life. We can remain invisible if necessary, feel ourselves being moved to a new conscious position, and sustained by Her, hold that new still point. Here mother and gypsy are one in the Bride. Gradually, we know that Her light in matter is Love. Like perfume, it permeates everything. Experiencing that Presence once changes our perception forever. Perhaps this is the real meaning of the coming to consciousness of the feminine. It must come slowly or our hears would break. In our Mother's house are many more mansions than we can yet dream of." Page 364.
"Never become too holy or too spiritual...Let the spirit align itself within you. Become what humanity can be. Nothing more and nothing less. There is no such thing as spiritual development or Higher Self or Greater Self or Lower Self. There is nothing to find, nowhere to go, nothing to reach up to. There is, however, LIFE, human life capable of Being itSelf. And that is already present in every moment of every day.
...only if you have the courage to be ruthlessly honest with yourself will the veils of illusion be removed, allowing you to meet the Self of your dreams...It is the temporal self participating with the immortal Self. By surrendering yourself to love, you participate in the creation of your life, moment by moment. Never assume, though, that surrendering is a passive letting go...true surrender is a disciplined act of love requiring many personal sacrifices."
Thank You to Marion Woodman.
On my second time through and can't get enough!
November 26, 2020
Wow. Marion’s words opened up a whole new world within my psyche. I have never felt more validated in my own feminine journey of consciousness. This is THE book to read to start that journey of separating yourself from the patriarchal psyche. It is healing, terrifying, beautiful and so so sad. But more than anything, this book filled me with so much hope and gave me a vision for what my life could look like as I embody the true feminine. Thank you so much Marion, Kate, Rita and Mary.
Read
November 22, 2014I've come back to this recently, i feel its a structural hanger for what's happening to humans now,both in the collective and for me , in the personal. So much happening around us; the persona is political and vica versa. I read bits out to my friends, though generally can only take in little bits at a time.
July 6, 2025
Cuando mi psicoterapeuta me pidió que me leyera este libro no esperaba adentrarme en un viaje largo, lento y doloroso. No ha sido una lectura ligera, desde el simbolismo jungiano hasta mi propia experiencia en terapia, he leído con y sin ganas, sintiendo ansiedad y tristeza, sometiéndome a un examen de luces y sombras, recordando una infancia borrosa, transitando los innumerables abusos y enfrentándome a la víctima y al verdugo.
El baile entre la feminidad y la masculinidad se expone desde el inicio, y cito a Kate en una de las innumerables páginas en las que me hizo ver e integrar mis sombras: “Mientras yo dejaba salir una furia violenta sobre una figura masculina, era mi propia feminidad la que se estaba llevando el castigo. Él y ella estaban inextricablemente unidas”.
Después de unos meses sin leer, decidí abrir el libro una hora antes de entrar en una sesión con mi psicoterapeuta y conocí a Mary… la niña buena, la bruja y la mujer salvaje: “A través de la manipulación inconsciente de la energía sexual de mi cuerpo, inconscientemente le pongo ropa y actúo de la manera que sea necesaria para obtener lo que creo necesitar para tener éxito. Puedo hacer pasar hambre a mi cuerpo si la delgadez significa poder en la belleza; puedo obtener un grado universitario si la inteligencia significa poder en la educación. Puedo utilizar mis diversas apariencias físicas para seducir a los hombres mentalmente (ellos, que están siempre en la posición de poder), para que me den lo que necesito: un empleo, prestigio, atención. Con la Bruja al control, puedo ser la «querida princesita» de un hombre, su «niñita brillante», su «puta» o su «ánima espiritual desencarnada». En otras palabras, soy una mujer ánima que refleja cualquier cosa que un hombre quiera. Bajo la persona intérprete de mi Mary Buena mora la Bruja que detesta a los hombres. Y «yo», como ego consciente, no estoy ahí. No hay nadie en casa y «yo», como ego con complejos, nunca lo he sabido.”
Con diferencia Rita ha sido la que menos me ha despertado; quizás por su forma de narrar o su experiencia vital lejana a la mía. Sin embargo, durante la época en la que leía sus sueños y los análisis de cada uno de ellos, tuve mi primer sueño consciente. Mi psicoterapeuta me dijo que era el comienzo mientras yo terminaba las páginas de este viaje. Hoy he pintado mi sueño y me he acabado el libro: “Y sea cual sea el plano en el que opere puedo comenzar de nuevo. Yo elijo. Yo elijo. El final. O. El interminable principio”.
Gracias Marion.
Y gracias Noah por sostenerme en este viaje.
El baile entre la feminidad y la masculinidad se expone desde el inicio, y cito a Kate en una de las innumerables páginas en las que me hizo ver e integrar mis sombras: “Mientras yo dejaba salir una furia violenta sobre una figura masculina, era mi propia feminidad la que se estaba llevando el castigo. Él y ella estaban inextricablemente unidas”.
Después de unos meses sin leer, decidí abrir el libro una hora antes de entrar en una sesión con mi psicoterapeuta y conocí a Mary… la niña buena, la bruja y la mujer salvaje: “A través de la manipulación inconsciente de la energía sexual de mi cuerpo, inconscientemente le pongo ropa y actúo de la manera que sea necesaria para obtener lo que creo necesitar para tener éxito. Puedo hacer pasar hambre a mi cuerpo si la delgadez significa poder en la belleza; puedo obtener un grado universitario si la inteligencia significa poder en la educación. Puedo utilizar mis diversas apariencias físicas para seducir a los hombres mentalmente (ellos, que están siempre en la posición de poder), para que me den lo que necesito: un empleo, prestigio, atención. Con la Bruja al control, puedo ser la «querida princesita» de un hombre, su «niñita brillante», su «puta» o su «ánima espiritual desencarnada». En otras palabras, soy una mujer ánima que refleja cualquier cosa que un hombre quiera. Bajo la persona intérprete de mi Mary Buena mora la Bruja que detesta a los hombres. Y «yo», como ego consciente, no estoy ahí. No hay nadie en casa y «yo», como ego con complejos, nunca lo he sabido.”
Con diferencia Rita ha sido la que menos me ha despertado; quizás por su forma de narrar o su experiencia vital lejana a la mía. Sin embargo, durante la época en la que leía sus sueños y los análisis de cada uno de ellos, tuve mi primer sueño consciente. Mi psicoterapeuta me dijo que era el comienzo mientras yo terminaba las páginas de este viaje. Hoy he pintado mi sueño y me he acabado el libro: “Y sea cual sea el plano en el que opere puedo comenzar de nuevo. Yo elijo. Yo elijo. El final. O. El interminable principio”.
Gracias Marion.
Y gracias Noah por sostenerme en este viaje.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 15, 2023
I love the concept of this book more than the actual book. Woodman invites 3 of her clients to write lengthy accounts of their stories to demonstrate the journey towards wholeness. While I enjoyed some of the insights from the women, they were far too long (about 70 pages each) and not as engaging because they were made up of journal entries. I would have preferred to read a book in Woodman’s own words, truncating her clients’ stories to exemplify her philosophy. Still, the subject matter of this book spoke to me and found me at the perfect time in my own journey for it to be maximally beneficial. I was happy to have found it.
January 1, 2023
This book is very raw and very honest about women going through the painful transformation to get closer to themselves as they are. To me personally, the book today became a beautiful symbol of the end of one more year of the discovery of feminine me. Thank you, Marion Woodman, you live on in my life. Thank you, Kate, Mary and Rita, for sharing so vulnerably what you went through. Please, read this book. It will be a tough reading as the pages are condensed with so much wisdom and it will be all worth it.
March 24, 2024
I enjoyed Marion’s Pregnant Virgin and The Owl was the Baker’s Daughter better - as this book contains mainly diaries of three women in analysis at Marion. Nevertheless, the message is powerful and it helped me also realise yet again, that no form of expression is less important or less beautiful than another. The diary writing style not only works very well, but it also encourages me to journal more.
Read
November 17, 2009This book was co-written with three of Marion's analysands. I wasn't as thrilled in my early thirties with the insights, although now that I'm later in life, I would probably enjoy the passages more.
Read
July 7, 2018It's always good to re-read this book by Marion Woodman every few years. I keep a copy in my book collection because it's always had a strong impact on my understanding of how women and men differ in their journey to self.
December 30, 2021
Whew. I took my time with this one, because it needed it. Powerful and intense.
It’s probably obvious but this one’s not for beginners to Woodman’s work, or to dream work, Jungian psychology, etc.
It’s probably obvious but this one’s not for beginners to Woodman’s work, or to dream work, Jungian psychology, etc.
June 23, 2022
This was really interesting. This is a Jungian text that incorporates three actual psychic journeys by three actual women, along with commentary by their analyst, the famous Marion Woodman. Ultimately I found this book profoundly deep. However, I did not find all three women's narratives equally compelling. The first and the third were inspirational and real, and it was fascinating to see the connection between the dreams and meditations on the actual life choices of these women. The middle woman, however I found too woo and half-baked. Honestly, I think she was only chosen because the was the author's friend. Read, but don't be afraid to skim the middle section.
December 27, 2018
no geral o livro revela sobre o aspecto inconsciente de vínculos nocivos envolvendo a figura do pai e da mãe. fala da fantasia incestuosa (psíquica ou real) entre familiares, fazendo um paralelo entre a sociedade patriarcal e a negação e repressão da matéria e da carne. aborda também a questão da projeção sobre um deus/deusa, religião e a igreja enquanto algo perfeito e completo que não abarca o ser humano em si.
leria mil vezes esse livro, muito bom!
leria mil vezes esse livro, muito bom!
Read
February 7, 2020Intriguing, in depth inner journeys of three women who also happen to be talented writers. I got lost in their stories and was inspired to learn more about what my own dreams are saying.
April 23, 2021
Challenging at times but a fascinating look at the relationship between fathers and daughters in a patriarchal cultural, and how women can fully flower into their whole integrated self.
February 2, 2023
Amazing!
February 7, 2023
I got a lot out of this book. Full of splendid wisdom.
March 20, 2024
A bixa n erra!
August 28, 2025
I need a Marion in my life.
If the Myth of normal and women who run with the wolves had a baby, this book is it
If the Myth of normal and women who run with the wolves had a baby, this book is it
September 30, 2025
Incredible book!
It’s an honest deep dive within of 3 women, that makes you reflect on your own journey to wholesomeness.
In a few years, I’ll need to read it again
It’s an honest deep dive within of 3 women, that makes you reflect on your own journey to wholesomeness.
In a few years, I’ll need to read it again
July 28, 2009
Sometimes it takes me forever to get through a book, I tend to read a few at a time and pick what suits my mood. LMFH was a journey through 3 different periods of three different womyn's lives, their breakthrough, healing and transformative experiences were interesting, engrossing and (at times) difficult to get through. I am obsessed with Jungian analytic theory and I enjoy Marion Woodman's take on it.
September 1, 2010
intensely powerful. personal accounts of the inner journeys towards psychological, emotional & spiritual independence of three women. drawing on dreams, journal entries and conversations, each story gives still greater dimension and depth to the struggle to find each our own individual path to potential filled.
April 26, 2007
I read this while doing my laundry at a laundromat in Alexandria after my divorce. I guess it didn't make that much of an impact on me. I can't really remember what it was about. Read Woodman's other works from the Inner City publishing company.
August 20, 2008
Jungian psychology through the feminine lens.
September 3, 2016
Loved this book. A deep discussion about feminine consciousness and tapping into our feminine wisdom.
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews