The Flesh and the Fruit: Remembering Eve and the Power of Creative Transgression

by Vanya Leilani

Part mythological exploration, part cultural commentary, and part personal memoir, The Flesh and the Fruit shows us the power of creative transgression as we move toward new ways of being and living. Dr. Leilani empowers us to find our own knowing, permission, and blessing as we walk out of the “shoulds” and into our own nature and wildness.

In these pages you will encounter the archetypal Eve—not the literalized Eve that has for so long served as justification for horrific environmental and social injustices, but the mythic Eve who liberates. Weaving in her own lived experience of stepping beyond the boundaries of fundamentalist religion into deeper spiritual sovereignty, Dr. Leilani shows us the power of disobedience to set us free.

The Flesh and the Fruit is an invitation for us to step into the center of our own circles, to believe in our beauty and inherent worth rather than in the ancient poisonous tale of our fallenness and depravity. Dr. Leilani encourages readers to challenge the hierarchical systems of power that sever us from ourselves, from each other, and from the Earth and to live from our wild knowing.

Genres: Nonfiction

178 pages, Paperback

Published October 11, 2024

About the author

Vanya Leilani is a depth psychologist, writer, teacher and storyteller. She has spent decades exploring the threshold where the external “shoulds” in our lives encounter our own wild knowing and un-knowing. She is passionate about helping us cultivate deeper friendship with our own lives as we learn to live from nature, rather than from obedience to the status quo. She devotes herself to this work through individual accompaniment, sacred gatherings, storytelling, teaching, and writing.
Vanya holds a PhD in Depth Psychology with emphasis in Jungian and Archetypal Studies. She has also completed a certificate training intensive with Dr Clarissa Pinkola Estes and has served as an adjunct professor at Pacifica Graduate Institute teaching on the creative power of archetypes.
Vanya was born and raised in southeastern Brazil and currently lives in the woods of the Pacific Northwest of the United States, where she tends to the land and many animals.

Reviews

[Molly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Powerful, creative, insightful, and inspiring read. Absolutely loved this book and will return to it again and again to further let the ideas weave together with my own understandings.

[Hollie Wildëthorn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book speaks all of my languages. So much appreci-love to Vanya for this excellent piece. Beautifully written; poetic and mythic and self reflective. Surely this will be a classic text for Women's Work in another few decades.

[liv london · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am in deep awe of Vanya— the wisdom and beauty of her writing is so transformative and powerful. sooo incredibly grateful this book found me.