Woman at the Edge of Two Worlds

by Lynn V. Andrews, Ginny Joyner (Illustrator)

This inspiring and intimate guide through the complex emotions of menopause helps to create new ritual and meaning for this significant passage in a woman's life.

Genres: Nonfiction, New Age, Indigenous, Spirituality, Womens Studies

304 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Lynn Andrews is the author of the Medicine Woman Series, which chronicles her three decades of study and work with shaman healers on four continents.

Reviews

[Teri B]

I finally finished Woman ad the Edge of Two Worlds. I found it an interesting and supportive read for any woman who is going through perimenopause into menopause and is looking for a spiritual take on this matter that concerns us all in the end.
This book is part of a series of books the author, Lynn V. Andrews wrote about her finding shamanism as her way of understanding herself and the world with a very integrated view on nature and how we all are interrelated and interdependent. This means, there are references to previous books and the author's experiences that can help or hinder. What I loved about this book is that it created a view and understanding of menopause that is not stuck with the male definition of it as a female no longer being fertile and therefore being beyond childbearing age. It offers the opportunity for women to discover power within the transformation their bodies go through and to claim it as their own.

[Andrea M]

This is a book about the health of the soul that transcends all religious beliefs. I got a few powerful lessons from it about allowing change, accepting aging, celebrating passage into a new phase of life and going with the flow. Here's an excerpt, "This is a prayer for my sister Mary. This is a prayer for her wholeness, for her ability to create unity and power and understanding in her life. This is a prayer for her menopause....Help her in passage through the gateway of Changing Woman. She is a changing woman. She is a woman changing into the radiance of elder life."

[Leela Francis]

This is one of my favorite Lynn Andrews book. It makes menopause a mystical experience and takes away the stigma that our society has cast it as. I love her images, rituals and wisdom.Since I read this book many years ago, there's not a day I haven't danced with it.
Leela Francis
http://www.VividlyWoman.com

[Shaktima Michele Brien]

Menopause? A good time to deepen your spiritual path and read "Woman at the Edge of Two Worlds".

[Andrea Lommen]

This book is unlikely to be like anything you've read before. Lynn Andrews makes some crazy stuff accessible, if you're willing to open your mind a bit. The alleged dialogue makes me laugh because it's hard to imagine real humans talking that way, but it turns out to be a good device to deliver her teachings.

The idea is that menopause can be a spiritual journey, a time to open yourself, your power, and your body in a way you haven't before. The heat is the heat of transition, resulting from a state change, as were physicists would say. The more you resist it, the longer you stay there.

There's a really interesting idea at the end that menopause is the uniting of a woman with her own maleness. The maleness is the softer side. I'm gonna have to meditate on that.

I found the book to be both thought provoking and comforting. Thank the goddesses that other women find themselves needing to talk about what's happening to them.

[Lady]

I read the hardcover edition after publication in 1993. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the author's continuing journey into self-discovery and healing in her own particular style. I would dearly love to re-read all the books that I have read, as well as to read the books I have yet to read. No other author of this genre has held my attention as this author to date. I encourage women who are interested in their own journey into self-discovery and healing on many levels to read this author's many publications. I also encourage women on their paths to be open-minded enough to give them an honest opportunity to pique their interests, and to change their perceptions and perspectives of what is possible in this life.

[etherealfire]

"Words are a sacred tool and must be honored as such. When used carefully, words have magical healing properties. When used to judge, to hate, or to separate, words are deadly. The words you will be using in this workbook are your basic tools for healing on this journey. Treat them with respect. Honor your words." ~ Lynn V. Andrews

Books completed:

--- Medicine Woman, 1981
--- Jaguar Woman and the Wisdom of the Butterfly Tree, 1985
--- Star Woman, 1986
--- Crystal Woman, 1987
--- Windhorse Woman, 1989
--- The Woman of Wyrrd, 1990
--- Shakkai, 1992
--- Woman at the Edge of Two Worlds, 1993

Loved the books - every one of them. Treat them as mythology or as absolute truth. It makes no difference, the larger truth is as real to me as the Cosmic Christ. And to me, that is real! Beautifully written, loved her relationships with her spiritual teachers. For me, these books were real medicine, true spiritual healing.

[Miz Lizzie]

Lynn V. Andrews takes a shamanistic approach to menopause as she and her apprentices address the physical, mental, and spiritual issues of this woman's rite of passage to Cronehood through drumming and ritual. Paired with Deborah Vaughn's novel The Search of the Menopause Ranch and Marian Van Eyk McCain's experiential guide Transformation Through Menopause, these three books provide an inspirational exploration of the inner work of menopause. This book is probably best appreciated if you have read at least some of Lynne Andrews' previous books about her shamanic experiences.

[Yaaresse]

I recall reading something by Lynn Andrews ages ago when I was trying to understand why the cultural appropriation of Native and Shaman traditions was suddenly The Thing of the Moment. I don't remember it being as god-awful flaky and arrogant as this book.

I guess I prefer Dr. Christiane Northrup's approach: it's biology, not religion.