Beginning with the myth of Inanna's descent to the Underworld, rendered in breathtaking poetry, Betty de Shong Meador sets forth on a journey of the feminine in five stages--poetry, essay, and prose tying together her study of feminine initiation across time and culture.

Her description of a Blessingway Sing reveals the balance of feminine and masculine achieved in the Navajo culture. A critique of Doris Lessing's novels captures the felt sense of descent and discovery. Research on a Greek women's ritual--the Thesmophoria--and a survey of recent archeological findings from the ancient...