Return to the Great Mother by Isa Gucciardi, Ph.D.

Return to the Great Mother will help mothers-to-be, their partners, and birth professionals rediscover the Great Mother: the transformative feminine energy at the heart of the birthing process. The book touches on some of the factors that have led people to become disconnected from this power. It also offers the perspective of birth as an initiation and the heal ing implications of this view. Dozens of women’s stories are presented here. These accounts describe how women reconnected with the Great Mother, and how this has affected their experience of giving birth and changed them as women, mothers, and healers.

About the Author

Isa Gucciardi is the Founding Director and lead teacher of the Foundation of the Sacred Stream. The workshops and training programs of the Foundation are part of her larger vision for helping people who are interested in stepping into greater consciousness and leading happier lives. Her primary focus is on teaching, writing, and curriculum development. Isa is also the creator of the groundbreaking therapeutic model, Depth Hypnosis, which is born from her studies in transpersonal psychology, cultural and linguistic anthropology, comparative religion, hypnotherapy, and transformational healing. Isa has lived in eleven countries and she speaks five languages. The mother of two children, she is a potter and gardener, a stained glass artist, a piano enthusiast, and an herbalist. In addition to her busy teaching schedule, she has an active Depth Hypnosis counseling and consulting practice in San Francisco, CA.

Website: depthhypnosis.org

Reader Reviews

“A fabulous read to restore our faith in birth and that there is a power we can not see, “The Great Mother” who will
be there to support us as we birth our babies, support other women through the birth process and life! If we can
work on connecting to the power.” – Olympia N.

“Read this book to look through a door you may never have opened before for understanding motherhood. Isa shares deep wisdom and insight that has enhanced my concept of being a mother. The meditation is wonderful and has helped me create my own relationship with the Great Mother.” – Suz P.

“This book provides a navigational guide to the process of giving birth, an arduous journey for any woman to traverse. Each page offers physical, mental, emotional and spiritual insights and tools to prepare for this initiatory event. The compilation of women’s stories describing personal encounters with the “Great Mother” spirit, is an offering of tender love, an exercise in procuring strength, and a lesson in sustained fortitude. Learning to understand, then trust, and then to access this powerful channel of connection enables one to transform, expand, and greet the birthing experience wholly.” – Claudia F.

Excerpts

“The concept of a Great Feminine principle is common to many cultural and religious traditions. The icon of the Great Feminine is viewed in these traditions as the generator and caretaker of life. The images of the Great Feminine vary from tradition to tradition, but the values and qualities of these images are surprisingly consistent. In many traditions, this principle is often referred to as the Great Mother. She is always considered a protector and guardian of life. Images of mother goddesses predominate in many archaeological finds from Ancient Egypt. The forms of the Great Mother in Egypt include those of animals seen as good mothers, including the lioness, cow, and hippopotamus. In ancient Greece, many sanctuaries and temples were dedicated to the embodiment of the Great Feminine that took the form of goddesses such as Hera and Gaia. Gaia is considered to be a very ancient goddess who personifies the Earth in its many forms. In many cultures, including those of the Andes, the Great Mother principle is viewed as a force that encourages fertility and protects against disaster. She is personified by the goddess Pachamama. In spiritual traditions in the Himalaya, the female deity Tara has many aspects. Each of them is considered to be an embodiment of different aspects of compassionate assistance. Quan Yin, a female deity revered throughout China and Southeast Asia, is also called upon by her followers for assistance and deliverance from adversity. In Catholicism, the Virgin Mary is considered to be the mother of God, the mother of all things. In the Hopi tradition of North America, Mother Earth and the Corn Mother are believed to be the mothers of all living things.”

“To understand these processes better, let’s look more closely at the nature of initiation and the characteristics of initiations. First, initiations are intimately tied with change. They bring the initiate from one form of being into a new state of being. Initiations accomplish this task by putting the initiate through a series of experiences that challenge the status quo, the way things are. The initiation must meet these challenges and overcome them in order for the initiation to accomplish its goal of bringing new ways of being and knowing to the initiate. This is the hero’s journey. The initiate must render him or herself vulnerable to these initiatory processes in order for the initiation to become complete. Also, the power in that vulnerability must be managed carefully and thoughtfully. This is a subtle and poorly understood task. Many people going through initiations and many people managing initiations do not have a clear understanding of the nature of the power and the nature of the vulnerability that is at the heart of initiation. And for an initiation to be successful, that power and that vulnerability must be safeguarded and dedicated to the initiate. All of the case histories that follow illustrate the power of the hero’s journey through initiation. But none demonstrates the surrender to vulnerability and the power that emerges through that surrender more than the account of Maria’s birth. Her initiation was very successful because she was able to take the power released in her surrender and dedicate it to creating an entirely new way of being. This way of being was fuller, richer, and more inspiring than her way of being had been before her birth.”