The Bumpity Road to Total Enlightenment (or A Funny Thing Happened on my Way to God)
Enjoy the thrills and chills of Mary’s adventures as a spiritual seeker who is ever in the way of unexpected drama that brings needed insights. From hitchhiking around the nation as a starry-eyed hippie to meeting God in the woods as a huge spider eager to walk on her…. from a spirit-filled cave in Northern Ireland or an ashram in India, to meeting her husband Fred because of a message in a dream… when you hear Mary’s personal stories you will agree that ‘there is a benevolent plot afoot, and the conspirators are everywhere. Their mission: the total elimination of fear and limitations.
Excerpts
“For some reason, my life seems to be four times as blessed and four times as stressful as most other people’s; there never seems to be a shortage of drama going on, whether I want it or not. I think God has it that way for me because she knows I have a deep need to tell good stories….
I invite you to enter my stories with me. and if I hand you a laugh or make you shed a tear along the way, I will be a satisfied storyteller. My stories were given to me by a Great Mystery, and I now give them back. There are as many tales of the Sacred in every day life as there are seeds bursting from pods in the amazon rain forest. The Sacred glows silently at the center of every good story. In the silence after the telling of a story is a fertile darkness where seeds are left behind—and understanding may grow. And whatever of these may sprout and take root within you—may it be your own fertile offering to that Mystery.”
Tales of the Divine Mother
The Divine Mother is an archetype emerging once again in modern times after many centuries of repression of the feminine that has sent our world into severe psychological and ecological imbalance. The Mother has always been a palpable presence in Mary’s life, first as Mother Mary in her Catholic childhood, and later as The Goddess, who appeared in a vision to help Mary give birth to her oldest child. The Goddess has taken many forms, the spider in the woods, the priestess spirits in an Irish cave, the female Indian guru, the white-haired elder who mentored Mary into her wholeness as a teacher and leader in her own right…. The energy of the Divine Mother is a sweet and powerful presence in Mary’s presentation and magical storytelling: experience Her yourself!
Excerpts
“I could see Him, old Jehovah. I knew his long white beard and scowling eyebrows very well. He sat on a throne on a cloud, and his finger pointed downward at me in accusation. I could imagine him bellowing at me: “Don’t! Bad Girl!” He is a face of God from another time and another people; still good for some today but no good for me. As Fred sprayed me with warm soothing water, I visualized this image of God growing smaller and smaller, like soap melting away in the shower. It took a long time, but finally he was just a little sliver that slipped down the drain. Zip! Gone—and suddenly replaced by a new image of the Divine.
The ocean heaves with swelling waters. The moonlight glances off the choppy surface, and the spray sparkles like gems. The night sky is turbulent with clouds scudding along in cold winds. A gigantic female figure hovers over the ocean. Her arms are extended in a wide embrace over the world, and her breasts drip drops of sparkling milk that mingle with the stars in the sky and the water. She wears the crescent moon as an ornament in her long dark hair, which streams out in all directions, mingling with the moving skies. Her head is thrown back and her mouth is open wide in tremendous laughter—she roars with good humor! She is wild and untamed: the mother and lover of all— the Goddess.
I felt an urge to push.
‘Okay! Let’s do it!’ I said suddenly. “
—from A Woman’s Ways audiobook
