The Future That Brought Her Here: Memoir of a Call to Awaken

Deborah DeNicola

Nicolas-Hays, Inc., Apr 1, 2009 - Body, Mind & Spirit - 368 pages

A dynamic blend of history, science, psychology, dreams, and visions, Deborah DeNicola's memoir is a compelling account of self-discovery that is provocative and humble. A poet, dream analyst, and college professor DeNicola writes about her struggle to live in the ordinary world of academia while honoring the competing call of the creative and the spiritual.

DeNicola's memoir shows her range of intellectual pursuits and spiritual experiences as she battles an inner war between depressive cynicism and faith and shares her lifelong search to heal the trauma of her father's tragic death when she was a teenager. Struggles between cynicism and faith, depression and hope, independence and attachment, creativity and financial security in the midst of spiritual searching, motherhood, teaching and writing are inextricably woven into the fabric of her story. Sharing the process of her awakening and how dreams and visions guide her, DeNicola stirs readers to listen courageously to their own inner voices.

Her visionary quest takes her to the American West, Israel, and Southern France. Along the way she weaves together references from the Bible and the Gnostic Gospels, the story of Mary Magdalene, medieval history, the Templar Knights, the Black Madonnas, String Theory and quantum physics to find the repeated linkage between divinity and humanity.

Contents

• Introduction: 1
• 1 The Wrinkle in Time: 7
• 2 Black Truck: 15
• DecisionMaking Through a Dream: 31
• 4 In the Lake of the Bed: 41
• 5 Awakening to Ascension: 55
• 6 Welcome to the Light Body: 61
• 7 Good News: 69
• 8 In the Holotropics: 83
• 9 ThirdEye Views: 97
• 10 Burning Down the House: 109
• 11 Intersecting Worlds: 127
• 12 The Worlds Veil: 135
• 13 Spirit Rules: 155
• 14 My Holy Land: 167
• 15 The Gift of Tears: 179
• 16 Rocky Mountain High: 195
• 17 The Oracle of the Body: 207
• 18 The Gnostic Mary: 221
• 19 Women Clothed by the Sun: 237
• 20 The Giver of Forms: 249
• 21 The Mandorla: 261
• 22 Roots of the Goddess: 271
• 23 Marys Mountain: 281
• 24 Resident Madonnas: 291
• 25 Vezelay: 299
• 26 Dijon: 307
• 27 Paris and Chartres: 317
• 28 Handstand: 329
• Reality Show: 343
• Bibliography: 351
• Poetry by Deborah DeNicola: 357
• Permissions: 359

About the author

Deborah DeNicola holds a MFA and has taught in the Graduate Creative Arts and Learning Program for Lesley University in Cambridge, MA. The recipient of several awards and fellowships including a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, she is the author of Inside Light, Where Divinity Begins and three earlier poetry collections. She edited the anthology Orpheus & Company: Contemporary Poems on Greek Mythology, from the University Press of New England. She currently teaches off her Web site.

Bibliographic information

• Title: The Future That Brought Her Here: Memoir of a Call to Awaken
• Author: Deborah DeNicola
• Publisher: Nicolas-Hays, Inc., 2009
• ISBN: 0892545593, 9780892545599
• Length: 368 pages
• Subjects: Body, Mind & Spirit / Inspiration & Personal Growth; Body, Mind & Spirit / Spiritualism