Book Review: Marion Woodman – Dancing in the Flames

Author: Adam Greydon Reid
Publisher: Capri Vision Inc.
Book Publication: 2010

“I do believe that we all have a destiny. We either live it or we escape because we’re afraid to live our own reality.” With these words, renowned Jungian analyst, teacher, and author Marion Woodman opens this extraordinary documentary, which explores her life, her struggles, and her ultimate triumph over the fear of her own reality. She exemplifies the challenges inherent in travelling to the deepest psychic levels of the self; a challenge we must dive into if we are to survive as a species.

We no longer have the luxury to indulge in the patriarchal power struggles that typify the current modus operandi on this planet. “Most thinking people realize that we have come to the end of a paradigm that is not only not serving us, but is destroying us. The culture is collapsing and only a melding of both masculine and feminine energies, integrating body and soul, can halt the current social and environmental devastation.”

This extraordinary film, conceived and created by author/lecturer Andrew Harvey and award-winning writer/director and editor Adam Greydon Reid, offers a rare glimpse into the evolution of one individual soul as she shares her remarkable journey. Skilfully crafted, and utilizing the evocative animation of the late Academy Award winner Faith Hubley, this film delves into the author’s struggles to overcome her own addictions.

Marion Woodman’s well-documented reverence for the sacred feminine is evident as she discusses her stated life’s mission: finding and helping others, women and men, to find their genuine femininity. “This search will lead to a new masculine in the world. Masculinity and patriarchy are not synonymous. The true masculine is not the enemy of the feminine, but her discerning protector. This ‘inner marriage,’ as Jung labels it, is essential to healing ourselves and the planet.”

Marion’s husband, Ross Woodman, with whom she has shared the arc of this inner marriage, graces the film with his own insight and seems a match for this fierce goddess. Indeed there is a rage in this woman who laments what is happening to the planet and to our bodies: “Anything wrong, just take the drugs and be silent. You won’t be better; you’ll be silent. The body will be silent, and that’s what it should be. Shut it up!”

Marion’s passion for life is irresistible and spellbinding as she details some of her deeply personal challenges: “I feel blessed… I have been forced… through illness to surrender. The surrender feels like death. But, if you’re going to live your full soul’s journey and find the spiritual dimension, you’re gonna go this way – and surrender the old life to the new. I do not see surrender as failure at all. I would have simply died if I hadn’t seen that, in the death, was the birth of a whole new consciousness.

There’s a mutation being demanded in the evolution of consciousness. I think that … the body wants to become conscious, wants to release light from the density of matter. It is where quantum physics and dream imagery meet. This, to me, is the new level of conscious feminine that’s never been in the world before.”

And it shines in the eyes of this graceful woman as a beacon for us to follow.

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