From the vantage points of diverse backgrounds and beliefs, the writings gathered here describe a vast range of spiritual searches and encounters. Terry Tempest Williams describes her family's Mormon tradition and Mary Gordon captures the attactions of the contemplative life, each in her way exploring her heritage and venturing beyond it. Elaine H. Pagels remembers an ancient past when God was a mother. Sy Montgomery writes about shamans and other women at one with the world, while Jane Goodall reflects on the symbiosis between science and religion after experiencing an ecstatic loss of self in the company of chimpanzees. Considering the place of God in the art of the everyday, Ursula K. Le Guin speaks about the feminine aspects of the Tao Te Ching, and Starhawk explains witchcraft as a way of practicing faith. Facet by facet, these essays and poems-by Molly Peacock, Diane Ackerman, and Joy Harjo, among others-reveal and celebrate the special relationship of women to the spiritual realm, in a volume that will inspire, provoke, and comfort. Book jacket.