The Unknown She: Eight Faces of an Emerging Consciousness

And if so, how is it influencing the spiritual evolution of our world?

To answer these questions, Hilary Hart traveled across the globe meeting with contemporary mystics from a variety of traditions including Lakota Sioux, Sufism, Buddhism, West-African shamanism, and Christianity. The revelations of feminine wisdom offered through these encounters are not conceptual teachings, but vivid examples of lived spirituality expressed sometimes through simple ways of being, sometimes through profound mystical experiences.

Through such teachers as Sobonfu Some, Ani Tenzin Palmo, Andrew Harvey, and Lynn Barron, Hart introduces readers to a mystical consciousness of oneness, a dimension of pure being that is relational and organic, non-hierarchical and essentially nourishing. This living energy, the Unknown She, as one contributor calls it, is a new and also ancient consciousness of love, a "luminous darkness" that longs to help us evolve into a responsible and nurturing relationship to each other and all creation. Hart shows us that if women are to know this energy and take this step into spiritual maturity they must leave behind fear, anger, and patterns of victimization that inhibit them from living who they really are – not for their own sake but for the sake of our universal evolution.

From simple instructions on how to access one's intuition, to esoteric descriptions of guiding love from the dimension of absolute emptiness into the world of creation, The Unknown She moves from practical to profound with ease, wisdom, and humor. Hart's contributors offer revealing insights into such subjects as how men and women's spirituality differs, the importance of women's creative power in their own spiritual evolution and the evolution of our world, and practical ways for us all to access feminine power and wisdom in traditionally male-dominated spiritual systems.

About the Author:
Hilary Hart lives in Northern California where she works as a writer and an editor. She is a student of both Tibetan Buddhism and Sufism. The Unknown She is her first book.