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Aphrodite's Daughters:
Women's Sexual Stories
and the Journey of the Soul
To order through Amazon
click here.
Since its publication, this book has become an underground classic. Based on the stories of ordinary American women, beautifully written, and irresistibly engaging, it shows the immensely important role sexuality plays in shaping our spiritual journey.
"This book is completely amazing! I couldn't put it down. Without a doubt the best book I've read in the past year, and I've read a lot! I can't recommend it highly enough. A must-read for any sexual woman on the spiritual path! Bonheim interviews "ordinary" women about the connections they perceive between sex and the divine in their lives, and explores the themes of their stories using myths and philosophy from around the world. It's easy to read, moving, and inspiring."
The Hunger for Ecstasy:
Fulfilling the Soul's Need for Intimacy and Passion
Out of print. To order used copies through Amazon click here.
"This is a wonderful book. Bonheim helps us to understand that 'our hunger for ecstasy is not a problem demanding a solution, but a sacred force humming with intense energy and vitality...a sign of health...Although it causes us to suffer, it also keeps us alive ... ' When we begin to see desire as sacred, it becomes our 'pathway to the Divine...the great hunger ... the magnet that attracts us to God, the fuel that drives the spiritual quest, and the compelling force behind our immense appetite for life, love, and adventure.' We live in a culture that still has deeply Puritan repressive roots. This book has important timely insights into our real freedom." - S. Ferguson
"In The Hunger for Ecstasy, Jalaja Bonheim explores what keeps us from living a spiritually fulfilling life. In our materially abundant but spiritually starved culture, it's easy to be misguided. Jalaja provides the know-how and the discipline necessary to direct your desire toward that which will best nourish your soul. In easy-to-understand terms, Jalaja shows how sex indeed is a yearning for the infinite, and she provides practical tips on how to experience beautiful, sacred sex in the context of an ecstatic life. With nuggets of wisdom from poets and mystics, and vivid, inspiring anecdotes of real-life spiritual quests, The Hunger for Ecstasy connects you with a legion of people on their own unique journeys to sensual nourishment for the soul."
Goddess:
A Celebration in
Art and Literature
Goddess is a lavish, elegant volume combining stunning art from all over the world with the best in storytelling, poetry, and world mythology. It's earned rave reviews.
"Goddess presents a visually stunning, wide-ranging exploration of the 'feminine face of God.' Its tales and illustrations dip into many cultures, drawing up the likes of ribald Baubo, the Greek goddess of obscenity who 'speaks from between her legs,' and Au Co, the Vietnamese goddess from the 36th heaven whose tears became a river on earth. Well-told myths, poetry, songs, and contemporary stories make this celebration of the goddess thoroughly enjoyable."
The Serpent and the Wave:
A Guide to Movement Meditation
"Bonheim presents movement meditation primarily from an Eastern perspective but with reference to many spiritual traditions. In addition to discussing the importance of the body in spiritual practice, she includes more than 30 movement meditations for stilling the mind, involving the body, awakening the serpent power (kundalini), developing consciousness, and meditating with a partner."
Jewish & Palestinian Women in Circle
Sacred Sexuality
Sitting with my friend Roseanne in the darkening twilight, I ask her a question I've been asking many people lately: "What does sacred sexuality mean to you?" Roseanne hesitates, searching for the right words. "It's not something you can force ... but once in a while, you pass through into something beyond, something transcendent. ... It's like a great light ... Life comes pouring into existence, and for just a second, you get a chance to look at it and see it happening."
Roseanne, a mother and housewife in her early fifties, is neither a student of Tantra, nor is she versed in New Age thought. In fact, she seems an unlikely source for information on sacred sexuality, raised as she was in a strict Mormon family where sex was equated with sin. Yet the long overlooked truth is that countless "ordinary" men and women feel a natural, intuitive reverence for sex as the place where "life comes pouring into existence."
Today, people everywhere are realizing that either we will learn to get along, or our species will self-destruct. Yet in Israel, perhaps more than any other place I have worked, they recognize that Circlework is not just about personal healing. They understand that nothing could be more important or urgent than learning to overcome our apparent inability to co-exist peacefully with members of our own species.
An Introduction to Circlework
The Gifts of Circlework
In our times, we have an urgent need to create spiritual community. Without spiritual community, we have no chance of transforming our world the way we must, let alone doing so in a spirit of grace and joy.
Traditionally, people looked to religion to satisfy this need. Today, however, many religious organizations have become too rigid to serve the needs of the living soul. This situation presents us with an opportunity to birth something new, and to explore fresh, supple forms of spiritual practice. What do we need at this time? What would best serve our souls, our communities, and our planet?
Today, thousands of groups all around the country are choosing to meet in circles. This is new -- just a few decades ago, you would have found the same groups sitting in a classroom format. Intuitively, people sense that the circle has something to offer them. People often comment that the circle helps them feel a sense of community, and that it reminds them of the value of equality-in the circle, nobody occupies a "special" position ...
The Yoginis of Ancient India
The Path of Priest & Priestess
The day I stepped into India's heat, colors, sounds, and smells, I instantly felt a profound sense of homecoming. It was 1981, and even though I had come to learn classical Indian temple dance, I would spend the next seven years of my life studying Hindu mythology and religion, mantra and chant, Tantric ritual, and meditation ...
What is a priest? What is a priestess? Images of stiff-robed men who show up in church on Sundays, or of exotically clad women making offerings to strange, bizarre looking gods would suggest that they inhabit a world other than our own and have little impact on our lives.
In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. To understand the essence of priest and priestess, we must look beyond the clichés to reconnect with the inner archetype -- the vortex of power in the depths of our own psyche. Since the beginning of human history, this archetype found expression in countless religious traditions. However, since archetypes are ever evolving, never static, contemporary priests and priestesses will look nothing like their ancient Indian, or Sumerian, or Egyptian counterparts. As human society unfolds, so do archetypes, appearing in ever-new guises. In fact, priests and priestesses are everywhere in our midst -- they just don't look the way we might expect. Rarely do they wear special robes, and many of them have no ties with organized religion. And yet, as we shall see, their contributions are crucial to our welfare and our very survival. As priests and priestesses have always done, they serve the spiritual life of their community and hold open the lines of communication between the human and the spirit worlds.
Print and Audio interviews
Interview on Circle Connections: How Women's Sexuality and Spirituality Are Connected, 12 April 2010. HTML link
Interview on Circle Connections: The Power of Circlework, 1 March 2010. HTML link
New Dimensions Interview by Justine Toms, author of Small Pleasures: Finding Grace in a Chaotic World , August 2009. HTML link
Ithaca Times Interview March 25, 2009. PDF, 395.3 KB
Deepak Chopra interviews Jalaja, 2001. PDF, 103.11 KB
Interview with Jalaja, 2003. PDF, 67.22 KB
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