Farming Soul: A Tale of Initiation

Reviews

“A brilliant autobiographical account of the author’s individuation process. The depth and insightfulness of Damery’s book should be the standard for all autobiographies in the future.”
– Amazon review by Thomas Beyerley

“Patricia Damery has provided us with a source book of the many pearls of wisdom and insight that the great Carl Jung left as his legacy. She not only re-awakens us to the many forgotten aspects (or historically rejected aspects) of his teachings, but she also takes us on her own journey to individuation that she as a Jungian analyst has taken.”
– Amazon review by Grady Harp, author of War Songs

“Patricia Damery leads us on the journey of her own soul and spiritual development, exhibiting courage and integrity. A significant part of that journey includes her practice of biodynamic farming which as a basic tenet seeks to develop one’s farm as a unique individuality. As she develops her own individuation in our human task here on Mother Earth of integrating body, soul, and spirit, she experiences at the same time an awakening to the individuality of her farm. I can highly recommend this book not only for those in the professions of psychology and psychiatry, but also for the grower or farmer contemplating or already practicing biodynamic agriculture. No other book available describes so well the positive spiritual consequences when one practices biodynamic agriculture.”
– Hugh J. Courtney – founder of Josephine Porter Institute for Applied Biodynamics, Inc. and Earth Legacy Agriculture LLC.

“This is an unusual account of one individual’s efforts to learn to apply a native gift for sensing the emergent irrational to the disciplines of depth psychotherapy and Native American healing. Patricia Damery’s memoir details how, inspired by the experience of tending an organic farm, she learned to live with the power of this intelligence and apply it responsibly to healing endeavors.  In part a cautionary tale, Damery’s story reveals what can happen when professional training does not entirely validate one’s natural way of using one’s heart and mind.  Not every therapist who reads this book will have had to take such an arduous journey to self-affirmation, but to anyone in the healing professions who has wondered whether it is possible for a wounded healer to be healed, Damery’s story will lend considerable comfort.”
– John Beebe, MD, author of Integrity in Depth

“In Farming Soul, Damery offers an intimate account of her quest to follow her inner voice amidst the Paths she treads. Farming Soul will inspire all who seek the richness of an examined life. Damery’s writings invite us to go deeper into silence, connect more with our intuitive nature, and expand into the ecological world we inhabit. It is a hopeful account of cultivating a consciousness that will tend the needs of our planet and our future.”
– Melissa McLaughlin, MBA,  Marketing Director, Harms Vineyards and Lavender Fields.

“On rare occasions in my own life, I have had… “teaching dreams,” nighttime dreams in which I experienced a teacher of guide who seemed to be explaining some aspect of consciousness or understanding that could help me transform, transcending my everyday ego self. Indeed, this book conveyed a similar feeling, as if Damery herself appeared in my sphere of consciousness to guide me on a path toward greater illumination by showing me the landscape she herself has traversed.”
– From review, “The Alchemy of Individuation,” Jung Journal: Culture and Psyche,by Bonnie Bright, founder of Depth Psychology Alliance.