Books in Print
by Connie Zweig, Ph.D.

NEW! Read a March 2007 web interview on A Moth to the Flame Read a March 2007 web review of A Moth to the Flame Listen to a KPFK radio interview (1 hour) with Connie Zweig on A Moth to the Flame   | Stream | Download

Buy The Book Now! Read an Excerpt NOW IN PAPERBACK! A Moth to the Flame: The Story of the Great Sufi Poet Rumi (a novel). From my first breath I have longed for Him. This longing has become my life. - Rumi The Moth to the Flame is the story of the meeting of two human beings that, like the conjunction of two planets, realigned the fates. Although it happened long ago, during another time of war between Islam and the West, this tale of an individual life fully lived is the tale of every life: Rumi's yearning for God is our yearning, his anguish, our anguish, his victory, our victory. In the tradition of Siddhartha or The Last Temptation of Christ, his story is the mythic story of the human soul. In this first novel about him, based on original sources in both Farsi and English, we discover the key moments that shaped his poetic genius. We watch his faith tested, and we witness his meeting with the beloved, which overturned his world and led, eventually, to his union with God. For centuries, Rumi has remained as alive as Shakespeare in the hearts of millions of Muslims. Today, in the West, where he is a bestselling poet, he burns like a torch of inspiration for us all.

 

Buy The Book Now! Read an Excerpt The Holy Longing: The Hidden Power of Spiritual Yearning Who is it we spend our entire life loving? -- Kabir (trans. Robert Bly) In every mystical tradition, saints and poets speak eloquently of the soul's search for the divine, its yearning for the gods, its longing for heaven. This holy longing for something transcendent leads us to sit still, eyes closed, as the splendors of spring pass us by. It urges us to lose ourselves in one another in ecstatic embrace. It guides us to teachers and priests who offer a direction for our devotion. In her counseling work with clients from every religious denomination, Dr. Connie Zweig found that this universal yearning - a secret feeling with many disguises - lies hidden at the source of our life stories. The obscure object of our desire calls us to follow it, and we respond, even unknowingly. We pursue a romantic union, imagining that it will finally meet our deepest needs. Or we long for the light of god and undertake a demanding religious practice or discipleship, hoping that it will quench our thirst. Or we a chase a vision of the ideal home or community, which promises an end to our wandering. In this way, a life story unfolds, invisibly shaped by the object of our longing. But sometimes our spiritual yearning goes awry. We may misplace it onto concrete objects - sex, food, drugs, alcohol - and our longing becomes a craving, held captive in a substance. Or we attribute it to an authoritarian personality who abuses us, leaving us feeling shocked and betrayed. Or we direct our holy longing to the other world, devaluing the pleasures of human life. Or worse, like cult members or fundamentalists, we mistake death for transcendence and sacrifice our lives for uncertain paradise. If you feel a gnawing yearning beneath your other yearnings no matter how many desires you satisfy; if you feel disillusioned with traditional religions but seek spiritual values and practices elsewhere; if you suffer from religious abuse and demoralization but long to rekindle the flame of faith, then this seminar can guide you from spiritual innocence through loss to spiritual maturity. You can learn to: Identify the hidden object of your holy longing; detect it as the seed of your life story; uncover your encounter with spiritual shadow; learn spiritual shadow-work to recover from religious or spiritual abuse; reclaim your own light; reclaim your independent thinking; reclaim your authentic feeling; reclaim your body; reclaim action on your own behalf; reclaim your images of the divine. If we learn to hold the tension of our yearning, to honor the restlessness of the soul rather than resist it, our holy longing points the way home.

 

Buy The Book Now! Read An Excerpt Romancing the Shadow: A Guide to Soul Work for a Vital, Authentic Life (with Steve Wolf) is an in-depth look at our hidden, wounded selves and how they form in early childhood, influence our choices of partners, appear in our shameful moments, sabotage our desires for love, and erupt at midlife, often wrecking havoc on our lives. The book offers a contemplative or spiritual method for uncovering the hidden purpose of each shadow and reclaiming the forbidden feelings and trapped energy that lie hidden within it. Before shadow-work, we unconsciously obey the shadow's voice, which drives uncontrollable feelings and self-destructive behaviors. With shadow-work, we can begin to uncover its deeper message, recreate our relationships, and renew our creativity. This comprehensive and eloquent book will change the way you see yourself, the way you love others, and the way you envision the possibilities for your life. Read an Excerpt: pp. 39-42 Romancing the Shadow A compelling, evocative book that brilliantly elucidates the shadow in straightforward language. Shadow-work is our greatest challenge to becoming a global village. — Marion Woodman, author of Dancing in the Flames: The Dark Goddess in the Transformation of Consciousness A consummate and timely work . . . An exciting entry into the growing literature on the dark side of the soul. There is deep wisdom and nourishment here. — New Age Journal Romancing the Shadow enables you to peel away the layers of your soul and get in touch with the purity of Being that lies within you. — Deepak Chopra, author of The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success and A Path to Love Romancing the Shadow has changed the way I perceive myself and the people I love. It's brilliant, compassionate, and challenging — providing readers with a structure through which they can reconnect with their spirit. I use it now to examine every character I am and every character I write about. — Sheri Reynolds, author of The Rapture of Canaan The secret is out: all of us, no exceptions, have qualities we won't let anyone see, including ourselves — our shadow. If we face up to our dark side, our life can be energized. If not, there is the devil to pay. This is one of life's most urgent projects. — Larry Dossey, M.D., author of Healing Words Throughout this book we are invited to undertake the ordeal and passion of discovering the richness in our individual darkness, thereby creating soulful and expressive lives. The authors restore us to ourselves. — Deena Metzger, author of Writing for Your Life: A Guide and Companion to the Inner Worlds This book is a great help to anyone trying to tune in and listen to the voice of the soul. At last, a practical mysticism! — Coleman Barks, poet-translator of The Essential Rumi

 

Buy the Book Now! Read an Excerpt Meeting the Shadow: The Hidden Power of the Dark Side of Human Nature (with Jeremiah Abrams) has sold nearly 100,000 copies. This best-selling collection of essays by experts explores the shadow in families, relationships, sex, work, spirituality, politics, creativity, and more. It offers the tools for achieving a more genuine self-acceptance, defusing negative emotions, recognizing projections, and healing relationships. Read an Excerpt: pp. xiv-xiv Prologue Contributors include Carl Jung, Robert Bly, Marie-Louise von Franz, Joseph Campbell, Christine Downing, Harville Hendrix, John Bradshaw, James Hillman, Deena Metzger, M. Scott Peck, Sam Keen, and many more.

 

Buy the Book Now! Read an Excerpt To Be A Woman: The Birth of the Conscious Feminine is a collection of essays about women's longing to be authentically feminine, to experience ourselves fully as women, and also to be strong, independent individuals whose power and authority are rooted within. Because of both the fruits of feminism and a deepening of individual development, women now have the opportunity to imagine and to live a kind of femininity that is consciously chosen — and that contains the fruits of our hard-won independence. In this groundbreaking collection, psychologists, Jungian analysts, feminists, and experts in feminine spirituality write about re-mothering ourselves, re-fathering ourselves, resacralizing the body, and reawakening the divine feminine. Read an Excerpt: pp. 51-53 on remothering Contributors include Marion Woodman, Jean Shinoda Bolen, Riane Eisler, Linda Leonard, Merline Stone, Sylvia Perera, and many more.