Title: Unearthing Venus: My Search For the Woman Within
Author: Cate Montana
Genre: Memoir, Spirituality, New Age
Book Blurb:
In the tradition of Eat, Pray, Love and Cheryl Strayed’s Wild comes a fresh voice in women’s non-fiction. Join Cate Montana on an amazing journey into the heart of the Amazon jungle, up staggering peaks in the Andes, and halfway across the globe to the consecration of a temple to the Great Goddess in southern India as she searches for the missing Feminine within herself and Western Culture.
Raised in a man's world to be "just one of the guys," Cate was a highly successful network TV editor and journalist, self-admittedly "brash, driven and highly competitive." While on assignment a chance encounter with a shaman sets her on the path of unearthing the illusive power of the feminine. In a raw and wrenching recapitulation of her life Cate discovers the devastating absence of feminine qualities within herself and the withering personal and global consequences of having only one paradigm available for her to express through: the masculine "P" values of Power, Possessions, Profit, and Progress. An intelligent, compellingly honest and frequently funny memoir of a modern woman's search for her own unrecognized feminine spirit, Unearthing Venus is both a visionary and everywoman story that brilliantly captures what it is to be a woman today and everyday.
My Review:
Unearthing Venus is the story of Cate, a newspaper reporter, searching for answers about who she is, where she belongs, what is her purpose in life and what it means to be woman. It starts with a question asked by a Brazilian shaman she’s interviewing and her soul begs for answers.
Let’s start at the beginning, I always say, and so Cate starts her memoir at her childhood. She doesn’t hold anything back and her insight is refreshing to read. She tells it like it is and as a reader, I was immersed in her life experiences. From losing her virginity to working on Monday Night Football, I couldn’t read fast enough. Her point of view is from a woman abused in every way from a male-dominant society; it’s something every woman can relate to.
What really drew me in was her spiritual journey. Fed up with life, she starts meditating. One night she opens herself up to the spiritual world and what happens over the next ten years will shock and surprise you.
Cate does a masterful job describing her spiritual journey without appearing less than authentic. This is her story about her spiritual journey. I laughed, cried, gasped and smiled. She’s filled with the Light and this book will enlighten you.
Am I in touch with the Goddess? This simple question kept echoing in my head while I was reading, Unearthing Venus. My answer is yes and my spiritual journey continues.
While I feel this book will appeal mostly to women, men who are searching for enlightenment and spiritual peace will be inspired by Unearthing Venus. After all, we’re all just souls searching for a place to call home.
My Rating: 5 stars
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Author Biography:
Cate Montana was born during the post-war baby boom. Daughter and granddaughter of college-educated women, she was steeped in the conservative values of 1950s upper-middle class America. Graduating from boarding school she was part of the equestrian and socialite scene in Washington D.C. until she left Virginia to take a job as a videotape operator at WIS-TV in Columbia, SC. In 1976 she became a director at WCBD-TV in Charleston. Her career took off when she accepted a freelance job for NBC’s Monday Night Football. For a decade she traveled the nation working for national and international networks, including ESPN, CNN and the BBC. Since leaving television Montana has worked as a newspaper journalist, copywriter, and screenwriter, founded the internet newspaper www.theglobalintelligencer.com and promoted the indie hit film, What the Bleep Do We Know!? She is co-author of The Heart of the Matter—A Simple Guide to Discovering Gifts in Strange Wrapping Paper with Dr. Darren Weissman. She lives in Washington State.
Social Media Links:
Website: http://www.catemontana.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/catemontana
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Montanacate
Reviewed by: Mrs. N