Raven And The Hummingbird

By: Renate F. Caldwell

At age 32, a horrendous event shatters Joan’s mind into 52 alternate personalities exposing a childhood of unrelenting sexual abuse and maternal neglect.

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Book Description

My heart raged against my ribs.
The stench of the men's depravity hung in the air like a fog of corruption.

A fateful chance encounter brings Joan face to face with the therapist she has waited for all her life. Hopeless and desolate, she asks, “Will you take me?”

Joan is a 44-year-old married woman of substance and faith, one with remarkable intelligence and creativity, who writes poetry, paints in the primitive style, and is a gourmet chocolatier. At age 32, her mind broke open, and her life fell apart. She was diagnosed with Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD), aka Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID).

In my care, Joan reveals she suffered unrelenting sexual abuse and maternal neglect throughout her childhood. Her only defense was to flee into a dissociative state, during which her mind created 52 alternate personalities (the "Parts") to protect her from the unimaginable. These Parts found refuge in an imaginary realm in Joan's mind: an internal landscape of evocative features comprised of the Dark and Haunted Forest, the Abyss, the River of Tears, the Path of Crushed Lies, and many more--a world imbued with magical realism and inhabited by Raven the Light Bearer, Shadowman the Persecutor, Beth the Messenger, Samantha the Sentinel, the Three Furies, and a host of others. They all play an integral role in Joan's journey toward wholeness.

In her quest to piece together her fragmented mind, Joan must endure the unbearable truth and remember the unthinkable. Raven and the Hummingbird invites the reader into the therapy room to witness each triumph and setback, the full experience, session by session, step by step. Joan's path to recovery is littered with life’s obstacles and often smothered by exhaustion, but buoyed by trust in the sacred and love--tough, demanding, compassionate love.

Ultimately, bringing to light Joan’s inspiring story exemplifies the capacity of the human heart to rise above the unimaginable and usher in a singular authentic life.

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