Kissing the Hag

Based upon the old tale of "The Marriage of Sir Gawain", "Kissing the Hag" brings us face to face with the nauseating horror of the hag - the raw side, the dark side, the inside of a woman's essential nature. Here we find the untamed soul, the wild, angry, selfish, lustful, manipulative and incomprehensible elements of woman: all that makes us unacceptable and badly behaved. Too often we have been guided to point a finger of blame, accusing our parents, society, our partners of being dysfunctional. Here Emma Restall Orr doesn't allow us that option. As a Druid and animist, she takes the negative stereotypes of the irrational, emotional woman - feisty bitch to shameless whore, smothering mother to grumpy old bag - and finds the archetypes behind them, the faces and forms of the dark goddess.Instead of dismissing these as unacceptable, she encourages us to ride their wild emotional currents, surfing the awesome tides that threaten to overwhelm us. In "Kissing the Hag", we come to accept the fullness of our nature, celebrating the deep mystery, the magic and power of all we are."Kissing the Hag" is a book written for women who long to loose the chains of insecurity, convention, guilt and self-negation, and rediscover the freedom and creativity of their true nature. It is also a book written for men fascinated but infuriated by the women they love.

Kissing the Hag is a wonderfully intelligent, earthy, cosmic diary of the feminine life. I love the way it walks the edge between personal and collective, physical and poetic, highly ethical and thick in the uncertainties. While many writers fall into spiritualizing and intellectualizing "the feminine," this life-soaked book remains close to the fluids of body and soul, even as it gives birth to one trusted insight after another. It's an obvious gift-book for women going through a life passage, but it could also be important for men, who are closer to the mysteries presented here than they might wish to be." Thomas Moore, author of Care of the Soul and A Life at WorkKissing the Hag tracks the initiatory phases of womanhood through the titles that women get cat-called throughout time. Here the raw reality of the Dark Goddess speaks her honest truth, going beyond the bad-mouthing and the sweet-talking fantasies surrounding women, to the compassionate heart of female identity." Caitlin Matthews, author of Sophia, Goddess of Wisdom and In Search of Woman's Passionate SoulI will one day give my daughter Kissing the Hag and hope she has less need of it than I do ... Kissing the Hag demands your full attention, it calls passionately to something deep inside, something that will not be denied. The book is both devastating and life affirming and there is no doubt in my mind that it will change the life of every person brave enough to read it. Embrace your hag or she will bite you ... Shannon Smy, free spirit and singer/songwriter in award-winning protest band, Seize the Day

Emma Restall Orr (aka Bobcat) is one of the most well-known Druids worldwide. She worked for the Order of Bards Ovates and Druids, was Joint Chief of the British Druid Order for nearly ten years, and in 2002 created the international Druid Network. She is a practising priest and teacher, celebrated for her uncompromising views on ethics, environmentalism and personal responsibility. She regularly lectures at universities and within the Pagan community, and works as a media spokesperson for Druidry.