Biography

I was born in England in 1955 into a family with roots in North Wales and the Midlands. I had my head in a book throughout most of my childhood and from early on was interested in questions of love, fate, the soul, spirituality, and how to live fully. I was awarded a scholarship to Nottingham Girls’ High School, where my only distinction was being the youngest person ever to win the drama prize, for directing a production of Moliere at the tender age of 11. My teens coincided with a buoyant, radical, and, in many ways, still innocent period for young people, and school was somewhat of a backdrop to the more interesting exploration of political activism, new forms of culture, and altered states of consciousness. After a year off, mostly spent in Paris staring at art, watching films, falling hopelessly in love and looking after small children, I went to the University of Warwick, from whence I graduated in due course with a BA in American Studies. I had no idea what to do next.

I had wanted to be a writer since I was five years old, but it seemed a difficult thing to do as a career, and not exactly practical. I knew that for me writing was linked with my spiritual life, but I was perplexed about how to develop that too. For want of any clear direction, I followed the natural course of things: a thread of relationships and connections that led me to London and to Chinese medicine. I became fascinated by this way of seeing the body and psyche, and by Taoism and the philosophy of ancient China. For much of the next decade I studied Chinese medicine, in England and in China: I received my license from the College of Traditional Acupuncture in Leamington Spa, a post-grad diploma from the College of Traditional Chinese Medicine in London, an advanced diploma from the Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Beijing, and a diploma in Chinese herbalism from Ted Kaptchuk. In 1981 I co-founded one of the first multidisciplinary alternative medical clinics in Britain and established an acupuncture practice that became very successful. I had a special focus on women’s health, using acupuncture, acupressure, herbs, flower essences and visualization to alleviate gynecological problems and to facilitate childbirth.

By the mid-’80’s, despite doing this interesting and useful work, I felt there was something missing, and that I wasn’t living in a way that was authentic. My marriage ended amid intense emotional suffering, and this pushed me into being more focused on awareness and self-development. I went into Jungian analysis, and began to study with Buddhist and Native American teachers. Over the next couple of years these efforts cleared out some cobwebs, and helped me reconnect with my original life dream. I realized I needed to take a radical step and let go of the life I had constructed up to now. I didn’t know what I was going to write, but I knew my whole life needed a blank page in order to find out. So, in 1987, following a series of insistent dreams, I gave away my medical practice and sold my home to fund an open-ended journey to develop my spiritual understanding and to write.

This quest took me to sacred sites and spiritual teachers all over the planet. I apprenticed with a Native American teacher, spent time with a Mayan shaman and with Navajo women, and was initiated into a rare Tibetan Buddhist practice for women. I attended numerous workshops, gatherings, and rituals in many traditions and belief systems, and made a study of women’s spiritual practices, particularly related to rituals of menarche and menstruation. I studied writing and creative process with various teachers, and spent long periods in retreat in wilderness areas.

This concentrated period of personal development began to bear fruit by 1989, when I started writing about menstruation. This came about quite spontaneously as the result of experiences I was having while on retreat. These experiences were congruent with somewhat esoteric and elusive teachings from Tibetan Buddhism and Native American wisdom that I had received but had not yet fully understood. I was able to draw together threads from my previous studies in women’s history, women’s spirituality, and Chinese medicine, and this all resulted in an intellectual understanding, underpinned by direct experience, about the relationship between menstrual beliefs and practices and women’s physical, psychological, and spiritual well-being. Several publications resulted: the widely reprinted and much-translated article, The Sabbath of Women (Whole Earth Review 1991), and the books, Her Blood Is Gold (HarperSanFrancisco and Aquarian/Thorsons 1993) and its daughter, the expanded and revised edition, Honoring Menstruation (Crossing Press 1998).

The years I spent practicing acupuncture had taught me that the psyche has a huge influence on physical health and general well-being, so it was a natural next step to study psychology. I was also aware that my spiritual development needed to be matched by psychological understanding in order to become stabilized. Between 1989 and 1994 I studied process-oriented psychology intensively with Dr. Arnold Mindell, in Zurich and Oregon. I began to work with clients again, now as a psychotherapist and astrologer.

In 1993, Her Blood Is Gold was published, and this led me into the media. I was featured on BBC Woman’s Hour and appeared on radio and television in the US. In 1994 I moved to Los Angeles and all kinds of creative opportunities developed. I worked as a consultant (and continue to do so) for documentaries and television programs, and for publishing companies and individual writers (clients include the National Film Board of Canada, CBS, ABC, Discovery Channel, Random House). I worked in television as a writer, researcher and producer, and in publishing as a developmental editor for books on women’s health and psychology.

I’ve lectured internationally and taught at many venues, including the Findhorn Foundation, the California State Oriental Medical Association, and the Astrological Lodge of London. Between 1996 and 2002 I taught classes on creative process and creative writing, first in Los Angeles and later for the University of California in Santa Cruz. My articles have been published in a wide variety of publications from professional journals to mainstream magazines, including The Journal of Chinese Medicine, Whole Earth Review, Resurgence, The Mountain Astrologer and Good Housekeeping. My writings on astrology are archived at my other web site, Planetary Energies.

In 2002, after living on the West Coast of the US since the late 1980’s, I moved back to Europe, initially to Paris, and later to a medieval village in southwest France where I spent three years living quietly and writing. I now live in a village in Wiltshire, in southwest England.

My main spiritual home is Tibetan Buddhism which I have studied and practiced with gradually increasing commitment since 1985. I am also very fond of making pilgrimages to Madonna shrines and other sacred sites. I feel particular affinity with Tara, Machig Labdron, the Karmapa lineage, and the Black Madonnas. I am very grateful for the teachings and wisdom I have received and continue to receive in this life and these are some of the teachers I have been fortunate to study with: H.H. the Dalai Lama, H.E. Tai Situ Rinpoche, Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche, Lama Tsultrim Allione, and Joan Halifax Roshi.

I’ve been involved with the community-building and information-sharing aspects of the internet since the late 1980’s and have been co-host of the Spirituality conference on The WELL since 1991.

A central theme in my work is the cyclical nature of life, and how being in touch with natural cycles, and honoring them, can maximize our well-being. Everything comes around again, but always in a new way, offering the chance for transformation and healing. Over the past few years, I’ve been writing and speaking on midlife and the opportunities it offers for renewal, and wrote about the relationship aspect of this transition in Love Begins At 40: A Guide to Starting Over (published by Hay House June 2008, co-written with Cherry Gilchrist). I’m currently working on a book on menopause and midlife rejuvenation of body and soul.

A new edition of Her Blood Is Gold: Awakening to the Wisdom of Menstruation was published by Archive Publishing in October 2008 in the UK and April 2009 in the US. My next book, Growing Your Inner Light: A Guide to Independent Spiritual Practice, is scheduled for publication on November 3 2009, from Beyond Words/Atria Books, an imprint of Simon and Schuster.

May this life continue to be of service, and may all beings be well and happy!