Following is an adapted passage from the book The Mystery of Woman: A Book for Men (John Hunt Publishing, September 2012) by Gabriel Morris. The book features an assortment of writings from the author and more than thirty other men and women exploring the subjects of women, femininity, the Goddess, relationships, romance, sexuality, spirituality, and much more.

Princes and Damsels

Once upon a golden time, I was a little girl, raised in the bosom of a loving family and tucked into bed at night with a teddy bear, a fairy tale, a kiss, and an unspoken promise that life at home would always be this kind to me. I would dream in vivid color of surreal scenes, swirling and merging stories, painted images of the princes and damsels, dragons and slayers, heroes and villains that had been scorched into my brain while listening, eyes closed, to the story being told by the parents and grandparents I trusted so.

At that tender age I had a knowing of the interconnectedness of life. I would sit in my grandma's garden, close my eyes, and feel the breeze, the rain, the sunlight — whatever there was to feel — and it would touch my soul. I would smell the freshness of the grass, the blossom on the trees, the musty scent of the soil, and knew I was in touch with Earth as a living, breathing being. Eyes still closed, listening to the cars in the distance, to the wind in the trees, to birdsong, and eventually picking out the tiny noises of insects busy in the ground tending to their lives, I would feel connected to all of life and sense a sacredness, a godliness in all things.