The Woman Who Married the Bear

Barbara Alice Mann is Professor of Humanities at the Jesup Scott Honors College of the University of Toledo, Ohio. She has published around 500 articles and chapters and fifteen books, including Spirits of Breath: The Twinned Cosmos of Indigenous America and Iroquoian Women: The Gantowisas.Kaarina Kailo previously served as Professor of Women's Studies at Oulu University, Finland; as Senior Scholar at the Finnish Academy; and in various positions at the Simone de Beauvoir Institute, Canada. She has published several books, anthologies, and hundreds of articles on the gift economy, ecofeminism/mythology, bear lore, women's folklore, and sauna healing. She is also the editor of Wo/men and Bears. The Gifts of Nature, Culture and Gender Revisited (2008).

• First, There Is Mother: An Introduction Barbara Alice Mann and Kaarina Kailo Part I: Indigenous North America & the Younger Dryas Barbara Alice Mann Chapter 1: Messengers of Sky, A Traditional Overview Chapter 2: A New and Frightening Reality, Analysis of Tradition Part II: Indigenous Eurasia Kaarina Kailo Chapter 3: Original Instructions, Bear Spirituality and Great Mothers Chapter 4: First Beings, The Mother behind It All Conclusion: Retrieval Barbara Alice Mann and Kaarina Kailo Bibliography Index

This book provides access to a wealth of traditional knowledge about women, bears, and our relationship to the natural world. Presenting profound insights with a light touch that is thought-provoking rather than polemical, it illustrates how values prevalent in early matriarchal societies remain essential today, as we contemplate ecological disaster and social collapse. This is a jewel of a book.