What's In a
Name?
Oh, just everything. The name of
something is its nature. Think of nearly every fairy tale
ever written. Being a namer of anything gives one power.
The first time I saw the title of
the book I am about to recommend, I froze. No, I shivered.
Shivered deep into my menopausal layers of clothing. You
know how it sometimes happens that you recognize something
and you don’t know why? Try this.
"The Queen of My Self—Stepping
into Sovereignty in Midlife"
I had to have the book. Had to. Amazon.com
was made for the likes of me. Donna Henes, internationally
recognized urban shaman, writer, and artist, is the author.
I waited two days. When it arrived, despite the fact that
I was working to a strict timeline for a corporate client,
I put everything down and sat with the book in my lap on
the porch—and shivered.
Opening the cover, I began to read
it and weep. Quite literally. I had a name for myself. True
confessions: I’d known I was a princess from the time
I was born, but the thing about being a princess is that,
over time, we grow up. We can’t help it. What do we
grow into? The Queen.
Donna Henes was approaching 50 (as
am I) and the traditional mythological model for female
experience didn’t work for her. The female trinity
of myth is Maiden, Mother, Crone. She wasn’t a crone
at 49! Not old enough, experienced enough, wise enough,
wrinkled enough. Neither am I.
Donna is an iconoclast. Is an archetype
not right? No problem. We’ll find a new one. Because
she’s the real thing, Donna dug deep into herself
and discovered the Queen. In her book, she tells you how
she found her own inner Queen, and how we can find our own—if
we choose.
The first half of her book tells
us the herstory of the Queen and Donna’s own story.
In the second half, there are Queenly how-to's under the
rubric The Queen Suggests.... Let me just say this about
her suggestions... it’s no mistake that the piece
on a chess board which has the greatest freedom of movement
is the Queen.
Fifteen days after I turned 40, my
mother died, and all hell broke loose. I will not be sorry
to see the end of this decade in my life. What I can tell
you unequivocally though is that now that I have a name
for myself for the next decade, I can’t wait.
Donna Henes lives in, and I quote,
“Exotic Brooklyn.” Her book can be purchased
from www.thequeenofmyself.com
Many, many thanks, Donna! Long live
the Queen!
— Dr. Susan Corso
