Motherhood is the true hero's journey-which is to say that it can be as harrowing as it is joyful, and enlightening as it is exhausting. For Jungian psychoanalyst Lisa Marchiano, this journey is not just an adventure of diaper bags and parent-teacher conferences, but one of intense self-discovery.

In Motherhood, Marchiano draws from a deep well of Jungian analysis and symbolic research to present a collection of fairytales, myths, and fables that evoke the spiritual arc of raising a child from infancy through adulthood. After all, this kind of storytelling has always been one of the most important conduits of humanity's collective wisdom-and Marchiano provides each tale alongside keen insights into the timeless archetypes they represent.

Divided into three major segments similar to the stages of a hero's initiatory journey, (Descent, Sojourn, and Return), Motherhood charts how events like pregnancy, the calamities of childhood, and the empty-nest experience are all parts of an odyssey to which every mother receives an invitation. Here Marchiano emphasizes that when you take up that invitation, it will lead to an adventure into the wild frontier of your own soul. And once you return from this inner journey, you'll possess the treasured knowledge need to clarify your values, embrace your disowned parts, and claim the mantle of motherhood in the full bloom of your empowerment.