Eila Carrico - The Other Side of the River

Praise for
THE OTHER SIDE OF THE RIVER

Evocative and beautifully written.

Craig Chalquist, author Terrapsychology and Professor in Ecopsychology

This book is an instant classic for the new paradigm.

Lucia Chivola Birnbaum, award-winning author and Professor Emeritus in Womens Spirituality

Beautiful, important, wise work! This is fluid writing ... Eila deftly transitions between matters of family, culture, race, geography, mind and body. The river is a wonderful metaphor.

Carolyn Cooke, author Amor and Psycho

Eilas words flow as water, and these stories quench the thirsty soul like a much-needed walk to the river.

Viviane Dzyak, PhD,
Professor in Womens Spirituality

What you hold in your hands is not just a book, but a mytho-poetic portal. A portal into the humble truths and sacred ecstasies of one womans journey into the elemental, eternal and everyday mysteries of Life. It is also a vast and wise articulation of all of humanitys great work in this raw and potent time on the Earth.

We are living in a crucial epoch, a time of radical culture change and evolution. We need to prioritize the feminine values of poetry and beauty, of magic and soul. Eilas book shows us the way, her words weaving a watery and wonderful spell. Her affinity for water as the great primal connector and conductor of life force seeps out of every page and you will find yourself remembering ancient truths of belonging and destiny.

If you are one who has come to re-imagine and create the world anew, you will find your own journey and soul illuminated and inspired with each page you turn. The world is aching for a new paradigm and this book is a delicious, intelligent and elegant feast for our hungering hearts.

Holly Hamilton, PhD, Teacher, Priestess, Founder, Awakening Avalon School of Earth Wisdom

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Moods of Motherhood: the inner journey of mothering Lucy H. Pearce

Moon Time: harness the ever-changing energy of your menstrual cycle Lucy H. Pearce

Reaching for the Moon Lucy H. Pearce

The Other Side of the River

Stories of Women,
Water and the World

Eila Kundrie Carrico

The Other Side of the River

Eila Kundrie Carrico 2015

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Cover art Leah Dorion
Cover design by LucentWord.com

Extended quotations used with the express permission of their authors. If you feel a permission has not been sought, we will be happy to rectify this.

Some names and identifying characteristics have been changed to protect the privacy of the individuals involved.

Published by Womancraft Publishing, 2015
www.womancraftpublishing.com

ISBN: 978-1910559-185 Smashwords Edition

A percentage of Womancraft Publishing profits are invested back into the environment reforesting the tropics (via TreeSisters) and forward into the community: providing books for girls in developing countries, and affordable libraries for red tents and womens groups around the world.

Womancraft Publishing is committed to sharing powerful new womens voices, through a collaborative publishing process. We are proud to midwife this work, however the story, the experiences and the words are the authors alone.

For the fresh waters of the world: that every spring, creek, marsh, pond, lake and river may flow freely in abundance and grace.

For my mother, who gifted me with her love of stories, her devotion to truth, and the unwavering heart of a mystic.

Acknowledgements

My first thank you is for my family. This book is meant to bring healing to my mom, dad, sister and brothereach of whom have taught me the many shapes and colors of love. I humbly ask again and again for their grace in lending themselves as characters so I can tell a story larger than ourselves. Thank you. I want to express deep gratitude to my beloved, my husbandthank you for your patience, your inspiration, and your warmth. To our little son: thank you for teaching me from the inside out about weaving spirit into matterI would not have written this book without you.

I want to express endless gratitude and love for my heart teacher, Holly Hamilton, whose words and wisdom have inspired and echoed so many of the themes that follow. And I want to say thank you for the many, many blessings Sianna Shermans teachings and storytelling talents have brought to my life. Thank you sisters!

I have a grand thank you for Pireeni Sundaralingam, whose thoughtful editing helped guide a trickling stream of untamed poetry into a full flowing prose manuscript. So much gratitude for your countless readings, invaluable guidance and constant support from the very start. Thank you to Susan Griffin, who read a very early version of this story and inspired me with the courage to take the space I needed in order to tell the whole tale. I also want to say thank you to Carolyn Cooke, who helped at a crucial point in the manuscript to bring some much-needed, stronger banks to this wild river of a book. Thank you!

I want to offer gratitude and appreciation for the women of the California Institute of Integral Studies Womens Spirituality program who bring strength, presence and grace to difficult questions. I am especially blessed to have learned from Alka Arora, Mara Keller, Lucia Chivola Birnbaum and Arisika Razak. Thank you all for your work in the world. And thank you Lucia Chivola Birnbaum for your scholarship, support and encouragement with this project in particular.

I am so delighted and happy to have found Lucy Pearce and Womancraft Publishing. This is a powerful press with a beautiful mission. Thank you Lucy for getting this book, and for the rich language you use to help articulate its purpose. I am honored to be part of your community of women writers.

I have been continuously blessed by many extraordinary teachers over the years, thank you from the bottom of my heart to: Luisah Teish, Anna Dorian, Starhawk, Hareesh Wallis, Douglas Brooks, Jennifer Welwood, Don Humberto and Dona Elena, Ty and Sarah Powers, Thanissara and Kittissaro, Suzanne Marlow, the words of John ODonohue, and the stories of Joan Didionmay the seeds of wisdom Ive received from each of you continue to sprout in the world through these stories.

Story Water

A story is like water

that you heat for your bath.

It takes messages between the fire

and your skin.

The body itself is a screen

to shield and partially reveal

the light thats blazing

inside your presence.

Beauty is everywhere,

but we usually need to be walking

in a garden to notice it.

Water, stories, the body,

all the things we do, are mediums

that hide and show whats hidden.

Study them,

and enjoy this being washed

with a secret we sometimes know,

and then not.