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Kissing the Hag: The Dark Goddess and the Unacceptable Nature of Woman Kindle Edition

4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 90 ratings

Kissing the Hag by Emma Restall Orr is based upon the old tale of The Marriage of Sir Gawain, and carries us from girlish innocence through to the nauseating horror of the hag - the raw side, the dark side, the inside of a woman's.
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Editorial Reviews

Review

Kissing the Hag is a wonderfully intelligent, earthy, cosmic diary of the feminine life. I love the way it walks the edge between personal and collective, physical and poetic, highly ethical and thick in the uncertainties. While many writers fall into spiritualizing and intellectualizing "the feminine," this life-soaked book remains close to the fluids of body and soul, even as it gives birth to one trusted insight after another. It's an obvious gift-book for women going through a life passage, but it could also be important for men, who are closer to the mysteries presented here than they might wish to be." Thomas Moore, author of Care of the Soul and A Life at WorkKissing the Hag tracks the initiatory phases of womanhood through the titles that women get cat-called throughout time. Here the raw reality of the Dark Goddess speaks her honest truth, going beyond the bad-mouthing and the sweet-talking fantasies surrounding women, to the compassionate heart of female identity." Caitlin Matthews, author of Sophia, Goddess of Wisdom and In Search of Woman's Passionate SoulI will one day give my daughter Kissing the Hag and hope she has less need of it than I do ... Kissing the Hag demands your full attention, it calls passionately to something deep inside, something that will not be denied. The book is both devastating and life affirming and there is no doubt in my mind that it will change the life of every person brave enough to read it. Embrace your hag or she will bite you ... Shannon Smy, free spirit and singer/songwriter in award-winning protest band, Seize the Day

About the Author

Emma Restall Orr (aka Bobcat) is one of the most well-known Druids worldwide. She worked for the Order of Bards Ovates and Druids, was Joint Chief of the British Druid Order for nearly ten years, and in 2002 created the international Druid Network. She is a practising priest and teacher, celebrated for her uncompromising views on ethics, environmentalism and personal responsibility. She regularly lectures at universities and within the Pagan community, and works as a media spokesperson for Druidry.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00AAZJBGE
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Moon Books (November 1, 2012)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ November 1, 2012
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 492 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 240 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 90 ratings

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Emma Restall Orr
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Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
90 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Reviewed in the United States on December 20, 2018
This book dives deep into aspects of being a woman that are often maligned, rejected, minimized or denied. The emphasis Emma Restall Orr places on important life transitions and life stages, and how they tend to bring out one or another aspect of the darker side of woman's nature, was a revelation and helped me to understand and navigate some very painful challenges I've been facing in my current transitional stage. The book delineates a series of archetypes that characterize particular motives, goals, sources of energy and associated behavior, all characteristic of most women at some points of their lives (though as she says, in any given woman one or another archetype may be stronger or more prevalent). It gave me a new framework for understanding powerfully driven behaviors and patterns, without pathologizing them, in fact, seeing them as a source of potential. Emma Restall Orr describes her philosophy as focusing on "the perception and understanding of sancity in nature-- human and nonhuman." Her archetypes cut incisively to truths about our nature and show us their value, how deeply they deserve our respect and recognition rather than our disdain, even though to the superficial eye they appear ugly and they often cause us trouble.
5 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on July 19, 2017
This book is a raw perspective on an archetype that is not only wildly misunderstood, but poorly approached. I found this book when I was going on a journey of self-discovery and shadow work, it really gave me perspective on approaching my own inner hag. This book would definitely be an acquired taste and although it would benefit everyone to get to know the archetype of the hag, it's definitely not a road for the faint of heart.
6 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on September 19, 2018
This book beautifully, thoughtfully dives deep into the many dark goddess, hag aspects that reside in the life of every woman. Brilliant and deeply relatable, “Kisszing The Hag” is a book that should be gifted to every woman.
4 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on May 11, 2009
This book, "Kissing the Hag" is one of the best books I have read in years. It tells the truth of the "Hag" in all women, and the word "Hag" is not a bad word for women. It means strength, change, renewal & power. It help explain how we can use this power,good & bad. i wish I had this book years ago. It is for women of all ages.
23 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on December 15, 2014
Great for anyone following Wicca or the Goddess movement!
One person found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on February 7, 2016
I smiled most of the way through this book. There are so many ways to experience women, here Emma Restall Orr invites you to consider most of them. The experience of having a woman show her angles so honestly is terrible and magical.
4 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on August 23, 2010
This is an excellent book. It discusses all the dirty, messy parts of being a woman, the ones we try to pretend aren't there.

Feminist, pagan and all around honest, I intend to insist that my daughters read this. I just wish I'd had it to read it 30 years ago.
12 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on May 14, 2016
If you want to understand the stages of a woman, read this. If there are men out there that want some insite into their other halves, this book is for you.
5 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Michael Patterson
5.0 out of 5 stars Kiss and Tell? An extraordinary experience!
Reviewed in Australia on March 24, 2017
Kissing the Hag
I am a bloke and this book confronted the hell out of me, and I shouldn’t be writing a review. But I am because nobody else has, and you need to know how good this book is. It's a bit of a masterpiece.
The author answers the question, ‘What do women want?’ way too early. Well, way too early for a male reader at least. But reminding women up front is a good move. This is a book about being a woman, written by a women for women. The male reader is not discouraged, however. But it’s like being invited into a cave of bears. I have no hope of saying anything useful about this book to women, so I cannot speak to you here. Blokes should read it. Will they understand women any better at the end? Probably not, but at least now they will understand why they don’t.
This is a Pagan understanding of the Feminine – as female human and as female deity – the Feminine aspect of Nature/Reality. It is personal. It is open and raw. It is deep. It is traumatic, and erotic, and sad, and exultant. It celebrates the feminine aspect of our being as fully as you could imagine. Actually for most, more than you have imagined.
I cannot imagine a masculine equivalent being written. But I am struggling to do so. We males have been so dominant for so long – and yet I suspect nothing we could say about being male, about the masculine aspect of deity/nature/reality would compare favorably here. Do we men have the depth and insight and sensitivity to speak for ourselves as this book does about being woman? We have not had the motive to look that closely, and that’s a pity. The feminist pagan lens is multifocal, and is polished in a history of injustice and repression.
I have been a feminist since the 60s, as a genuine commitment to gender equity and justice. Kissing the Hag left me feeling like a conceited fool who had no real insight into women. I thought I had. I knew I didn’t understand women before I started reading the book, but not as much as became evident.
Now I think I understand what women want. The author’s argument is well put. It isn’t actually a mystery – just not something that’s easy for men to confess they know is real. For me personally it's a hugely confronting proposition. Some smart person is going to observe that if I have been a feminist since the 60s I should have figured this out a long time ago. My lame excuse is that I was a male in the 50s first and that rendered me stupid.
The author is a Pagan and so am I, so we share a lot of notions and assumptions. I am in the odd position of encouraging any woman to read this book, but not all men. The male reader must have a sense of his own uncertainty about the Feminine, and must be at least sympathetic to the Pagan outlook. I think a woman will ‘get’ the theme of the book simply because it will speak to her spirit directly. For a man it's a harder matter. There must be a willingness to go beyond what we are comfortable with.
From my male perspective this book is a masterwork. I feel like a male Alice who fell down a rabbit hole into the dark world of the Feminine – into the labyrinth. I have re-emerged a very different person. I am grateful for the experience.
One person found this helpful
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I. Holliday
5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent book
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 22, 2009
I have learned much from Emma Restall-Orr's more recent books. She appears to have moved from a spirituality built around worship and ritual to an experiential nature-centred world view. Her recent books have thus offered no ready-made path but have challenged the reader to find their own through their interractions and their just "being" part of nature. Nevertheless, she acknowledges that, in being part of nature, we move through phases in our life and cycles in our lives. As a man, I found this book exciting and, personally, ground breaking. The book is "dense" in parts and one can almost feel the author struggling with a multitude of ideas and wondering what to put in and leave out. To get the best from the book then, I found it important to read it more than once - although this may be because I am not a woman! But as a journey through life's changes and a framework in which to make sense of things I was impressed. I have bought two copies, one to lend and the other to make sure I am not without one on my shelf. Read it, ask your partner to read it and then sit down and just talk. Amazing what you learn.
25 people found this helpful
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Mother Willow
5.0 out of 5 stars Kissing The Hag - The Dark Goddess and the Unacceptable Nature of Women
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 27, 2009
This is the most fantastic book I have ever read, so true to life and down to earth. When I first picked it up there was no way I could put it down. Each and every page leaves you wanting to read more. I have recommended this to all my like-minded fiends as well as my Mum. It is a book every woman should read wether they are Druid, Pagan, Christian, whatever. A well read book that is impossible to put down.
27 people found this helpful
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Shan Simpson
5.0 out of 5 stars I Love It!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 19, 2013
This book resonated with me on a deeply profound level, and I found it strangely liberating. I am now in the process of re-reading it, a little slower this time round, to allow myself the luxury of finding the subtle concepts and insights that make this a very special book. I would recommend it to any woman, and to any man who wants to begin to understand the nature of Woman.
4 people found this helpful
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Celebrating wildness
4.0 out of 5 stars good
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 24, 2022
well-written, as always, on the subject very apt at these times, however, the author has become a lot more preachey (my way or no way) and I do not agree at all with some of her descriptions of The hag. I believe th opposite in many instances. Her example pieces from personal life were very well-written and I kept on thinking Emma should write a novel/fiction. It would really be popular.
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