Bestselling author of The Wounded Woman and Meeting the Madwoman, Jungian analyst Linda Schierse Leonard offers an exciting new way to understand the instinctual energies that affect us in our search for wholeness and healing and in the expression of our creativity. Inspired by a dream of a woman who runs with a herd of reindeer, she devoted years to the exploration of the reindeer in nature and as an archetype of feminine instinctual energy -- a living symbol that can inspire both men and women in their spiritual development and an image of hope in the ecological dark times in which we now live. Dr. Leonard takes readers along on her journeys to Siberia, Lapland, and Alaska, where reindeer and caribou are messengers between heaven and earth, bridges between spirit and nature. Drawing upon myths, dreams, stories, and films, she explores the reindeer's power, beauty, resilience, and vulnerability. This archetype leads us to our own inner force that is feminine, free-spirited, and strong yet imbued with a gentle and compassionate heart. Chronicling travels across the top of the world and deep into the regions of the soul, Creation's Heartbeat takes us along on a luminous pilgrimage, giving us a map of the sacred and nourishing us with unforgettable ideas. From the Trade Paperback edition.