The Queen's Cloak: A Myth for Mid-Life

Once upon a time, after the winter festival, the Queen realized she was bored and rather depressed. Looking at her ladies-in-waiting, she asked if anyone could think of something interesting to do. Most suggested the same old things, but one woman remembered that long ago the Queen had mentioned doing an inventory of the castle. "Now is the time," cried the Queen with delight. -From "The Queen's Cloak"

In The Queen's Cloak, Engelsman provides us with an entry point into our own life's unfolding. Using the timeless form of the fairy tale, she draws you out of the everyday world and into the archetypal realm of eternal human patterns, where new perspectives await. Engelsman offers respectful and helpful counsel in her commentary but always leaves room for your own response to emerge. Those who wrap themselves in The Queen's Cloak will find the experience to be a challenging opportunity to reappraise and reweave the threads of their own ways of living. -Peter Mudd

This original fairy tale about a queen who weaves herself a magic cloak draws the reader in through the use of traditional fairy-tale surroundings and provides a pointed metaphor for the struggles many women encounter in mid-life. A discussion which helps to establish a model for self-healing follows.

Dr. Englesman is a well-known author and lecturer in the field of psychology and spirituality. She is an adjunct faculty member oat Drew University and is a noted consultant on family violence. She is the author of The Feminine Dimension of the Divine.