Synopsis "Walking With Aletheia"
Walking with Aletheia explores how one person experiencing the resurrection of repressed, violent memories of child sexual abuse leaned into her fear, finding the courage to transform her life through self-compassion and the support of others. A survivor of years of sexual abuse by an uncle and members of clergy and other adults at her Catholic high school, Jean was terrorized into silence, including witnessing a murdered nun's body. Jean dissociated from these traumatic experiences until the age of 27, then through journal writing, conversations with the child within, and her spiritual and psychological inner work, she began to recover the memories she had suppressed from her younger self, and to heal. While Jean's tragic experiences are the groundwork for her book, Walking with Aletheia is more notably about the journey-through time, perseverance, and inherent wisdom-to find one's true Self. Jean's story is one of hope and psychological and spiritual growth. Her path is one of discovering the traumatized children within herself who yearn, as she does, to be reintegrated with her adult self. Jean refers to these parts of her youth as her "personas". The author also shares how she was assisted in her deep meditative periods, which she describes as her "quiet", by the power of imagery. This assistance came from spiritual guides, who arose in her quiet in the forms of humans and animals, to protect her and to guide her in finding the courage and compassion to love herself. Walking with Aletheia is a story of how one woman-through time, perseverance and inherent wisdom-found the courage to confront her demons, ultimately leading to a place of resilience, hope and walking with "Aletheia" - the Greek goddess of truth. How, in the end, one can see the power and healing effect of the mind by leaning into the truth.
