Oriah is the author of the poem and international bestselling book The Invitation as well as The Dance. She is the mother of grown sons and lives with her husband several hours north of Toronto. In this third book of the trilogy, Oriah challenges us to stop fighting reality and to answer the call to come into our own and remember who we are and why we are here. As is usual in her books, the author has written a poem and uses lines from it at the start of each chapter. Oriah says of the call:

"Sometimes it comes as a soft-bellied whisper.
Sometimes it holds an edge of urgency.
But always it says: Wake up, my love.
You are walking asleep.
There's no safety in that!"

There are many ways we sleep-walk through our days; our culture has created many diversions and drugs to keep us in a stupor. Perhaps the first thing to note about the call is that comes in many different forms. The second thing about it is that to answer, we must let go of our fantasies of control and surrender to the Beloved. Or as Rumi put it:

"I didn't come here of my own accord.
Whoever brought me here will have to come and take me home."

Oriah goes on a 40-day retreat and is renewed by nature and stillness. She is pleased that contemplative prayer has become a part of her life. Both have helped her reconcile essence and ego: "Life without essence awareness lacks meaning and connection. Life without ego awareness lacks fire and direction."

Heeding the call, we have to come to terms with impermanence, free will, letting go of our resistance to pain and grief, coping with change, living our word, giving in to rest, and recognizing our own tribe. A fitting way to end this review is to quote Oriah:

"Years ago I had a dream in which I was standing in front of the Grandmothers with a group of women who had studied and participated in ceremony and meditation with me. There was a sense of formality in the meeting between these two groups. One of the Grandmothers spoke and asked, 'Who are you?'

"And I replied, 'We are the women who make love to the world to take the war out of it.' "