"Based upon the old tale of The Marriage of Sir Gawain, Kissing the Hag brings us face to face with the nauseating horror of the hag - the raw side, the dark side, the inside of a woman's essential nature. Here we find the untamed soul, the wild, angry, selfish, lustful, manipulative and incomprehensible elements of woman: all that makes us unacceptable and badly behaved. Too often we have been guided to point a finger of blame, accusing our parents, society, our partners of being dysfunctional. Here Emma Restall Orr doesn't allow us that option. As a Druid and animist, she takes the negative stereotypes of the irrational, emotional woman - feisty bitch to shameless whore, smothering mother to grumpy old bag - and finds the archetypes behind them, the faces and forms of the dark goddess. Instead of dismissing these as unacceptable, she encourages us to ride their wild emotional currents, surfing the awesome tides that threaten to overwhelm us. In Kissing the Hag, we come to accept the fullness of our nature, celebrating the deep mystery, the magic and power of all we are. Kissing the Hag is a book written for women who long to loose the chains of insecurity, convention, guilt and self-negation, and rediscover the freedom and creativity of their true nature. It is also a book written for men fascinated but infuriated by the women they love."--Publisher's description.