I began my career in the mid 1970's as a graduate student living in a mountain hamlet on the Greek island of Crete, where I studied women's friendships. Contrary to views in the social sciences at the time, (that women and children in such contexts have no friendship ties), I discovered strong, rich bonds among women friends, but such ties were largely hidden from view because women's friendships were perceived as a threat to Crete’s patriarchal culture. At the same time, resources provided by women's underground support networks were what kept life going in the village. My research was published in Gender and Power in Rural  Greece (J. Dubisch, ed., Princeton University Press, 1986).

In 1981 I earned a Ph.D. in humanistic psychology from Saybrook University and became a member of the Atlanta (Georgia) Women's Counseling Collective. Soon after, as the co-owner of a women's resource center, my work began defecting from conventional psychotherapy practices. I appointed myself a clinical anthropologist: a title that incorporates my diverse visionary, cultural and scholarly experiences.

In the early 1990's I became intrigued by the work of the late German anthropologist Felicitas Goodman, which led me to begin more research on Crete. This time my topic was prehistoric Crete's spiritual practices. Once again, the findings challenge conventional paradigms, and I am now completing a book about how experiencing a shamanic practice embodied in the sacred art of prehistoric Crete can heal Western culture. This article summarizes my research: click here to read it.