This intensely personal account of the little written-about sacred dimension of menopause combines religious studies with psychology to "understand menopause as soul-event . regarding its symptoms as symbols" and provides insight into what this transition can be like for those women who choose to embrace it as a meaningful part of their lives. Downing explores menopause as a rite of passage and reveals her own inner and outer journey through this process, using a trip she took to India when she turned 50 to mark the occasion. She shares with her sisters the lessons learned on the journey: "the discovery that I was done with the heroic quest, the acceptance of weakness and vulnerability, the recognition of my dependence on other women, the revelation that I am loved enough."