Well-known Jungian analyst Bani Shorter examines how women are initiated into becoming themselves. In former times transitions from one stage of life to another were prepared for and marked by ritual initiation; in modern times this necessity has been overlooked and women's natural development is being made more difficult as a consequence. Through working in close therapeutic relationship with women, Shorter found that women instinctively create rituals when faced with challenges and crises, to mark their journey towards maturation, wholeness and meaning. In this process they discover who they are and recognise dimensions of themselves previously repressed or unrecognised.