Tracking the Serpent: Journeys to Four Continents

by Janine Pommy Vega, Janine Pommy-vega

Release Date: June, 1997

Edition: Paperback

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A very disappointing read for such a promising title.

I have to agree with the previous reviewer--the author comes across as a self-indulgent, willful, aging, and not particularly likeable person. Yes, she has traveled extensively, to some fascinating places. She has shown courage, both physical and mental, in difficult situations. But she also throws tantrums at inexplicable times, proves disrespectful of local customs (as when she storms furiously out of a shop owned by people she calls friends when they tell her she should not be allowed to enter a temple forbidden to non-Hindus), and analyzes every man she meets--everywhere, in every circumstance, appropriately or not--as a potential sexual partner. This is a nice personal journal--stories of the author's travels. As a book, it simply doesn't hold up. The individual stories aren't bound by the thread promised in the title, and there are factual errors and inaccuracies throughout that are inexcusable, especially when she seems to pride herself on her knowledge and understanding of other cultures (dal baat, for example, is made with lentils, not peas; Kirghizstan was never a Republic of Russia--even before the breakup of the USSR, it was a Republic of the Soviet Union). Finally, she makes assumptions that seem groundless and caused me to question her powers of observation and her capacity for understanding these cultures--why assume that a fairly plain woman is the housekeeper of a dashing Tibetan horseman, and not his wife (whom she later calls "his woman")? I found assumptions like these condescending, and not worthy of the book I thought this was intended to be.

I was disapointed in this book.

This book was an interesting read as a travel adventure. But, as an account of a spiritual journey it is sadly lacking in depth. Perhaps my understanding of the term "Spiritual Journey" is different than the authors or the other reviewers, or it may be that I was still blinded by the dazzling light shared by Elizabeth B. Jenkins in her book Initiation - A Woman's Spiritual Adventure in the Heart of the Andes, or Crossing to Avalon by Jean Shinoda Bolen. Could it be that I was expecting too much?

If indeed Vega is a masterful poet and author, the benefit of that mastery is lost in her shallow venturing into the inner process of a spiritual quest. Vega seems to intend that these adventures be of a spiritual nature. She refers often to a search for the Divine Feminine. But it is my experience that SHE can only be found by looking deeply within. It seems to me that Vega was always moving too fast for the Goddess to catch her.

What I read was the account of a self-centered, willful, aging, woman. Her only goal seemed to be to have sexual conquests around the world, the experience of which no doubt was enhanced by the physical dangers she encountered. That physical danger, and the high spiritual energy of the locations to which she traveled, could have been utilized to activate and empower a deep encounter with the goddess within.

In all fairness to Vega, it may be that she did indeed encounter the Divine Feminine and found herself either unable or unwilling to describe such a numinous experience. It is a difficult task to describe deep spiritual events without the narrative becoming self-centered as appears to have happened in this case. The books named above that had colored my expectations, were written by women whose training as analysts gave them a deep understanding of the inner process and an ability to share that clearly with their readers. So, perhaps it is unfair to expect the same of Vega. I can only hope that her experiences, and the pull of the Goddess, will in time take her to a deeper level of understanding.