News & Views Oct 17, 2004 Midlife wake-up call

A 50-something author takes a sassy look at menopause.

Nancy Blair, 52, likens hot flashes to "four Chihuahuas camped out in my stomach who seem to get really ticked off at very unpredictable times."  Read more...

NANCY'S BIO

Blair is the respected author of four books on healing and spirituality and currently at work on her fifth, a memoir. Her first book, Amulets of the Goddess, Oracle of Ancient Wisdom, is a boxed set which includes twenty-seven beautifully crafted "divination" discs carved by Blair. Each image is a miniature reproduction of an ancient artifact from the worldwide Goddess traditions. An accompanying 200 page guidebook provides instructions on how to incorporate the spirit of the Goddess in everyday life. In 1995 The Franklin Mint purchased the rights to reproduce a "suite" of Goddess jewelry based on Blair's Amulets.

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Blair's second book, Goddesses For Every Season, is a unique collection of 52 inspirational Goddess meditations and affirmations based on ancient myth, mystery and art. Beautiful illustrations from contributing artists accompany each weekly passage.

Since graduating from Alfred University and receiving her Master of Fine Arts degree from Rutgers University, Mason Gross School of the Arts, in 1985, where she later taught art, introducing creative visualization and other innovative techniques for tapping the imagination, Blair completed a rigorous three year training in intuitive healing with Nancy Azara, renowned New York psychic, artist and teacher. Blair also trained with noted author and psychologist Dr. Eugene T. Gendlin at the Focusing Institute of Chicago, where she was selected as a Focusing Coordinator for New Jersey. She later worked with Dr. Eugene Baron, a New York City clinical psychologist, in establishing a Focusing group to teach the compassionate art and healing practice of deep listening as outlined by Gendlin's program.

Blair has trained and worked with first-rate teachers, authors and healers including Jean Houston, Margot Adler, Joan Halifax, Vicki Noble, Starhawk, Susun Weed, Barbara Walker and Merlin Stone.

In 1986 she established "Creativity & Healing" workshops for women, utilizing artmaking, myth, storytelling and shamanic healing practices as a path of spiritual renewal. In her workshops, storytelling and empathic listening are emphasized as important healing tools. Carole Ann Rice, writer for the Birmingham Post in Great Britain, said of Blair's healing skills: "Talking to Nancy is a comforting and healing process in itself. She is a wise woman, poet and visionary, helping women around the globe...to unleash the joy that many women have locked or suppressed within."

Her teaching and workshops have been successful for over a decade. She has presented workshops in New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Los Angeles, West Palm Beach, Tampa, throughout New Jersey and in Germany.

Also in 1986 Blair founded Star River Productions, Inc., producing "The Great Goddess Gift Catalog," successfully creating and marketing museum quality reproductions of Goddess sculpture and jewelry. She promoted her retail and wholesale catalog business both nationally and internationally with major distribution through New Leaf in Atlanta and Bookpeople in California. She wrote, designed and shot most of the photography, overseeing production for the beautifully illustrated full-color catalog, creating a new edition each year for 12 years.

Blair's Goddess sculpture was included in Oliver Stone's film "The Doors." She has received commissions from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, The US Olympic Equestrian Team and The National Education Association to produce artworks.

Her ceramic and original glass sculptures have been exhibited in solo and group shows in New York, Seattle and other cities, and her poems, artwork and reviews have been published in arts and women's publications throughout the country.