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.

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.

'Tracking the Serpent' is far more than a travelogue of a remarkable woman's journeys through four continents. Janine Pommy Vega is a poet. As her fellow poet of the beat Gregory Corso noted, "With Poetry one line, in prose a steady mind. Vega learned from poetry how to use details, with prose, to keep track of time." From the moment the first seeds of travel were planted in her soul, as a child in Union City, New Jersey, Vega knew "each journey would show aspects of power I would learn to accept as my own." As a teenager Vega abandon her home and family in New Jersey for the cafes and smoky bars of the beat generation becoming a part of the movement with Alan Ginsberg, Greg Corso, Peter Orlovsky, Jack Kerouac, Herbert Huncke and Bill Burroughs. Staying with Else Cowan, a friend of Alan's, Vega absorbed the intellectual atmosphere, an education that no graduate school could offer today. In Manhattan she met the painter Fernando Vega and together they traveled to Israel, then Paris and Ibiza. Lost in love, the power of this experience overcame all obstacles. Fernando's death in Ibiza made Vega a widow at twenty three. This loss was devastating, but it resulted in her first major contribution, 'Poems for Fernando,' also published by City Lights. Vega has now published over fifteen books of poetry.

Vega had found her voice with her first book of poems. Now what she began to search for was her own power, her strength of spirit as a woman. Her powerful sexuality led her to the sites of female power worship throughout Europe while recovering from a serious car crash. This lyric spirit took in the whole experience which kindled a fire of words and phrases, poetry and prose. Vega, a dedicated wordsmith, has forged a complex tale of wandering beauty posing questions about the self along the way that few philosophers would hazard.

What may seem a mere memoir on the surface is actually a powerful journey of discovery of womans fierce sexuality as Vega descends into the Peruvian amazon teeming with the humid life force of the jungle. The dolphin, the rivers, the rain and mud in a penal colony are capped by a shaman's yage journey. Finally, disassociating herself from the jungle, Vega notes "I thought back to my night with the ayahuasca, remembering how my shadow had detached itself from some trees, and attached to others. There was a sweet almost dispassionate quality in the shadow weaving through the leaves. Like the face of a mother with a wolfish grin, there was nothing personal in it. It simply moved."

An inveterate hiker, Vega who has climbed all of the highest peaks of her native Catskills around Woodstock set off for the Cordillera Blanca in Peru. Despite an ailing heart and guerrillas of the Sindero Luminoso she crossed Peru's highest range discovering the pristine beauty of the earth mother, Pachamama and her own courage as a woman. In the final chapter Vega sets off through the Annapurna range of the Himalayas again seeking all the time the essence of female power in a spiritual world that recognizes the fusion of masculinity and femininity, the yoni and lingam.

In these journeys, and throughout the book, Vega is not just struggling with herself. This is not a memoir, a self indulgence, a petty tale of my discovery of myself, but an allegorical chain of parables about the nature of woman and the female deity within all beings. Only a poet can reveal as much about her inner self and make it a metaphor for all women. This is a book of discovery that reaches beyond feminism, a spiritual journey that transcends travel literature and reaches beyond memoirs to the fundamental questions about the role of feminine power. Vega is a risk taker whether in the Himalayas or at her desk. She reveals far more of herself that most authors would ever consider doing. With a strong and powerful voice, the lyric license of a poet, she reveals a spiritual experience that transcends femenism and reached for the heart. This is an amazing book by an amazing woman which should be read and savored by all.