J.M. Seis, MA. has dedicated her life to awakening consciousness through personal healing. She is a teacher and shamanic practitioner who specializes in Soul Retrieval and who has worked with thousands of people since 1990. Seis was the founder and president of a shamanic community educational non-profit organization, Pachamama Inc., from 1998 to 2008. Her writing life began at ten years old when she received the gift of a diary. She has written hundreds of journals since then recording her life experience. "Awakening Darkness" is her first published book. She knew since she was fifteen years old that she would someday write about her experience in Elgin Sate Hospital. Seis created a new genre, Ceremonial Memoir™, in order to bring to light the stories that are buried in the dark.