All over the world, the statues of Mary are miraculously crying. In the meantime, a journalist in Washington D.C. is diverted away from her own personal demons when she takes it upon herself to question why the Vatican is not declaring these occurrences as miracles after witnessing the unexplainable phenomena herself. The journalist suspects her nightly barage of haunting nightmares about the violent murders of countless women from five thousand year old priestesses to women accused of being witches in the seventeenth century may have something to do with the answer, as she investigates the biggest story of her life. Women all over the world in the 21st century are feeling "the awakening" as the discovery of ancient artifacts are disproving the beliefs set forth by patriarchal religions for thousands of years. When the journalist receives a visitation from a beautiful Goddess who at first appears to be the Virgin Mary, she suddenly realizes that an ancient religious and political cover up has grossly distorted some very important historical truths. As the journalist investigates and begins to publicly write about what she has uncovered, death threats and terror follow next as powerful members of the world's patriarchal religions and the age old male-run organizations that support them fight viciously to keep one of the world's oldest and most deceptive societal form of control against women hidden from the world. But as intimidation and threats increase, so too do the miracles and visitations from the real Sleeping Goddess, as she awakens once again, to bless and protect the world while igniting the hearts and souls of oppressed women everywhere.

"Wetlands" has become a hot word in the current environmental debate. But what does it signify? In 1991, proposed changes in the legal definities of wetlands stirred controversy and focused attention on the scientific and economic aspects of their management. This volume explores how to define wetlands. The committee--whose members were drawn from academia, government, business, and the environmental community--builds a rational, scientific basis for delineating wetlands in the landscape and offers recommendations for further action. Wetlands also discusses the diverse hydrological and ecological functions of wetlands, and makes recommendations concerning so-called controversial areas such as permafrost wetlands, riparian ecosystems, irregularly flooded sites, and agricultural wetlands. It presents criteria for identifying wetlands and explores the problems of applying those criteria when there are seasonal changes in water levels. This comprehensive and practical volume will be of interest to environmental scientists and advocates, hydrologists, policymakers, regulators, faculty, researchers, and students of environmental studies.