“One of the most astonishing, thought-provoking, and strategically subversive books I’ve ever read. The Other Within weaves mythology, depth psychology, and profound musings on disability and art, dancing at the edge of the unsayable to unmake the social structures that oppress us all.” - Steve Silberman, author of NeuroTribes

“A book to savor . . . a love song to the Outsider, a paeon to the transformative potential of myth, a profound and generous guidebook for living wholeheartedly in dangerous times.” - Sharon Blackie, Ph.D., author of If Women Rose Rooted and The Enchanted Life

“The ‘other within’ is uncertain terrain for many, and we need someone to guide us through this labyrinth of the unfamiliar. Daniel Deardorff is that expert guide. Essential reading.” - Clyde W. Ford, author of Of Blood and Sweat and The Hero with an African Face

“This book is a well, a portal, a very carefully tended path into the mysteries of myth. It is also a map, a worthwhile one for learning how to transcend the complexities and challenges faced by individuals on entering this Earth. It is a must-read for those wanting to understand boldness of heart in the face of adversity.” - Miguel Rivera, musician, mentor, translator, and teacher

“The Other Within is liberating. Deardorff frees us from the oppressive weight of the ideal, the perfect, and draws our gaze toward the borderlands where we catch glimpses of what has been outcast. The trail that Deardorff invites us to follow through the brambles of the psyche is not easy or comforting. His is a work of descent, an invitation into the depths of soul. It is here that we discover the medicine needed by our struggling world. We enter the hive of vulnerability, sorrow, uncertainty, and shame and recover our shared humanity. This book is a blessing to anyone who ever felt estranged from the shimmering world.” - Francis Weller, MFT, author of The Wild Edge of Sorrow

“Deardorff’s masterpiece weaves a tempestuous spell that tosses us into shadowy depths where we might encounter that strange and strangely familiar one within who is, blessedly, an outcast from the life-destroying, conformist-consumer culture precisely because they understand their destined role in shaping the mysterious new world calling to us in the night. The Other Within is one of the few books I recommend to those learning to guide others on the descent to soul.” - Bill Plotkin, Ph.D., author of Soulcraft and Wild Mind

“I read the first sentence and was stopped in my tracks: ‘Denial is contagious and facts are an addictive substitute for truth.’ I told Daniel that I could spend my whole life on just this sentence. When Deardorff writes about walking among the ashes, it reminds us that there is a cost to thewisdom journey; there is a cost to freedom. This true and crooked path has gifts for us no matter the wound. With Trickster Wisdom through myths, he shows us the way deeper into ourselves and, by doing so, connects us more to each other.” - Quanita Roberson, coauthor of The InnerGround Railroad

“Daniel Deardorff searches through our mythic inheritance for the radical otherness that allows the human soul to find and handle the contradictions and oppositions inherent in all of life. With insight and wit, he finds the beauty within disfigurement, the worthiness of crooked things, and the essential genius hidden in the outcast. He offers an imagination of the transgressive, an inventive trickster intelligence that revalues the necessary otherness found both in the margins of culture and in the depths of the individual soul.” - Michael Meade, author of Awakening the Soul

Daniel Deardorff (1952-2019) was a mythsinger, storyteller, ritualist, composer, and producer. A polio survivor and early teacher about Otherness, he toured extensively with renowned soft-rock band Seals and Crofts and produced award-winning albums for other artists. When post-polio sequelae required change, he became an independent scholar of myth teaching internationally with Robert Bly and others. Mythsingerlegacy.org continues his work restoring myth to culture and community.