My Mother Is a Dragonfly: A Memoir

“An act of love—toward the past and the future alike.” —Sharon Salzberg, New York Times bestselling author


“Deeply unsettling and profoundly redemptive.” —Seattle Book Review, 5/5 Stars


What if healing isn’t about fixing what’s broken—but remembering what’s true?


For decades, Amy Scott Rooker lived split in two: the bright, high-achieving woman everyone saw and the invisible girl inside who carried unspeakable wounds. She tried to outrun the pain with perfection—law school, prestigious jobs, an ever-shrinking body. But underneath it all, she was barely holding on.


Then her mother died. With her death came rupture. The fragile order Amy had built her life around began to crumble. And in the midst of that collapse, a dragonfly appeared.


So began her journey to heal. Through psychedelic medicine, mystical experiences, and unflinching self-inquiry, Amy discovered the strange intelligence of pain—how every hurt can become a doorway, every loss a lantern. She learned to forgive what almost broke her and to love the woman rising from the wreckage.


My Mother Is a Dragonfly is a testament to the fierce, tender work of reclaiming your life—not as a story to be fixed, but as the one you came here to live.