Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.45 (603 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0062509268 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 1124 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 0000-00-00 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
Twenty-five years in preparation, this unique, comprehensive sourcebook focuses on mythology anthropology, religion, and sexuality to uncover precisely what other encyclopedias leave out or misrepresent. The Woman's Encyclopedia presents the fascinating stories behind word origins, legends, superstitions, and customs. Tracing these concepts to their prepatriarchal origins, Barbara G. Walker explores a "thousand hidden pockets of history and custom in addition to the valuable material recovered by archaeologists, orientalists, and other scholars." Not only a compendium of fascinating lore and scholarship, The Woman's Encyclopedia is a revolutionary book that offers a rare opportunity for both women and men to see our cultural heritage in a fresh light, and draw upon the past for a more humane future.. A browser's delight and an indispensable resource, it offers 1,350 entries on magic, witchcraft, fairies, elves, giants, goddesses, gods, and psychological anomalies such as demonic possession; the mystical meanings of sun, moon, earth, sea, time, and space; ideas of the soul, reincarnation, creation and doomsday; ancient and modern attitudes toward sex, prostitution, romance, rape, warfare, death and sin, and more. Do You Knowwhere the legend of a cat's nine lives comes from? why "mama" is a word unders
While some of the references put a cranky feminist spin on words that might in context have different meaning--St. Before being lionized as zaftig Norse angels who guided strong warriors to Valhalla, Valkyries may have offered rebirth through cannibalization. Bernard once proclaimed "it was easier for a man to bring the dead back to life than to live with a woman without endangering his soul." A few of the other topics expounded upon are the Milky Way, Cinderella, the moon, and males giving birth. "Little Red Riding Hood" was based on Diana, goddess of the hunt. Paul's oft-quoted "better to marry than to burn," for example--much in this vast tome will dazzle dabblers and intellectuals alike. Marriage was once considered a sin, not a sacred union: St. . This fascinating, scholarly hodgepodge spotlights the feminist underpinnings of myth, religion, and culture
Lauren Elise Daniels said Redefining Chick. Barbara definitely has her slant but she does allow historical truths and a collective voice to resonate with the reader. This book has strengthened a sense of detachment from the dominant historical rhetoric of today for me-- while offering a sound perspective to add to my own. A must-read for anyone interested in the marginalized yet tremendously relevant exper. Invaluable I've owned it for 10 years and I still use it as a reference once a week. Comprehensive and well written.. "Propaganda Lite" according to A Customer. One of the most frustrating books I have ever read. It reminds me of that old adage, "When all you have is a hammer, everything begins to look like a nail." In this case, the hammer is some kind of generic goddess that the entire world's people, no matter how culturally different or geographically removed from each other, are presumed to have worshiped. The autho
Walker, author of The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets, The Woman's Dictionary of Symbols and Sacred Objects, and many other books, is a member of the Morris Museum Mineralogical Society and the Trailside Mineral Club of the New Jersey Earth Science Association.. Barbara G