Jules Cashford

Anne Baring

"The myth of the Goddess is the oldest myth we know; the evolution of that myth tells the story of how our understanding of ourselves--as we have achieved it through the images of our goddesses and gods--has developed over the millennia of human history. Yet today the Goddess seems to have disappeared, and only the God remains. But it has not always been so." "In this definitive and powerfully argued study, scholarly yet accessible, Jules Cashford and Anne Baring draw upon art and mythology, poetry and literature, archaeology and psychology, to show how the myth of the Goddess has been lost from our formal Judaeo-Christian images of the divine. They explain what happened to the Goddess, when and how she was excluded, and the implications to us of this loss." "They trace the image of the Great Mother Goddess of the Palaeolithic and Neolithic times through the Bronze and Iron Ages to the Virgin Mary, 'Queen of Heaven'. They show how the God separated from the originally androgynous Goddess and eventually came to stand alone as the creator of the world. But the Goddess, however devalued and debased, did not go away; the image of the universe as an organic, living and sacred whole--which is the essence of the Goddess myth--could not be eradicated, and went underground." "This leaves an imbalance in the masculine and feminine images of the psyche. The authors argue that successive patterns of myth, legend and history demonstrate the importance of bringing the feminine and masculine images into harmony with each other, which is only possible when both are acknowledged. In earlier times the 'Sacred Marriage' of Goddess and God symbolized this harmony: Inanna and Dumuzi in Sumeria, Ishtar and Tammuz in Babylonia, Isis and Osiris in Egypt, Cybele and Attis in Anatolia, Aphrodite and Adonis in Greece--and, in the language of the image but not the doctrine, Mary and Jesus in Christianity. The parallels and similarities in all the Goddess myths are so striking that they suggest a continuous tradition of images throughout history." "Today the Goddess is re-emerging in the surprising guise of New Science, which offers a vision of the universe as a living whole that can only be understood as a unity--and the scientists express themselves in images that belong to the old Goddess myth. This book's detailed evocation, description and analysis of the stories and images of humanity will surely help to restore the myth of the Goddess to our consciousness."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Evolution of an Image

The Myth of the Goddess

Scilla Elworthy

Tania Coke

Now is a pivotal time. There is an opportunity to engage the whole of humanity in an evolutionary advance, if only we can understand whatâs happening and why. This book helps us do just that. Our brilliant technological culture inflicts intolerable stress on us because it grants no value to feelings and allows no time for relationship with the soul. Through a combination of exquisite images and wise words, this book enables us to understand the root causes of humanityâs current crises, which lie in the loss of connection with the soul and its vast power. The book shows what is needed for change to happen at a profound level, and how we can use the power lying dormant within us to serve the planet. It concludes with a practical section on what needs to be done, and how it can be done, by any and every one. In short, it offers a clear agenda for a conscious humanity. Can a book enchant, inspire and instruct at the same time â and in less than 10,000 words? This one does.

An Agenda for a Conscious Humanity

Soul Power

A retelling of the Sufi parable, "The Conference of the Birds", a poem written in the thirteenth century, in which the birds of the Earth face seven invisible monsters in order to save the world.

The Birds Who Flew Beyond Time

Éste es un libro único.;Cuenta, por primera vez, la historia completa de lo femenino a través de las distintas ideas religiosas donde ha ido evolucionando la imagen mítica de este principio: desde las diosas paleolíticas, o Istar en Mesopotamia, Isis en Egipto o las diosas del mundo clásico, hasta Israel, donde lo femenino se oculta, para finalizar con la vuelta de la diosa madre en las figuras de María en el cristianismo y de Sofía en los gnósticos. Este libro, y sus más de 400 ilustraciones, explica cómo el mito originario de la diosa se perdió y cómo la divinidad masculina fue desplazando su papel por la necesidad de situarlo en el nuevo contexto de la evolución de la conciencia humana. Ahora, cuando los modelos de lo masculino y lo femenino están más confusos, cuando hemos desacralizado la naturaleza y somos incapaces de contemplar la vida como una unidad viviente, quizá se haga necesario conocer a fondo cuál es la naturaleza de la antigua diosa madre, para comprender mejor las implicaciones psicológicas que ha supuesto su pérdida para el ser humano.

Evolución de una imagen

El mito de la diosa

Seeks to answer the questions: "Who are we?" and "Why are we here, on this planet?" It is offered to those looking for something beyond the superficial values of our culture, who may be disillusioned with religious and secular belief systems as currently presented and who question political values which are deeply mired in the pursuit of power.

A Quest for the Soul

The Dream of the Cosmos

A comprehensive, scholarly accessible study, in which the authors draw upon poetry and mythology, art and literature, archaeology and psychology to show how the myth of the goddess has been lost from our formal Judeo-Christian images of the divine. They explain what happened to the goddess, when, and how she was excluded from western culture, and the implications of this loss.

Anne Baring

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