The Divine Feminine in Ancient Europe
The Divine Feminine in Ancient Europe

Author: Sharon Paice MacLeod

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2013-12-07

Total Pages: 253

ISBN-13: 1476613923

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This book is an exploration of the spiritual traditions of ancient Europe, focusing on the numinous presence of the divine feminine in Russia, Central Europe, France, Britain, Ireland and the northern regions. Drawing upon research in archaeology, history, sociology, anthropology and the study of religions to connect the reader with the myths and symbols of the European traditions, the book shows how the power of European goddesses and holy women evolved through the ages, adapting to climate change and social upheaval, but continually reflecting the importance of living in an harmonious relationship with the environment and the spirit world. From the cave painting of southern France to ancient Irish tombs, from shamanic rituals to Arthurian legends, the divine feminine plays an essential role in understanding where we have come from and where we are going. Comparative examples from other native cultures, and quotes from spiritual leaders around the world, set European religions in context with other indigenous cultures.

Visions of the Divine Feminine in Medieval Europe
Visions of the Divine Feminine in Medieval Europe

Author: John Leonard Noyce

Publisher:

Published: 2018

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

"...Considers visions in the literature of medieval Europe with particular reference to visions that can be considered to be of the Divine Feminine in a variety of forms including Wisdom (Sapientia), Philosophia and Natura amongst others..." -- page 4.

Goddesses and the Divine Feminine
Goddesses and the Divine Feminine

Author: Rosemary Ruether

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 2006-11-20

Total Pages: 396

ISBN-13: 9780520250055

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

"The scholarship in this book is superior, revealing a depth of insight and a scope of knowledge possible only from a scholar who has lived with the concerns of feminist theology for decades. Ruether is a gifted storyteller, and lucidly translates complex ideas and debates. This work is of the highest importance, and Ruether asks the right questions at the right time. The text is groundbreaking."—Nancy Pineda-Madrid, Saint Mary's College of California "Ruether has provided a valuable introduction to an important feminist topic: what can we know about sacred female imagery in Western culture? She guides us through contemporary feminist scholarship, providing engaging narrative, and venturing her own interpretations. Ruether calls for feminists to move beyond divisions created by our different interpretations of prehistory and work together towards our common project of a more peaceful, just, and ecological world."—Carol Hepokoski, Meadville Lombard Theological School

Goddesses and the Divine Feminine
Goddesses and the Divine Feminine

Author: Rosemary Ruether

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 2006-11-20

Total Pages: 392

ISBN-13: 0520250052

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

"The scholarship in this book is superior, revealing a depth of insight and a scope of knowledge possible only from a scholar who has lived with the concerns of feminist theology for decades. Ruether is a gifted storyteller, and lucidly translates complex ideas and debates. This work is of the highest importance, and Ruether asks the right questions at the right time. The text is groundbreaking."—Nancy Pineda-Madrid, Saint Mary's College of California "Ruether has provided a valuable introduction to an important feminist topic: what can we know about sacred female imagery in Western culture? She guides us through contemporary feminist scholarship, providing engaging narrative, and venturing her own interpretations. Ruether calls for feminists to move beyond divisions created by our different interpretations of prehistory and work together towards our common project of a more peaceful, just, and ecological world."—Carol Hepokoski, Meadville Lombard Theological School

Sacred Display
Sacred Display

Author: Miriam Robbins Dexter

Publisher:

Published: 2014-05-14

Total Pages: 217

ISBN-13: 9781624992360

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This book discusses erotic and magical goddesses and heroines in several ancient cultures, from the Near East and Asia, and throughout ancient Europe; in prehistoric and early historic iconography, their magical qualities are often indicated by a magical dance or stance. It is a look at female display figures both cross-culturally and cross-temporally, through texts and iconography, beginning with figures depicted in very early Neolithic Anatolia, early and middle Neolithic southeast Europe--Bulgaria, Romania, and Serbia--continuing through the late Neolithic in East Asia, and into early historic Greece, India, and Ireland, and elsewhere across the world. These very similar female figures were depicted in Anatolia, Europe, Southern Asia, and East Asia, in a broad chronological sweep, beginning with the pre-pottery Neolithic, ca. 9000 BCE, and existing from the beginning of the second millennium of this era up to the present era. This book demonstrates the extraordinary similarities, in a broad geographic range, of depictions and descriptions of magical female figures who give fertility and strength to the peoples of their cultures by means of their magical erotic powers. This book uniquely contains translations of texts which describe these ancient female figures, from a multitude of Indo-European, Near Eastern, and East Asian works, a feat only possible given the authors' formidable combined linguistic expertise in over thirty languages. The book contains many photographs of these geographically different, but functionally and artistically similar, female figures. Many current books (academic and otherwise) explore some of the female figures the authors discuss in their book, but such a wide-ranging cross-cultural and cross-temporal view of this genre of female figures has never been undertaken until now. The "sexual" display of these female figures reflects the huge numinosity of the prehistoric divine feminine, and of her magical genitalia. The functions of fertility and apotropaia, which count among the functions of the early historic display and dancing figures, grow out of this numinosity and reflect the belief in and honoring of the powers of the ancient divine feminine.

Divine Feminine
Divine Feminine

Author: Joy Dixon

Publisher: JHU Press

Published: 2003-05-01

Total Pages: 316

ISBN-13: 0801875307

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Honorable Mention for the Wallace K. Ferguson Prize from the Canadian Historical AssociationChosen by Choice Magazine as an Outstanding Academic Title of 2003 In 1891, newspapers all over the world carried reports of the death of H. P. Blavatsky, the mysterious Russian woman who was the spiritual founder of the Theosophical Society. With the help of the equally mysterious Mahatmas who were her teachers, Blavatsky claimed to have brought the "ancient wisdom of the East" to the rescue of a materialistic West. In England, Blavatsky's earliest followers were mostly men, but a generation later the Theosophical Society was dominated by women, and theosophy had become a crucial part of feminist political culture. Divine Feminine is the first full-length study of the relationship between alternative or esoteric spirituality and the feminist movement in England. Historian Joy Dixon examines the Theosophical Society's claims that women and the East were the repositories of spiritual forces which English men had forfeited in their scramble for material and imperial power. Theosophists produced arguments that became key tools in many feminist campaigns. Many women of the Theosophical Society became suffragists to promote the spiritualizing of politics, attempting to create a political role for women as a way to "sacralize the public sphere." Dixon also shows that theosophy provides much of the framework and the vocabulary for today's New Age movement. Many of the assumptions about class, race, and gender which marked the emergence of esoteric religions at the end of the nineteenth century continue to shape alternative spiritualities today.

Women Mystics in Medieval Europe
Women Mystics in Medieval Europe

Author: Emilie Zum Brunn

Publisher: Paragon House Publishers

Published: 1989

Total Pages: 276

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This text revives the works of five powerful mystics of the Middle Ages and provides a valuable inspirational resource for all spiritual seekers.

Encyclopedia of the Divine Feminine
Encyclopedia of the Divine Feminine

Author: Tamara Von Forslun

Publisher: Xlibris Corporation

Published: 2021-05-26

Total Pages: 390

ISBN-13: 1664105697

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

No matter what land, culture, country or faith, the Goddess is alive and well and attracting not only women to Her many paths and Her Mysteries but also men who have realised and awakened the feminine within and without as needed in this time of great uncertainty. It is time not to suppress the feminine, but Empower Her, so the world can see the true beauty in everything that She stands for and represents. She is not separate from the world, She is the world, and everything has a little light of the Goddess within them if they only take off their blinkers and let Her shine forth. Let us all now honour the Great Mother and in this great hour of need for a Mother, let us honour all Mothers throughout women’s forgotten past and listen to Her-story not his-story. It is the Patriarchal religions of the world that have created a world of uncertainty, imbalance, and fear. Let us NOW through the Divine Feminine remove the imbalance of the patriarchal warring world and assist our own community in EMPOWERING women and men to awaken to a world of harmony, peace and equilibrium, The Golden Age of Harmony and Equilibrium is NOW!. Let us as a sisterhood, daughters, nieces, sisters, mothers, grandmothers and all women and men under the Light of the Goddess in all Her cultures, names, and differences awaken Her to our world, and through us let Her shine. In honouring the Great Mother we shall spread Her love and honour all Mothers, all women of every faith, culture, and path. “May The Goddess hold you gently in the palms of Her hands, And always close to Her heart!” Lady Tamara Von Forslun Elder High Priestess of the Clan of Boskednan – Tribe of the Crow