The Great Cosmic Mother: Rediscovering the Religion of the Earth

Monica Sjoo, Barbara Mor

2013751 pages

A deeply awakening yet radical exploration of the Goddess, the divine feminine, and the cultural forces that have formed the female condition—A must read for all feminists and spiritual seekers “One of the most important books I’ve ever read.” – Alice Walker, Pulitzer Prize Winning author of The Color Purple For readers of Women Who Run with the Wolves, The Great Cosmic Mother offers a sweeping overview of the Goddess, allowing us to reconnect within, tap deep into our innate wisdom, harness the power of our mind, body, and spirit, and discover what it truly means to be a woman and spiritual being. Drawing on religious, cultural, and archaeological sources to recreate the Goddess movement that is humanity’s heritage, this classic spiritual guide illuminates how, before the patriarchy, women—and their instinctual bodies—were more connected to the earth, and each other, than ever previously known. Women have had profound impact on modern society as we know it today, harnessing their connection with the cycles of the moon and fertility of the earth to discover time cycles, art, agriculture, language, and other universal stapes previously believed to be invented by man. The Great Cosmic Mother revives modern and ancient matriarchal history allowing all readers to truly understand women as the creators of culture, innovators, and peacemakers throughout time. Through illustrations, symbolism, explorations of folklore and mythology, this profound source of wisdom will empower you to find your divine feminine energy and unlock the goddess within.

images Dedication Epigraph Contents Preface Introduction I. Women’s Early Culture: Beginnings The First Sex “In the Beginning, We Were All Created Female”Marx and the Matriarchy The Original Black Mother Women as Culture Creators The First Speech II. Women’s Early Religion The First Mother The Organic Religion of Early Women Female Cosmology: The Creation of the Universe The Cosmic Serpent The World Egg: Yin/Yang The Gynandrous Great Mother Mysteries of the Throne, the Cave, and the Labyrinth The Cult of the Dead The Mother of Wild Animals and the Dance III. Women’s Culture and Religion in Neolithic Times The First Settled Villages Southeast Europe: The-Bird-and-Snake Goddess The Megalithic Tomb: The Moon and the Stone The Earth Mound as Cosmic Womb of the Pregnant Goddess The Islands of Malta and Gozo Twelve Circling Dancers Earth Spirit, Serpent Spirals, and Blind Springs Underground Caverns and Alchemic Mysteries The Goddess at Avebury in Britain Moon Time: The Great Intellectual Triumph of Women’s Culture Lunar Calendars Moon Minds Moon Mother The Cow Goddess and New Foods Mother and Daughter, and Rebirth The Moon Tree The Dark of the Moon and Moon Blood Moon and Womb Menstrual Rites: Rights and Taboos The Original Woman: Witch, Rebel, Midwife, and Healer Goddess of the Witches Crete and the Bronze Age Tantra and the World Spine IV. Patriarchal Culture and Religion God as Father The Olympian Male Sun’s Victory over the Dark Mother The Sun God The Jealous God Split in the Garden Life as a Mistake The Witch-Hunts Denial of the Mother: Denial of the People The American Split “The Divine Homosexual Family”The Machine Beyond the Male God and His Machine . . .. . . The Magic Flight Home Respell the World Notes Bibliography Name Index Subject Index About the Author Praise Copyright About the Publisher