The great cosmic mother : rediscovering the religion of the earth

The great cosmic mother Rediscovering the religion of the earth

Monica Sjöö, 1938-2005

Book - 1991

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Subjects
Mother goddesses.
Goddess religion.
Women and religion.
Matriarchy > Religious aspects.
Feminist theory.
Published
San Francisco, Calif. : HarperSanFrancisco 1991.
Language
English
Main Author
Monica Sjöö, 1938-2005 (-)
Other Authors
Barbara Mor (-)
Edition
Second edition
Item Description
Reprint, with new introduction Originally published: San Francisco : Harper & Row, c1987.
Physical Description
xxi, 501 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 24 cm
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 477-489) and index.
ISBN
9780062507914
  • 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
  • Photograph and Illustration Credits
  • Index
Review by Booklist Review

This history of human female sexual evolution and the organization and development of the earliest matrifocal cultures offers discussion of women's culture and religion in Neolithic times, tracing the mother goddess image from the most ancient city of Tell es-Sultan (Jericho) through southeast Europe to Britain and forward to Crete during the Bronze Age. Sj and Mor conclude with the decline of matriarchal culture and the rise of patriarchal culture and religion, from classical Greece to the Christian Trinity. Though the authors sometimes seem to overstate the links between patriarchy, war, oppression, and ecological exploitation, their revisionist history of human religion provides a vital contribution to current arguments. Notes, bibliography; to be indexed. SEM. 291.2'11 Mother-goddess / Women Religion / Matriarchy Religious aspects [CIP] 84-48780

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by School Library Journal Review

YA This long-awaited reference book is an important addition for students studying women's ancient history and the roots of religion. Sjoo and Mor describe the great spiral of cultural movement that began ``in the beginning . . .with a very female sea,'' and continued into Neolithic times. They show how our brains have been emptied of women's cultural history, and then they begin to piece together, detail by detail, that history. This does not lend itself to cover-to-cover reading, but it is a worthy book to discover while researching the roots of religion and/or the history of women as creators of culture. Readers will get a varied taste of world symbols, obscure myths, dazzling images, and formidable goddesses which will allow them to see connections that they might otherwise miss in current culture. The black-and-white illustrations include sketches, photographs, and reproductions of Goddess sites worldwide and ancient artifacts and culture. While libraries with women's studies' collections and schools in which students study cultural history will need this book, it is also an engaging book to browse through, and belongs on the shelves of any library.Lucia Bettler, formerly of Waltrip High School, Houston Independent School District (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

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