The Great Goddess: An Introduction to Her Many Names

The goal of the women who collaborated on this project wished to empower women. Many women have been taught that goddesses were confined to the classical Greek and Roman period. We now know that female deities have been present for thousands of years, in nearly every part of the world. By letting you sample from the richness of female deity worship throughout "her-story," we hope you can gain new recognition of your own special powers. This booklet covers nine of the many geographical/cultural areas with a bountiful goddess tradition: Africa, Egypt, Greece, India, Japan, Mesoamerica, Mesopotamia, North American, and Semitic-speaking peoples. Each chapter covers one of these areas and is organized into the following sections: historical, indivdual deities with a cross-section of the more prominent goddesses worshiped, an illustration, and an elaboration of a particular goddess story, providing a modern slant for reclaiming power that might apply to your life. Stories were chosen to exemplify a variety of goddess-like personality characteristics present in many women. Includes a Bibliography on each section.