Customer Reviews

The Deer Goddess of Ancient Siberia: A Study in the Ecology of Belief (Studies in the History of Religions)

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I am astonished to find that this book is no longer available. The data on ancient shamanism alone should have garnered a huge and very receptive worldwide audience. The book is rich, evocative, meticulously researched and beautifully written. As a cross-cultural mythologist, what first caught my attention when I read this book in late 2003 were the potent archetypal mythic themes -- amazing data on the larch as world tree; ritual burial dolls (the forerunners of Vasilisa's wise doll-guide in much later Russian fairy tales); Deer Mother/Elk Mother/Bear Mother themes (FYI: were it not for the fact that ancient Bear Mother-worshipping peoples influenced the West before Deer/Elk Mother-worshipping peoples, the Great Bear (Ursa Major) constellation would be called the Great Deer (or Elk). Jacobson explores pre-shamanic cults with a wealth of engrossing data. These cults involved female-power as the Goddess or Mistress of the Hearth and Animals. As later male-focused shamanism developed, Jacobson explores the continuing strong role of the feminine in, for example, decorative, ritual female garb worn by males along with many other unusual elements (Jacobson is especially brilliant in comparing and contrasting female and male power in Other Worldly realms). Finally, the book concludes with 21 B&W plates depicting a wide variety of detailed archaeological finds. I do hope Brill will make this book available again. It's too good to vanish.