The Goddess Re-Awakening: The Feminine Principle Today [Paperback]

Shirley Nicholson (Compiler)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 1989

This anthology, with essays by Riane Eisler, June Singer, and others, considers Goddess myths, current psychological perspectives, and the feminine principle in spirituality today. It offers a worldview that integrates intuition, intellect, and feeling.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this trenchant anthology, Nicholson ( Ancient Wisdom--Modern Insight ) gathers the work of 23 theologians, historians and other scholars in pursuit of what Stone, a pioneer of modern studies of the mother-Goddess, calls "the universal feminine principle"--"the concept of a divine principle in the universe that is specifically associated with the female gender." These essays collectively imply that this feminine principle is far more profound than a simplistic antithesis of all that we think of as masculine. Addressing cultural representations of the mother-Goddess, female worship traditions and Goddess-centered rites, and the psychological, social and political implications of a feminine principle, the discussions are commendably free of jargon, combative rhetoric and scholarly infighting. In a particularly intriguing entry, psychologist June Singer suggests that by imagining their own deaths, hence letting go of a distorting sense of self-importance, women in a patriarchal society may reconcile the "masculine" definition of self through choice of career with the "feminine" emphasis on relations. Illustrations not seen by PW.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Paperback: 296 pages
• Publisher: The Theosophical Publishing House; 1st edition (May 1, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0835606422
• ISBN-13: 978-0835606424
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #217,941 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #40 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > New Age > Goddesses

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars feminine divine in multiple layers, November 22, 2004

By 

perla "Being. Differently." (Planet Earth) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Goddess Re-Awakening: The Feminine Principle Today (Paperback)

I originally bought this book thinking that it would be a sort of pop-culture type of diva/goddess-women power book. I got more than that! I got a glimpse of the multi-layered aspects of what Goddess means today in the modern world. This is not just a book on feminism, or eco-feminism, this is not just a book about women's spirituality... This is a book on the underlying concepts and principles and also about the history and movement of institutionalized patriarchal energies... and the history and movement of matri-focal(not matriarchy as this implies dominant rule-dominant is a male energy) or feminine energies.

The essays of this book are a good read for both the "beginner" feminist and the well-read feminist activist or scholar. Amazon provides a table of contents so do read what this book has to offer.

I especially learned a lot from the essay of Elizabeth Dodson Gray, "Nature as an Act of Imagination" whereby she illustrates a patriarchal worldview. It educated me and made me acutely aware of the balanced, organic worldview that the movement of feminism is helping uphold in the world(along with other movements of justice and equality and of healing and wholeness).

If you peruse the table of contents you will find that the editor of this anthology of essays did attempt to bring together a variety of sources (Buddhist, African, Native American, Western, European)... and that there are truly multiple aspects of the importance and value of the feminine divine manifesting in women's work at home, in institutions, in community and in humanity.

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars CHRIST AND SOPHIA IN US, January 5, 2001

By 

JOY "sophiazoe" (United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Goddess Re-Awakening: The Feminine Principle Today (Paperback)

There is indeed a re-awakening of the female deity,mostly for me since 1975. This book may be a little difficult for some people, so look for the highlights of Sophia with Christ,our twin hopes of glory. The Twin-Saviors are explained in the book "Pistis Sophia", G.R.S. Mead, sayings taken from the books of the Savior. Rabbi Novick wrote about her as the Shechinah, Divine Mother as Chochmah (Wisdom) same meaning for Sophia . Jesus is indeed her "light twin, and spouse",as Stephan A. Hoeller writes. The re-awakening comes from Above, the Spirit, the Logos, the Savior, and the whole world must accept the Gnosis of this fact to find the "First Mystery" as Jesus explained in Pistis Sophia. The Front picture is beautiful of Sophia, and all the writers should be highly exalted for their efforts to bring the Gnosis of the Savior to the lost children in the world. Also, "She Who Is", Elizabeth Johnson, should be read alongside this book, with "Prayers to She Who Is , William Cleary, who wrote the most true words ever said about Sophia. Jesus and Sophia are Twins, male and female from the Pleroma. When Jesus spoke of the "Fall" of Sophia, he was also referring to his material life on earth, and his distress, thinking his sister Sophia was gone, and she was not, she was his own soul. By the prophets, this doctrine of Gnosis can be proven. This is a very valuable book to the world. Thanks to all the writers.