The Storyteller's Goddess: Tales of the Goddess and Her Wisdom from Around the World [Paperback]

Carolyn McVickar Edwards (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1991

The Storyteller's Goddess is a collection of more than 30 stories from 20 cultures that celebrate the goddess. They are organized around seven healing goddess principles and are inspired by traditional goddess lore and ancient artifacts. Each one is introduced by placing it in its cultural and historical context, telling the story's origins, and describing props that can be used to invoke that story's goddess -- from Kali and Hecate to Shekina, Kuan Yin, Athena, Mary, and Lilith.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A wonderful reading experience. The language is clear, respectful, and inviting..." -- Luisah Teish, author of Jambalaya

"Carolyn Edwards provides new myths for a new age of goddess retellings." -- Caitlin Matthews, author of Sophia, Goddess of Wisdom

"These stories grow from the Earth. ... Gorgeous bloom from our living flesh." -- Barbara Mor, coauthor of The Great Cosmic Mother

This is the only book of fairytales that my daughter will actually stay awake to listen to... -- Howard Reingold, Whole Earth Review --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

About the Author

Carolyn McVickar Edwards is a writer and a storyteller. As a fourth grade teacher, she emphasizes theater, music, storytelling, and love for the Earth. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Harper San Francisco; 1st edition (August 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0062502638
• ISBN-13: 978-0062502636
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,081,206 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Goddess comes alive in this wonderful collection, April 3, 2000

By 

Barbara A. Bolek - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Storyteller's Goddess: Tales of the Goddess and Her Wisdom from Around the World (Paperback)

The many aspects and legends of the Goddess are beautifully, and imaginatively retold by Carolyn McVickar Edwards. She provides readers with 39 Goddess stories from 27 different cultures. She arranges these stories into seven categories, such as, All in All: Healing the split (the Goddess as both light and dark -- which includes Goddesses such as, Pele, Ereshkigal, and Hecate), or, Spirit Incarnate: Goddess as Earth and Body (including Goddesses such as, Freya, Kuan Yin, and Sedna). The author has added six new stories in this second edition as well as reworked many of her original ones. Edwards took some of the stories straight from Merlin Stone's book, Ancient Mirrors of Womanhood. Others, she puts a more modern spin on. Some she created from bits and pieces of information, concepts and images. The book is feminocentric, but not exclusionary towards men. It's lessons (such as religious tolerance, equality, ecology) are imparted in a sensitive, not preachy manner. The stories are beautiful to read both aloud or quietly. Many, but not all, are appropriate to read to children. All can be use in group discussions, or for ritual celebrations. If you are involved in Goddess spirituality, are a storyteller seeking good material, or are just interested in exploring Goddess lore, you'll find this book to be pure enchantment.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing, February 15, 2002

By 

Cynthia M. Caton "minion" (Ireland) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Storyteller's Goddess: Tales of the Goddess and Her Wisdom from Around the World (Paperback)

I desperately wanted to like this book. I think that books like this are vital and need to be written. I love stories of the goddess and fairy tales in general. When they miss their mark, however, it is very disappointing.

The premise is excellent - retellings and new stories of the goddess prefaced with an introduction to each story. While there are one or two gems, most of the stories are either just fair or feel incomplete. All of the stories are very short - just a few pages each - some only two pages. Those stories feel like they are missing a bridge or link to what the author is trying to convey. Some of the stories do not follow conventional mythology (like referring to Horus as Osiris) and that can be very confusing if you have a strong background in mythology. The stories that worked best for me were the ones where I was not familiar with the goddess or culture.

The stories were meant to be read aloud. I think they lose something in simply reading them. It would be interesting if the author put out an audio tape and presented her work as it was meant to be enjoyed.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tales of the Goddess, December 8, 2001

By 

Kelly (Fantasy Literature) (Columbia, MO United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Storyteller's Goddess: Tales of the Goddess and Her Wisdom from Around the World (Paperback)

_The Storyteller's Goddess_ makes a wonderful addition to any Goddess-lover's library. Carolyn Edwards adapts many Goddess myths from around the world, shaping them into brief stories that read more like fairy tales than religion. It works wonderfully; Edwards' stories touch a reader's heart more deeply than a hundred dogmatic, left-brained Goddess books could ever do.