Customer Reviews

The Witches' Goddess: The Feminine Principle of Divinity

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I read the reviews about the historical accuracy of this book, and the one thing that stood out among the naysayers is that no one recommended a more accurate or better book.

There are many books on the Goddess, but few that contain so many in one volume, and few that try to cover a broad range of cultures and themes. For example, you can buy books about Mother Goddesses, or Goddesses of a particular culture. Most books on the Goddess cover fewer Goddesses. In order to rival the information covered in this book, one would need to collect Goddess books for years.

However, if you wish to focus on one Goddess or one culture, this is probably not the most helpful book for that purpose. In my opinion, this is more of a "big picture" book.

Regarding the historical accuracy of the book, my perception is that this book was written through the lenses of the Wiccan belief system, using what historical information was believed at the time.

It was first released in 1987. My copy was printed eleven years ago. Since the first release, there has been a firestorm of debate over the historical accuracy of much of popular Pagan beliefs.

I think that it's helpful to remember that while we do need to understand Paganism with historical accuracy, we also have the power to create a new myth. We just need to understand the difference. Just my opinion.

I think this item is a classic and a staple on nearly every Pagan bookshelf. Even if you don't agree with every single statement made in the book, it's good to read it just to know what the fuss is about.

This book should be on every Witch's shelf. Not only do the Farrars do an in-depth study of the many faces of the Goddess and the archetypes, but also a corresponding ritual for each. Also included is a glossary of many Goddesses for different pantheons. Well worth the money

It is by far one of the most complete works on the Goddess. Starting out with the most simple concept of Goddess the book explores the many faces of the goddess tieing them togather not only with each other but also with womankind and her relationship with the divine, nature and herself. Included are several wonderfull reciepies for incense food, ect. Along with different rituals dthat will bring about a greater understanding of our relationship with the Great Mother. An added bonus is the last section that lists many of the differnt goddess' from every culture. A must read for all women Wiccan or not!!!!

Straightforward, fact-based, packed with information. This book sorts out the fact from the fiction in relation to the Wiccan Belief System. I loved the huge catalog of Goddesses from diverse cultures, and I also liked that this book wasn't full of fluff and pseudo-spellmaking drivel. Really, every beginning witch should read this. The Farrars put this together very well, and they know their topic inside-out!

If you need to understand the Goddess in any of her many guises, this is the book for you. This book is perfect for those beginning Wicca and even for those who have been in the craft for years. As a HPS I find this book a joy to read, and even if you think you know it all, there are some things in here that you will learn. The perfect book to help you pick a Godess name.

For a long time i avoided this book because i thought it would be useless for someone who was not a traditional wiccan (ie. you don't slap the word "Lady" before your name".but i am a witch and i love the Goddess so i finaly broke down and read it. it was so bad--really. yes it was a little dated and the language is far from feminist and worst of all there are no endnotes to direct you to further study (but this is hardly unordinary for a wiccan book--unfortunatly) but there were parts of this book that redeemed it.Part one contained 12 chapters: the goddess in history, the earth mother, the bright and dark mother, the menstruating goddess, the triple goddess, the moon goddess, blessed among women, psyche and goddess, woman as goddess, some goddess recipes, the goddess today, and the grail.the most interesting part for me was the menstruating goddess--it was different than what you normal get from these kinds of books. what i didn't like was the stressing of polarity between goddess and god, male and female--it was just too sterotypical for our time.part two--invoking the goddess contained 13 chapters- demeter and persephone, brighid, ishtar aphrodite, hecate, lilith and eve, epona, ma'at, arianrhod, aradia, isis.the discusions of the goddesses in the beginning of each chapter where great--but the rituals were so cheesy--i couldn't help but laugh at them while i was reading. the chapter on lilith and eve contained a play whose jewish charecter was disturbing with its sterotypical jew that seemed an antisemtic parody. i am sure it wasn't meant to be--but i have serious doubt as to wheter the farrars ever met a jewish person.part 3-goddesses of the world was great--i read it straight through. some of it was a little odd--like major hindu dieties not being defined more than to say "an aspect of laxsmi (or parvati etc) also there were so many sun goddesses that it contridicted the farrars earlier statement in the book that the moon was usually female and the sun male.overal i think it is a useful book to goddess lovers. but read it with a grain of salt as you would graves "the white goddess" or neumann's the great mother--useful but certainly not perfect. its a bit outdated--the language not feminist or politically correct by any means--heavily biased towards traditional (british) wicca--with its high ceremony and costumes. but overall an interesting book.

I found this book to be the best I've ever read that's completely devoted to discussing the Goddess....it discusses her in all her aspects very eloquently, you won't be able to put it down. It really makes you think. Everyone interested in the Goddess Path should at least read it once, I recommend keeping it close always.

The Farrars are probably the most overrated authors of occult topics in America, how can anyone take seriously someone who claims that the only thing they found of use in all of Aleisters Crowley's books were the correspondences of 777?
If that is the case I believe is pretty embarrassing! The ethics of this authors, are Christian not pagan, and there is much nonesense to be found in their books (including Gavin Bone) when refering to Deity from a Christian pespective.
Which in a way is rather hypocritical, they include rituals for the Goddess Hecate, yet they strongly oppose hexing!!??, I pity the poor souls who might be the recipients of the astral slime of this three!!

Where else can you find such detailed information of the different aspects of the goddess? I you want to know your goddess this is the book you need.

There are many inaccurate and wildly made statements in this book. When I saw the farrar's name on it, I thought it would be an amazing book. Part I was great, giving a general history of the goddess, and her many repsonsibilities. But even in there, there was a whole chapter basically devoted to debunking christianity, that I had to turn the page....and I was born Jewish! Then when I read the histories of each goddess, I really had to stop. I definitely expected more...The trouble is there aren't too many general books on the goddess. It's a good thing that I just stick with one, whom wasn't well represented either.