The Yoni: Sacred Symbol of Female Creative Power [Paperback]

Rufus C. Camphausen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 1996

 
From earliest times, humanity has found visual expression for the cosmic forces of creation, birth, and passion in artistic representations of human genitalia. Fertility cults centered on phallic worship are well documented, but older and even more pervasive are Goddess images of the vulva-known in the East since ancient times as the yoni. Yoni symbolism is a part of spiritual traditions in every part of the globe-from naturally occuring rock formations revered by North American Native peoples to the shakta-pithas of Hindu temples, and from early Celtic sheela-na-gig carvings to the Japanese kagura ritual.

The Yoni traces this primal motif in Australian Aboriginal folk tales, in alchemy, in Tantric practices, and in contemporary art by painters such as Georgia O'Keefe and Judy Chicago. 

Dozens of illustrations, many in color, reproduce the variety of carvings, drawings, and other portrayals of this universal symbol of feminine creativity. 

Editorial Reviews

Review

"From Tantric practices and Yoni manifestations in nature and human endeavors to Eastern mythology, this packs in details about Yoni art and spiritual sources."
(

The Bookwatch

)

"Illustated with color and black-and-white photos of artwork, The Yoni is a fascinating spiritual view of the only religion all men celebrate, wheather they realize it or not."
(

Screw Magazine

)

About the Author

Born in Germany, Rufus C. Camphausen is a writer and illustrator now living in the Netherlands. He is the author of Return of the Tribal, The Encyclopedia of Erotic Wisdom and The Divine Library as well as numerous articles and essays on religious history, mythology, and sacred sexuality. 

Product Details

• Paperback: 134 pages
• Publisher: Inner Traditions (April 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0892815620
• ISBN-13: 978-0892815623
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 8 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #349,651 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

60 of 63 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book, but very intense, July 14, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Yoni: Sacred Symbol of Female Creative Power (Paperback)

This is a wonderful book. Their are numerous examples from the world over of the widespread worship of the yoni as illustrated thru the many works of art left to us by our ancestors. This book is not for everyone though. If you are not comfortable with the female body this book may be too much for you. The close-up images of human yonis are hard to look at when you are raised in Western society and taught to see female genitals as "dirty" or "nasty".

However, this book is vital if you want to learn and see the history of humanity's reverence for the Goddess and Women. It provides several different types of information, definitions and imagery about yonis in a clear and direct way. If you are ready to challenge your patriarchal cultural conditioning, this book will do it.

Calysta Rose [[e-mail]]

33 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Education and Awareness paired with Scholarship, March 1, 2001

By 

CherishRa (the Mid-South) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Yoni: Sacred Symbol of Female Creative Power (Paperback)

I had been at a loss to help other people understand 'yonic symbolism' until i had the help of this book (as well as the help of Gloria Stienem's intoduction to Eve Ensler's 'Vagina Monologues'). We all know the ubiquity of phallic symbolism, the most famous example in this nation being the Washingotn Monument (Grins). But I am always surprised by how few people are aware of the companion (some say predecessor) symbol: yonic symbolism. I knew a young woman who painted beutiful abstracts of stylized yonis, and didnt even know it until I brought it to herr attention. She laughed and tears came in her eyes. Can you imagine an educated person painting stylized penises and not knowing it, let alone not knowing to call it phallic?

Also, i find it very sad and distracting that many people still do not understand the biology of the vagina. This book is not written from a biological point of view, because it does not need to be. It is fact that the vagina is a very clean and self renewing place, not political rhetoric. I am sad for the reader who finds anger at this simple medical assertion, and I am angry that s/he would think to be disappointed in an educated writer from the point of their own mis-education. (If one would like to look at it this way, one could ask why God would want to create a dirty place from which to bring forth his most precious children? (Even His own son who came with love and hope 'and glady dwelled with us in flesh') We are born to this world in health and beauty from the most sacred, most clean and most sound of God's creations. I hope that the mis-informed reader will gather strength to re-aquaint themselves with human biology.)

A strong book, well written, with research that took time, care and effort.

35 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Uplifting... I wish I could share it with everyone!, June 30, 2002

By 

Susan "Susan" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Yoni: Sacred Symbol of Female Creative Power (Paperback)

I know I won't get to share this wonderful book with all the women I work with. The reason for that is clear in some of the previous reviews. Mysogyny is so pervasive in American culture, that even women who want to be liberated cannot get past the brainwashing they have had to believe that thier yonis are "dirty" and "faulty" The yoni is, first and foremost, the origin of life! That, clearly, must be the basis of any understanding of yoni worship. Mr. Camphausen makes no secret of that fact as he explores the yoni as a sacred symbol.

On page 15 of this incredible pictoral review of yonis the world over, I was thrilled to see a live photo of the yoni in action... as a baby's head is emerging. If you look at the photo closely, you can see the scars from two previous episiotomies. That, for me, says it all! Here is this magnificent organ, able to stretch to a size that can allow a baby's head to pass.... and yet, it has been cut (previously) because the false belief of western medicine that the yoni is a faulty organ incapable of bringing forth healthy life without tremendous help. I *will* be showing this page in my childbirth classes as it is the best picture I have seen to date that really shows what is being cut during an episiotomy. Magnificent!

Thanks to the author for his tremendous steadfastness in completing years of research to bring forth this masterpiece. I will be recommending it to those I think are ready for it's healing message. To those who can move beyond the pain of growing up in a woman, and yoni, devaluing world.