Customer Reviews

The Yoni: Sacred Symbol of Female Creative Power

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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 [calysta@esoterika.com]

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.

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.

This book is a good beginning to research on the yoni, or female genitals, as objects and subjects of religious and spiritual practice. However, it is not thorough and an agenda is clear -- there need to be far more citations to really prove some of the touted "facts". The book approach several different topics but none with a great deal of depth or undenialable evidence. The pictures, and there are many of them, are beautiful. If you are looking for ways to incorporate the yoni into your spiritual life this book will help you -- but I don't think it will satisfy the serious scholar.

I think this book and its message are very, very valuable both from a psychological/ spiritual AND a purely health standpoint. The pictures are beautiful, the text uplifting. It's not silly, insulting or ridiculous. The fact is in the past ( and even today) many woman let serious health issues go unchecked and untreated because they can't deal with their own genitals until a problem has already taken root. Woman have *died* because they were to ashamed to look "down there" or describe symptoms to a medical practitioner. A positive attitude toward the Yoni is not only spiritually uplifting, it can be lifesaving!
I am dismayed to read woman reviewers describe their own vaginas as smelly and dirty. I have a friend who is an OB /GYN nurse, and she says that while a little natural odor is normal , an unpleasant odor is often the sign of an infection, poor hygiene or a more serious underlying medical problem. The "fishy" odor that many people attribute to woman is often a symptom of a bacterial infection called Gardnerella ( sp?). Or- men take notice- post sex it can be the result of proteins ( semen ) breaking down in the acidic environment of the vagina. Women, If you truly smell bad on an ongoing basis, go see a doctor! Also, woman often assume that men think they smell bad because this is the way they were taught. My husband sent me straight on that one! Many men enjoy the way a clean healthy woman smells.
And someone farther down on the list said that it's a medical fact that the vagina and female genitals in general are dirty and unsanitary. This is *not* a medical fact. One of the dirtiest area of the human body is the mouth, and few people are horrified of kissing. When someone who has has a joint replacement or a heart condition goes in for dental work or certain types of rectal exams/ surgeries, they often must "pre medicate" with antibiotics because there's so much bacteria in these two areas and it can get into the bloodstream and cause serious problems. Heart and joint replacement patients do *not* have to pre medicate before a pelvic exam or surgery in the female genital area. Check with a doctor or nurse! If it were really so dirty, they would!
I lent this book to so many people over the years that it has finally disappeared. I guess I should buy another copy!

The fellow a couple of reviews ago who went off on a tear about the vagina being "dirty" is exactly why this book is needed. Medically, the healthy vagina is not unclean -- but in our society it is considered dirty, dirty physically and dirty morally. How sad.

I ordered a used copy of this book as I am collecting most everything related to the subject of desire, passion & eroticism of Women (from a Woman's perspective) for my doctoral dissertation. I wish I would have bought it brand new as it is an absolutely wonderful book!

The text discusses the history of Goddess based spirituality across the world, including the historical reverence of the female and Yoni. It also discusses the more recent (but mostly underground) continued reverence of the Feminine and Yoni (and where it is found in a more hidden form in the 3 Abrahamic religions and Asian based religions today), and also includes an absolutely wonderful resource listing in the back for those who would like further information on the subjects discussed within the book.

There are indeed many pictures, but nothing that a forward thinking, open minded person should feel uncomfortable with. Quite frankly, I'm shocked by some of the other reviews where folks have expressed some distress about the pictures. There aren't any images in this book that you wouldn't also find in an anatomy and physiology book, an issue of national geographic or a book on anthropology.

Unfortunately the used copy I ordered was heavily marked and included written commentary on various pages which made apparent the previous owner's lack of comfort with the ideas an concepts discussed within. The book is so wonderful that I've just ordered another copy - A brand new one that will be mark free. This is a book that I will keep long term - had I known how great it was I would have bought a new one to begin with.

If you are a fundamentalist from one of the big organized religions, you likely WILL feel uncomfortable with the subject matter, and perhaps the images, within this book, as those religions seem to have more of a shame based attitude around female anatomy and sexuality. Otherwise, this is a lovely and amazing book that would be cherished by most women I know and many open minded, female honoring males.

This engaging, honest and beautifully written book is something that could make a grandiose change for the better in the lives of so many people. The author has a truly brave personality with a profound wisdom and sharp ability to understand life and women. I was surpised at the negative content of some reviews. One cannot really thrive on sustaining one's complexes and attempts to shed and ignore truth and facts.

I read this book because it was a required reading for a Yoga Prenatal Teacher Training I am taking. I would say this book is LIFE CHANGING. I am not kidding.

This book blew me away. It has so much historical information in it, and it touches on so many issues from cultural to spiritual to sexual and emotional.

If you are at all interested or intriqued, enough so that you are reading this, then you must buy it and read it. I'm loaning it and recommending it to all my female friends.

And I have three young daughters, and I'm going to make sure they know all about their yonis and the power of creation they all carry within them.

I find the contents of this book is academic and well researched.
I also liked the guiding spirit of the volume, that is celebrating female genitals.
However, I found the page that described the 4 arch types of Yonis according to Ayur veda a little bit like bogus.
You need more actual examples and more detailed comments.