Friday 30 September 2016

Review: The Goddess in America

The Goddess in America is, I feel, an important new book about paganism and the divine feminine.

America is a a huge country – one in which the roles of religion and spirituality, and the roles of women, are hot topics in current affairs. For pagans too, there are controversial issues about the appropriateness of honouring deities that are not those of one's ancestors or those of the land one was born in.

This book looks at the way modern American goddess worshippers tackle those issues. It covers native goddesses; migrant goddesses, such as those of Africa and Ireland, and imported goddesses such as Ariadne from Ancient Minoan culture; and modern goddesses including such archetypes as Marilyn and Maleficent.

The subtitle of The Goddess in America is The Divine Feminine in Cultural Context and the book also tackles with sensitivity and insight issues including cultural appropriation, feminism and the common ground between pagan Goddess worship and Christianity.

Publisher Moon Books says on its website: "An anthology with contributions from nineteen writers, The Goddess in America is a book that identifies the enduring experience of Goddess Spirituality through a four-part discussion focused on the Native Goddess, the Migrant Goddess, the Goddess in relation to other aspects of American culture (Feminism, Christianity, Witchcraft etc.) and the Goddess in contemporary America."

The Goddess in America is in Moon Book’s superb series of community books and I wish I could have been one of the contributors. Not living in America, I wasn’t eligible, but reading it has made me want to visit America again and experience at least some of the amazing goddess-honouring ceremonies and rites that are described in the book’s pages.

The Goddess in America: The Divine Feminine in Cultural Context is published in October, but copies can be ordered in advance.

Links and previous related posts
The Goddess in America: The Divine Feminine in Cultural Context
http://www.moon-books.net/
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2014/09/extract-naming-goddess-eris.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2016/09/review-american-witches-broomstick-tour.html

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