Virgin Mother Crone: Myths and Mysteries of the Triple Goddess

Excerpts & Samples

By Donna Wilshire

Publisher : Inner Traditions/Bear & Company

ABOUT Donna Wilshire

Donna Wilshire
Visit the author's web site at http://www.donnawilshire.com

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Description

In Virgin Mother Crone Donna Wilshire charges us to remember the early Pagan religion of the Earth Mother and the ancient Triple Goddess: the Virgin, responsible for herself; Mother, the nurturing woman in the fullness of life; and Crone, the wise, old healing woman. Includes more than eighty original black-and-white drawings and seventeen watercolor paintings.
"In an unusual format of anthropological text followed by poetic script, actress and playwright Donna Wilshire explores the full terrain of the ancient female Great Mother and Creatrix. Fans of Riane Eisler (who wrote the foreword to this book as well as that commonsensical, fascinating anthropological study of ancient cultures, The Chalice and the Blade) will find more of the same explication of how dimensionally rich and satisfying life was 'when women ruled the world.' Wilshire promotes the necessary power of story, perhaps above all else, and gives this format wings in her performance scripts that illuminate the powerful dimensions of what, she believes, we have lost through the ages. Her assurance to men that there is nothing "dismissive or derogatory about males here" is a weak counterpoint to the other themes. On a fascinating par with the excellent text are the endnotes in the splendid trove of images and icons. Illustrations."
Publisher's Weekly (Monday , March 14, 1994)

"Enough literature on goddesses is now available that specialized popular works like this can find a niche. Wilshire excavates and explores the myths of the Greek Hera as well as their contemporary meanings. You may remember Hera as the shrewish wife of Zeus, always whining about his dalliances with nymphs. But before her "marriage" to the Hellenic interloper, Hera was an indigenous Great Goddess, honored as an exemplar of women's lives from girlhood through croneship. Wilshire examines Hera's manifestations as the virginal Hebe, the full-bodied Teleia, and the transformative Hecate. Long chants to each form of Hera are the centerpieces of the chapters on these figures. An intriguing, well-researched, passionately wrought study."
Booklist (Saturday , January 01, 1994)

"Dedicating her life to teaching the Old Ways, Donna uses her unique skills to provide a magnificent model to guide and shape our appreciation of the Goddess."
WomensRadio, Apr 08