There is indeed a re-awakening of the female deity,mostly for me since 1975. This book may be a little difficult for some people, so look for the highlights of Sophia with Christ,our twin hopes of glory. The Twin-Saviors are explained in the book "Pistis Sophia", G.R.S. Mead, sayings taken from the books of the Savior. Rabbi Novick wrote about her as the Shechinah, Divine Mother as Chochmah (Wisdom) same meaning for Sophia . Jesus is indeed her "light twin, and spouse",as Stephan A. Hoeller writes. The re-awakening comes from Above, the Spirit, the Logos, the Savior, and the whole world must accept the Gnosis of this fact to find the "First Mystery" as Jesus explained in Pistis Sophia. The Front picture is beautiful of Sophia, and all the writers should be highly exalted for their efforts to bring the Gnosis of the Savior to the lost children in the world. Also, "She Who Is", Elizabeth Johnson, should be read alongside this book, with "Prayers to She Who Is , William Cleary, who wrote the most true words ever said about Sophia. Jesus and Sophia are Twins, male and female from the Pleroma. When Jesus spoke of the "Fall" of Sophia, he was also referring to his material life on earth, and his distress, thinking his sister Sophia was gone, and she was not, she was his own soul. By the prophets, this doctrine of Gnosis can be proven. This is a very valuable book to the world. Thanks to all the writers.

Dr. Raphael Patai, a noted Hebrew scholar and anthropologist and author of the HEBREW GODDESS is also the co-author of HEBREW MYTHS with Robert Graves (THE WHITE GODDESS). Those who wish to continue reading about the goddess in ancient religions will find parts of the HEBREW GODDESS quite interesting, however, Patai's book is not as lyrical as Graves' and not as readable in some sections as others. I found passages dealing with archeology in the Holy Land and quotations from the Old-Testament more interesting, and the sections dealing with the rabbinical writing of the Talmudic period proved difficult to follow (and stay awake).

Essentially, Patai is not suggesting Judaism has reverted to polytheism or kept a goddess in the closet all this time. He says "the legitimate Jewish faith, beginning with the earliest formulations of its belief-system ...has always been built upon the axiom of One God. He says Maimonides, the greatest medieval Jewish philosopher said, "God is not a body, nor can bodily attributes be ascribed to him." Still, mere mortals have had difficulty understanding God as an abstract concept, and thus have ascribed human characteristics to "him.".

Patai says throughout it's history Judaism has stressed the moral and intellectual aspects of God and often neglected the affective and emotional dimensions. However, since the earliest times, the Jewish people have understood God through myths and these myths personify God. This personification of God has included the goddess worship Jerimiah decried, the female attributes of the Cherubim that guarded the Ark of the Covenant, the myths of Lillith, the visions of the Shekina during the Talmudic period, and the rise of the Matronite in the 15th-18th Centuries.

Kabbalism during the Middle Ages was mass movement among Jews. During this period, a popular-mythical version of the Matronite overtook and dominated the scholarly-mystical variant. The attachment among Jews to the Matronite (mother of God) had a marked resemblance to Marioloatry among Christians in the Latin countries. Kabbala mysticism was associated with the Sephardic and Hasidic elements of Judaism which also associated with the Latin countries.

Apparently, the Ashkenazi Jews were not as "irrational" and after the Jewish Enlightenment, their perspective became the dominant Orthodoxy. Still, the Sephardic practicies associated with the Sabboath, which men were instructed to keep "Holy" continued. Patai describes the rituals of Friday night which included the Seder meal and sexual consumation of the scholar and his wife as serving the purpose of reuniting God with his wife--Shekina.

Patai's original book has been expanded with new chapters covering the Shekina in greater detail. Although he stresses the importance of the theological it is not clear even yet that ordinary practicioners understand the difference between the Goddess personified and the female aspect of the One God.

This book is a very in depth, intelligent read. It draws from an intense amount of research and states things clearly for the reader to feel that they can envision the social, political and spiritual enviroment during the reign of the Goddess. I would recommend this book to anyone. In fact I think Everyone should read it. Ishtar, Innana, Shehkina, Astarte, Before Christian or Muslim, There was was the Goddess.

The Bible gives the impression that all ancient Jews shared a common belief system ... with only an occasional group straying from the fold. But the evidence paints a different picture. As Dr. Patai states, "... it would be strange if the Hebrew-Jewish religion, which flourished for centuries in a region of intensive goddess cults, had remained immune to them." Archaeologists have uncovered Hebrew settlements where the goddesses Asherah and Astarte-Anath were routinely worshipped. And in fact, we find that for about 3,000 years, the Hebrews worshipped female deities which were later eradicated only by extreme pressure of the male-dominated priesthood.

And then there's the matter of the Cherubim that sat atop the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies. Fashioned by Phoenician craftsmen for Solomon and Ahab, an ivory tablet shows two winged females facing each other. And one tablet shows male and female members of the Cherubim embracing in an explicitly sexual position that embarrassed later Jewish historians ... and even the pagans were shocked when they saw it for the first time.

This cult of the feminine goddess, though often repressed, remained a part of the faith of the Jewish people. Goddesses answered the need for mother, lover, queen, intercessor ... and even today, lingers cryptically in the traditional Hebrew Sabbath invocation.

What a wonderful book! As a woman, this book was such an eye-opener, a breath of fresh air, and provided me confirmation for many of the sneaking suspicions and problems I had with Christianity.

I am a former Evangelical Christian, who has since left and is walking the Witch's path. I had so many problems reconciling my feminist values--my values as a *human*--with the misogyny that left its gross stink seemingly everywhere in Christendom, from the Old Testament to the "megachurch". This feeling grew even deeper as I read more and more of the Bible.The repression of the Feminine Principle in every way shape and form was so clear, so blatant, that I *knew* something was up.

Well, thanks to Ms. Stone, the jig is up! Her research is painstakingly thorough, and although it can get "heavy" at times (thus the reason for 4 and not 5 stars), if you can hang in there through those parts you are well rewarded. Everything flows so seamlessly together, and she makes a very compelling case. I never looked at the Bible the same way after reading this book, it opened my eyes in so many ways.

If there is one problem I have with this book, it's one that actually isn't Ms. Stone's fault. Her work was groundbreaking, revolutionary even, and unfortunately a slew of quack pseudo-scholars have followed in her wake, *poisoning* Wicca and the feminist spirituality movement with theories parading as fact pulled straight out of their arses. So many flaky New Agey sunshine-and-moonbeam twits have taken her well-grounded research and twisted it into all kinds of half-baked "truths", like how ancient Europe was supposedly some granola-eating free-love Earth mama-lovin hippie commune (yes Z. Budapest, DJ Conway et al. my finger is aimed *right at you*).

Tangents aside, this book is critical not only to understanding the origins of Judeo-Christian misogyny, but is also quite helpful in understanding the views espoused by the modern Religious Reich as represented by Robertson, Falwell, Dobson, etc. I highly recommend it, especially to women with fundimentalist backgrounds similar to myself. It was an intergral part of my own healing process.

In light of the recent decision by the board of education in Kansas, I now know that we truly live in a society of ignorance. The historical evidence presented in this book is well-researched and I don't feel as though any is taken out of context. I can see why Christians and Jews would take offense to this book because it threatens their supposed one true god. Stone goes point by point taking apart the origin of their religion through the destruction of what had existed as a belief system for eons. Could something had existed before Adam & Eve? Perish the thought! I feel closer to the Goddess now and how things used to be thousands of years ago than I ever did in 10 years of Luthern Sunday School and confirmation class. As for the state of Kansas, I pity the students for they will make ignorant adults when evolution ceases to be taught. Its just another example of "accidental or intentional censorship" of ideas outside of Christian thought. I am truly disgusted with those who are in positions of power nowadays. It is so reminiscent of those long ago patriarchal invaders who propagate their own opinions by making people think its how "its always been."

As a Christian woman I felt a void in my soul that couldn't be answered through the Biblical scriptures. Why were the teachings so vile and violent towards women? Why was society demeaning and oppressive to the mothers of humanity? How did our culture develope into such a divided state that men were dominate and women submissive? Why weren't women revered for their life giving nature and soul healing abilities? The first book I read that brought some understanding was G. James Stewart's Immorality of Christianity. This opened the door for me to challenge social and theological beliefs that have devalued women (and men)as well as Western civilization as a whole. I read Jean M. Auel's Earth Children series (Clan of the Cave Bear)and was given a glimpse of pre-historical beliefs and customs. This caused me to ask the question: When did it all change? When did the Mother Goddess get replaced by the Judeo-Christian God? This book by Merlin Stone lept off the shelf with her all encompassing title. From page one to the end she develops a sound scientific histography of the age before God worship and the powerful infulence of women in a culture which honored fertility, prosperity, and peace for thousands of years. My identity as a women has found peace and comfort in the knowing that womanhood was once revered--and can be again, as the source of life. My beliefs have changed dramatically and never will I see the patriarchial Judeo-Christian dogma as anything but usurpation of woman as divine...