Lady of the Beasts: The Goddess and Her Sacred Animals
by Buffie Johnson

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Book Reviews of Lady of the Beasts: The Goddess and Her Sacred Animals

Book Review: Women who run with the wolves, the lions, the bears...
Summary: 5 Stars

Many of the goddesses worshipped in ancient times were envisioned in the form of animals, or depicted with animals, such as the snake, cow, bird, or sow. Buffie Johnson writes lucidly about these goddesses and supplements her work with TONS of pictures. She touches on many different cultures, from the Mediterranean to Scotland and South America. If you're interested in goddess spirituality, you will definitely want this book.

A side note: I really wish I'd had this on hand when I read _The Myth of Matriarchal Prehistory_ a few weeks ago. In that book Cynthia Eller tries to disprove matriarchies, and among other things, questions the theory that there was goddess worship in Crete. She says that the two "Snake Goddess" statues don't necessarily prove anything. No, not by themselves. But from Johnson's book, I learned that there were similar but less elaborate statues on altars in people's houses...that a beautifully painted sarcophagus bore a mural of a host of priestesses performing a bull-sacrifice as a lone male flutist trilled in the background...that there were far more images of female power in the "seal stones" than I had seen before. Or that the smaller of the Snake Goddesses wears a rose crown, the sign of Ariadne, though I don't know if they're connected. I still don't know whether there was a matriarchy there, or whether it would have been a good or bad thing if there had been one. But Johnson has convinced me that there were goddesses worshipped there.

This book does occasionally go a little bit overboard, seeing goddess symbolism where there may be no symbolism at all. But in general, it is a beautiful and useful resource that will delight anyone interested in the ancient Ladies.

Summary of Lady of the Beasts: The Goddess and Her Sacred Animals

Goddesses Books

• Books > Subjects > Religion & Spirituality > New Age
• Occult
• Religious Studies > Comparative Religion
• Women's Studies