Description The Woman’s Encyclopedia of Myths & Secrets is a fascinating, scholarly hodgepodge spotlights the feminist underpinnings of myth, religion, and culture. Before being lionized as zaftig Norse, angels who guided strong warriors to Valhalla, Valkyries may have offered rebirth through cannibalization. “Little Red Riding Hood” was based on Diana, goddess of the hunt. Marriage was once considered a sin, not a sacred union: St. Bernard once proclaimed “it was easier for a man to bring the dead back to life than to live with a woman without endangering his soul.” A few of the other topics expounded upon are the Milky Way, Cinderella, the moon, and males giving birth. While some of the references put a cranky feminist spin on words that might in context have different meaning. St. Paul’s oft-quoted “better to marry than to burn,” for example–much in this vast tome will dazzle dabblers and intellectuals alike. Do You Know… where the legend of a cat’s nine lives comes from? Why “mama” is a word understood in nearly all languages? How the custom of kissing began? Whether there really was a female pope? Why Cinderella’s glass slipper was so important to the Prince? The answers to these & countless other intriguing questions are given 25 years in preparation. This unique, comprehensive sourcebook focuses on folklore, mythology anthropology, religion, and sexuality to uncover precisely what other encyclopedias leave out or misrepresent. The Woman’s Encyclopedia presents the fascinating stories behind word origins, legends, superstitions, and customs. A browser’s delight and an indispensable resource. Offering 1,350 entries on magic, witchcraft, fairies, elves, giants, goddesses, gods, and psychological anomalies such as demonic possession; the mystical meanings of sun, moon, earth, sea, time, and space; ideas of the soul, reincarnation, creation and doomsday; ancient and modern attitudes toward sex, prostitution, romance, rape, warfare, death and sin, and more. Not only a compendium of fascinating lore and scholarship, but a revolutionary book that offers a rare opportunity for both women and men to see our cultural heritage in a fresh light. Drawing upon the past for a more humane future. Softcover Vintage 1983
