The Heart of the Goddess: Art, Myth and Meditations of the World's Sacred Feminine

Description

"A collection of more than 70 Goddess figures from cultures throughout the world. Each is a treasure...inspiring us to embody the Goddess's virtues in our lives."--Yoga Journal This extraordinary compilation of the art, values and living lessons of Goddess culture dating from 30,000 years ago to the present, from Africa to Hawaii, Siberia to North America, is a multicultural tapestry of artwork, historical background, and meditations organized by the themes of creation, transformation and celebration, bringing focus and expression to the myth and spirituality of the feminine. "A beautiful book...an excellent resource for information and inspiration from many cultures."--Starhawk, author of The Spiritual Dance and ..".a mythical journey to every corner of the Earth...a delightful book of life-affirming legends, rituals, and images that help us envision a more balanced and creative world."--Riane Eisler, author of The Chalice and the Blade "What a treasure! Decades of scholarship and oceans of love have been poured into gathering this exquisite collection of goddesses from all the world's wisdom traditions. By gazing at the images and contemplating their stories, I felt myself joyously reclaiming the feminine face of the Holy One.... I love love love this book."--Mirabai Starr, author of God of Love: A Guide to the Heart of Judaism, Christianity & Islam

Hallie Iglehart Austen grew up on a farm and has lived close to the earth most of her life. After graduating from Brown University, she drove from England to Nepal and back again over the course of a year. This journey, described in her first book "Womanspirit" led to a synthesis of spirituality and feminism, which she began teaching in the 1970s. Since then, she has led workshops, rituals and conferences at universities, the United Nations, and theological schools among other places. Hallie Iglehart Austen is cofounder of Seaflow: Protect Our Living Oceans, which educates the public about the dangers of active sonars and other ocean noise to whales, dolphins, and all sea life. She also initiated All One Oceans, establishing over fifty beach cleanup stations in California, Hawai'i, Iowa, and Alabama and is starting a pilot project for grade school students on ocean plastic pollution. Hallie lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, and gives classes and private consultations on dream work, life transition rituals, and Wisdom Healing Qigong. Jean Shinoda Bolen, M.D., is a psychiatrist, Jungian analyst and an internationally known author and speaker. She is a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and a Diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, a former clinical professor of psychiatry at Langley Porter Psychiatric Institute, University of California Medical Center and a past board member of the Ms. Foundation for Women, the International Transpersonal Association, and the C.G. Jung Institute of San Francisco. She is the author of thirteen books in over ninety foreign editions. She is a leading advocate at the United Nations for a UN 5th World Conference on Women, and is NGO Permanent Representative of the Women's World Summit Foundation(Geneva) to the UN. She is in three acclaimed documentaries: the Academy-Award winning anti-nuclear proliferation film "Women - For America, For the World," the Canadian Film Board's "Goddess Remembered," and "Femme: Women Healing the World.