The Once and Future Goddess: A Sweeping Visual Chronicle of the Sacred Female and Her Reemergence in the Cult

"The Once and Future Goddess" by Elinor Gadon is one of the most fascinating books on the goddess written. It is not only one of the best references, but one on the best art history books available. It is different from other goddess texts as it uses many historical artworks for reference. "The Once and Future Goddess" is set up similar to a college art history course as it starts with Paleolithic cave art and one of the oldest sculptures known, the "Venus of Willendorf." It continues to take the reader on journey through time as it examines goddess art from old Europe, Malea, and Minoan Crete. It explains the ancient Far East, the male warlike uprisings, the birth of Christ until it reaches the current religions of today. I myself am an artist and am familiar with many of the artworks documented in this book as I have learned them in other art history courses. None of the courses focused solely on explaining the images of the goddess. Learning how these images related to the feminine was fascinating. I was especially captivated when I reached the chapter on Christianity and learned how the book of Genesis is set up to slander goddess worship and its symbols such as the fruit, snake, tree of life, and most importantly, procreation. It is truly an eye opening book. "The Once and Future Goddess" is an intriguing read and many would benefit from what Elinor Gadon has documented. It is thoroughly researched and organized and would be the perfect book of reference for an art history course or goddess study. Reviewed by Julie Harvey

I am enjoying this book. It gives a lot of info on the Goddess that you wont find in any Wicca books.

The author does a great job in showing how the Goddess has always been worshipped through the ages even in the religons of Christianty and Judaism. She makes you rethink about your bielf system and opens your eyes to a bigger world. She gives women back their Divine spark and ownership of their spirituality!

Packed with beautiful images revering and honoring the bodies and spirits of women as deities... a powerful, timely and necessary resource for women seeking to reclaim their own divinity in a world built around the assumption of women as the "root of all evil" and other assorted nonsense!

Beautiful history of goddess worship as it existed throughout prehistoric times, focused mostly on european. After describing artifacts and architecture in context, Gadon then shows how artistic and spriritual worship continues today in the same fashion. Chapter on the great earth goddess figures (mounds and excavations) is moving and materiel was entirely new to me. Profoundly touches on the issue of woman's body as goddess -- to simply take it for given, for over 400 pages, was enough to move me to another level of acceptance.