Living in the Lap of the Goddess: The Feminist Spirituality Movement in America

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Summary: Women in Search of the Divine Feminine
Review: Like all scrupulously fair journalism, Cynthia Eller's very readable survey, LIVING IN THE LAP OF THE GODDESS, THE FEMINIST SPIRITUALITY MOVEMENT IN AMERICA, is bound to please and offend in equal measure. Using a decade of research (largely literary but also including personal interviews), Eller attempts to generalize about the feminist spirituality movement in the United States. While her tone is respectful, her eyes are wide open, and inevitably some of her observations must irritate some members of the movement. Her good will, however, seems evident and her information appears to be accurate. Her approach is comprehensive, considering topics from ritual to theology, history to psychology, sociology to magic. The book is an easy read, mostly straight reporting enriched by a little analysis in areas such as psychology of religion. The greatest limitation of the book is that it was published in the early 1990's and does not reflect developments during the last 6-7 years. However, as an even-handed introduction to feminist spirituality, it is still very useful. Unlike most books written by insiders in the movement, it includes information on the historical development of this alternate religion and focuses on issues on which spiritual feminists disagree. For anyone interested in learning just who those "Goddess worshippers" are (witches? pagans? New Agers? flakes?), what they believe, what they do, LIVING IN THE LAP OF THE GODDESS is an excellent beginning.