The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets

Rating:
Summary: Gullible's Travails
Review: I had just finished an excellent work of scholarship called "Women In Mythology" and decided I'd continue in that vein, so I picked up Barbara Walker's book. Wish I had saved my money.

The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets should begin with the preface, "Check your brain at the door." It reads for all the world like a holdover from the "empowerment" movement of the late 70s (which I suppose it is). That was an era when feeling good was valued more than truth, and telling a Big Lie was fine, so long as it made people feel "empowered." Well, this book is full of big lies, little lies, bad research, bias, and an ax as big as Cleveland to grind but, judging from some of the responses below, it does make some people feel empowered. But those who have posted that they didn't like the book have done something the Empowered have not: they have given actual examples of what is wrong with the book. How I wish I had read those reviews sooner!

As a non-Christian, even I grew annoyed at the author's constant little and not-so-little jabs at mainstream religions, particularly the church. Anybody who has read the Bible as literature or otherwise will instantly realize that Walker isn't reporting what the Bible says, but what she would like those who haven't read it to think it says. Her assertions demonstrate that she is either unfamiliar with Judaism and Christianity, or that she is simply rewriting those religions so as to vilify them. (What is even more curious is how often Walker attempts to tie every subject to the church, be it an obelisk or reincarnation.) Here are some examples from the chapter on Judas:

"Twelve disciples signified the twelve hours of the day"

[Try the Twelve Tribes of Israel.]

"The Gospel writer naively admitted [there's that bias again] that the detail about the money that bought Jesus was inserted only to fulfill a prophecy in Zechariah 11: 'So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver. And the Lord said unto me, Cast it unto the potter...And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the Lord.' The Potter in the temple was an image of the Great Goddess Aruru, "The Potter," a title of Ishtar or Astarte or Ninhursag who made mankind of clay moistened with blood."

[The Jewish temple had an image of Ishtar in it? Where does Walker come up with this stuff?]

"Judas was a dynastic name for priest-kings of Judea for a hundred years after Judas Maccabeus restored ancient sacrificial customs to the temple of Jerusalem in 165 B.C. Thus the kingly name of Judas was commonly given victims sacrificed as surrogates for a reigning monarch."

[The kings of Judea were not "priest-kings." Moreover, human sacrifice is clearly inferred in the above paragraph--a practice Judaism and Christianity hold as abhorrent.]

Now on to other examples. Looking under "Rose" we find:

"The rosary was an instrument of worship of the Rose, which ancient Rome knew as the Flower of Venus, and the badge of her sacred prostitutes."

[Then again, the name may come from the fact that rosary beads were once made from paste and crushed rose petals.]

Under Mary:

"Fathers of the Christian church strongly opposed the worship of Mary because they were well aware that she was only a composite of Mariamne, the Semitic God-Mother...etc."

[Now the author is a mind-reader. Maybe they opposed mariolatry because one should, as the angel Gabriel said to Mary herself at the annunciation, "Worship God."]

The fanciful ties to religion in this book are so numerous and so ill-conceived that reading for any length of time will send your eyes rolling far up into their sockets (I wanted to scream "Enough already!"). When the author strays away from religion-bashing, her penchant for invention begins to sound almost like rambling double-talk with no real ties to history or mythology. Speaking of Leda, she states "Actually Leda was the Goddess Lat who laid the Golden Egg, which made her the Nile Goose to the Egyptians. Her friend the swan was added by medieval artists to allow some erotic goings-on without actually showing another human being." Talk about gobbledygook! Does Walker believe her audience to be so naive and unlettered that they wouldn't know the story of Leda and the swan? But then this is the same author who wants us to believe that Little Red Riding Hood is based on the Goddess Diana and is a story "in which the Lord of the Hunt and the She-Wolf also figure." Forget that the wolf in the story was male!

You don't empower a student who cannot dance by telling her that she is the greatest ballerina who ever lived. Nor do you empower women by rewriting history, misquoting religious texts and reinventing well-known myths. Given its lack of real content and its enormous size, The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets makes a far better stumbling block than a reference book.

Rating:
Summary: This book changed my life!
Review: When I saw how low this book had been rated, I just had to add my two cents. When I first read this book ten years ago or so, I could not stop talking about it or thinking about it. It is very "accessible". It's not like I haven't been a feminist since grade school, but after reading this book I felt transformed. Such a wealth of empowering information! The entry on marriage should be read by all women who are applying for a marriage license. I have used this as a reference for many of my daughter's school reports, and typed out many excerpts to give to friends and sisters. For me this is the proverbial book I would choose if I could only have one or a few for the rest of my life. This and Diane Stein's Natural Healing Book for women. This wonderful book opened my eyes, comforted my spirit and added gasoline to the fire in my belly. Thanks and blessings to Barbara Walker for writing it.

Rating:
Summary: I'm no scholar, but...
Review: In this work, Ms. Walker continues her bias against things accurate. That is, I find that most of her explanations are fanciful and basically wrong. She exercises very little objectivity. In fact, it seems that she has a specific goal in mind and that is to prove a supreme female deity.

Well, whether or not I agree is immaterial. I think that it is incumbent upon any author who makes assertions of any kind to at least be accurate and objective. What I find is that people who cannot be objective cannot be accurate. Everything they present is somehow turned, painted, or conjured up to suit their point. Ms. Walker has proven to be neither objective nor accurate.

I find her attacks against Christianity as particularly curious since the New Testament is one of the most corroborated works in history. (Ok, go ahead and attack me.) The point is, anyone can take an apple and call it a peach. That still doesn't make it so.

If Ms. Walker wants to believe in a supreme goddess, she is entitled. But, that does not give her license to fabricate and rewrite history to "prove" her point. I sometimes wonder why she believes that every man present and past has the agenda of suppressing femininity. I believe in the equality of both genders (and celebrate the differences) and find her feminist bias to be just as bigoted as her accused male counterparts.

I trudged through the book only because I was looking for some research information. I strongly doubted her authority in any of it. I wouldn't have gotten past page two if I were reading for edification or for entertainment.

If you are a feminist pagan, you will love this book because it bashes everything that you oppose. If you want something fun to read, be prepared to be assaulted by Ms. Walker if you fall into one of the groups that she despises. If you are seeking objectivity or truth, forget it, it's not here.

Rating:
Summary: Should be required reading for all women, without exception.
Review: Many of the critical reviews you will read on this book are inevitable; it shakes the very foundations of people raised in a society that has conditioned everyone, men and women alike, to lock out any thinking except that which has been cleansed and given the stamp of approval to best promote patriarchy for nearly 4,000 years. It literally scares the beJesus out of them, and the natural defense is to simply quote sources rooted in that same patriarchal establishment (the old and new testament, the encyclopedias) to try and dismiss the entire scholarly work as a lie. Well yes, they would need to do that, because they've always done that. As the book will inform you, they've done that in somewhat bloody and brutal fashion for centuries, and the world in which we live is the end product. If you have an open mind, this book may change your life. It changed mine, and that of many other people I know who've enjoyed reading it. It has the blessing of being highly entertaining, along with being incredibly informative. You will always want to know what bookshelf this book will be sitting on, in your house, because you'll refer to it often.

Rating:
Summary: Ladies & Gents, The Firestone Tire of Feminist Philosophy.
Review: The fact that a person has devoted a large portion of their life to study any particular field is not, in itself, commendable. What is truly commendable in any undertaking, be it book or otherwise, is the underlying motivation for the work and faithfulness to principles like integrity and honesty.
Sadly, those very principles are what Barbara Walker has cast aside in 'The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets'.
She tarnishes the very philosophy she seeks to undergird by means of offering a view of history that is so distorted and warped, the mindful reader is left with their mouth hanging open in disbelief. The endless, relentless cheap-shots at Christianity alone leaves one without the words to express the depth of bitterness this woman must harbor.
One is much better off doing an independent study of the history of alleged Goddess worship on their own. Abide in honesty! Where could it lead you but to the truth? Do yourself a favor and don't be lied to. Seek out the truth tenaciously and you will see this work for what it is. All of this talk of the bad reviews being the product of people who are offended by the 'truth' is silly and a weak response to the fair-minded rebuttals offered by other reviewers. I can't stress it enough: Anyone who devotes his or herself to any belief system should at least have the personal integrity and good conscience to search out the truth of what they believe. If you adhere to feminism or to this particular book because it affirms and empowers you as a person by means of underhanded deceit, you are not an asset to your fellow believers or to your belief: you are a liability.
Evidence is key here. Making assertions is one thing, establishing them as fact is quite another. Good luck trying that with this book.

Rating:
Summary: An interesting read - with a pinch of salt
Review: Walker has produced a mammoth work of scholarship, and it's very interesting to dip into, but try to sprinkle a dash of salt over the entries. She has an obvious feminist bias, as would be expected from the title, but this is refreshing after reading works with a patriachal bias - every researcher has their own slant on things after all!

In reading this book I came accross some errors (a few things that I happened to know for certain), which I assume crept in because it is such a huge work - she has attempted to cover the entirety of feminine mythology and ancient history in one work.

Christian readers may find this book offensive, as it seeks out pagan roots behind basic Christian beliefs, but others will probably enjoy it for its different ideas.

Rating:
Summary: Why Bother
Review: This book made me feel dirty as a womyn. I found it insensitive, uninspired, and inaccurate. Anyone who wants true scholarship should look elsewhere for truth. There were, of course, many Goddesses in herstory, however to deny them their individual importance with a pseudo-intellectual monotheistic interpretation makes us no better than the men we must educate. It is time for synchronism, not separatism.

Rating:
Summary: A Book to be read with caution
Review: "The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets" by Barbara G. Walker begins with the misleading advertisement Honored by the London Times Educational Supplement (TES) as 1986 "Book of the Year". In reality the TES of December 26, 1986 shows on page 10 that the book was a personnel recommendation from a Mr. Russel Hobson. It was in no way honored by the TES.The book is a unique collection of falsified citations, sloppy and biased information: Example for sloppy information: Page 263: <<Countries bore the names of female ancestors or of other manifestations of the Goddess: Libya, Lydia, Russia, Anatolia, Latium, Holland, China, Ionia, Akkad, Chaldea, Scotland (Scotia), Ireland (Eriu, Hera) were but a few.>> Comment: In The Encyclopaedia Britannica (1993, vol. 7, p. 336, Libya) we read: The Greeks designated most of North Africa west of the Nile Libya, deriving the name from a tribe living in eastern Cyrenaica during the 2nd millennium BC. AND: In (1993, vol. 26, p. 962, Russia) it says: There is little reason to doubt the predominant role of the Varangian Rus in the creation of the state to which they gave their name. AND: In (1993, vol. 28, p. 920, Turkey and Ancient Anatolia) we read: Turkmen tribes invaded the ancient region of Anatolia (a name derived from the Greek word anatole, "sunrise"; i. e. eastern land)... AND: In (1993, vol. 6, p. 7, Holland) we learn: The name Holland was derived from the region around Dordrecht, which was known as Holtland ("Wooden Land"). AND: In (1993, vol. 1, p. 192, Akkad) we can read: The name Akkad was taken from the city of Agade... AND: About Scotland The Encyclopaedia Britannica (1993, vol. 29, p. 103, United Kingdom) has to say: The name Scotland derives from the Scots, a Celtic people from Ireland who settled on the west coast in about the 5th century. The name Caledonia has often been applied to Scotland, especially in poetry. It is derived from the Roman name, Caledonii, of a tribe in the northern part of what is now Scotland. SO: Apparently quite a few continents and countries received their names without any connections to a female anceststor or a goddess.Example for falsified citation: Page 27: <<Ambrosia "Supernatural red wine" of Mother Hera, which gave the Greek gods immortality. (Reference: Graves, G. M. 1, p. 118). In the Vedas it was soma, in Persia haoma, in Egypt sa: always associated with the moon and the maternal "blood of life," i. e., menstrual blood. (Reference: Budge, G. E. 2, p. 298; Hartley, p. 231). Comment: In Graves we read: Zeus's nectar, which the later mythographers described as a supernatural red wine, was, in fact a primitive brown mead; and ambrosia, the delectable food of the gods seems to have been a porridge of barley, oil and chopped fruit... In Budge we find on p. 298: ...Saa was the personification of the intelligence, whether of a god or of a human being, and the deceased coveted the mastery over this god because he could give him the power to perceive, and to feel, and to understand. The reference Hartley has not been available for a check. SO: Ms. Walker's own references do not support her statements in any way: Saa is a god. There is no mentioning of the moon, the maternal "blood of life", or menstrual blood in connection with this god. AND: In The Encyclopaedia Britannica (1993, vol. 11, p. 3, soma) we find: soma, in ancient Indian cult worship, an unidentified plant, the juice of which was a fundamental offering of the Vedic sacrifices... AND: The Encyclopaedia Britannica (1993, vol. 5, p. 691, haoma) says: Haoma, in Zoroastrianism, sacred plant and the drink made from it. Worst of all are the text passages of discriminating nature.Examples concerning Christianity:The Gospels are forgeries (p. 48), one purpose of the apostles was to kill and eat Jesus (p. 47).Saints are being ridiculed, and their existence is questioned - although the Encyclopaedia Britannica has ample proof for their lives. Following Ms. Walker the well attested Saint Catherine did not exist (p. 149). Pudens and Pudenziana are called a "naive Christian canonization of the symbolic genitalia of Rome's God and Goddess" (p. 827) although their names derive from Latin pudens 'bashful, demure, reputable, modest'.Mary, "the mother of Jesus, an object of veneration in the Christian church since the apostolic age" (Encyclopaedia Britannica, CD Version '97) served according to Ms. Walker "as a temple maiden" or "kadesha, the equivalent of the Hindu devadasi" (p. 311, p. 480, p. 1049). Ms. Walker's definition of kadesha is "a temple harlot" or a "sacred harlot" (p. 350, p. 487, p. 836, p. 973). According to the Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Tenth Edition, a "harlot" is a "prostitute". Examples concerning Judaism:Deborah, Hebrew judge and prophetess, is confused with Jael, "possibly the same one patriarchal Persians called Jahi the Whore, an earlier feminine form of Yahweh." (p. 217). On p. 407 of Ms. Walker's book Deborah is made a priestess of [the Canaanite goddess] Asherah. On p. 459 Deborah serves as a mate of the [Canaanite] scapegoat-god, Baal-Gad. Why Deborah, judge and prophetess, a strong believer in the Lord, was a priestess of Asherah and mated to the scapegoat-god remains unexplained. And why Yahweh, the supreme deity of Judaism, should have the earlier name 'Jahi the Whore' is enigmatic. The Hebrew name Kohen or Cohen for hereditary priests derives according to Ms. Walker from Greek 'kuon' dog (p. 241). If one believes Greek dictionaries Greek 'dog' is 'kyon'. And in The Encyclopaedia Britannica (1993, vol. 3, p. 434, cohen) we find: cohen, also spelled Kohen (Hebrew: "priest")... On p. 464 Jews have cannibalistic sacraments.According to Ms. Walker Jews executed Jesus (p. 225) but the New Testament reports that Jesus was executed by Roman soldiers (Matthew 27, Mark 15, Luke 23, John 19).Horst G. Morgenbrod

Rating:
Summary: Propaganda Lite
Review: One of the most frustrating books I have ever read. It reminds me of that old adage, "When all you have is a hammer, everything begins to look like a nail." In this case, the hammer is some kind of generic goddess that the entire world's people, no matter how culturally different or geographically removed from each other, are presumed to have worshiped. The author writes as though every story, every historical event, every major religion was somehow the result of shifty eyed, evil-minded men conspiring en masse to erase the memory of the supposed primordial goddess and to suppress her natural priestesses, the women of the world. And if you think that sounds silly and far-fetched, you should read some of the topics in this book!

"The Woman's Encyclopedia..." views the history of the world through goddess-colored glasses that bend the scenery to suit the wearer's fancy. Simple, logical interpretations and well-documented evidence have no place if they point to any answer other than "goddess". The book is so peppered with illogic that it is easy to pull up nonsensical examples at random. Since it is about "Myths and Secrets," let's take two examples from the M chapter just for fun, starting with "Mama".

We'll begin with "why mama is a word understood in nearly all languages", to quote the book's publisher. Hmmm... Could it be because it is the easiest word to say? Or is it because, as Walker tells us, it is "Title of the Great Goddess Ma, or Mama, the world's basic name for mother's breasts."? Having said that, the author launches into a string of goddess name dropping that has nothing to do with the language of babies, unless babies are born knowing about Hindu goddesses and Mesopotamian "creatresses".

What's under "Mammon"? The first sentence says mammon is "the medieval demon of commercial acquisitiveness, whose name meant riches." The author then puts on her seven-league boots and leaps to the Middle East, where we are told "...the original meaning of this name was the rich outpouring of the Great Goddess's inexhaustible breasts (mamae), which nourished all her children." Really? "Mamae" is Latin, so the author must have missed the Middle East and leapt to Rome by mistake. She continues: "Babylon named her Mami or Mammitu (Mother), the biblical Mamre. Some Sumero-Babylonian scriptures called her Mammetun the mother of destinies." Maybe I missed something, but what's the connection between money, breasts and destiny? But it just keeps getting sillier: "Jesus's precept, 'Ye cannot serve God and Mammon' (Luke 16:13) meant a choice between God and Goddess, in a time when her temples were richer and more magnificent than his." By whose account? And where were these temples, in Jerusalem? (Recall that Jesus is addressing an audience of monotheistic Palestinian Jews). And how did the goddess connection creep into a sermon on the evils of money? Indeed, the following verse (Luke 16:14) says, "The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus." It seems these particular Jewish priests were really in love with a Babylonian goddess.

Of course, by this time Walker has strayed so far from any semblance of history, biblical storytelling or simple logic that we almost forget she began by telling us "Mammon" was a Medieval demon. If that's the case, how is it that Jesus was sermonizing about a demon that wouldn't be invented until the Middle Ages?

The author continues: "The Gospels demanded that her shrines be destroyed and her wealth taken away in an obviously jealous attack on the 'Many-breasted' Goddess 'whom all Asia and the world worshippeth' (Acts 19:27)".

Not only has the author inserted quotes around "Many-breasted" so as to make it appear to be part of the actual verse (which it isn't), she has launched an attack where none is warranted. In Acts 19:37, the city clerk of Ephesus (whom Acts presents as a defender of the goddess Artemis), tells the Ephesians who have captured the Christians, "You have brought these men here, though they have neither robbed temples nor blasphemed our goddess." The command for Christians to destroy and loot pagan temples clearly comes from Barbara Walker, not the New Testament.

Creating connections where there are none, inventing facts and ignoring the very sources she cites are tactics Ms. Walker employs with disturbing regularity in her book. Case in point: as we continue with the next sentence under "Mammon," Walker writes, "Like the Oriental Goddess Earth (Artha, "riches"), she stood for material wealth because her temples had a great deal of it and her soil was the ultimate source of all."

What oriental Goddess Earth? How was the connection made with Artha, since the word "earth" has a different derivation? Walker has now mysteriously connected money with soil. I'm surprised she didn't use this later in her book to invent a goddess-derivation for the terms "filthy lucre" and "dirt cheap".

As a reference book, "The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets" is about as reliable as "Chariots of the Gods". After all, the author creates connections to ancient goddesses the same way Erich Von Daniken created connections to ancient astronauts. In a rare fit of accuracy, Ms. Walker unintentionally summed up her own book when she wrote in the chapter on Religion:

"To purvey an unenlightened education, teaching myths as if they were facts, is another abuse of cultural communication". Amen to that.

Rating:
Summary: As Much Fun as the X-Files and as Accurate
Review: I had fun with this book and think it did open my mind, human brains get so clogged with formulas it's worth pursuing different points of view, clears away the cobwebs. I pity those who think this is a work of scholarship, however. Read, enjoy, then realize what you've read.