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In pre-Christian Britain the Great Goddess was worshipped either as an equal to the Gods or as an individual deity. From the Palaeolithic 'Earth Mother' to the Celtic goddesses of Boadicea and the Brigantes, this land once revered the divine feminine. Investigations into the history of the Great Goddess presents many questions: what happened to the goddess under the patriarchal Judeo-Christian tradition; how was it that the old earth-revering religions became synonymous with evil and the sky became heaven and the earth became Hell as Christianity took hold; why are so many Christian churches built on pre-Christian sacred sites; and, why do numerous Christian churches contain pagan imagery. Over the past five years Simon Brighton and Terry Welbourn set out to discover what happened to the Goddess after she was evicted from her elevated position. Travelling throughout Britain, they have uncovered traces of the divine feminine: from holy wells and shrines, lost underground chambers to folklore, legends and fairy tales. Between them they have researched and photographed hundreds of sites. They present a case that suggests that even after centuries of marginalisation, the goddess has remained with us - she has just found new ways of asserting herself. This unique book provides a rare glimpse through the sands of time to an era before modernisation and secularisation took hold, a time when pagan ritual and nature ruled the land. The authors take us on a journey to uncover the secret clues hidden beneath our feet, as they expose the dualism of Christianity and paganism amongst many fascinating sites, ruins, churches and the very landscape itself. Perfect for anyone with an interest in British history and theology, as well as for tourists and locals who wish to uncover the real truth behind these seemingly innocuous sights.
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30 of 32 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Before Christianity people living in Britain worshipped female deities and the evidence is all around us wherever we happen to live. This is a beautifully produced book printed on glossy paper to do justice to the many photographs it contains both in colour and black and white. The authors demonstrate how attempts have been made to eradicate the sacred feminine from our landscape. Many representations of the Goddess have had their faces removed though the Green Man representations - the male equivalent - have escaped unscathed. Even as recently as 2004 someone took a hammer to a pagan carving in a church in Sussex which appears to have been considered too graphic.
What I found most interesting is the way churches have been built on what were formerly pagan sites. The churches themselves frequently incorporate pagan imagery as well - as though they were trying to persuade people to become Christians by using familiar symbolism and geographical locations. The book explores standing stones and their significance in Goddess worship as well as labyrinths and mazes. It touches upon the persecution of witches and shows how early Christianity was far more tolerant of other spiritual worlds. It was only with the adoption of modern Christianity after the Synod of Whitby in the 7th century that Goddesses were officially removed from worship in the British Isles. The Celtic version of Christianity treated women as equals in the church and in society and it was common to hear female preachers.
The book provides a gazetteer of interesting places to visit to see evidence of Goddess worship still in existence. It also looks briefly at customs still being enacted which are relevant to pagan Goddess worship - including such things as maypole dancing and the Furry dance in Cornwall. I found this book very interesting as it shows another side to religion and beliefs in the British Isles and it demonstrates how the pagan Goddesses are still visible if you know where to look. It contains an index, a list of places mentioned in the text chapter by chapter with their locations and OS map references, and a bibliography. I would recommend this to anyone who is interested in the early history of Britain, landscapes and buildings, or in the history of religion and ideas. A beautiful book and well worth reading.
What I found most interesting is the way churches have been built on what were formerly pagan sites. The churches themselves frequently incorporate pagan imagery as well - as though they were trying to persuade people to become Christians by using familiar symbolism and geographical locations. The book explores standing stones and their significance in Goddess worship as well as labyrinths and mazes. It touches upon the persecution of witches and shows how early Christianity was far more tolerant of other spiritual worlds. It was only with the adoption of modern Christianity after the Synod of Whitby in the 7th century that Goddesses were officially removed from worship in the British Isles. The Celtic version of Christianity treated women as equals in the church and in society and it was common to hear female preachers.
The book provides a gazetteer of interesting places to visit to see evidence of Goddess worship still in existence. It also looks briefly at customs still being enacted which are relevant to pagan Goddess worship - including such things as maypole dancing and the Furry dance in Cornwall. I found this book very interesting as it shows another side to religion and beliefs in the British Isles and it demonstrates how the pagan Goddesses are still visible if you know where to look. It contains an index, a list of places mentioned in the text chapter by chapter with their locations and OS map references, and a bibliography. I would recommend this to anyone who is interested in the early history of Britain, landscapes and buildings, or in the history of religion and ideas. A beautiful book and well worth reading.
1 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Plutarch in his work titled "ISIS AND OSIRIS" in Paragraph 354 states:In Sais the statue of Athena, whom they believe to be Isis, bore the inscription "I am all that has been, and is, and shall be, and my robe no mortal has yet uncovered." the word "robe: is a mistranslation of the word "peplos" meaning her Divine Vibrations through which all the creation was made, that is the reason she is called Pallas Athena, the word Pallas derives from the word "palmos" meaning "oscillation." The true story of the creation through the Goddess has been completely disappeared from the history books of the Western countries. It has been preserved with good detail in the Indian Puranas, Upanishad, Vedes and Bhagavad-Gita. At some time the Greek tradition and the Indian were one and the same. But for diverse reasons, the connection between the two were severed and now they appear as different religions and civilazations. The Koran states that the true history of Mankind is its Religious History. Today in Hinduism Goddess Athena is to be found as the Adi Shakti, meaning the Primordial Power that created the Universe and everytging in it including humans. In Christianity this power is called the Great Power, but if one calls it Athena it taken to be an idolatry. All the Socratic dialogs are artfuly assigned to Plato,but they are the details of all genuine religious texts including the Mysteries of Christ. Proclus in his commentary on the Platonic work Cratylus paragraph 18,states the name Socrates means the "Salvation of the Power of the soul." The worship of the Goddess will be reinstituted in the years ahead.
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