Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
The Concept of the Goddess explores the function and nature of goddesses and their cults in many cultures, including:
* Celtic
* Roman
* Norse
* Caucasian
* Japanese traditions.
The contributors explore the reasons for the existence of so many goddesses in the mythology of patriarchal societies and show that goddesses have also assumed more masculine roles, with war, hunting and sovereignty being equally important aspects of their cults.
Table of Contents
The Concept of the Goddess /Juliette Wood --The Celtic Goddess as healer /Miranda Green --Now you see her, now you don't: some notes on the conception of female shape-shifters in Scandinavian tradition /Catharina Raudvere --Freyja and Frigg /Stephan Grundy --Freyja--a goddess with many names /Britt-Mari Nasstrom --Meg and her daughters: some traces of goddess-beliefs in magalithic folklore? /Samuel Pyeatt Menefee --Milk and the Northern Goddess /Hilda Ellis Davidson --Coventina's well /Lindsay Allason-Jones --Nemesis and Bellona: a preliminary study of two neglected goddesses /Glenys Lloyd-Morgan --Fors Fortuna in ancient Rome /Transmutations of an Irish goddess /Maire Herbert --Aspects of the earth-goddess in the traditions of the banshee in Ireland /Patricia Lysaght --The Causasian hunting-divinty, male and female: traces of the hunting-goddess in Ossetic folklore /Anna Chaudhri --The Mistress of the animals in Japan: Yamanokami /Carmen Blacker.