cover image Virgin Mother Crone: Myths and Mysteries of the Triple Goddess

Virgin Mother Crone: Myths and Mysteries of the Triple Goddess

Donna Wilshire. Inner Traditions International, $19.95 (322pp) ISBN 978-0-89281-494-7

In an unusual format of anthropological text followed by poetic script, actress and playwright Donna Wilshire explores the full terrain of the ancient female Great Mother and Creatrix. Fans of Riane Eisler (who wrote the foreword to this book as well as that commonsensical, fascinating anthropological study of ancient cultures, The Chalice and the Blade ) will find more of the same explication of how dimensionally rich and satisfying life was ``when women ruled the world.'' Wilshire promotes the necessary power of story, perhaps above all else, and gives this format wings in her performance scripts that illuminate the powerful dimensions of what, she believes, we have lost through the ages. Her assurance to men that there is nothing ``dismissive or derogatory about males here'' is a weak counterpoint to the other themes. On a fascinating par with the excellent text are the endnotes in the splendid trove of images and icons. Illustrations . (Mar.)