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The Great Cosmic Mother: Rediscovering the Religion of the Earth | 
 enlarge | Author: Monica Sjoo
Publisher: HarperOne
Category: Book
List Price: $24.00
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Rating:  34 reviews
Sales Rank: 139647
Media: Paperback
Edition: 2
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 528
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.8
Dimensions (in): 8.8 x 6.1 x 1.6
ISBN: 0062507915
Dewey Decimal Number: 291.2114
EAN: 9780062507914
ASIN: 0062507915
Publication Date: May 1, 1987
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Product Description
This classic companion to The World's Religions articulates the remarkable unity that underlies the world's religious traditions
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| Customer Reviews: Read 29 more reviews...
 My mother is cosmic June 14, 2008
This book made me thirst for the Great Mother. I feel so inhibited by the patriarchal religion and long ago gave up any hope with it. The patriarchal religion steals my being. I feel crushed and beaten down by it. I am a glorious daughter of a loving mother. It is She who is worshiped and I am made in her image. Having been raised Catholic, I remember shocking my father by asking him why only a priest could hold the sacred host. He said that the priest was a representative of God on earth and that his fingers were specially blessed. There are still no women priests with holy fingers. There are women who handle the host now but that is because there aren't enough male priests to do the job. I was a very angry 9 year old. I could never aspire to hold the host. I was a girl. I'm still angry about that. Give me a Goddess. I will adore her. Only a couple of criticisms. I thought she overused the word , ontological. It was everywhere. Also the writer took more than a few liberties in supposing that the Goddess did this and that. We really don't know. The Goddess knows and may let us figure it out eventually. Great book!
 Greatest book ever July 15, 2007
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
This is not just a book, it's an adventure in discovery- what matriarchy means, and meant for 200 millenia before the patriarchs came and wrecked everything. Why it is such a profound trip is the old religion, the spirituality that prevailed for all those long centuries is really beautiful- empowering and liberating. Before there was writing there was no "word of God" for preachers to scare children with. There was not a God. The cranky, punishing, vengeful being worshipped by the world's three "great" religions was a Jehova come lately who showed up 200,000 years too late. Before the patriarchs invented him, humankind had got along very well all that time without him. Without guilt, or being ashamed of our bodies, without sin. As "savages" we loved our sexuality, and thought sex was fun, a gift from Mother Nature for us to enjoy.
Also it's astonishing to discover how deeply enmeshed we are and have been in Western
Civ, and what a huge role has been played by patrirchal preaching. When people from the West first saw natural humans, who still knew they are part of nature, and loved her they were shocked. They had no way of understanding their sprituality. They totally believed if it did not happen in a church with a book and a preacher, it could not be religion.
These two amazing women are here to show us a whole new- and very old- way of looking religion, at the world, and Mother Earth and the Cosmos.
Great exploration of the Goddes with a bitter anti-male bent May 13, 2007
4 out of 6 found this review helpful
I have been greatly conflicted on how to rate and what to write as a review of this 500+ page tome.
First the bad: I know my sex would be read the riot act throughout this book, when on the dedication page, it can be read: "To my son ... who was tragically killed ... by patriarchal technology ..." Circulation aside, the polarization Ms Mor espouses is just as damaging to gender harmony as any patriarchal "holy" book. Women as "good" and men as "evil" isn't helpful to the cause of trying to find gender balance in pagan spirituality and culture. There was very little to zero differentiation made between male oppressors and males who don't / didn't treat women as second class citizens or worse, chattel.
Now the good: I was inspired by "Cosmic Mother." I hadn't been previously inspired to add to my statue collection "The Venus of Laussel" or "Ngame" better known as the Cretan Snake Goddess, but this book made me want to get them. Entire chapters inspired and resonated with me, particularly all of the chapters that spoke of women's culture and religion in Neolithic times.
The most topical material for today (the dark Bush years) is the chapter entitled "The American Split" in which Ms Mor argues the founding fathers religion of Deism is really an early form of Secular Humanism. Deuteronomy or the Hebrew part of the "Bible" could not have been the inspiration of basic constitutional rights such as "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, " "innocent until proven guilty," "freedom of religion," the utter rejection of divine rights of kings, etc. Ms Mor successfully argues that the USA was not founded on "Christian" values but on "Secular Humanist" values.
She is the most prophetic when speaking of "free trade zones" which are code words for making the rich richer and the poor poorer. One of her most enduring and convincing themes is that patriarchal monotheist religion and culture legitimizes entire populations servitude to the ruling elite. She, more than any other author, opened my eyes to this fact about patriarchal "holy" books.
In my continuing path to find the Goddess and eventually balance of male/female principles in my life and spirituality, "Cosmic Mother" has greatly helped me along. I just wish there wasn't so much bitterness between the helpful parts of this book.
The Great Cosmic Mother May 12, 2007
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
An intriguing exploration of the presence of the female sex throughout time. Sjoo is a strong, charismatic writer who presents all of her deepest convictions and bias in this book. Like most historical and cultural expositions, this book should be read with an awareness of the author's personal history and passions.
BECOME WOMAN March 3, 2007
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
The Great Cosmic mother is my life's mission! The authors were guided by non other than SHE when they wrote this book! All women on the planet must read this masterpiece. Men will find Ma again and learn to cherish her. Change the world, change your life by reading this book. You need look no further!
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