Visions of the Goddess - Hardcover

Miller's text provides an excellent cross-cultural perspective on the goddess, replete with detail yet easy to follow and gracefully written. The accompanying photographs are more than excellent: they are superlative. Many are depictions of the goddess as seen by ancient and tribal peoples and rendered in petroglyphs and statues, in temples and shrines. But more depict the goddess as she appears in nature itself: in snowy peaks and bubbling springs, in light on spring leaves in a poplar grove, in the palmy shapes of high waves, and in the starry explosions of the sun on clouds. The photographs, Milne's work, are sumptuous and evocative. Although Milne uses many unusual techniques--camera movement, multiple exposures, refraction filters--emotional and spiritual content takes precedence. These lovely images are in fact worthy of larger reproduction than the publisher elected to give them: it is hard to get lost in a three-by-two-inch photo. The pictures cry out to be more compellingly presented. Despite that compromising flaw, Visions of the Goddess is the most beautiful book of its kind on the subject yet to be assembled. Patricia Monaghan

Milne's (The Sacred Earth, Abrams, 1993) primary goal is to present the Earth Mother myth as it appears in geographically diverse matriarchal cultures. Through these Goddess traditions, the reader is introduced to Wild Psyche, Healing Spirit, and Mountain DwellerAeach another aspect of the Earth Mother. Color images throughout the book are meant to help readers reconnect to the world around them and particularly to the feminine energy of life. Various goddess stories, highlighted with photographs, encourage a feeling of wholeness in the reader. Library collections staying current in mythology can include this visual storytelling journey, which complements other New Age or goddess titles.ALeroy Hommerding, Citrus Cty. Lib., Inverness, FL
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