Visions of the Goddess

by Courtney Milne, Sherrill Miller

A collection of photographs of spectacular natural landscapes blend with a comprehensive history of the ancient Earth Goddesses worshipped in each of the areas pictured, giving new meaning to the spiritual archetype of the Great Mother. 12,500 first printing.

Genres: Spirituality, Goddess, History

128 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 1999

About the author

Courtney Milne (1943-2010) was a Canadian photographer and author.

Reviews

[Susan]

I hate to say it, but for me this one is two stars rounded up to three for the fantastic photos.

I found this book to be frustrating. Often, the text gives the goddess's name and a catchy epithet for her, but then tells the story of someone or something else entirely. For example, Cailleach Beheur, Ancestress of Stones gives the story of how ancient people made standing stone circles, and lists off where a number of these circles may be found... or Sabra, the Rescued Princess, is somehow instead the story of Saint George and the dragon... and a bunch of stuff about apostles and cathedrals. I picked up this book because I wanted to learn about the GODDESSES. Instead, I got a lot of I don't know what, but anything except the stories of the goddesses most of the time.

The photos are beautiful, but the book very frustrating for me. I am glad that I can give this one back to the library.

[J]

A nice little introduction to those who may be interested either in mythoi or even just getting to know more about goddesses. Since there are hundreds of thousands of various deities the book doesn't cover a lot nor provides much information for those that are included but those that are may help to lead one onto further reading.

I have two complaints with the book. The first is a slightly wide stretch of content since the book was missing some of the most popular goddesses including my personal favorite Bastet although her opposite Sekhmet was mentioned. I can understand the limited space so it would have been interesting to see how they ended up choosing. And while we are on content the book did hit one of my pet peeves as Artemis wasn't the moon goddess but Selene in the Ancient Greek world. I know wide pantheon and depends on who you talk to.

My second is since it was a global cross-section of goddesses it would have been nice if there had a part in the back where they were collected regionally perhaps. Myself I would have truly enjoyed a pronunciation guide for some of the names that I couldn't figure front or back how to pronounce - fortunately I was reading to myself.

The presentation of the information wasn't consistent. Some of the goddesses you got more information about the history, the practices and even stories about her while others were just a quick sentence or two then leap to the next.

What I did like, though, was the pictures. Whatever maybe was lacking in the presentation is more than made up for in the photographs. There is a beauty that is presented in the nature shots even the ones that were enhanced while I look at the date then wonder how when cameras back then were so limited were they able to come up with some of the shots. There is definitely talent seen while it will pull you back out into nature as you dive into this oldest of subjects.

[Thepaganpuzzler]

Great little coffee table book to initiate conversation about the different aspects of Goddess perception.

[Amy]

Great to learn about all the different Goddesses worshipped around the world, accompanied by great photography!