Virgin Mother Goddesses of Antiquity

by Marguerite Mary Rigoglioso

Various goddesses of the ancient Mediterranean world were once understood to be Virgin Mothers––creators who birthed the entire cosmos without need of a male consort. This is the first book to explore evidence of the original parthenogenetic power of deities such as Athena, Hera, Artemis, Gaia, Demeter, Persephone, and the Gnostic Sophia. It provides stunning feminist insights about the deeper meaning of related stories, such as the judgment of Paris, the labors of Heracles, and the exploits of the Amazons. It also roots the Thesmophoria and Eleusinian Mysteries in female parthenogenetic power, thereby providing what is at long last a coherent understanding of these mysterious rites.

Genres: Nonfiction, Goddess

267 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Marguerite Rigoglioso (pronounced REGAL-yo-zo, for you non-Italians!), Ph.D., is the founding director of Seven Sisters Mystery School (SevenSistersMysterySchool.com) and a scholar/practitioner of the ancient Mediterranean mystery traditions. The world's foremost authority on virgin birth, she is the author of The Mystery Tradition of Miraculous Conception: Mary and the Lineage of Virgin Births, as well as The Cult of Divine Birth in Ancient Greece, and Virgin Mother Goddesses of Antiquity. These ground-breaking books reveal an entire suppressed history of holy women who engaged in the practice of divine conception throughout the ancient Mediterranean world, and cast Mother Mary in a completely new light.

As a teacher and mentor with Seven Sisters Mystery School, Dr. Rigoglioso works with one-on-one and with groups to help people develop their deep intuition, their unique spiritual path, and their sacred careers. She offers evolutionary online courses such as The Mother Mary Mystery Teachings, the Priestess of the Dove Oracle Training, the Holy Womb Chakra Teachings, the Divine Birth Mysteries Audio Series, the Awakening to Our Fairy Kin course, and more.

As a scholar, Dr. Rigoglioso has taught unique courses in religion, humanities, and women's spirituality at various colleges and universities in the San Francisco Bay Area, including Dominican University of California, the California Institute of Integral Studies, Sonoma State University, and Sofia University. She was also a founding faculty member of the former MA in Myth, Cosmology, and the Sacred at Canterbury Christ Church University in the UK.

She has written many articles, lectured widely, and taught scores of courses and workshops on topics such as: women's spiritual history; the reclaiming of the oracle priestess path; goddesses, gods, patriarchy, and Masculine/Feminine balance; divine birth; the Pleiades as the Seven Mothers of the world; the expansion of consciousness and 5th dimensional reality; human-deity relations; Shadow work and negative entities; extraterrestrial and artificial intelligence agendas; fairy reality; and more. To aid her investigations, she has traveled extensively throughout Europe and North Africa exploring relevant sites and artifacts.

Her research on female deities and women's religious leadership in the ancient Mediterranean world and beyond has appeared in anthologies and journals, including Feminist Theology, The Encyclopedia of Religion and Nature, Societies of Peace, She Is Everywhere, Trivia, and the Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, where her paper on the cult of Demeter and Persephone in Sicily received an honorable mention for the New Scholar Award.

Dr. Rigoglioso has presented her research at Harvard University in the Loeb Classical Lecture series, as well as at the American Academy of Religion, the Society of Biblical Literature, World Congresses on Matriarchal Studies, and the National Women's Studies Association. She has been interviewed on her research for numerous radio programs and podcasts, as well as for the documentary films The Vanishing of the Bees and The Search for Local Honey.

She holds a Ph.D. in humanities and an M.A. in philosophy and religion from the California Institute of Integral Studies, and an A.B. in psychology from Vassar College, with high honors. She integrates her academic pursuits with her own spiritual growth work and intuitional skills, which have been cultivated through years of ceremonial practice working with altered states of consciousness, as well as intensive study at the Foundation for Spiritual Development in San Rafael, CA.

She has served as a professional freelance writer, as well, working for clients such as Harvard, Stanford, UC Berkeley, Boston University, and numerous nonprofits, businesses, and authors.

Visit Dr. Rigoglioso at: SevenSistersMysterySchool.com to receive her free audios, videos, and articles, to learn more about her online courses, and to fi

Reviews

[Aika Artemisia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book, sussed out a lot of the different levels of female mysteries and development often covered up and disregarded with EXCELLENT citation. Highly recommended.

[Graisi · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a bit dry, but very interesting and a rarely discussed topic in Goddess literature.