"Previously uncollected lectures and writings that trace the evolution of the Goddess, from Neolithic Old Europe to the Renaissance, and interpret classical motifs. Offers insight into self-actualization for women. Edited and introduced by the executive director of the Opus Archives and Research Center"--Provided by publisher.

On the great goddess -- Myth and the feminine divine -- The goddess in Paleolithic cultures -- The goddess as nature -- Goddess-mother creator: Neolithic and early Bronze age -- Stone to copper: Anatolia and old Europe -- Copper to bronze: Crete -- Indo-European influx -- Spears and languages -- Burial mounds and suttee -- Mycenae -- Sumerian and Egyptian goddesses -- The abstract field: rise of civilization -- The Semitic influx: Sargon and Hammurabi -- Egypt -- Myth of Isis and Osiris -- Goddesses and gods of the Greek pantheon -- The number of the goddess -- Artemis -- Apollo -- Dionysus -- Zeus -- Ares -- Athena -- Iliad and Odyssey: return to the goddess -- The judgment of Paris -- The Iliad -- The Odyssey -- Mysteries of transformation -- The once and future goddess -- Mystery cults -- The abduction of Persephone -- Dionysus and the feminine divine -- Amor: the feminine in European romance -- Virgin Mary -- The court of love -- The renaissance of the goddess -- Lift-off -- Appendix: foreword to Marija Gimbutas's The language of the goddess -- Goddess studies: essential reading.