Goddess: A Celebration in Art and Literature

248 Pages·1997·39.037 MB·240\248

by  Jalaja Bonheim

r
A CELEBRATION IN
ART AND LITERATURE
Edited by Jalaja Bonheim
or centuries, tales of the goddess’s
creativity, strength, and suffering
have sprung forth from every
civilization and corner of the world.
In this elegant volume, editor Jalaja
Bonheim, Ph.D., has compiled a unique and
culturally diverse anthology of literature and art
to reveal the many guises of the goddess.
From the Navajo goddess who weaves the
world like a spider weaves a web to the African
goddess who gave the world fire, the power of
the goddess is revealed through her stories. The
even-popular goddess of love appears as
Aphrodite in Greece, Laka in Hawaii, and
Shiratamahime in Japan. Wisdom, compassion,
and healing are manifested in the radiant
Kuan-Yin of China, the Wisdom Mother in
Buddhism, and the Butterfly Woman of North
America. Conversely, dark and dangerous
goddesses appear dancing among burial
grounds or, as in a Middle Eastern myth,
sitting enthroned in the underworld receiving
the souls of the dead.
Goddess: A Celebration in Art and Literature
contains stories, poems, and songs from ancient
Greece, Rome, Egypt, Africa and China, to
India, Ireland, and the Americas. Many of
these tales are recounted by such noted authors
as Lucille Clifton, Diane Wolkstein, Clarissa
Pinkola Estes, and Joseph Campbell.
Unlike other current books on the subject,
this highly illustrated anthology is created with
a non-partisan point of view that will appeal to
a general audience. Hem is a book as beautiful
as the goddess herself, certain to captivate
both aficionados of goddess mythology and
fine art, as v/ei! as serious connoisseurs of
multicultural f Adore.
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th no ful: ILLUSTRATIONS
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IN I BODUC1 ION 6
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pabi I ~ B OF THE L^LBSI 19
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Spider Woman. Creates the World (Navajo) Paula Allen 21
Eurynome (Greek) Erica Meade 2
The Making of The World (Huron) If
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Coatlicue (Aztec) 28
The M^Haf Ngalyod (Australian) Louis A. Allen 30
Coadidop (Tariana) 35
Huiio the Rainbow Snake (Orinoco) Marc de Civrifux 36
Homage to Tara Our Mother (Tibetan)#’r4l
LEMENTAL M JC: EABTL 11 12. I 1121 . AN[
Hymn to Gaia (Greek) Homer 45
Grandmother Spider Gets the Fire (Navajo) Paula Gunn Allen 46
Traditional Praise of Oya (Nigerian) 50
Frigga, Eostre, and Holde (Germanic) 52
Pele the Volcano Goddess (Hawaiian) Carolyn McVickar Edwards 57
Two Water Goddesses ( Zulu) Jan Knappert 58
Anancy and the Hide-Away Garden (Afro-Caribbean) James Berry 61
The Story of Shiratamahime (Japanese) Patrik Le Nestour 64
pabi III ~ HEAVENLY BODIES 69
Hymn to Usha, Goddess of Dawn (Hindu) 70
Hymn to Selene, Goddess of the Moon (Greek) Homer 73
Sun Dreaming (Australian) 75
Hymn to Nut (Egyptian) 76
Where the Frost Comes From (Australian) Langloh Parker and Johanna Lambert 79
Amaterasu (Japanese) Jalaja Bonheim 80
Nananbouclou and the Piece of Fire (Haitian) Harold Courlander 82
The Lady of the Evening (Sumerian) 84
Shining One (Yurok) Theodora Kroeber 86
pabi IV ~ THE GODDESS OE LOVE AND PI EASUBE 91
Hymn to Aphrodite (Greek) Sappho 93
Aphrodite and Anchises (Greek) Homer 95
Freya (Germanic) H.A. Guerber 98
Hymn to Hathor (Egyptian) 100
Hymn to Hathor in the Temple of Dendera (Egyptian) 101
Oshun Acquires the Art of Divining (Yoruban) Luisah Teish 102
Prayer-Song to Laka (Hawaiian) 105
The Birth of Lakshmi (Hindu) Jalaja Bonheim 106
A Supplicant Speaks of the Goddess Kwan Yin (Contemporary) Richard Kell 111
At Last Love Has Come (Roman) Sulpicia 113
v ~ mi sum mi 115
pabi bing oe goddess
The Hungry Woman (Aztec) 117
The Curse of the Goddess Macha (Celtic) Mary Condren 118
The First People and the First Corn (Pueblo) Shakrukh Husain 123
Erzulie Ge-Rouge (Haitian) Maya Deren 126
The Descent of Inanna (Sumerian) Jalaja Bonheim 131
Baubo: The Belly Goddess Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Ph.D. 1
-\m VI ~ A 11 Id Id lb) I I BE T Y
139
Mdymn to Pallas Athena (Greek) Holder 141
Atffiena and Arachne (Greek) Jalaja Bonffleim ^142
Du rga the Warrior Goddess (Hindu) Jalaja BorSeim .145
In Praise of Kali (Hindu) Ramprasad Sen
calming Kali (Contemporary) Lucille Clifton
Eiheduanna’s Praise of Inanna (Sumerian) 151
Artemis and Actaeon (Greek) Joanna Goodman 152
Ayiasma (Contemporary) Gunnar Ekelof 154
the People of Tc day Have Two Stories (Contemporary) Carolyn McVict Edwards
PAB1 V I ME GODDESS AND MED MATE
The Joy of Sumer: The Sacred Marriage Rite (Sumerian) 162
Isis and Osiris (Egyptian) Robert Musil 164
Why Desire Has No Body (Hindu) Jalaja Bonheim 168
Praise to Vishnu (Hindu) 171
The Story of Akewa the Sun and Jaguar Man (Toba) Carolyn McVickar Edwards 173
Caitlin of Kilcummin (Irish) Carolyn White 176
How Ogun Broke into Seven Pieces, Oya into Nine (Yoruban) Judith Gleason 180
Mbaba Mwana Waresa (Zulu) Carolyn McVickar Edwards 183
Au Co (Vietnamese) Thich Nhat Hanh 184
PABT VIII ~ MIDDEN GODDESSES: JUDAISM, CEIBISTIANITY. AND ISLAM 189
In Praise of Sophia (Old Testament) 191
Tabernacle of Peace (Jewish) Howard Schwartz 192
The Door to the Soul (Contemporary) Carolyn McVickar Edwards 195
mary’s dream (Contemporary) Lucille Clifton 199
Our Lady of Guadalupe (Mexican) Paula Gunn Allen 200
Mother Chant (Jewish) Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb 202
Golden Cloud Woman (Jewish) Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb 204
Litany to Our Lady (Irish) 206
A Heretic’s Pilgrimage (Irish) Eva Gore-Booth 208
Mothers of the Faithful (Islamic) Nur A1 Jerrahi (Lex Hixon) 210
pabi IX ~ GUADDIAN OE THE SOUL 213
Mystic Hymn to the Wisdom Mother (Buddhist) Nur A1 Jerrahi (Lex Hixon) 215
from The Thunder, Perfect Mind (Coptic) 216
White Buffalo Woman (Sioux) David Leeming and Jake Page 219
The Bride of Mero (Chinese) Joseph Campbell 220
La Mariposa, Butterfly Woman Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Ph.D. 223
Homages to the Twenty-One Taras (Tibetan) 227
Tantric Praise of the Goddess (Hindu) 230
Apuleius’ Vision of Isis (Roman) 233
INDEX Of GODDLSSI S 236
LI IE BABY/AB I CBEDITS 237
ACKNOW I I DO MEN I S 240
Introduction
I
ABO\ I : Venus with Ceres will never forget the moment when I stumbled upon the four-thousand-year-old
and Juno, Raphael, c. 1518. Sumerian story of Inanna’s descent to the underworld. I was in a bookstore, idly
browsing through a pile of books that had been damaged by recent flooding. The
Farnesina Palace, Rome.
copy of Inanna: Queen of Heaven and Earth was in bad shape, and the wavy pages
crackled in protest as I pulled them apart and began reading:
From the Great Above she opened her ear to the Great Below.
From the Great Above the goddess opened her ear to the Great Below.
From the Great Above Inanna opened her ear to the Great Below.
My Lady abandoned heaven and earth to descend to the underworld.
Inanna abandoned heaven and earth to descend to the underworld.
6
She abandoned heaven and earth to descend to the underworld.
• INTRODUCTION