THE GODDESS-WORSHIPING CULTURES OF PREHISTORIC EUROPE
The best and most accessible nonfiction descriptions of the Goddess-worshiping cultures of Neolithic Europe (sometimes called “Old Europe”) can be found in the writings of archaeologist Marija Gimbutas. The three works of hers which I consulted most frequently while writing The Village of Bones: Sabalah’s Tale and the three novels of The Earthsong Trilogy were: The Goddesses and Gods of Old Europe, The Civilization of the Goddess, and The Language of the Goddess. It was Professor Gimbutas who postulated that waves of horse-riding nomads who worshipped male Sky Gods invaded Old Europe in the Fifth Millennium B.C.E. and attacked the Goddess-worshipping cultures which—give or take a few local conflicts—had lived in peace with one another for thousands of years.
CONTEMPORARY GODDESS WORSHIP
Foremothers of the Women’s Spirituality Movement: Elders and Visionaries
Edited by Miriam Robbins Dexter and Vicki Noble. Amherst NY (<teneo>//press, 2015)
Thirty-three essays by the founders of the modern Women’s Spirituality Movement. Authors include: Vicki Noble, Miriam Robbins Dexter, Carol P. Christ, Max Dashu, Elinor W. Gadon, Mara Lynn Keller, Riane Eisler, Miranda Shaw, Starr Goode, Joan Marler, Heide Goettner-Abendroth, Luisah Teish, Brooke Medicine Eagle, Starhawk, Musawa, Susan S. Weed, Jane Hardwicke Collings, Glenys Livingstone, Z Budapest, Hallie Austen Iglehart, Mama Donna Henes, KathyJones, Ruth Barrett, Vajra Ma, Judy Grahn, Karen Vogel, Cristina Biaggi, Donna Read, Mary Mackey, Lydia Ruyle, Krissy Keefer, and Genevieve Vaughn.