The Goddess Festival Fayetteville, Arkansas
Our mission is to restore balance in the world, by encouraging exploration of the feminine divine
through art, music, words, dance and shared knowledge.



Recommended Materials

Here are some books and other resources meant to expand your knowledge. Click the pictures to buy from Amazon.

Here, archaeologically documented is the story of the religion of the Goddess. Known by many names, she reigned supreme in the Near and Middle East. How did the change in women’s roles come about? By documenting the wholesale rewriting of myth and religious dogmans, Stone details an ancient conspiracy that laid the foundation for one of culture’s greatest shams–the legend of Adam and fallen Eve.
Having demanded that spirituality be reexamined in terms of women’s own spiritual needs, the women’s movement has brought a resurgence of prepatriarchal spirituality centering on the goddess–whatever her name. Along with this resurgence comes the need to reexamine artistic and anthropological assumptions. Using art and artifacts, Gadon traces the history of goddess worship from Paleolithic times to the present day. The most moving and effective chapters are on women’s art of the late 20th century. A compelling and challenging book suitable for both public and academic libraries.
Formerly titled The Feminist Dictionary, Amazons, Bluestockings and Crones now sports a rich, descriptive title much like the words defined within. This colorful and wealthy dictionary examines, explains and redefines many ideas and terms pertaining to women and patriarchal society. Each word is placed within the context of its evolving meaning-dating back to its origin and weaving through the years into its present day connotation. Cheris Kramarae and Paula A. Treichler have compiled a reference resource filled with fascinating information contributed by many women. This lexicon is destined to be a classic.
It was written during the late 1800’s, passed on to Leland by Madellana, who was the child of an Italian witch family. It presents a picture of and ancient and secret cult of the Old Religion, with its distinctive beliefs and practices.
This is an inspirational guide for any woman who wants to be powerful without selling her soul. It is also for any man who wants to open his loving intuitive and creative powers and for everyone on a spiritual quest.
In this beautifully illustrated study of sculpture, vases, and other cult objects portraying the Goddess, fertility images, and mythical animals, Marija Gimbutas sketches the matrilineal village culture that existed in southeastern Europe between 6500 and 3500 B.C., before it was overwhelmed by the patriarchal Indo-Europeans. The analysis of this rich mythical imagery tells us much about early humanity’s concepts of the cosmos, of humans’ relations with nature, and of the complementary roles of male and female.
This long-awaited reference book is an important addition for students studying women’s ancient history and the roots of religion. Sjoo and Mor describe the great spiral of cultural movement that began “in the beginning…with a very female sea,” and continued into Neolithic times. They show how our brains have been emptied of women’s cultural history, and then they begin to piece together, detail by detail, that history. This does not lend itself to cover-to-cover reading, but it is a worthy book to discover while researching the roots of religion and/or the history of women as creators of culture.
It is a “deeply personal search for wisdom and peace that took the author from New Mexico, through Nepal, India, Switzerland, France, Yugoslavia and Poland where various feminine models of Spirit are venerated today. The author presents her journey vividly, combining research, intrigue, meditaton and sensual experiences.”
Starhawk and Hilary Valentine, renowned leaders in the Wicca movement, use the transformative fairy tale of The Twelve Wild Swans to teach an advanced class on magic. More significantly, this is an introduction to a mature level of Wicca called “reclaiming,” a model of witchcraft that blends magic, personal growth, and activism. The book begins with the first chapter of the fairy tale, in which a foolish queen wishes to exchange her 12 sons for a daughter. An old woman “dressed all in black” overhears the queen and makes the wish come true, granting the queen a daughter but turning her sons into wild swans.

From here the coauthors launch into a back-and-forth structure of telling the story and then stopping to show how it applies to a witch’s initiation and transformation. For example, we all must leave the castle in order to heal our past. We all must spend some time wandering in the wilderness before finding our true home, and we all must conquer some form of “wicked vows” before we can reach full maturity. These are wise leaders and strong guides, well worth following on this life-altering fairy tale.

Myths are fascinating stories that become even more intriguing when we realize that they can reveal intimate truths about ourselves and others. Esteemed Jungian analyst Jean Shinoda Bolen brings the Greek pantheon to life as our inner archetypes and applies the power of myth to our personal lives. Once we understand the natural progression from myth to archetype to personal psychology, and realize that positive gifts and negative tendencies are qualities associated with a particular goddess within, we gain powerful insights.

Depending on which goddess is more active within, one woman might be more committed to achieving professional success, while another more fulfilled as a wife and mother. Twenty years after its first publication, Goddesses in Everywoman continues to be deeply relevant, and with this twentieth-anniversary edition, this classic volume will continue to be celebrated.

The world of the Ancient Greeks lives on today through its mythology. For countless generations prior to biblical times, tales of gods and goddesses were passed down by storytellers and interwoven into traditions and philosophies. Each city devoted itself to particular gods. But these gods also had human frailties. Where did the pantheon originate? Did any of the stories in Greek mythology actually occur? We look at new archaeological evidence that supports the possibility.

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      2010 Goddess Festival CDs are available on this website as well as the following stores in Fayetteville:

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      Visitor's Center on the Square
      Furnish
      Jammin' Java
      Nightbird Books

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