Before I read "When God Was a Woman", I'd heard mixed reviews. Some women absolutely loved this book and took everything in it as 100% true. Others pointed out flaws in the author's theories. I realized on my own that this is a book to approach with an open, inquisitive mind and an eye for the truth.

Using thousands of years' worth of stone drawings, ancient artifacts, ruins and documents, Stone takes us to the beginnings of civilization, when women ruled the earth. Why not men, you ask? Think about it: in the most primitive ancient civilizations, women gave birth the same way they do today. The first people probably didn't realize that men had a role in conceiving a child--they couldn't deduce that nine months after having sex, a child was born. But they did see women miraculously growing and giving birth to new life. Hence, our earliest ancestors revered and praised women as no civilization has done since then.

Societies in ancient Mesopotamia revered a female God who gave life to everything on the earth and in the sky. They worshiped Her with statues and temples, drawings and dolls, many of which are pictured in the book. Because their God was a woman, women naturally had the dominant role in society--possessions and property were passed down through daughters, not sons. Daughters inherited the family name, and women proposed to men, not the other way around. Women did all the planting and harvesting--the most important job in these societies was food production. Women were priests and ran every facet of their religion.

Stone goes on to explain where and how the Goddess religion spread, and how it was eventually stamped out by Jewish and later Christian men. These Goddesses were the basis for the Greek and Roman goddesses we read about in history books, and they are usually portrayed as pagan "cults". It's extremely interesting to read about why and how the worship of a female as God came to be, and how and why it eventually disappeared.

Some of Stone's theories are a bit of a stretch, but the majority of this book is based on fact and common sense. It's a must-read for inquisitive women and girls out there, and empowering no matter how much of it you take as truth.




Recommended: Yes