I found Mary through the Goddess. I accepted her as the face of the Goddess & always have. It was interesting to read the de-mystification & stripping of her Goddess attributes by the Catholic Church. For me the gem of this book was the Epilogue - Being Mary. Charlene, the author received an X-mas card from an artist that she was taking a theology Mary course with, that said --- Eat Drink & Be Mary. She thought, what an irrevarant thought - Be Mary! Later that evening she realized that Guadalupe's Feast Day is coming. She drives by a church that is setting up a nativity scene on the front lawn. She stops and asks the two workers about Guadalupe's Feast Day. One of the gentlemen, a lovely mexican man asks her, "Would you like to be Mary? Would you like to play Mary in our reinactment on Guadalupe's Day?" This is the way Mary is ... one moment you are holding a card that says Be Mary - the next moment you are in Mother's arms. Charlene's description of being Mary is pure Mary Magic at its best!

I have always had such mixed feelings about Mary. Of course she is the Goddess, and a Goddess of compassion, like Kuan Yin -- but she seems so co-opted and diminished it was just too painful to work with Her spiritually. I love the beautiful old Marian art but can't look at it without also remembering all the crusades, conquistadors, wars, pogroms and witch burnings. But Spretnak reclaims Mary as a full Living Goddess, continuous with the Great Mother of Old Europe, and as a necessary earth-based counterbalance to the transcendent male sky-gods. Her book is so heartfelt it had me crying at many places.

I doubt very much the Church will like her ideas, but I pray this heresy spreads... and I suppose I should pray to Mary!