Do You Know...< P> < UL> < LI> where the legend of a cat's nine lives comes from?< P> < LI> why "mama" is a word understood in nearly all languages?< P> < LI> how the custom of kissing began?< P> < LI> whether there really was a female pope?< P> < LI> why Cinderella's glass slipper was so important to the Prince? < /UL> < P> The answers to these and countless other intriguing questions are given in this compulsively readable, feminist encyclopedia. Twenty-five years in preparation, this unique, comprehensive sourcebook focuses on mythology anthropology, religion, and sexuality to uncover precisely what other encyclopedias leave out or misrepresent. < I> The Woman's Encyclopedia< /I> presents the fascinating stories behind word origins, legends, superstitions, and customs. A browser's delight and an indispensable resource, it offers 1,350 entries on magic, witchcraft, fairies, elves, giants, goddesses, gods, and psychological anomalies such as demonic possession; the mystical meanings of sun, moon, earth, sea, time, and space; ideas of the soul, reincarnation, creation and doomsday; ancient and modern attitudes toward sex, prostitution, romance, rape, warfare, death and sin, and more. < P> Tracing these concepts to their prepatriarchal origins, Barbara G. Walker explores a "thousand hidden pockets of history and custom in addition to the valuable material recovered by archaeologists, orientalists, and other scholars." < P> Not only a compendium of fascinating lore and scholarship, < i> The Woman's Encyclopedia< /i> is a revolutionary book that offers a rare opportunity for both women and men to see ourcultural heritage in a fresh light, and draw upon the past for a more humane future.
