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She Lives! The Return of Our Great Mother explores the return of the divine personified as female through myth-like stories, rituals for both personal and seasonal celebrations with songs and dances, and a variety of meditations. Now in its third edition, this book continues to be treasured for its innovative multi-traditional perspective and the beauty of its language.
Judith Laura's approach in She Lives! remains unusual among Goddess spirituality books. Its material doesn't fit neatly into any one category, such as Pagan. Rather, especially in its myth-like stories, it describes how female divinity might return to people on diverse paths, and addresses a variety of issues in a number of different religions and in secular settings. Its seasonal rituals contain aspects of Pagan, Jewish, Christian and other traditions. One of the earliest writers to see the connection between what is commonly called belly dance and Goddess heritage, Laura includes this and other folk dance forms in her rituals and meditations. Her personal rituals for women and for men focus on sex-related life milestones. Her seasonal rituals are community-oriented, including both adults and children.
This Combined Third Edition has all material from the first edition, including 30 songs with notated music for 26 of them. (The four songs for which notation is not included in this edition have well-known melodies. The 1999 second edition had notation for only 11 of the songs.) This new edition also includes material added in the second (10th Anniversary) edition, such as guided meditations for each of the seasonal celebrations and an entirely new section, "Reflections on Seasonal Celebrations," with background information on holidays of a number of different traditions. There are also some changes and additions found only in this edition, such as an alternative "Hail Mary" in one of the "Modern Myths," and other material modified or added to keep pace with the evolution of Goddess thought.
From reviewers of previous editions:
"This beautifully written book contains a variety of treasures, from Laura's myth retellings both ancient and modern, to ritual ideas from many spiritual disciplines, to sacred music and chants. . . .She Lives! provides invaluable information and practical ritual resources designed to help the reader."~SageWoman
"This is a book that I can highly recommend to anyone coming from more traditional religious backgrounds. . . . Laura's emphasis is on cultural and religious diversity. . . .Songs, chants and meditations round out this wonderful book that should be on every Goddess-loving person's bookshelf."~The Beltane Papers
Judith's myths are gentle, but powerful. They make you smile. They give you goose bumps."~Women's Spirituality Book Review.
