Joseph Campbell (1904-1987) was an American teacher and author who did pioneer work in the field of comparative mythology. In 1988, a series of television interviews with Bill Moyers brought his ideas to millions of people. Although he never wrote a book on the Goddesses, between 1972 and 1986 he gave more than 20 lectures and workshops on them, delineating their figures, functions, symbols, and themes. It is remarkable that the ancient goddess traditions survived at all given the 2,000 years of patriarchal and monotheistic repression of the idea of the feminine divine.

This collection of previously unpublished material has been edited by Safron Rossi who teaches courses on mythology and depth psychology. Here you will find Campbell tracking goddesses from Neolithic Old Europe into Sumerian and Egyptian mythology, through Homer's epic Odyssey, the Greek Eleusinian cult, the Arthurian legends of the Middle Ages, and into the Neoplatonic Renaissance. Grounded in the body, the Earth and the natural world, these goddesses open up long closed doors and connect all beings in the web of life.

On the last page of the book, Campbell quotes Johann Wolfgang von Goethe who said: "The Eternal feminine is what draws us on."