WOMEN'S STUDIES / SPIRITUALITY Artistic representations depicting two women in intimate relations with each other, or as a single body with two heads, have been discovered in important centers of early civilization from locations as widespread as the Mediterranean and Aegean regions to Central Asia, India, Tibet, Mexico, and Peru. The archaeologists who first discovered these figures dubbed them Double Goddesses and linked them to ancient cults of the Great Mother. Vicki Noble validates this Great Goddess connection and asserts that the icon of the Double Goddess expands our understanding of ancient female autonomy and sovereignty. Illustrated with more than 150 representations of this ancient icon, The Double Goddess offers contemporary women an archetype for the sacred potential of female bonding--whether between mother and daughter, teacher and student, friends, or lovers. VICKI NOBLE is a healer, teacher, artist, and cocreator (with Karen Vogel) of the bestselling Motherpeace Tarot deck. Her other books include Shakti Woman; Motherpeace: A Way to the Goddess Through Myth, Art, and Tarot; and Rituals and Practices with the Motherpeace Tarot. She lives in the mountains near Santa Cruz, California.

Acknowledgments Maps of Archaeological Sites of Ancient Goddess Cultures Introduction: What Is the Double Goddess? 1: Power of Two: The Legacy of the Double Goddess Biology Is Destiny: All Women Are Twins The Divine Two-in-One Mirroring Her, Mirroring Time Dark-Light Goddess Spirituality Siamese Twins: Merged Double Goddess Images The Double Axe: Shorthand for Women The Double Axe and Female Rule Long Female Lineage of the Double Axe 2: Authentic Female Sovereignty: Chains and Doubles The Double Goddess Shrines of Çatalhöyük Women Sharing Power: The Queens Ruled Together The "Two Ladies": A Euphemism for Ruling Queens African Queen-Mother and Queen-Sister: Egypt's"Mighty Ones" The Two Heras 3: Shaman Women and High Priestesses Cemeteries and Shaman Women Yoginis, Bee Priestesses, and the Magic Soma Medea and the Golden Fleece The Eternal Power and Prestige of Gold The Trance-Induced Stare of the Eye Goddess Island Sanctuaries of the Aegean Mediterranean "Wild Women" Enheduanna, the Shaman-Priestess of Inanna Iron Age Shaman Women Scythian Shaman-Priestesses and Tibetan Dakinis: Is There a Direct Connection? 4: Amazons in the Aegean and Beyond: A Bronze Age Female Lineage The Trojan Women Early Amazons Ruled in Dual Queenship The Amazons Enter History Destruction on the Mainland and Migration to the Islands Amazons in the Greek Argolid: The Warrior Goddess Emerges Amazon Hoards in Bronze Age Europe? Eurasian Amazons Amazons in China? African Amazon Warriors Standing Her Ground 5: Sacred Sexuality and Shape-Shifting The Shape-Shifting Shamanistic Female Emptiness and Female Shamanism Roots of Tantra: Priestesses and Goddesses Can Contemporary Women Rediscover the Ancient Sexual Rites? Lesbian Sexuality: Women-Loving Women Shape-Shifting Contemporary Shaman Women The Shamanistic Fluidity of Gender Conclusion: Acknowledging, Developing, and Sharing Our Power Fighting Back Sufficient-to-Herself Time Line Notes Bibliography Index