Description
A journey into myth, folklore and prehistory, uncovering long buried, natural wisdom on women’s bodies and pregnancies. Sylvia Linsteadt invites us to join her as she searches for fairy tales and myths about conception, pregnancy and birth. Following the month-by-month journey of gestation, Linsteadt uncovers hidden threads within stories that range from Minoan and Bronze Age myth to medieval folklore. Pregnancy narratives, she discovers, are embedded in our earliest creation myths, and breadcrumbs of wisdom are scattered throughout the European fairy tale and folktale tradition, the female-centred mythic journeys of the ancient Mediterranean and Middle East, and the intertwined stories of Eve and of the Virgin Mary. This is a fascinating, deeply evocative journey. Tracking female centered societies as well as the oral story-weavers in the patriarchal past, Linsteadt tracks art, story and the inexplicable power of women’s bodies.