Barbara Carter

The Goddess and the Bull defines and describes the aspects of the Mother Goddess as an archetype. Through this study, the role of the feminine comes to light as one of the most important facets of the Minoan-Mycenaean culture. By examining the feminine emphasis in the Bronze Age world of religion and science, the study of the Goddess changes our views of ancient cultures such as this one. The relationship between the Goddess and the Bull forms the basis of the study of the astronomer priestesses of the Minoan-Mycenaean culture. Their relationship and the iconology that surround it, reveals their interest in cycles of the moon, the sun, and the stars. The Bull also becomes an icon of regeneration and resurrection by measuring its progression through the night sky in cycles of time beyond the year. Amazingly, the Minoan's scientific observations are based on information from as far back as the Paleolithic and Neolithic Eras, which has been transferred to their culture through the celebration of the Goddess and her consort and son, the Bull.

The Myth of the Year reveals the astronomy underlying Celtic and Greek mythology using the calendar of the Druids discovered in Coligny, France and the Sacred Calendar of Eleusis of ancient Greece. The myths of the ancients follow the seasons through the constellations illuminating the path of knowledge our ancestors lived throughout their year. To fully explain the meaning of these seasonal myths, the origin of the goddesses and the gods are traced to their Neolithic roots using Marija Gimbutas' archetypes of the Neolithic Pantheon. Indo-European adaptations made to some of the major deities are also discussed providing a profile of the evolution of the ancient goddesses and gods from Neolithic times to their present representations in the night sky. Besides linking astronomy to mythology, The Myth of the Year presents an effective and carefully researched path of ancient knowledge viable as a source of patterns of the sky, the earth, the moon, and the sun, meticulously plotted through eons of ancient knowledge.