Works by
Barbara G. Walker
(Writer)
[July 2, 1930 - ]

Fiction

• Amazon: A Novel (1992)
  A bestselling women's historian offers a new breed of heroine in a thrilling mix of action and adventure, fantastical pre-patriarchal time travel, and empowering feminist insight.

Non-fiction

Divination and Tarot

• I Ching of the Goddess: Divination Kit (Boxed Set with Cards) (2001)
  At Last, the Authentic I Ching!
  
  The original I Ching was a goddess-based divination system. However, in the Confucian age, it was appropriated by the male-dominated culture of that era. As a result, for centuries, devotees have been using an inauthentic divination tool that devalued the feminine.
  
  Now, thanks to the work of one of the premier feminist authors and researchers, the goddess-based sensibility has been restored to this most popular divination system. Walker reveals and celebrates an I Ching based in feminine spirituality and creativity.
  
  Pay homage to your inner goddess with this lavish kit. This tool for personal growth and divination includes 64 I Ching cards that feature Walker's original art and a book that provides a comprehensive overview of the development of the I Ching and shows how you can use it in your daily life.

• The Book of Sacred Stones: Fact and Fallacy in the Crystal World (1989) with Werner P. Brodde
  Bestselling author Barbara Walker debunks the tall tales surrounding crystal mysticism and offers instead an intelligent alternative that includes a complete guide to minerals and their histories.
  
  Because of her profound admiration for the beauty and mystery of crystals, Barbara Walker reveals in this two-part examination what crystals truly are, what they can -- and cannot do, and what they have meant to cultures down through the ages.
  
  She exposes the crystal mystics' grotesque ignorance of the very subject of which they claim expertise and presents detailed discussions on crystal "vibrations," healing, and energies. She points with humor and insight to the incomprehensible "word salad" crystal mystics use to explain their notions.
  
  Then, featuring an illustrated A to Z listing of all the minerals used in esoteric studies, Walker presents the true history, mythology, and attributes of each stone. This invaluable reference is for anyone interested in the facts and fiction of crystal mysticism.

• The Secrets of the Tarot: Origins, History, and Symbolism (1984)
  Fully illustrated with all-new color versions of the complete traditional Tarot deck, this is an appreciation of the history and meaning of the cards.

Feminism

• Feminist Fairy Tales (1996)
  Remember the traditional fairy tales of childhood? Well, Barbara Walker respins them here with a healthy measure of feminist sensibility, whimsy, and inspiration, rewriting the female characters with delightful results. Gone are impossibly beautiful damsels in distress. Enlivened by stunning drawings, Walker's stories richly reveal the real-life morals of fairness, strength, and survival.

• The Skeptical Feminist: Discovering the Virgin, Mother, and Crone (1987)

Knitting

• Mosaic Knitting (1976, 1997, 2006)

• A Fourth Treasury of Knitting Patterns (2000)

• Sampler Knitting (1973, 2000)

• A Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns (1985, 1998)

• A Treasury of Knitting Patterns (1968, 1998)

• Charted Knitting Designs: A Third Treasury of Knitting Patterns (1986, 1998)

• Learn-to-Knit-Afghan Book (1974, 1997)

• Knitting from the Top (1972, 1996)

• The Craft of Multicolor Knitting (1973)

• The Craft of Cable-Stitch Knitting (1971)

• The Craft of Lace Knitting (1971)

Women's Spirituality

• The Essential Handbook of Women's Spirituality and Ritual (2001)
  Women Discovering and Celebrating Their Own Spiritual Paths
  
  In the last few years, the women's spirituality movement has both grown and deepened. Women of all political and sectarian beliefs have embraced a spirituality freed from the constraints of traditional creeds; a spirituality that is uniquely their own.
  
  The Essential Handbook of Women's Spirituality and Rituals is the essential tool for women seeking their own spiritual paths. Renowned feminist scholar Barbara G. Walker gently leads the reader on a journey of discovery; a journey that results in results in a rich and vibrant inner life.
  
  In the course of this book, Walker explores a variety of techniques, rituals, and ceremonies that will both enhance and vivify the life of the spirit. Among the topics explored are:

  • How to form a women's spirituality group

  • Holidays for women to celebrate

  • Creating your own personal altar

  • How to participate in guided meditations

  • The names of the goddesses

  • Celebrating female rites of passage

  Walker has performed an invaluable service to women everywhere. She has provided the basic tools for the journey to the self, but has also shown the ways in which a spiritual practice can be tailored to the needs of individual women.

• Restoring the Goddess: Equal Rites for Modern Women (2000)
  This is both an incisive critique of patriarchal religion and a bold proposal to establish a liberating alternative to the Judeo-Christian tradition. Barbara Walker envisions a religion and a spirituality compatible with women's essential role in society and free of all the superstition and demeaning imagery characteristic of traditional, male-dominated religion. Hearkening back to the widespread worship of a mother goddess at the dawn of civilization, Walker argues for a restoration of this primal religious sensibility, which celebrated the Earth's fertility and woman's innate power to bear new life. Women are already rediscovering these ancient forms, Walker shows, and redefining the modern outlook in response to women's new appreciation of their rights and the long history of male dominance.

• Women's Rituals: A Sourcebook (1990)
  The first beginner's guide to celebrating feminist spirituality describes both the physical and social requirements for meetings and meditations and offers exercises for developing awareness.

• The Crone: Woman of Age, Wisdom, and Power (1988)
  A probing account of the honored place of older women in ancient matriarchal societies restores to contemporary women an energizing symbol of self-value, power, and respect.

• The Woman's Dictionary of Symbols and Sacred Objects (1988, 1995)
  A dictionary of feminine symbols and important objects introduces important figures and sacred beliefs in history and mythology, and describes the origins of such symbols while providing accompanying illustrations.

• The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets (1983)
  Do You Know...

  • where the legend of a cat's nine lives comes from?

  • why "mama" is a word understood in nearly all languages?

  • how the custom of kissing began?

  • whether there really was a female pope?

  • why Cinderella's glass slipper was so important to the Prince?

The answers to these and countless other intriguing questions are given in this compulsively readable, feminist encyclopedia. Twenty-five years in preparation, this unique, comprehensive sourcebook focuses on mythology anthropology, religion, and sexuality to uncover precisely what other encyclopedias leave out or misrepresent. The Woman's Encyclopedia presents the fascinating stories behind word origins, legends, superstitions, and customs. A browser's delight and an indispensable resource, it offers 1,350 entries on magic, witchcraft, fairies, elves, giants, goddesses, gods, and psychological anomalies such as demonic possession; the mystical meanings of sun, moon, earth, sea, time, and space; ideas of the soul, reincarnation, creation and doomsday; ancient and modern attitudes toward sex, prostitution, romance, rape, warfare, death and sin, and more.

Tracing these concepts to their prepatriarchal origins, Barbara G. Walker explores a "thousand hidden pockets of history and custom in addition to the valuable material recovered by archaeologists, orientalists, and other scholars."

Not only a compendium of fascinating lore and scholarship, The Woman's Encyclopedia is a revolutionary book that offers a rare opportunity for both women and men to see our cultural heritage in a fresh light, and draw upon the past for a more humane future.

Other

• Women And Religion: Sexism In The Christian Tradition (1997) his speech was delivered on December 6, 1997, at the 20th annual convention of the Freedom From Religion Foundation in Tampa, Florida.  See http://ffrf.org/fttoday/1998/jan_feb98/walker.html.

See also: