The cult of the Goddess goes right back to those early caves. There, She is the cave itself, so that initiates who passed through the rites deep under the earth were returning to and reborn from Her womb.

Cultures that sustain cohesive mythological images connect individuals to the four orders of mystery: the transcendent (the gods), the environment (their home in nature), the tribe (the social fabric), and their own psychological grounding (personal identity). History is not kind to such mythic images, however. The luster of the gods fades, and