I have been trying to write this review for weeks, but I keep becoming lost in it, reading and savoring the knowledge it imparts. Has there ever been a more perfect time for this book? Well, yes and no. Forty years ago, The Holy Book of Women’s Mysteries was midwived into being by Zsuzsanna E. Budapest. Born as the Feminist Book of Light and Shadows, it has been reborn several times until arriving at its latest incarnation, The Aquarian Holy Book of Women’s Mysteries and it has saved many lives, including my own.
Forty years ago, the world was a much different place. In 1971, Reed v. Reed, 404 (U.S. 71, 1971), marked the first time in history that the Court applied the Fourteenth Amendment to laws that discriminated against women on the sole basis of sex. The U.S. Department of Education had just codified Title IX, which reads, “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.” Ms. Magazine published its first issue in 1972. Roe v. Wade would not codify the right to abortion, nor was contraception freely available to unmarried women for another year. Women could not get a credit card in their own name. They could be fired for being pregnant. We could not serve on a jury in all fifty states. It was not until Barnes v. Train was found, on appeal, in 1977 to have merit that women could take legal action against workplace sexual harrassment. It was not until July 5, 1993, when marital rape became a crime in the sexual offense codes in all 50 states.
Yes, the world was a much different place … wasn’t it? Dobbs v. Jackson 2022 overturned Roe v. Wade. States are passing laws against certain types of contraception (https://www.help.senate.gov/chair/newsroom/press/republican-senator-blocks-bill-to-codify-americans-right-to-contraception-), and the Me, Too movement has exposed how women still fear to expose powerful men who abuse them in the workplace. According to the Pew Research Center, women earned 84% of what men earned just two years ago. And we STILL don’t have ERA ratified! We have come so far and yet we still have so much further to go. So yes, NOW is the perfect time for the latest incarnation of this book. It is well named, The Aquarian Holy Book of Women’s Mysteries, as the Age of Aquarius is approaching, the Age of Knowing and the Age of Pisces, the Age of Believing is passing. Reading this book is empowering in a world where as women, our power still isn’t equal to that of our brothers. This book was written and curated by the women who marched and protested and wrote letters and MADE the changes that gave us the rights that the patriarchy is trying, once again, to take from us. Don’t let them do it. Read this book and learn how to stop them. Again.
queenlaese 