"Amazzone's voice is strong and clear. Goddess Durga promises the transformation, empowerment, and dignity that is our birthright."--Marisa Tomei, Academy Award-winning actor.;"Scholarly and fierce, the work of Laura Amazzone draws from our ancient strength. The time for this wisdom is now."--Alice Walker, Pulitzer Prize-winning author, poet, activist.;"Amazzone's powerful narrative of her personal experience backed by extensive field and library research is a must read for anyone interested in the relationships between the divine female, women's spirituality, and women's empowerment. It is a splendid example of feminist writing in which the author is deeply engaged in her own journey. Hers was a pilgrimage to the source, and of personal renewal and redemption promising hope for the return of the goddess in Western consciousness."--Elinor Gadon, PhD, author of The Once and Future Goddess, religious studies professor at Brandeis University.;Goddess Durga and Sacred Female Power is an exploration of the many faces of the Goddess Durga in ancient and contemporary culture. This book takes us on a pilgrimage to goddess temples and natural shrines, to visit shamans and living goddesses in the Kathmandu Valley of Nepal, and to India for the annual ten-day Durga Festival. The mythology, rituals, philosophy, and spiritual practices of this distinctly female-centered and millennia-old tradition of Durga offer an alternative model of female potential and empowerment, focusing on peace, healing, spiritual liberation, and realization of inherent divinity. --Book Jacket.