WOMAN
VOLUME 5 NUMBER 4
Winter 1980

We are experiencing the disturbance characteristic of a transitional time. The "revolution" we have been going through has destroyed many outworn and crippling assumptions about woman, but it has also brought terrible suffering and confusion. We are unable to live in the old roles, but the new way is still unknown. During the social upheaval of this century, we have not been able to distinguish between what belongs to the essential nature of woman and what has been grafted on it artificially; and the results of this ambivalence have been as unbalancing for men as they have for women. We are born male or female, but both manhood and womanhood need to be achieved; and in ways we do not fully understand, the possibilities of one are inextricably bound to the other. Their relationship is so intricate that any displacement must affect both. There can be no single answer valid for all of us--it is unlikely that there ever was. This issue of Parabola does not attempt to provide one. We do hope that at least some of what follows may furnish material to provoke, stimulate, and delight that within us which is our own. --from the editorial Focus

ARTICLES
FOUR WOMEN P. L. Travers
Indelible impressions distilled from a lifetime as a "dowser of myths".

THE PERENNIAL FEMININE Helen M. Luke
An affirmation of woman's fundamental tasks and values.

LISTENING TO THE EARTH Seonaid Robertson
Discovering an enduring relationship.

SHAKTI: THE ESSENCE OF THE WORLD Heinrich Zimmer
A discourse on the concept of energy and creation in Hindu philosophy.

A VERY WARM MOUNTAIN Ursula K. Le Guin
Watching "The Lady" blow her top.

A WOMAN'S WAYS: An Interview with Judy Swamp
Maintaining traditional values in the context of contemporary conflict.

THE WIFE OF JONAH Barbara Rohde
The other side of the story.

MARTHA AND MARY: SECOND DISCOURSE Meister Eckhart
An incidental moment revealing a teaching on service, surrender, and the development of being.

JOSEPH CAMPBELL ON THE GREAT GODDESS
One of her most attentive admirers brings to life her origins, history, and promise.

INANNA: QUEEN OF HEAVEN AND EARTH Diane Wolkstein and Samuel Noah Kramer
Hymns to the Sumerian goddess.

TANGENTS: Reviews
THE VIRGIN, THE MOTHER, AND THE SHADOW IN AMERICAN ART Bill Jacobson
Myth and archetype in Louise Nevelson.

ANOTHER LOOK Frederick Franck
Questioning the Master: the Picasso show.

EPICYCLES: Traditional Stories from around the World
CAITLIN OF KILCUMMIN Irish
Retold by Carolyn White

THE ETERNAL DANCE OF THE UNIVERSE Hindu
Retold by Diane Wolkstein