The Secret Dowry of Eve: Woman's Role in the Development of Consciousness

by Glynda-Lee Hoffmann

Book Overview

A groundbreaking study of the connection between spirituality, psychology, and neurophysiology that is coded into the book of Genesis. * Reveals why Eve was allowed to eat the apple of knowledge forbidden to Adam. * Uses mythological imagery to reveal the working processes of awareness in the human brain. * Combines ancient Qabalic techniques and modern scientific brain research to show how Genesis is an operating manual for creating wholeness in...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0892819685
• ISBN13: 9780892819683
• Release Date: April 2003
• Publisher: Park Street Press
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

A woman's role in the psyche

This is a riveting tale of how the consciousness is developed through the feminine psyche. The author brings a fresh perceptive on how we as individuals and society can change who and what we are by harnessing this inner flame. James Booker [...]

brilliant - and there's still more

Hoffman's book offers a fascinating alternative and very believable interpretation of Genesis from the old Bible that overturns the patriarchal version. She shows how the "rich mythology of Genesis reveals details about the seldom recognized workings of the human brain." The book also points out something I certainly never noticed - only Adam was forbidden to eat the fruit of the tree of good and evil - and on pain of death. Eve did not exist at this point yet for three thousand years she has been heaped with blame for disobeying it! Another fact that has been carefully skipped over in patriarchal interpretations: Adam didn't die when he ate the fruit, despite being told "thou shalt surely die". However did we manage to miss this glaring oversight? As the book asks: what kind of magic does the woman posses that enables her to eat the fruit and still live and also to pass such a desirable trait to her man? Further, religious doctrine has decreed that Adam and Eve then cover themselves up because they are naked and ashamed but the Bible says nothing like this. It says "they knew they were naked" but doesn't say anything about being ashamed. Another interpretation is that they made and wore aprons as a protection - isn't that what we all use aprons for? So, in this fabulous re-interpretation, the woman has challenged the commandment, eaten the fruit, gained wisdom, and passed on to her husband both the fruit and the wisdom. Moreover, neither of them has died, as the commandment said they would. Instead, their eyes have been opened and now they are as the gods, knowing the wisdom of the interplay between opposites that leads to integration and defines wholeness. This new perspective changes everything. Instead of blaming each other - an interpretation typical of patriarchal minds - they rejoice in mutual enlightenment and Adam is actually grateful to Eve. In addition, this brilliant book shows how Adam, Eve and the serpent respectively represent 3 of the 4 main parts of the brain as well as linking the 4th part to the story, as an example of how Genesis can be read on many levels. This is an unusual, insightful and valuable book but I am compelled to point out that no author exhibits the masterly understanding of the imbalances created by the suppression of the feminine, the emotions, as Ceanne DeRohan and her "Right Use of Will" series of books...

best book on the Divine Feminine ever

A friend gave me this book. I have now given it to a dozen others. Important! Please read!

Right On

This is perhaps the best book (hands down) I have read. The depth and poetry with which this book was written is beyond expression. I am buying a copy for every one of my friends for Christmas.

Shining a much-needed light on the Genesis story

The archetypes of Adam and Eve represent the masculine and femine aspects of personality within each of us. Our masculine qualities are outward-looking, rational, direct, practical and assertive; whilst the feminine is introspective, intuitive, sensitive and more connected with the heart. The balance of male and female makes us whole. Glynda-Lee explains how the Garden of Eden story represents the inner life of the psyche. It is actually an instructive analogy that demonstrates how to transcend our sexual stereotype and truly know ourselves, to become fully human. The church has represented this story in a way that implies Eve's subservience to Adam, and that she was responsibile for the Fall of Mankind. Women have suffered plenty because of this! But on the contrary, Adam needed Eve's aptitude for integration and intuitive wisdom to perceive the real meaning of his situation; the rationale and logic of the intellect would not be enough. Adam needs to have his eyes opened and it is the woman who provides him with this opportunity. Therefore it was permissible for Eve to eat the apple of knowledge that was forbidden to Adam - this was Eve's dowry. It wasn't a negative action to eat the apple, it was a gift to humankind of its inner awareness, its spirituality. Apparently even the symbols 'good' and 'evil' were interpreted in the Bible opposite to their original Hebraic meaning.Hoffmann goes on to explain how each of the characters in Genesis represents an archetype of the human personality, so that the story is symbolic of the struggles and conflicts we face within ourselves daily, as people have all through history. It is easy, as I did previously, to dismiss the Genesis material as manipulative, patriarchist propaganda. Taken at face value that is how it has been used. It took Hoffmann's profound knowledge of the Quabalah and its original Hebraic language to unlock the real meaning, and that is brilliantly laid bare in this book.But it's not a heady, intellectual read - it's easy to follow and insight follows insight as Hoffmann shines the light of her scholarship on the original text and its wide implications. The book can open our minds in a way that perhaps the original authors of Genesis intended but which has gone unrecognized until now.