Sacred Woman, Sacred Dance.

Sacred Woman, Sacred Dance by Iris J. Stewart. Rochester, Vermont: Inner Traditions International. 2000. 246 pages, paper. $29.95. ISBN: 0-89281-605-8.

Richly illustrated with graphics and photographs from around the world (some taken at the sites by the author), this book is a record of Iris Stewart's search for evidence of the sacred--logically, historically and experientially. Not only did she find that she was not alone, but that there was much help "to focus the intricately related aspects that form a coherent study of women's way of expressing the Divine." Often, and for many, it is through dance and movement. Going beyond dance as entertainment, she seeks out the rituals of spirituality found in "womandance" and finds evidence from the beginning of time up to last Sunday's services in Louisiana and Washington, D.C. Less a scholarly rhetorical presentation, Stewart's writing is a record of what she finds. She posits that men ritually dancing as women may not just be exploring their feminine sides, but may have replaced the ritual priestly practices that had to be continued when the priestesses who honored the earth were banished to the dark side.