Barbara G. Walker (born July 2, 1930, in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

) is an American

author In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...

and

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

. She is a

knitting Knitting is a method for production of textile Knitted fabric, fabrics by interlacing yarn loops with loops of the same or other yarns. It is used to create many types of garments. Knitting may be done Hand knitting, by hand or Knitting machi ...

expert and the author of over ten encyclopedic knitting references, despite "not taking to it at all" when she first learned in college. Other topics she has written about are

religion Religion is a range of social system, social-cultural systems, including designated religious behaviour, behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, religious text, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics in religion, ethics, or ...

New Age New Age is a range of Spirituality, spiritual or Religion, religious practices and beliefs that rapidly grew in Western world, Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclecticism, eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise d ...

, the

occult The occult () is a category of esoteric or supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of organized religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving a 'hidden' or 'secret' agency, such as magic and mysti ...

spirituality The meaning of ''spirituality'' has developed and expanded over time, and various meanings can be found alongside each other. Traditionally, spirituality referred to a religious process of re-formation which "aims to recover the original shape o ...

, and

mythology Myth is a genre of folklore consisting primarily of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society. For scholars, this is very different from the vernacular usage of the term "myth" that refers to a belief that is not true. Instead, the ...

Books

Knitting

In the 1960s and 1970s, Walker authored several volumes of knitting references which have become landmarks for their comprehensiveness and clarity. Her Knitting Treasury series documents over a thousand different

knitting stitches This is a list of knitting Stitch (textile arts), stitches. Common knitting abbreviations as used in patterns are shown in parentheses. Individual stitches * Basic knitted fabrics#Garter stitch, Knit stitch (k) * Purl stitch (knitting), Pu ...

. Other books considered mosaic knitting, for producing multicolored designs while knitting only one color per row, and constructing knitted garments from the top down rather than the usual bottom-up method used in Western knitting tradition. Most of Walker's best-known knitting books have been reprinted, and starting in the mid-1990s, she has published new knitting books.

Feminism and skepticism

Walker writes about the problems with mainstream religion and how these problems have contributed to patriarchal societies and sexism. In ''The Skeptical Feminist: Discovering the Virgin, Mother, and Crone'', she writes about her belief that there is no god. However, she believes that people, and women in particular, can use the image of the

goddess A goddess is a female deity. In some faiths, a sacred female figure holds a central place in religious prayer and worship. For example, Shaktism (one of the three major Hinduism, Hindu sects), holds that the ultimate deity, the source of all re ...

in their day-to-day lives. Walker often uses the imagery of the

Mother Goddess A mother goddess is a major goddess characterized as a mother or progenitor, either as an embodiment of motherhood and fertility or fulfilling the cosmological role of a creator- and/or destroyer-figure, typically associated the Earth, sky, ...

to discuss neolithic matriarchies. Her book ''Woman's Rituals: A Sourcebook'' is an attempt to show how she puts her "

meditation Meditation is a practice in which an individual uses a technique to train attention and awareness and detach from reflexive, "discursive thinking", achieving a mentally clear and emotionally calm and stable state, while not judging the meditat ...

techniques" into practice, and is meant as a guide for other women who wish to do the same.

Criticism

''The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets'' has been criticized for being based on the idea of the "Great Mother" by writers like

Robert Graves Captain Robert von Ranke Graves (24 July 1895 – 7 December 1985) was an English poet, soldier, historical novelist and critic. His father was Alfred Perceval Graves, a celebrated Irish poet and figure in the Gaelic revival; they were b ...

and Erich Neumann, and for rewriting myths so they would support the theory of a "Great Goddess".

Personal life

Walker studied journalism at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

, then worked for the ''

Washington Star ''The Washington Star'', previously known as the ''Washington Star-News'' and the ''Washington'' ''Evening Star'', was a daily afternoon newspaper published in Washington, D.C., between 1852 and 1981. The Sunday edition was known as the ''Sunday ...

'' in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

While serving on a local hotline helping abused women and pregnant teenage girls in the mid-1970s, she became interested in feminism. Walker continued a personal study of comparative religions and feminist issues after she graduated which led to her writing ''The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets'' (1983). Walker describes herself as an

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

. She is an advocate of the

Christ myth theory The Christ myth theory, also known as the Jesus myth theory, Jesus mythicism, or the Jesus ahistoricity theory, is the fringe view that the story of Jesus is a work of mythology with no historical substance. Alternatively, in terms given by ...

Awards and recognition

The American Humanist Association named her "Humanist Heroine" in 1993, and in 1995, she received the "Women Making Herstory" award from the New Jersey

NOW Now most commonly refers to the present time. Now, NOW, or The Now may also refer to: Organizations * Natal Organisation of Women, a South African women's organization * National Organization for Women, an American feminist organization * Na ...

Bibliography

Knitting books

* ''A Treasury of Knitting Patterns'' (1968) (reprint edition 1998) * ''A Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns'' (1970) * ''The Craft of Lace Knitting'' (1971) * ''The Craft of Cable-Stitch Knitting'' (1971) * ''Knitting from the Top'' (1972) (reprint edition) * ''The Craft of Multicolor Knitting'' (1973) * ''Sampler Knitting'' (1973) (reprinted in ''A Fourth Treasury of Knitting Patterns'' (2000)) * ''Barbara Walker's Learn-to-Knit Afghan Book'' (1974) (reprint edition 1997) * ''Mosaic Knitting'' (1976) (revised in 1997) * ''A Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns'' (1985) (reprint edition 1998) * ''Charted Knitting Designs: A Third Treasury of Knitting Patterns'' (1986) (reprint edition 1998) * ''A Fourth Treasury of Knitting Patterns'' (2000) (includes Sampler Knitting (1973)) * ''Mosaic Knitting, Revised'' (2006)

Neo-pagan feminist works

''The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets''
(1983) * ''The Secrets of the Tarot: Origins, History, and Symbolism'' (1984) * ''The I Ching of the Goddess'' (1986) * ''The Skeptical Feminist: Discovering the Virgin, Mother, and Crone'' (1987) * ''The Woman's Dictionary of Symbols and Sacred Objects'' (1988), Castle Books, * ''The Crone: Woman of Age, Wisdom, and Power'' (1988) * ''The Book of Sacred Stones: Fact and Fallacy in the Crystal World'' (1989, with Werner P. Brodde) * ''Women's Rituals: A Sourcebook'' (1990) * ''Restoring the Goddess: Equal Rites for Modern Women'' (2000) * ''The Essential Handbook of Women's Spirituality and Ritual'' (2001) * ''Man Made God: A Collection of Essays'' (2010) * ''Belief and Unbelief'' (2014)

Novels and short stories

* ''Amazon: A Novel'' (1992) "Amazon by Barbara G. Walker"
Kirkus Reviews. * ''Feminist Fairy Tales'' (1996)

Other works

* ''Barbara Walker Tarot Deck'' (Misc. Supplies) (1986) * ''I Ching of the Goddess: Divination Kit'' (Boxed Set with Cards) (2001)

- Freethought Today, January/February 1998. *

Notes

References

External links

NOW-NJ
National Organization of Women - New Jersey short biography
Freedom from Religion Foundation
short biography
Walker Treasury Project
online community of Walker fans
The Barbara Walker Knitting Project
A community-sourced artist book project by the Tatter Library to knit each entry of Barbara Walker's treasury {{DEFAULTSORT:Walker, Barbara G. 1930 births 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women writers 20th-century atheists 21st-century atheists American atheists American feminist writers American religious writers American women religious writers Atheist feminists American critics of Christianity Living people Mythographers American people in knitting Novelists from Philadelphia American women non-fiction writers Textile artists from Pennsylvania 20th-century American textile artists 20th-century American women textile artists 21st-century American textile artists 21st-century American women textile artists