This took me way too long to read.
But, that said, it's a dense book that ties together vast realms of mythology and history and makes the argument that the original Goddesses were later supplanted by Patriarchal religions/myths, of which Christianity is just the final step.
He brings to the topic formidable learning, knowledge of mythology, religion, cultures, classics, and provides a scholarly, if speculative treatment of the subject.
I lack the basest rudiments of knowledge to even begin to question his Thesis, let alone conclusions, but I found intriguing his ideas that the history of humankind has been encoded in myth and folklore, a tradition brought to great heights by the bards of Wales and Ireland.
His interpretations are a gold mine of symbolic thought (as much so as a good reading of Dream Symbols, or Carl Jung).
And - even if he were wrong (and can you be wrong in this? I mean, I credit an informed and educated opinion - but some things - myth and history, for example - will perhaps always be somewhat obscure and impossible to untangle).
I imagine a version of it perhaps better laid out like a "Brewers Phrase and Fable", where you can word-golf around the entire volume and come to your own conclusions.
Ideas - of how the bards arranged and created symbols in trees, that a great many of our early myths evolved to mark the passage of seasons, hence the attention to trees, flowers, animals, every one not merely a tree or flower but marking a point of time and an usage to man. A whole list of associated meanings and implications. As well he touches upon the mythic beginnings of the alphabet, written language, and provides examples of the mnemonic devices poets used upon the finger joints of the hand - the dactyls, the symbolism of the forefinger, the pinkie finger - which, as we use to clean our ears is also known as "The Oracle Finger" as the muse might speak to you privately when you held the finger in your ear - fascinating, because - symbolically again in this we see the beginning of Palmistry. Nola, you should perhaps find a copy in the library and peruse pages 195-201, they might provide some fodder for you...(there's more in there too, but that saves you making any big reading commitments.)
And he provides an informed, impartial and intelligent/reasoned view of Christianity, done from without the Church, while a great many people are critical of Christianity (and for good reason), few have done the research he has. He covers the countless misinterpretations of ancient illustrations, myths and texts, that led to the Biblical Scriptures as we know them.
So - intriguing. Much to think about and a book to be revisited. Once again the right book at the right time. But my god a formidable read.