Barbara G. Walker

• Name — Barbara G. Walker • Birth Name — Barbara Goodwin Jones • Born — 2 July 1930 • Birthplace — Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. • Died — 21 December 2025 • Place of death — Sarasota, Florida, U.S. • Occupation — Author • Children — 1 • Known for — Knitting expert • Education — University of Pennsylvania

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. 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 published new knitting books.

Walker wrote 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 wrote about her belief that there is no god. However, she believed that people, and women in particular, can use the image of the goddess in their day-to-day lives. Walker often uses the imagery of the Mother Goddess to discuss neolithic matriarchies. Her book Woman's Rituals: A Sourcebook was an attempt to show how she put her "meditation techniques" into practice, and meant as a guide for other women who wish to do the same.

Walker was born Barbara Goodwin Jones in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on July 2, 1930. She studied journalism at the University of Pennsylvania, then worked for the Washington Star in Washington, D.C. 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 described herself as an atheist. She was married to Gordon Walker from 1952 until his death in 2017. They had a son. Walker died on December 21, 2025, from metastatic abdominal cancer, in Sarasota, Florida.

• 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)

• Amazon: A Novel (1992) • Feminist Fairy Tales (1996)

• Barbara Walker Tarot Deck (Misc. Supplies) (1986) • I Ching of the Goddess: Divination Kit (Boxed Set with Cards) (2001) • Women And Religion: Sexism In The Christian Tradition (1997) - Freethought Today, January/February 1998. *