Goddesses: Ancient Wisdom for Times of Change from Over 70 Goddesses

by Sue Jennings

Goddesses explores the ancient wisdom of the goddesses to help you reconnect with the old ways in a modern context. The goddesses are presented in their elements, in their heavenly bodies, or as symbols of the journey of life to give support, provoke us to explore new ideas and challenges, and to bring balance to our lives. The folklore, myth, and traditional associations of the goddesses will inspire you on your journey. Pele, the Hawaiian goddess of the volcano, demonstrates that volatile fire energy is life-giving and creative but needs to have focus. Water goddesses such as Isis, Sedna, and Yemaya offer us wisdom in times of stress and grief. They help us flow in the right direction and remind us that water supports us. The sun goddesses lead us through our feelings as well as our intellect to our divine spark—the sun within us. If our lives are stormy, we can take comfort from the story of the sun goddess, Ama-terasu-o-mi-kami, and find peace within ourselves. Cerridwen, the Celtic goddess of poetry, is a source of wisdom, inspiration, and creativity. The reflections, meditations, rituals, chants, and exercises in this book will help you bring about the changes you wish for in your life. Some of the exercises are for you to undertake alone; others you can share with friends, family, and children. Let the goddesses guide and inspire you!

Genres: Spirituality, Goddess, Nonfiction

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

Reviews

[Salma · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautiful introduction to various goddesses from cultures around the world. Although well-written, the summaries of the goddesses' stories are brief. I would recommend other books for more detail and symbolism. The primary charm (hence my five-star rating) of this book are the beautiful paintings.

For those with children, this may be an excellent intro to mythology.

[Eve · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simplistically and beautifully written. A brief introduction to Goddesses from around the world.

[Angela A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has beautiful artwork, but the writing is only 3 stars.

[Haliation · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, so my main draw to this book is definitely the artwork by Sarah Young (who isn't credited on the cover. Why?). It's stunning. The book is worth it for that alone, IMHO. I am pleased to have this on my Goddess bookshelf. Although it is an introductory book for sure, it is actually fairly well researched compared to many other "intro to Goddesses" books I have read. I found the text formatting a little distracting (in small columns - sometimes three columns per page), but overall, I was very happy with it. Jennings actually did her best to refer to the individual Indigenous nations that she gathered information from (i.e. Haida peoples, Lakota peoples), didn't fall trap to the cringe-inducing "in Native American culture", which is sadly, pretty common in many pagan books. It includes a bibliography, which is also a great map to some other really good mythology books.