Goddess Durga and Sacred Female Power

by Laura Amazzone

Goddess Durga and Sacred Female Power is an exploration of the many faces of the Goddess Durga in ancient and contemporary culture. This book takes us on a pilgrimage to goddess temples and natural shrines, to visit shamans and living goddesses in the Kathmandu Valley of Nepal, and to India for the annual ten-day Durga Festival. The mythology, rituals, philosophy, and spiritual practices of this distinctly female-centered and millennia-old tradition of Durga offer an alternative model of female potential and empowerment, focusing on peace, healing, spiritual liberation, and realization of inherent divinity.

Genres: Religion, Nonfiction

276 pages, Paperback

First published September 23, 2010

Reviews

[S. Wigget]

This is a wonderful, in-depth book exploring female power/goddess power primarily but not exclusively through a Hindu, largely Nepalese Hindu, lens while also acknowledging the presence of patriarchy and its effects on goddess worship. The book inspires the reader to embrace the divine within.

One of the things I like most about the book is that she has a chapter for each day of the annual Durga Puja Festival in Nepal; she explores goddesses and practices associated with each day and includes vivid journal entries from her own pilgrimages in Nepal.

My only complaint is that with all she says about women and menstruation, she doesn't acknowledge that not all transwomen menstruate; it's probably (hopefully) an omission of ignorance rather than prejudice.

[Annie Crosby]

Incredible.