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Goddesses for Every Day: Exploring the Wisdom and Power of the Divine Feminine around the World
Throughout time, people have turned to goddesses as symbols of what they seek — from abundance to healing, from protection to passion. Building on the resurgence of interest in the Divine Feminine, Julie Loar presents the qualities and origins of an international array of these deities, along with powerful suggestions for putting their attributes to practical use. In a daily-reflection format, she gracefully aligns the goddesses with the cycles of nature and the signs of the zodiac.
If you are struggling to attain a goal, call on the Nepalese goddess Chomolungma, as the sherpas climbing Mount Everest have done for generations. Or, for good luck, invoke the Roman goddess Fortuna, the inspiration behind gambling’s wheel of fortune. With 366 goddesses to choose from, you will find a deity to call upon for every aspiration and need.
If you are struggling to attain a goal, call on the Nepalese goddess Chomolungma, as the sherpas climbing Mount Everest have done for generations. Or, for good luck, invoke the Roman goddess Fortuna, the inspiration behind gambling’s wheel of fortune. With 366 goddesses to choose from, you will find a deity to call upon for every aspiration and need.
440 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 2010
20 people are currently reading
125 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
December 30, 2011
This is the perfect accompaniment for a life of reflection and spiritual fulfilment. Each month is themed by goddesses relating to its astrological sign and includes a fantastic array of goddesses and other female mythological figures from every ancient culture. As well as information on their legends and stories and the beliefs surrounding each goddess, a short contemplation is provided for each day to give guidance and inspiration. I really enjoyed this book and its comforting messages to see me through an entire year and I'm sure I'll refer to its wisdom again.
July 12, 2013
Absolutely the best book I have found on the feminine Devine in everyday life. Organized logically into the zodiac and corresponding dates, its easy to flip to any day and learn something new. The author was inspired to branch out and include Catholic "goddesses" as well. Each entry leaves you with a word and thoughtful phrase to keep you connected. If counterpart on the Male Devine was created, I would totally purchase, well worth it.
January 31, 2020
The Goddess within was tickled with excitement and pleasure as I read page by page.
December 31, 2021
This is a beautiful book full of Goddess lore, I fully appreciate how the author pairs individual Goddesses w the themes of the astrological season. Highly recommend.
February 21, 2012
Goddesses for Every Day
Julie Loar
New World Library, $16.95
If you’re working with the Feminine Divine—or as it is called in this work the “Divine Feminine”—there aren’t a lot of resources to choose from for daily spiritual reference. I have Patricia Telesco’s “365 Goddess” on my bookshelf, which is an excellent book and very similar to Loar’s work in many respects. While comparisons are inevitable, I must say that I prefer the simplicity of “Goddesses for Every Day”.
For each goddess, Loar provides the date, a keyword, a page about the mythology, and a “contemplation”—a statement to consider on that particular day. For example, the contemplation for the Greek goddess Maia is, “I celebrate the rites of spring by dancing around a maypole or just blissfully twirling in my pajamas.”
Each page provides just enough information, but not too much that it is overwhelming; no ritual suggestions, suggested activities or symbols are included. The book gives the reader the opportunity to focus on one goddess a day and really consider the effect of the feminine divine on her/his life.
The book is also divided up by astrological signs, which each goddess placed in a chapter in chronological order, starting with January 1 and the New Year. So if you’re looking for a particular astrological flavor of female deity, it’s best to start at the beginning of the sign and flip through to see what you find. While the New Year occurs during Capricorn, Loar did not short-change that sign, beginning and ending the book with Capricorn goddesses.
The introduction begins with “Every woman wants to feel like a goddess,” so it would seem hat the book was intended for a female audience. While it might be rare for a man to buy this book, I highly encourage men who are embracing the Feminine Divine to jump right in. This is especially true if you are trying to balance the male and female natures within yourself. Gentlemen, you’ll have to trust me when I say a solid dose of Loar’s work will only improve what is already there.
Once you get your hands on this book, you’ll do what we all do: Look up the goddess associated with our special day. I was very pleased to find that on my birthday Panacea, the Greek goddess of healing, is there. That’s a great way to get started working with this book, especially if the Feminine Divine is new to you. From there, look up the birthdays of the women in your life and see what wisdom you can come away with. My wife will be thrilled to know that on her birthday, Al Lat, the female equivalent of Allah, is represented, and her name means “goddess”. [PS: Julie, I was already aware my wife is a goddess, but thank you for the reminder just the same.]
If you are at all interested in mythology, this is an excellent reference to have close to hand. Many different pantheons are represented here. If you walk a Pagan or Wiccan path, many of the goddesses may already be familiar to you. But Loar goes the extra mile and includes others from unexpected places just to keep things interesting. You could fill the whole book with Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Norse, and British goddesses, to be sure, but I found Nepalese, Hawaiian and Native American goddesses as well. You’re sure to find a goddess that suits your spiritual needs.
Julie Loar
New World Library, $16.95
If you’re working with the Feminine Divine—or as it is called in this work the “Divine Feminine”—there aren’t a lot of resources to choose from for daily spiritual reference. I have Patricia Telesco’s “365 Goddess” on my bookshelf, which is an excellent book and very similar to Loar’s work in many respects. While comparisons are inevitable, I must say that I prefer the simplicity of “Goddesses for Every Day”.
For each goddess, Loar provides the date, a keyword, a page about the mythology, and a “contemplation”—a statement to consider on that particular day. For example, the contemplation for the Greek goddess Maia is, “I celebrate the rites of spring by dancing around a maypole or just blissfully twirling in my pajamas.”
Each page provides just enough information, but not too much that it is overwhelming; no ritual suggestions, suggested activities or symbols are included. The book gives the reader the opportunity to focus on one goddess a day and really consider the effect of the feminine divine on her/his life.
The book is also divided up by astrological signs, which each goddess placed in a chapter in chronological order, starting with January 1 and the New Year. So if you’re looking for a particular astrological flavor of female deity, it’s best to start at the beginning of the sign and flip through to see what you find. While the New Year occurs during Capricorn, Loar did not short-change that sign, beginning and ending the book with Capricorn goddesses.
The introduction begins with “Every woman wants to feel like a goddess,” so it would seem hat the book was intended for a female audience. While it might be rare for a man to buy this book, I highly encourage men who are embracing the Feminine Divine to jump right in. This is especially true if you are trying to balance the male and female natures within yourself. Gentlemen, you’ll have to trust me when I say a solid dose of Loar’s work will only improve what is already there.
Once you get your hands on this book, you’ll do what we all do: Look up the goddess associated with our special day. I was very pleased to find that on my birthday Panacea, the Greek goddess of healing, is there. That’s a great way to get started working with this book, especially if the Feminine Divine is new to you. From there, look up the birthdays of the women in your life and see what wisdom you can come away with. My wife will be thrilled to know that on her birthday, Al Lat, the female equivalent of Allah, is represented, and her name means “goddess”. [PS: Julie, I was already aware my wife is a goddess, but thank you for the reminder just the same.]
If you are at all interested in mythology, this is an excellent reference to have close to hand. Many different pantheons are represented here. If you walk a Pagan or Wiccan path, many of the goddesses may already be familiar to you. But Loar goes the extra mile and includes others from unexpected places just to keep things interesting. You could fill the whole book with Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Norse, and British goddesses, to be sure, but I found Nepalese, Hawaiian and Native American goddesses as well. You’re sure to find a goddess that suits your spiritual needs.
August 26, 2015
I wish I could give it a 3.5 star to hedge my feelings toward enjoying a collection of 365 goddesses to explore.
Overall, she kept a nice balance of the Western pantheons with an occasional appearance from Hindu, Chinese, and pre-Columbian cultures. For those hoping to see familiar names and be introduced to more, it is good. So many goddesses in the world, choosing cannot have been an easy task. If I were to rank my complaints they would stack first with a personal wish the book was longer. Knowing it is intended as a daily inspiration, perhaps even devotional, one page is a pleasant format. Now, from a scholastic point of view, I wish she avoided many of the pitfalls of the resurgence in awareness of the ancient deities and that is, attempting to find tenuous links between them from some supposed connection because of a similarity in sound or appearance of the name. NO, Danu is NOT related to the Danube, to name one of the most well known of these types of blunders. I would very much want to see a stronger showing of polytheism sharing the uniqueness of these stories and divinities rather than attempting to link them all together as pieces of a whole. I grant, there may be some blending associations in time such as with the Roman, Greek, and Etruscan pantheons, yet, they began separately.
If there is a similar books for the gods I would enjoy reading it.
Overall, she kept a nice balance of the Western pantheons with an occasional appearance from Hindu, Chinese, and pre-Columbian cultures. For those hoping to see familiar names and be introduced to more, it is good. So many goddesses in the world, choosing cannot have been an easy task. If I were to rank my complaints they would stack first with a personal wish the book was longer. Knowing it is intended as a daily inspiration, perhaps even devotional, one page is a pleasant format. Now, from a scholastic point of view, I wish she avoided many of the pitfalls of the resurgence in awareness of the ancient deities and that is, attempting to find tenuous links between them from some supposed connection because of a similarity in sound or appearance of the name. NO, Danu is NOT related to the Danube, to name one of the most well known of these types of blunders. I would very much want to see a stronger showing of polytheism sharing the uniqueness of these stories and divinities rather than attempting to link them all together as pieces of a whole. I grant, there may be some blending associations in time such as with the Roman, Greek, and Etruscan pantheons, yet, they began separately.
If there is a similar books for the gods I would enjoy reading it.
December 11, 2016
Divine feminine 101, with an intro to astrology.
Small and medium-sized library collections will appreciate this compact volume that will make their religion/spirituality collections more inclusive without a lot of expense and shelf space. Set up in a devotional format, Loar's book contains a short essay for every day of the year, featuring a goddess from elsewhere in the world. Although there are no footnotes, the decently long bibliography at the back allows the curious reader to get the scoop behind Loar's summaries. One aspect that makes this book slightly different from others of its kind is that Loar arranges the goddesses by where she believes they would fall in the astrological zones. Beginning and ending with "Capricorn" deities, the reader gets a short explanation before each zodiac sign that justifies each grouping. What really makes the volume work is that it contains the big names everybody knows as well as the tiny ones hardly anyone's familiar with.
In short, this book is appropriate for all public library collections. Larger libraries can consider this an optional purchase, but if you've got budget to spend out before year's end, this is a solid pick.
Small and medium-sized library collections will appreciate this compact volume that will make their religion/spirituality collections more inclusive without a lot of expense and shelf space. Set up in a devotional format, Loar's book contains a short essay for every day of the year, featuring a goddess from elsewhere in the world. Although there are no footnotes, the decently long bibliography at the back allows the curious reader to get the scoop behind Loar's summaries. One aspect that makes this book slightly different from others of its kind is that Loar arranges the goddesses by where she believes they would fall in the astrological zones. Beginning and ending with "Capricorn" deities, the reader gets a short explanation before each zodiac sign that justifies each grouping. What really makes the volume work is that it contains the big names everybody knows as well as the tiny ones hardly anyone's familiar with.
In short, this book is appropriate for all public library collections. Larger libraries can consider this an optional purchase, but if you've got budget to spend out before year's end, this is a solid pick.
April 15, 2012
When I first picked up Goddesses for Every Day, I remember remarking that it might make a good reference book. That perhaps this would be a great book for those interested in mythology or those who felt moved by a particular Goddess. I instantly thought of my daughter who would be thrilled by such a thorough resource.
The funny thing is that as I read through the entries of this book, I could feel a presence. The women described were vibrant, alive, and very much important to modern times. Their stories embodied strength and all that it is to be a woman.
More than once, I picked up the book and the contemplation spoke to me. I’ve since taken to opening the book at random and reading the entry. The messages are timeless and empowering.
The funny thing is that as I read through the entries of this book, I could feel a presence. The women described were vibrant, alive, and very much important to modern times. Their stories embodied strength and all that it is to be a woman.
More than once, I picked up the book and the contemplation spoke to me. I’ve since taken to opening the book at random and reading the entry. The messages are timeless and empowering.
May 29, 2012
No words needed, simple and to the point. Takes very little time to read. I this I was the first one to open this copy, kind of an honor!
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews