Customer Reviews

Embracing the Goddess Within: A Creative Guide for Women

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I was very disappointed in the lack of depth of Embracing the Goddess Within. There is approxamately a paragraph stating the history or outline of the story concerning each goddess, then another page devoted to a "ritual" to connect with that goddess. I was aching for more substance... to use a familiar goddess, Aphrodite, as an example, Waldherr basically says that she's a greek goddess of romantic love, unwilling wife of Vulcan, etc. Then the "ritual" is to take a bath in rosepetals. I expected to gain some deeper understanding behind the culture of each goddess, but it's little more than what you would find in a "mythological encyclopedia."

This is a wonderfully written and illustrated book which would be wonderful for long time followers of the Goddess or would serve as an excellent introduction for newcomers. There are different sections in the book devoted to Goddesses focusing on specific areas of life. The meditations are simple, but profound. Just reading them immediately gives you a feeling of deeper understanding and connection with the Goddess in all her many guises. A very empowering book! I believe it would make a wonderful gift for anyone, but most especially any woman who is facing times of change or struggle, or one who maybe just needs to be reminded how amazing she is because of the simple fact that she is a woman.

My scholarly devotion to paganism had once followed a decidely Celtic path. That is until I picked up this book shortly after seeing Waldherr's Goddess Tarot. While it does not give an in-depth treatment of the selected goddesses, it gives you a taste of other traditions. The cultural diversity of this book is responsible for piquing my interest in Tara, Sarasvati, Kali Ma and Quan Yin - goddesses I now hold dear. I also think this would be a lovely book to give to your non-pagan girlfriends who you wish to gently introduce to your beliefs. Worth checking out.

A beautifully bound (hardbound), illustrated and written book on goddesses. The only complaint is that I wish there had been a little more information.

It's basically a picture book for young people, though your inner child will love it too. Lovely pictures, lots of diversity from different cultures. Some are good alternative to the really negative and sometimes outright abusive messages girls get from patriarchal religions. Young girls are fighting really bad odds if they want love and respect - as well as to develop themselves fully.

From my own experience, I was preached to about gentleness and humility by men who hoarded all power and authority to themselves, who were often very cruel, violent and arrogant to women/girls i knew and controlled and dominated our whole lives. Later on I had this reinforced by Freudian type "analysis", the sexuality I learned, and culture in general. Sometimes it seems like a landslide of sh**t that girls are fighting and we'll never get there, or we have to become like it to resist it (been there, done that.) It can make you crazy fighting the system without support. I had my shreds of hope and dignity from books like these - so thank you to those who wrote them, especially this one for little people. Good for sons too if you're careful not to reverse the pattern of patriarchal religions towards boys.

Beyond the books, though, I really wish with all my heart that women would start creating language and culture that is more respectful and kind to us and our daughters, that we stop feeding our daughters to men's egos (or vice versa.) We need to achieve balanced power in this world, and an equal share of the worlds resources and goods for them.

I love it, i just love it! The artwork is extremely beautiful and the content inspires.