Finding New Goddesses: Reclaiming Playfulness in Our Spiritual Lives [Paperback]

Barbara Ardinger (Author), Nancy Blair (Preface), Timothy Roderick (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2003

This humorous encyclopedia of "found goddesses" introduces new and wildly inventive goddesses to help frustrated individuals cope with life in the 21st century. Goddesses from A (Acme and Agenda) to Z (Zombonie), including more than 20 computer goddesses, come to the rescue of mortals looking for a parking spot, sending an e-mail attachment, working a temp job, laboring at the gym, seeking decent day care, or panicking about what to take to a potluck dinner. Spiritual seekers will delight in Aphasia, Goddess of the Telephone; Buffy, Goddess of the Gym; Cyberia, Goddess of the Download; Scissorella, Goddess of the Good Haircut; and others.

Editorial Reviews

From the Author

Why do we need to reclaim humor and playfulness in our old/new religion?

Like it or not, we neopagans are still the children of the society we’re endeavoring to change. Because our Founding Fathers (and Mothers) were too busy establishing civilization in the wilderness to find much humor in their universe, we’re not likely to find much playfulness in early American writing, which was largely created by Puritans, a group not noted for whimsy. And that’s why, "Politically Incorrect" on TV notwithstanding, we find so little humor in public discourse even today. As a society, we just never got out of the old Puritan habit that literary critics call "high seriousness."

The Charge of the Goddess tells us that "all acts of love and pleasure are My rituals. Let there be . . . mirth and reverence within you." We’ve found the love and we’ve found the reverence. I think it’s time to find the pleasure and the mirth. It’s time to lighten up. It’s time to play with our Goddesses.

Reader, these are the days that call out for Found Goddesses. These are the days we need to capture the playfulness of present-day archetypes like Nerdix and Aphasia and Our Lady of Guilt. We need to see the funny side of life that Rentessa and Fandango and Yuckarootie represent. We need to listen to what the Goddess Gotcha has to tell us about the state of the world. We need to pay attention when the Goddess of the Good Old Days, Naustalgica, says, "Lighten up, kids."

From the Inside Flap

From the foreword by Nancy Blair:

Hold onto your crescent crown and crystal tipped magic wand! You are about to embark on a wise, witty and spirited ride through Barbara Ardinger’s boldly original and punningly poetic pantheon of New Goddesses. Here you’ll find not only a practical parade of wickedly weird, whimsically wonderful and perfectly appropriate female deities for every imaginable occasion demanding divine intervention, you’ll find multiple mind-teasing meaning to humor your everyday spiritual journey.

Tired of all that serious HGTV (Home & Garden Television) decorating advice? Need a little non-sense to shake up your interior spaces? Call up Chi-Chi and Her Evil Twin Sister, Sha-Na-Na for a whirlwind tour de feng shui force that’s sure to make even the most righteous of space smudgers crack a wry smile. Or maybe you’re hankering for a lighter side to menopause, with its midlife letdown and drooping, well, just about everything from libido to the skin on your thighs, then welcome Auntie Gravity, a Crone’s Goddess of amusing delight who cajoles and counsels with tough love and sandpaper wisdom promising that no matter where you find yourself on the time line of life, She’ll eventually find you.

From the forward by Timothy Roderick:

There’s nothing like a good laugh to ground you and to give you some perspective. Laughter is rebellious and insubordinate. It scares the hell out of those who would rather patrol our spiritual activity. Humor can help you recognize that the same "almighty" force that inspired a nun’s severity and a diatribe of fire and brimstone, is also responsible for playful puppies, silly-looking platypuses, maple syrup, sex and human laughter. It may be hard at first to believe, but joy and fun are, in fact, manifestations of this all-encompassing divine energy.

The path of the Goddess is a wonderful cure for religious constipation. The Goddess is everything you can see, feel, taste, hear and touch. She isn’t just the serious stuff. The Goddess has a distinctly playful side. She loves a good joke. She loves a bad one too. She’s patiently waiting, like a Good Mother, for us to loosen up a little so that she can tickle us and help us to feel spirituality again. No more 7:00am masses, says She. Let the world—in all its dimensions--be your church. Let life become religion. And for Goddess’ sake, send in the sacred clowns!

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Ecw Press (May 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1550225243
• ISBN-13: 978-1550225242
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 6.7 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.3 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,841,748 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I am the author of eight published books of women's spirituality, plus innumerable book reviews. I am also a freelance book editor for smart people who do not, alas, have strong writing skills and don't want to embarrass themselves in print. I've edited about 250 books. I live with two Maine coon cats named Schroedinger and Heisenberg, I'm a member of the Michael Ball Fan Club, and just about my favorite activity in the whole world is going to the theater, especially musicals. See my website, www.barbaraardinger.com for my monthly blog, excerpts from my books, the FREE READER'S GUIDE to Secret Lives, and my opinions on many things.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Lighten up with this fun collection of modern Goddesses, August 2, 2003

By 

Barbara A. Bolek - See all my reviews

This review is from: Finding New Goddesses: Reclaiming Playfulness in Our Spiritual Lives (Paperback)

It's not that worshipping the old ones is boring (can't say that working with powerful Pele, or with trickster enegy such as that of Loki doesn't have its moments), but can they help you find the perfect shopping mall? Spendifera, Goddess of the Mall can. Who do you invoke while worshipping at the altar of your favorite fast food restaurant feasting on guilty pleasures? How about McVitual, Goddess of Fast Food? Who do you invoke while at the gym toning that perfect Pagan body? Buffy, Goddess of the Gym, of course! Do we always have to take ourselves so seriously? The answer here clearly is no! Finding New Goddesses puts the fun back into the fundamentals of Goddess Spirituality.

Ardinger, has written some wonderful, serious books, such as Goddess Meditations, Practicing the Presence of the Goddess and a Women's Book of Rituals & Celebrations. With Finding New Goddesses, Ardinger lets loose and provides Goddess worshippers a clever, humorous A-Z encyclopedia of Goddesses for 21st century life.

The Gods and Goddesses of old can help us deal with the bigger pictures in our lives, such as wealth, health, and love. But this book is chock full of new Goddesses invented to help us through the day-to-day struggles of modern life, such as finding parking spaces, finding/coping with temp jobs, dealing with technological issues, shopping, daycare, credit cards, etc.

"Hail Trivia, keen of mind, I forget again what I must find. Refresh my memory, help me focus, in you do all things have their locus." Along with Trivia, Goddess of Details, there's Agenda, Goddess of Meetings, Daymentia, the Goddess of Temp Jobs, Kickapoo, Goddess of Professional Wrestling, Queuemulus, Goddess of Standing in Line, Roadesia, Goddess of Freeways, Country Roads and City Streets. Not many stones are left unturned as you will see, Dot Compost, Goddess of Spam, Fixorrhea, Goddess of Duct Tape, and this librarian's personal favorite, Litterata, Goddess of books (who I worship in excess!). These are some of the many ideas for modern deities one can invent.

There's plenty of wit and humor mixed into the Goddess backgrounds, chants, ritual ideas, meditations and visualizations that Ardinger provides. She also shares some thoughts with us on playfulness in spiritual writing, playing with words, Found Goddesses and finding new Goddesses every day.

More than providing a little levity to our spiritual lives, this book is a great tool to spark the imagination. Bring some fun into solitary, group or community celebrations. Use it as a tool to encourage outside the box thinking. For spiritual writers, writing groups and writing coaches or teachers, some great writing exercises could be fashioned around this book. See how you can expand on the Goddesses in these pages. Or, challenge yourself or others to create their own imaginary deities, or new totem animals. Name and describe them, write their lore, create poems, affirmations or chants in their honor, and fashion rituals or other magickal workings around them. This can do a lot to liven up writing classes or workshops, or classes covering deity worship and invocation.

If I hadn't been languishing so long at the altar of my sometimes overwhelming personal Goddess, Procrastinata, I would have reviewed this book much sooner! This makes a great gift idea for the light at heart among us and is suitable for any level of spiritual practice.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What a Breath of Fresh Air!, June 9, 2003

By 

"yrenie" (New York,NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Finding New Goddesses: Reclaiming Playfulness in Our Spiritual Lives (Paperback)

With great wit and delightful commentary, Barbara Ardinger brings us a wonderful treat via her new book, "Finding New Goddesses." What fun! The Goddess-Pagan genre needs new books like this one, they helps us to lighten our spirits.This book leads us down a path of laughter and joy. At the same time, why not name Goddesses of various modern realities? Perfectly logical; we need them.

A few of my favorite Divine Ladies from her book are: "Auntie Gravity, An Antic Cronish Goddess," "Roadesia; Goddess of Freeways, Country Roads, and City Streets," (a particularly useful Goddess), and let us not forget "Fixorrhea; Goddess of Duct Tape," (I'm smiling, just typing in her name!)

Next book you buy, don't miss this one. It will keep your spirits up, not to mention helping you find the perfect parking space! Add this one to your collection; its a keeper.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Modern Goddesses for Modern Times, September 28, 2003

By 

Boudica (Ohio USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Finding New Goddesses: Reclaiming Playfulness in Our Spiritual Lives (Paperback)

I approached this book a bit skeptically, as these days everyone and their brother is inventing new Deities. But this book is different. The approach to Deity is lighthearted, whimsical and yet practical.

Barbara Ardinger is an author I am acquainted with from her book "Goddess Meditations" and I know her to be respectful of Deity. She approaches Deity in this book with the same respect, yet ads to the scope of the Deities we are already familiar with. While remaining reverent of the Goddesses of old, she weaves the new needs the modern woman has for Goddess' to help in today's day to day existence and gives us some very powerful and yet approachable new Goddesses.

While most of her Deities are Goddesses, and I could have asked for more balance in the addition of a few Gods, we do see the need for modern women to find an association they can relate to. While many of us may be familiar with the modern "Asphalta", Ms. Ardinger elaborates even further. How about "Acme" the Goddess of High Tech or "Agenda" the Goddess of meetings. These are obvious. I found "Buffy" the Goddess of the Gym to be a poor choice of names, as many of us are familiar with the TV show "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and would have preferred "Svelta" or something along that line, but many other names are almost "tongue in cheek". How about "Chocolata and Vibrata, the Goddesses of Ecstasy."

And while Ms. Ardinger does introduce us to some of the consorts, like "Mr. Buzz- All-Night", consort to Vibrata, again, I find myself being a more balanced type and looking to see what other consorts would fit in with these new Goddesses.

I enjoyed this look at the new needs of women today and how modern Deity can be worked into our daily lives. We stretch sometimes the abilities of the old Deities to try to associate them with our every day chores and sometimes we do feel a need for a Goddess who fits more in place with what we need at the moment.

And as Ms. Ardinger points out in the beginning of her book "A note on Playfulness in Spiritual Writings" "The Charge of the Goddess tells us "All acts of love and pleasure are My rituals. Let there be ... mirth and reverence within you." We've found the love and we've found the reverence. I think it's time to find the pleasure and the mirth. It's time to lighten up. It's time to play with our Goddesses."