Customer Reviews

The Lady of Ten Thousand Names: Goddess Stories from Many Cultures

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My 8 year old daughter fell in love with this book when we visited the local Pagan bookstore, and was thrilled to get it as a Yule gift. She has sat every night, by herself, reading the stories and then talking to me about the Goddesses they describe, relating them to our family's own practices and beliefs. The illustrations are beautiful, and the stories well-written and aimed at kids 8-12 (my daughter has had to ask the meanings of some words, but not too many). It would make great bedtime stories for younger kids, too. :)

This beautiful book tells the folktales of ten Goddesses from different cultures around the world. The illustrations are truly lovely with colorful detailed costumes and borders on the pages filled with diverse flora from water lilies to hazel branches, to cherry blossoms. You will discover many different faces of the Goddess and young girls in particular will benefit from these positive role model examples. The stories are purely good yarns which have stood the test of time and when combined with the artistry of Helen Cann they sparkle! Invite Isis, Kuan Yin, Cerridwen, Freya, White Buffalo Woman, Oshun, Ama-terasu, Persephone, Demeter, and Hekate in when you enjoy this bountiful treasure of stories and add balance and beauty to your life.

This belongs in every child's library, and most adult ones, too. The writer manages to tell the stories in a way that is interesting but she glosses over some of the sexual aspects of the myths that might be beyond a younger reader's scope. The illustrations are lovely, too. Highly recommended for kids of all ages.

Kemetic parents-- please read this book BEFORE allowing your children to read, or at least browse through the excerpts before purchasing.

I would not recommend this to anyone following any semblance of a traditional, reconstructionist or orthodox based Kemetic faith. I can't judge some of the other tales in the book, but the Egyptian ones are just presented badly. It sanitizes the myths until they're almost unrecognizable (not unlike some works by early 'translators' who were eager to draw more comparisons between Aser/Osiris and Jesus and simply made things up because it was convenient).

For example, it's completely missing the part where Aser gets drunk and forces himself on Nebthet OR Nebthet seduces him and Aser does not tell her to "no, leave" as any righteous person would (depending on which version you read), thus bringing about his death at Setekh's hands. Ra approves of this, Setekh is one of Ra's bravest and most loyal retainers after all, and wishes no action taken against Setekh when Aset demands he be punished for what he's done. What Ra did not approve of was Setekh later harrying Heru-Sa-Aset for his father's misbehavior. Then he steps in and commands that Setekh be punished for his wrath against the innocent boy, who had committed no isfet. True these brothers weren't on the best of terms anyway, but to say it was simple lust for power that drove Setekh to want kingship rather than some perceived failure on the part of his brother is missing the point. If you read "God of Confusion" by Te Velde, one of the premier scholarly books on the nature of Setekh in Egyptian myth, it mentions that Aser had *unforgivably wronged* Setekh. It also affirms that Setekh hates evil and punishes the wicked. (In his form as Shezmu, companion of Khonsu as Khemmu, he actually cuts up the souls of the wicked and presses them in his winepress to paint the sunset sky and make the fiery wine enjoyed by righteous souls.)

If this odd embellishment with the "Nile" (which I've never encountered and I've been at this a long, long time) is referring instead to Nebthet in her form as Anuket -a Nile Goddess- then I would have to say it's pretty terrible to depict drunken rape (or at least adultery) in terms of helping a garden for Aser's wife. Also, Aset is the dread mastress of heka, the one who shoots flames from her eyes and whom scorpions serve, a shape-shifting trickster Goddess who even made Ra dance to her tune eventually (by poisoning then lying to him, no less). Aset is the seat of power. She is awe-inspiring. This book fails to communicate that or the other important natures of the characters on any level-- child or adult. Instead Setekh is treated like a cartoon villain to Aser's prince charming while Aset is so squeaky clean it's disturbing and Nebthet is nearly invisible.

Also, diverting the Nile wholescale flies in the face of the 42 Laws of Maát. It's part of the law against misuse of the natural world and mentioned by name. Those are a bit like the ten commandments for Kemetics--- so, essentially, the author had Aser break one our commandments with a smile-- and he's not even punished for that part and Aset is actually complicit in it and there's 'rejoicing' from the people. That's just sloppy research.

What worries me most is that children will read this and later be confused if they come across the actual tales. The original myth gives the ideas that even great, loving, wonderful people can fail (especially if drink is involved); good people can have terrible things happen to them for no reason (or have a momentary selfish lapse in judgment); and that in the end everyone suffers (the whole universe, in fact) until the wounds inflicted are dressed appropriately and people are able to make peace and restore Maát. It also makes the point that no one should ever punish to excess. This is all set against the story of the death of the physical body and the life of the eternal one, glorified and in union with the Divine. It's an important story on all of its levels and to see it reduced to this... ugh.

This could have been done well but it's not. It has nothing to do with 'glossing over for audience' and everything to do with the author not 'getting' the meaning of the stories being told.