Customer Reviews

Pagan Meditations

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I had no idea when I began to read this book how it would enter my daily life. I thought I was reading about goddesses of a long time ago, but instead it was as if the author put a mirror in front of me and pointed out each one- Hestia, Aphrodite, Artemis- all inside of me and around me.

This is a book that men and women will find a joy to read, with the reward of discovering aspects of not just one's own self, but of one's home, one's work, one's family/friends, and one's life replete with the gentle touch of each of these goddesses.

I will never again light a fire or cook a meal without connecting with Hestia. This book not only educates and enlightens, but manages to connect one with the wonderful energies of each goddess.

It was not just an excellent raed, it was a life transforming adventure. Ms. Paris is one amazing writer and person to have seen and felt so much, but even more to have been able to put words in print for us all to make that journey, each in our own way.

Ginette Paris brings a contempory feminist approach to three very different Greek goddesses. The section devoted to the oft overlooked Hestia is particularly interesting. Ms. Paris brings a social and ecological sensibility to this thoughtful, well-argued text.

I read this book for part of a mythology class in college and found it very uneven. There are several provocative moments, and Paris must be given credit for criticing traditionally didactic feminist reactions to gender questions, but overall it's a bit lacking.

Basically, Paris takes three goddesses from a *very* patriarchal culture and (mis)interprets them as archetypes of a feminism that I, as well as many classical scholars, just do not see in the old myths.

Her ideas of "new Pagan models of feminism" aren't nearly as earth-shattering as she seems to believe, and she spends a great deal of the book completely misinterpreting Christianity as little more than a conspiracy by men to keep women pregnant and barefooted-- completely overlooking the fact that many female worshippers of these 3 goddesses in Ancient Greece were among the first to convert to Christianity. At times the book seems more like a tirade against the Pope and Christianity than a discussion of feminism, mythology, and psychology.

The book also suffers from some hairbrained digressions, about topics such as why bottled water is superior to debased tap water (most bottled water *is* tap water), getting an abortion is empowering to young women, etc. The Artemis section is especially scatterbrained and comes across as a gross misappropriation of the goddess to fill whatever political and social ends Paris wished to advance but couldn't neatly attach to Aphrodite or Hestia.