Teen Goddess: How to Look, Love & Live Like a Goddess [Paperback]

Catherine Wishart (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 8, 2003

A girl's guide to magic, makeup, and meditation Every girl is a goddess! When you access your goddess power, you can make your life exactly as you want it to be. This positive and hip guide to beauty and spirituality will show you how--with simple messages and tasks that will illuminate your mind, body, and soul. Remarkable things will happen when you begin to delve into your divine beauty and listen to the inner voice of the Goddess. Find romance, ace exams, radiate confidence. Enchant everybody with your appearance and your attitude. All the glamour, strength, and magic that was available to the ancient goddesses is available to you now.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Ever since the publication of Silver Ravenwolf's incredibly popular Teen Witch, it seems that books about pagan religion for teens are popping up everywhere. Author Catherine Wishart takes a slightly different approach in her spiritual how-to book by focusing solely on the worship of the Goddess (which many pagan teen practitioners know is at the heart of most earth-centered religions). Wishart’s Teen Goddess is divided into two sections. The first, entitled "The Basics" provides the reader with some common concepts of pagan practices, including a short history of goddess worship, mediation exercises, and tips for casting spells. Unfortunately, Wishart's basics are a little too "basic," providing only a superficial coverage of pagan religion, and focusing far too much on using goddess worship as a tool to get "kisses from cute boys," or solve serious problems like anorexia, without mentioning that medical help may also be needed. The second section, entitled "The Goddesses" is by far the better half of the book, giving full mythological profiles of several goddesses from different world religions, discussions of their symbols and strengths, meditations and prayers specific to that goddess, and activities playfully called "Goddess Workouts" that encourage positive thinking and journaling. While Wishart's book may be a nice addition to the growing library of a serious teen pagan, novices might be better off taking a look at SpellCraft for Teens by Gwinevere Rain, or Solitary Witch by Silver Ravenwolf. For a deeper treatment of goddess worship, teens could also try The Goddess Path by Patricia Monaghan. (Ages 12 and older) --Jennifer Hubert

From School Library Journal

Grade 8 Up-Declaring that "every girl is a goddess," Wishart quickly moves into an overview of 15 ancient goddesses one should look to for help with everything from weight loss to family strife to getting a boyfriend. The profiles are very brief, but they will pique readers' curiosity. The book is filled with interesting exercises and fun makeup and costume ideas for emulating a favorite goddess, but they aren't descriptive enough. The author's personal commentary about how goddess spirituality has guided her life is a little distracting, and the inclusion of Mary, mother of Jesus, as a goddess may strike some as an odd addition. Although the idea of the book sounds appealing, the text never seems to hit its stride; much of it reads more like a first draft than a finished book. This title may attract readers browsing in New Age bookstores, but it's not worth purchasing for library shelves.
Elaine Baran Black, Gwinnett County Public Library, Lawrenceville, GA
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Paperback: 408 pages
• Publisher: Llewellyn Publications (July 8, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0738703923
• ISBN-13: 978-0738703923
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,505,791 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Poorly Researched, August 30, 2011

By 

R. Lyons "Ulfrun_fargazer" (Michigan, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Teen Goddess: How to Look, Love & Live Like a Goddess (Paperback)

This is horrible way to introduce anyone to Goddesses of any kind. It will give the girls who read it all the wrong ideas about the goddesses it presents and just make it harder for them to get to know the real deal. Her information is poor and often outright wrong and I would really like to know what her sources are since I've never heard of most of the things she's attributing to the various Goddesses and I've done a fair amount of study on the matter. Then there's her blather about the paleolithic Goddess worship and female veneration. The fact is we just don't know that much about what went on or what people believed at that time. We have no written sources, since it didn't exist and limited archaeological finds. It's all hints and guesswork and she's presenting it like we have well known documentation and facts from a time so long before written language existed that not even the faintest of legends survived.

I also have a problem with her emphasis on getting a guy. What if a girl is interested in another girl? Or if she's okay with just being single? We don't all need an SO to be complete, even at that age.

I don't recommend this book at all. Steer clear and find yourselves and your daughters something better to read.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Awful book, bad information, August 29, 2011

By 

Azelma (New Zealand) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Teen Goddess: How to Look, Love & Live Like a Goddess (Paperback)

Do not open this book if you are in any way interested about goddesses, or looking for information on specific deities. This book doesn't have a clue. Freyja is not an "air goddess". I don't know where the author got her information, but whatever her source it it wasn't the myths! Suffice it to say the Eddas are not listed in her bibliography!

She even lists Boadicea (More properly "Boudicca") the Iceni queen as a goddess. Why would you deify a mortal queen? It's bad enough that she deified Mary. And Mary as a moon goddess?

The author says that "throughout this book you will get to know specific goddesses from different cultures". You won't. If you're interested in knowing any of the goddesses she names here, this book will only hinder your efforts to form relationships with them. And two of them aren't goddesses at all!

Taking just Freya as an example, the list of errors is just beyond belief:

Freya is not an air goddess. She is a goddess of magic, sexuality and fertility, and to a slightly lesser extent, warfare. She is not related to the air in any way.

Freya is not the goddess of spring, dawn or the new moon as claimed.

The sharp blade of her sword, if she has one, is not a metaphor for intellect. The Norse deities use their swords for smiting.

Freya does not have a cloak that looks like a cloud and changes with her mood. She has a falcon cloak.

Freya is not married to Odin. She is married to Odh.

She goes out seeking her husband as the story suggests, however, she does not find him. And IIRC, he left not because he wanted adventure, but because she had sex with several dwarfs so that they would craft her a necklace.

Freya is not a goddess of creativity.

Freya does not ride in a chariot with her brother. She has her own chariot, which is drawn by cats.

TL;DR: This is a shallow book more aimed at five year olds than teens and full of inaccuracies so bad I can only imagine she made them up. AVOID!

8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A useful and creative book for all ages, July 24, 2004

By 

Kelly (NEWARK, DE, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Teen Goddess: How to Look, Love & Live Like a Goddess (Paperback)

The title of this book is misleading. It's called "Teen Goddess," but I really feel that the material in this book is useful for any woman (of any age) exploring goddess spirituality.

In the first part, Wishart discusses important tools such as prayer, affirmations and the basic ideas behind magic. It should be noted that her explanation of magic covers mostly principles rather than going into a detailed how to explanation (like "sprinkle herbs on altar" or "anoint the candle with ____ oil"). Also, her conceptions of prayer and magic are very similar. Even so, the explanations are all clear and the text is good so long as you're not stuck on the processes explained in all the Wicca 101 books.

The next section of the book introduces the goddesses. There is a chapter for each one. In each goddess chapter, Wishart tells a myth, suggests prayers and rituals to get in touch with the goddess, and tells what situations this goddess can best help you with. Sometimes the spells are tailored for teens, but for the most part, anyone can use them as they are applicable to life situations that adults face as well. What seperates this book from all the other goddess spirituality books is the beauty advice. For each goddess, Wishart suggests ways to dress and do makeup and hair to invoke the goddess's energy. I personally think this is a great way to bring your spirituality into everyday life or just to bring a little extra something to rituals.

Other great features of the book are the exercises, called "Goddess Workout," sprinkled liberally throughout. These allow you to take the material in the book and actually use it in your life. The exercises range from guided meditations to journaling to artwork and more. You're sure to find something to inspire your imagination!

The only thing I might change is the juvenile tone in some places. For example, "magic can help you get cute boys to kiss you." Even if I were a teen, I probably wouldn't like that sort of phrasing. However, the good news is that this sort of writing is very rare so it's only a very minor problem.

Overall, this book gets a huge thumbs up. It's full of wonderful ideas and helpful information.