This is one of the best books I've read in a long time. In fact, I'm reading it again for a discussion group in June.
First published in the 80s, Bolen integrates her knowledge as a Jungian Psychotherapist to delve into the seven main goddesses from Greek mythology and how their archetypal energies play out in the lives of women - either as primary of secondary forces within a woman. The idea is to recognize which have had the most influence on you and which energies do you need to cultivate more in your life perhaps in different seasons. She acknowledges that men may relate to these as well - but she's since written a companion book Gods for Every Man.
She divides them into categories:
The Virgin Goddesses:
Artemis: Goddess of the Hunt; and the moon - personified as an independent female spirit. The archetype enables a woman to seek her own goals on terrain of her own choosing. (goal oriented, back to nature, sisterhood)
Athena: Goddess of wisdom and crafts, strategist, father's daughter. Depicted in battle gear, often with an owl. (strategy, practical, tangible results, often found shoulder to shoulder with men)
Hestia: Goddess of the hearth and temple, wise woman and maiden aunt (spirituality, hearth, circular figures, rituals, spirituality, homemaking, sanctuary.)
The Vulnerable Goddesses (relationship centric)
Hera: marriage, commitment maker, wife. revered and yet reviled - known for a possessive husband centrism leading to jealousy
Demeter: grain, nurturer, mother - mostly associated with Persephone abduction myth and her reaction to it. (provides nourishment)
Persephone: maiden, Queen of the underworld, mother's daughter. (passage from victim to heroine) was abducted by Hades
The Alchemical Goddess:
Aphrodite: love and beauty creative woman and lover (enjoyment of love and beauty, sexuality and sensuality. demanding in creativity and procreation.
I'm still pondering on the sway that these archetypes have had on me. I definitely recognize that some are more prominent than others. For example I have a strong instinctual Demeter instinct that I've recognized since childhood. I always loved the Persephone myth and now I'm wondering why. Why did I love how the Phantom of the Opera took Christine down to his labyrinthal quarters. We all know that you should marry Raul, but yet you want to be kidnapped by Hades?
Enough personal psychoanalysis here...
