The Goddess Myth in Contemporary Literature and Popular Culture

The Goddess Myth in Contemporary Literature and Popular Culture PDF Author: Mary J. Magoulick
Publisher: Univ. Press of Mississippi
ISBN: 149683707X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 211

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Book Description
Honorable Mention for the 2022 Elli Köngäs-Maranda Prize awarded by the Women's Section of the American Folklore Society Goddess characters are revered as feminist heroes in the popular media of many cultures. However, these goddess characters often prove to be less promising and more regressive than most people initially perceive. Goddesses in film, television, and fiction project worldviews and messages that reflect mostly patriarchal culture (included essentialized gender assumptions), in contrast to the feminist, empowering levels many fans and critics observe. Building on critiques of other skeptical scholars, this feminist, folkloristic approach deepens how our remythologizing of the ancient past reflects a contemporary worldview and rhetoric. Structures of contemporary goddess myths often fit typical extremes as either vilified, destructive, dark, and chaotic (typical in film or television); or romanticized, positive, even utopian (typical in women’s speculative fiction). This goddess spectrum persistently essentializes gender, stereotyping women as emotional, intuitive, sexual, motherly beings (good or bad), precluded from complex potential and fuller natures. Within apparent good-over-evil, pop-culture narrative frames, these goddesses all suffer significantly. However, a few recent intersectional writers, like N. K. Jemisin, break through these dark reflections of contemporary power dynamics to offer complex characters who evince “hopepunk.” They resist typical simplified, reductionist absolutes to offer messages that resonate with potential for today’s world. Mythic narratives featuring goddesses often do, but need not, serve merely as ideological mirrors of our culture’s still problematically reductionist approach to women and all humanity.

The Goddess Myth in Contemporary Literature and Popular Culture

The Goddess Myth in Contemporary Literature and Popular Culture PDF Author: Mary J. Magoulick
Publisher: Univ. Press of Mississippi
ISBN: 149683707X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 211

Get Book Here

Book Description
Honorable Mention for the 2022 Elli Köngäs-Maranda Prize awarded by the Women's Section of the American Folklore Society Goddess characters are revered as feminist heroes in the popular media of many cultures. However, these goddess characters often prove to be less promising and more regressive than most people initially perceive. Goddesses in film, television, and fiction project worldviews and messages that reflect mostly patriarchal culture (included essentialized gender assumptions), in contrast to the feminist, empowering levels many fans and critics observe. Building on critiques of other skeptical scholars, this feminist, folkloristic approach deepens how our remythologizing of the ancient past reflects a contemporary worldview and rhetoric. Structures of contemporary goddess myths often fit typical extremes as either vilified, destructive, dark, and chaotic (typical in film or television); or romanticized, positive, even utopian (typical in women’s speculative fiction). This goddess spectrum persistently essentializes gender, stereotyping women as emotional, intuitive, sexual, motherly beings (good or bad), precluded from complex potential and fuller natures. Within apparent good-over-evil, pop-culture narrative frames, these goddesses all suffer significantly. However, a few recent intersectional writers, like N. K. Jemisin, break through these dark reflections of contemporary power dynamics to offer complex characters who evince “hopepunk.” They resist typical simplified, reductionist absolutes to offer messages that resonate with potential for today’s world. Mythic narratives featuring goddesses often do, but need not, serve merely as ideological mirrors of our culture’s still problematically reductionist approach to women and all humanity.

21st Century Goddess

21st Century Goddess PDF Author: Jessica Adams
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 0552150711
Category : Spiritual life
Languages : en
Pages : 370

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Book Description
The perfect introduction to mind, body and spirit for a younger female audience. This is the ultimate guide to all the things a girl needs to know to bring out her inner goddess. It spells out the nine key elements of popular spirituality and shows you how to put them to use in your everyday life. Written by the Charlie's Angels of the New Age, this book will help you decide: - What to wear - How to choose the right man - Decorate your bedroom - Mix potions for love, happiness and success - Make sense of your dreams - Boost your luck and lower your stress levels - Harness your psychic energy - And, how to throw a Fabulous Goddess Party. Chapters include Chakras and Auras; Magic and Rituals; Dreams: Crystals and Remedies; Astrology; Numerology; Psychic Power; Angels and Goddesses; and Mind Miracles.

The Witch's Qabalah

The Witch's Qabalah PDF Author: Ellen Cannon Reed
Publisher: Weiser Books
ISBN: 9780877288800
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 236

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Book Description
Because the classic writings on the Qabala have been expressed primarily in the terminology of the Western Mystery Tradition or in terms of the ceremonial magician, its usefulness as a tool for the Craft has been overlooked. With this book, Ellen Cannon Reed -- a High Priestess of the Isian tradition -- brings the symbolism of the Qabala into a new light so pagans can see its value and use it to enhance the Great Work. Reed explains the Tree of Life -- the primary symbol used to represent the universal energies as "revealed" by the Qabala -- and how its spheres and paths correspond to elements in the pagan tradition. Teachers can use the Qabala to understand the growth of students and their problems, using the Vices and Virtues to recognize stages of growth. Reed also provides exercises, meditations, and encouragement to students who are studying without a teacher. She discusses the Qabala as it appears in everyday life, which spheres of the Tree of Life to use for specific workings, and details two rituals using the Tree: a Dedication to the Journey, and the Rite of mending Love. Reed's command of the material allows teachers and students alike to gain powerful insight into their own search for spirituality. First published in 1983 as Witches Qabala Book 1: The Goddess and the Tree, this revised and updated edition is enhanced with Reed's thirteen additional years of experience.

Servants of the Goddess

Servants of the Goddess PDF Author: Catherine Rubin Kermorgant
Publisher: Random House India
ISBN: 8184005601
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 406

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Book Description
Servants of the Goddess weaves together the heartbreaking, yet paradoxically life-affirming stories of five devadasis—women, in the clutches of an ancient fertility cult, forced to serve the gods. Catherine Rubin Kermorgant sets out attempting to make a documentary film about the lives of present-day devadasis. Through her, we meet and get to know the devadasi women of Kalyana, a remote village in Karnataka. As they grow to trust Kermorgant and welcome her as an honorary sister, we hear their stories in their own words: stories of oppression, discrimination, violence and, most importantly, resilience. Kermorgant becomes a part of these stories and finds herself unwittingly enmeshed in a world of gender and caste bias which extends far beyond Kalyana—all the way to Paris, where the documentary is to be edited and produced. Servants of the Goddess is a testament to women’s strength and spirit, and a remarkably astute analysis of gender and caste relations in today’s rural India.

Aphrodite

Aphrodite PDF Author: Lily Rose
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
ISBN: 1524541389
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 314

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Book Description
When Aphrodite learns her fianc has been involved in extracurricular activities for the duration of their relationship, she leaves him on the spot. Now faced with the issue of no home, no car, and no job, she willingly accepts the airline tickets and small donations from her friends and family. At first, this period of extensive travel ushers in exciting adventures and people. Gallivanting around the globe as a free agent with no responsibility or fianc to answer to is refreshing. However, after a year, the novelty wears off, and the jet-setter lifestyle begins to take its toll. She no longer takes joy in the irony of traveling on private jets and hobnobbing with the wealthy while she is flat broke. Inwardly, she yearns for the stability of home and someone to love but has no idea how to attain such things while stuck in such a fast and shallow environment. This is a true story of Aphrodites quest for freedom and happiness, what she does to survive in NYC, and how she calls forth the courage to completely reinvent herself that, in turn, reconnects her with a man whos been waiting for her since their first brief but indelible meeting years before; this is about how the power of love can transform. Ultimately, its Aphrodite refusal to accept a mediocre life that enables her to successfully pursue her dreams and refine her character. Its a story of how we all may attain the happy ending by simply listening to our inner voice and wisdom.

Goddess, Lion, Peasant, Priest

Goddess, Lion, Peasant, Priest PDF Author: Rebecca M. Brown
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780981480442
Category : Painting
Languages : en
Pages : 180

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Book Description
"Goddess, Lion, Peasant, Priest: Modern and Contemporary Indian Art from the Collection of Shelley and Donald Rubin is an exceptional collection of modern Indian works. This is the first public display of more than 50 works from 30 of India's most famous artists, including Francis Newton Souza, Sakti Burman, Seema Kohli, and Maqbool Fida Husain. The Huffington Post called the collection, 'important and extraordinary'. With imagery from all walks of life, from the poorest citizens to dynamic deities, the works in this exhibition focus on India's people: individual characters gazing back at us, men and women inhabiting spaces, urban and rural, kneeling bodies meditating and praying. India's modern and contemporary art affirms that modern is global."--Publisher's website.

Restoring the Goddess

Restoring the Goddess PDF Author: Barbara G. Walker
Publisher: Prometheus Books
ISBN: 1615922334
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 422

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Book Description
Hearkening back to the widespread worship of a mother goddess at the dawn of civilization, Walker argues for a restoration of this primal religious sensibility which celebrated the Earth's fertility and woman's innate power to bear new life.

Goddesses #1: Heaven Sent

Goddesses #1: Heaven Sent PDF Author: Clea Hantman
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 9780064408752
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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Book Description
Thalia persuades her sisters, Muses Era and Polly, to help her avoid an arranged marriage, but their plan goes awry and Zeus sends the girls to Earth--only instead of arriving in ancient Athens, Greece, they arrive in modern Athens, Georgia.

Goddesses and the Divine Feminine

Goddesses and the Divine Feminine PDF Author: Rosemary Ruether
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 9780520250055
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 396

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Book Description
"The scholarship in this book is superior, revealing a depth of insight and a scope of knowledge possible only from a scholar who has lived with the concerns of feminist theology for decades. Ruether is a gifted storyteller, and lucidly translates complex ideas and debates. This work is of the highest importance, and Ruether asks the right questions at the right time. The text is groundbreaking."—Nancy Pineda-Madrid, Saint Mary's College of California "Ruether has provided a valuable introduction to an important feminist topic: what can we know about sacred female imagery in Western culture? She guides us through contemporary feminist scholarship, providing engaging narrative, and venturing her own interpretations. Ruether calls for feminists to move beyond divisions created by our different interpretations of prehistory and work together towards our common project of a more peaceful, just, and ecological world."—Carol Hepokoski, Meadville Lombard Theological School

The Soul Searcher's Handbook

The Soul Searcher's Handbook PDF Author: Emma Mildon
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1582705240
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
A fun guide to everything mind, body, spirit that defines New Age practices for a new generation.