Goddesses in older women; archetypes in women over fifty
- NY HarperCollinsPublishers c2001
- xxvii, 227p; bibliog. notes; index
Introduction: How to be a juicy crone. Part 1: Her name is wisdom. Goddess of practical and intellectual wisdom - Metis in the belly of Zeus. Goddess of mystical and spiritual wisdom - Sophia hidden in the Bible. Goddess of intuitive and psychic wisdom - Hecate at the fork in the road. Goddess of meditative wisdom - Hestia as the fire at the center of the hearth. Part 2: She is more...than wisdom. Goddesses of transformative wrath: her name is outrage - Sekhmet, the ancient Egyptian lionheaded goddess; Kali-Ma, Hindu destroyer goddess. Goddesses of healing laughter: her name is mirth - Bawdy Baubo; Uzume, the Japanese goddess of mirth and dance. Goddesses of compassion: her name is kindness - Kuan Yin, She-who-harkens-to-the-cries-of-the-world; The virgin Mary and Lady Liberty. Part 3: She is a goddess growing older: goddesses in everywoman, revisited. Artemis, the goddes of the hunt and moon - sister, feminist, goal achiever. Athena, the goddess of wisdom and crafts - strategist, warrior, craftswoman. Hestia, the goddess of the hearth and temple - hearthkeeper, anonymous woman. Hera, the goddess of marriage - archetype of the wife. Demeter, the goddess of grain - the mother archetype. Persephone, the maiden and queen of the underworld - eternal girl, inner guide. Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty - lover, creative woman. Part 4: She is a circle. Circles of wisewomen - clan mothers, grandmother circles, crone circles. Conclusion: This is Act III
'...In this celebration of Act 3, Jungian analyst Jean Shinoda Bolen names the powerful new energies and potentials, or archetypes, tht come into the psyche at this momentous time, suggesting that women getting older have profound and exciting reasons for welcoming the other side of fifty.'