Dancing the Goddess Incarnate

Book Reviews: 2006

Dancing the Goddess Incarnate: living the magic of maiden, mother, and crone by Dorothy Morrison & Kristin Madden
Llewellyn Worldwide ©2006

Goodbye, Dr. Phil! Hello, dance shoes!

Dorothy Morrison and Kristin Madden have brought into being a women’s self-help volume that utilizes the magic of nine Goddesses to bring balance and serenity to our lives. The book is divided into three parts, each one dedicated to the three faces of the Goddess. Part One; the Maiden features the Goddesses Titania, Athena, and Artimis. In Part Two, the Mother is dedicated to the Goddesses Venus, Cybele, and Tara and the final section is for the Crone and holds the wisdom of Hecate, Cerridwen, and The Cailleach.

The Goddesses all focus on one aspect of women’s lives: play, career, personal adventure, romance, creative endeavors, family and nurturing, self-empowerment, magic and ritual, and last but not least, personal and spiritual well-being.

What I like about this book is that the authors don’t assume that the reader’s life is pathetic and in need of desperate repair. We are taken on a lovely adventure with the authors as they experience dancing with each Goddess in their lives. (Yes, we get to dance with each Goddess no matter where we are in our own life path,)

This book is not one to sit down and read with a warm cup of tea on a rainy Saturday afternoon. The book actually invites the reader to become an active participant in its pages. There are poems, spells, questionnaires, meditations and exercises galore. Each chapter focuses on the traits of the profiled Goddess in relation to real life events and concerns. In the chapter dedicated to Cybele, we learn to explore our inner dreams and manifest them into physical reality. How cool is that?

My favorite chapter was the one devoted to Hecate. Called the Dance of Attitude, it teaches the reader to eradicate unwarranted fears based on what the neighbors might think. I especially like The She-Who-Doesn’t-Give-A-Hoot Ritual. As a person who hates to make waves and a people-pleaser, I really needed to read the words there. Plus, lately I have been hearing a whisper that it may be time to accept Hecate as my Patron Goddess. The only problem I have with the entire chapter is the advice to use a lotion with lanolin. Too bad for me, I am allergic to the stuff and if I slather it all over my body, it wouldn’t be a pretty sight!

I did find myself trying to figure out which author wrote which portions of the book. I must say that there are some typical “Dorothy” phrases, but if she wrote those chapters wholly on her own is anybody’s guess. The authors’ styles meshed well, nor does the book doesn’t leave you with unanswered questions. There is a bibliography in the back if the reader wants to explore further reading material. I’d like to see another volume dancing with additional Goddesses or even one that has us dancing with the Gods.

5 Goats (out of 5)

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