My friends all told me to read this book, so I did.
Img from Google
What to say… I LOVED it!
The down part is that it’s written by a human being… well, by a feminist junghian analyst in the seventies… which is also the up part of this book, because of the idea where it stems from.
Nonetheless some thoughts about men and about some woman’s aspects are a bit too much and too clearly an offspring of that time period and of doctor Shinoda Bolen’s preferences.
This doesn’t mean this book isn’t enlightening: if you read it well aware of the above, and therefore that it’s no dogma, I think it can turn out to be a very good read.
I devoured the first part, the one about Artemis: she was spot on to the very feelings I feel (ok, I felt, when I was younger and doing it seriously) when running! I read with pride the best part of Artemis, and nodding at the worst, I read with annoyance some things about Persephone and with recognition some about Aphrodite.
Basicalli, if I were to explain myself like a goddess (archetypes actually) cocktail, here would be the recipe: 5% Athena, 5% Hestia, 10% Persephone, 20% Aphrodite and 60% Artemis… but the propotion may vary… (IE in the past I had less Hestia and more Persephone, or I think I have some more Aphrodite but it would bring Artemis too low… XD)
Ok, now, the chore of the book is this: Jung theorized that there are archetypes common to all human beings, and he explained this theory thanx to Greek mythology, dr Shinoda Bolen broadened this theory -wich was, to her, to limited about women’s psyche- so that she could explain the apparent contraddiction “typical” of female behaviour.
She the analyzes virgin goddesses (which mean independent), vulnerable goddesses (aka dependent) and the alchemical goddess, what they “give” to a personality (pro and cons), how to live with it, what to learn from it, how to tone it down or how to bring them out. She describes so well some aspects that it is practically impossible not to see -sooner or later- something about our own selves in them, this is why I feel like telling you all you should read this book.
Also those girls who don’t think they need this book at all (men too, you might find out why your girlfiend shrieks like a Banshee if you move one book in her bookshelves yet she doesn’t bat an eye if you put your feet on the couch…) and obviously to all those who are always on the “know yourself” path.