Goddesses in Older Women: Archetypes in Women Over Fifty

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 256 pages
• Published by: Harper Paperbacks April 16, 2002
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 0060929235
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0060929237
• Book Dimensions: 8 x 5.2 x 0.6 inches
• Weighs: 7.2 ounces

From Publishers Weekly
Recycling a format she successfully employed in Goddesses in Everywoman (1984), Bolen, the author of seven works of Jungian psychology, addresses an older audience, urging women over 50 to search out positive archetypes or patterns of behavior that lie dormant in their inner selves that will help them realize their full potential. A Jungian analyst and professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco, Bolen relies heavily on her earlier work, in which Greek goddesses personified aspects of the feminine psyche. For "crones" (women in the postmenopausal stage of their lives), Bolen posits four principal goddesses--Metis, Sophia, Hecate and Hestia--each of whom embodies practical intellectual, mystical, spiritual, intuitive or meditative aspects of wisdom. She recounts the goddesses' mythic origins and shows how their attributes can help women forge a more meaningful life. Bolen also highlights the empowering attributes of outrage, mirth and kindness incarnated in certain Asian myths. In the second part of this work, Bolen revisits seven goddesses described in her original work, this time relating them to older women. Finally, Bolen urges older women to congregate in groups patterned on the consciousness-raising circles of the 1960s, to become a force for change spiritually and politically. Readers skeptical of Jungian philosophy may find the concepts here too abstract and convoluted to serve as a practical guide to aging. But for those who celebrate their maturity, Bolen's thoughtful mytho-psychology will be an inspiration. (Mar.)Forecast: Though this invitation to embrace their inner "crone" probably will not appeal to the wide female readership that made Goddesses in Everywoman a San Francisco Chronicle bestseller and backlist staple, Bolen is closely connected to her core readers. With 32 workshops, bookstore appearances and lectures planned in 25 cities, she can look forward to solid sales.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist
Bolen is one of the most popular writers on goddesses, and with millions of baby boomers embarking upon their sixth decade, her new book should encounter a welcoming audience. Having shared her own midlife journey in Crossing to Avalon (1994), Bolen here looks to mythology for empowering archetypes for the older woman. For the first time in her work, she stretches her purview beyond the Greek pantheon to include goddesses from Egypt and Asia, and still she focuses primarily on the goddesses she has explored in such earlier works as Goddesses in Everywoman (1984). Bolen sees the aging lady as not only a font of wisdom but also a vibrant creative force, whose energies are free to move beyond the personal into the interpersonal and the transpersonal. Whether laughing like the mirthful Uzume or meditating with Hestia at the hearth, this "juicy crone" models power and passion in these pages. Patricia Monaghan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Reader Reviews
This review is from: Goddesses in Older Women: Archetypes in Women Over Fifty (Hardcover) First let me note that I am non religious, and only read books like this because they are fun to read. I do NOT subscribe to what they say. Goddess In Older Women reminds me a great deal of Women Who Run With The Wolves which my sister gave me a dozen years ago. Jean Shinoda Bolen MS notes in the beginning that "At some point after fifty, every woman crosses a threshold into the third phase of her life. As she enters this uncharted territory--one that is generally uncelebrated in popular culture--she can choose to mourn what has gone before, or she can embrace the juicy crone years." The book is split into 4 parts. 1 is Her name Is Wisdom which covers the Goddess of pratical and intellectual wisdom; mystical and spiritual wisdom;Intuitive and psychic wisdom; meditative wisdom. 2 She Is More...Than Wisdom which deals with the Goddess of Transformative Wrath-Her name is Outrage; Healing Laughter Her Name is Mirth; Compassion Her Name is Kindness 3 She Is A Goddess Growing Older Goddesses in Everywoman Revisted Artemis Goddess of Hunt and Moon; Athena Goddess of Wisdom and Crafts; Hestia Goddess of Hearth and Temple; Hera Goddess of Marriage; Demeter Goddess of Grain; Peresephone the Maiden and Queen; Aphrodite Goddess of Love and Beauty Part 5 She Is a Circle. Circles of Wisewomen clan mothers Grandmother circles and Crone circles. Fact is European women seem to appreciate and honour the crone more than we do here in the states. Crone sadly is a misunderstood word. It simply means an older women who is wise and wonderful. It isn't anything dark or spooky.