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Kent Winward's Reviews > Goddesses: Mysteries of the Feminine Divine
Goddesses: Mysteries of the Feminine Divine
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The title is a little misleading, because there isn't as much about the Goddess as there is about the Goddesses' place in ancient myth telling. (Hint: It is often tangential to the main story.)
When reading Campbell, you can usually count on at least one instance where you get an insight into an old story you didn't have before, like Paris choosing between Aphrodite, Athena, and Hera, was a choice between three archetypal female characters, love/lust, wisdom/career, and home/hearth. The obvious representations of the Goddesses were more about Paris choosing a life path. I know that seems obvious, but the shift and viewing the myth as metaphor for life choices struck me.
Another story I enjoyed was Campbell's take on Chrétien's poem, Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart. . Here is Campbell's take on the Perilous Bed:
A number of knights had to experience the perilous bed before getting access to a lady, and it works like this; You come into a room that’s absolutely empty, except in the middle of it is a bed on rollers. You are to come in dressed in your full armour � sword, spear, shield, all that heavy stuff- and get into bed. Well, as the knight approaches the bed, it shears away to one side. So he comes again, and it goes the other way. The knight finally thinks, “I’ve got to jump.� So with his full gear, he jumps into the bed, and as soon as he hits the bed, it starts bucking like a bronco all over the room, banging against the walls and all of that kind of thing, and then it stops. Then he’s told, ‘It’s not finished yet. Keep your armour on and keep your shield over yourself. � And then arrows and crossbow bolts pummel him- bang, bang, bang, bang. Then a lion appears and attacks the knight, but he cuts off the lion’s feet, and the two of them end up lying there in a pool of blood. Only then do the ladies of the castle come in and see their knight, their saviour, lying there looking dead. One of the ladies takes a bit of ‘fur� from her garment and puts it in front of his nose and it moves ever so slightly � he’s breathing, he’s alive. So they nurse him back to health.� The knight is then off to his next adventure.
Per Campbell, the myth is the metaphor for the male experience of the female temperament. You have to love myths.
When reading Campbell, you can usually count on at least one instance where you get an insight into an old story you didn't have before, like Paris choosing between Aphrodite, Athena, and Hera, was a choice between three archetypal female characters, love/lust, wisdom/career, and home/hearth. The obvious representations of the Goddesses were more about Paris choosing a life path. I know that seems obvious, but the shift and viewing the myth as metaphor for life choices struck me.
Another story I enjoyed was Campbell's take on Chrétien's poem, Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart. . Here is Campbell's take on the Perilous Bed:
A number of knights had to experience the perilous bed before getting access to a lady, and it works like this; You come into a room that’s absolutely empty, except in the middle of it is a bed on rollers. You are to come in dressed in your full armour � sword, spear, shield, all that heavy stuff- and get into bed. Well, as the knight approaches the bed, it shears away to one side. So he comes again, and it goes the other way. The knight finally thinks, “I’ve got to jump.� So with his full gear, he jumps into the bed, and as soon as he hits the bed, it starts bucking like a bronco all over the room, banging against the walls and all of that kind of thing, and then it stops. Then he’s told, ‘It’s not finished yet. Keep your armour on and keep your shield over yourself. � And then arrows and crossbow bolts pummel him- bang, bang, bang, bang. Then a lion appears and attacks the knight, but he cuts off the lion’s feet, and the two of them end up lying there in a pool of blood. Only then do the ladies of the castle come in and see their knight, their saviour, lying there looking dead. One of the ladies takes a bit of ‘fur� from her garment and puts it in front of his nose and it moves ever so slightly � he’s breathing, he’s alive. So they nurse him back to health.� The knight is then off to his next adventure.
Per Campbell, the myth is the metaphor for the male experience of the female temperament. You have to love myths.
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Goddesses.
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Reading Progress
January 2, 2019
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Started Reading
January 2, 2019
– Shelved
January 5, 2019
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Finished Reading
