The Goddess Re-Awakening, compiled by Shirley Nicholson

I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by this book. On a trip to my local library, I was in the mood for a goddess-based academic book and this is one of the very few they had. It took me four days to read, but really I think that was because of the fact that it is written by multiple authors. (It takes a bit to get used to each person's style and really get at the "essence" of what he/she is trying to say.)

Why was I surprised, you ask?

Well, usually goddess-themed academic leaning texts get heavily into the "angry victimhood, blame everyone else" kind of mentality. And, quite honestly, they become exhausting to read, especially to someone trying to build a better future and not just tear things apart because what happened in the past.

Shirley Nicholson walked a fine line with this book. In the forward, it was made clear that it wasn't meant to be a political text. Instead, I found that most of the essays were clearly calling for equality and empowerment in both genders, not simply the reversal of patriarchy into matriarchy. Honestly, it was refreshing.

I say Nicholson walked a fine line. At the end of the text were two essays that, to me, were the same old-same old blame game--but only two, with a forward to the section explaining that Nicholson felt like some type of the (angry) feminist agenda needed to be included, but she was limiting how much.

I don't know how else she could've handled it, but the book was ended on a rather bitter note.

Overall, however, I'd have to recommend it for anyone interested in "goddess theory."