The Goddess Wheel

Although this book is full of colorful pictures, the written text is its main feature.
The paintings in this picture book are rendered in a distinctly dilettante style, and the subject matter intrigueingly portrayed. The text is well written and thought-provoking. Weiss writes in a mix of fantasy, philosophy, and poetic prose to express profound wisdom in plain words. Her ideas are deceptively simple, for every sentence reveals deeper meanings about women's experiences of life, love, and longing. In the introduction, she writes:

"Feminine spirituality is about becoming Whole. It is about containing, connecting, uniting, and bonding. It is about affirming and celebrating all living things. It is about harmonizing and balancing the masculine and feminine principles in all our lives. The Mother-god's most important lesson is that Divinity exists in everything; that all life is sacred and erotic. . . . The feminine spiritual message is perpetually revealed by the turning of the seasons, and, above all, we see our own experience of transitions and changes mimed by the moon's monthly orbit. Like the "faces" of the moon, women's own cycles, moods, and roles pantomime the ever-changing Essence of female sexual and spiritual power."

The book derives from the author's extensive life-travels as a sex therapist, astrologer, gardener and breeder of pedigreed cats. Her love of animals shows through the paintings. Her empathy for human foibles and her sympathy for Nature's caprice lends a sometimes shocking humor, combined with honest revelation, to her concept of Woman's erotic spirit. Weiss offers a broad view of sexual-spiritual merging that encompasses shadow and light, serious and playful, foolish and wise. She is less sympathetic to the prevailing male-dominated culture, however, and a strong feminist bias shows through all of her work.

Here are the names of the eight Archetypes and their corresponding masks or faces or roles, as Weiss has defined and arranged them:

Mother Archetype: Mother Earth, Divine Mother, Grandmother. (New Moon)
Maiden Archetype: Good Girl, Naughty Girl, Orphan. (Waxing Crescent Moon)
Wild-woman Archetype: Dame Nature, Maenad-Madwoman, Whore. (First Half Moon)
Muse Archetype: Clown, Star, Siren. (Gibbous Moon)
Lover Archetype: Beauty Queen, Sweetheart, Vamp. (Full Moon.)
Companion Archetype: Handmaiden, Mate-Wife, Sister-Friend. (Disseminating Moon.)
Warrior Archetype: Heroine, Huntress, Rebel. (Second Half Moon.)
Wise Woman Archetype: Mystic, Priestess, Witch-Shaman. (Balsamic Moon.)

This book is a gold mine of affirmation, self-knowledge, compassion, and pure chutzpah for women and teenage girls today. Read it and learn to like yourself better-- even th...