Best new age goddesses books according to redditors

It's the Winter Solstice, so that's probably why your searching isn't turning up anything. You are so thoughtful to do this for her! What to get her obviously depends on her personality and interests, so if you could tell us a little bit more about her in general that would probably help.

Not knowing what kind of things she already has does make it difficult to recommend things, but I'm going to link you some books that are of general interest but not the kind of thing that most folks already have in a basic library, if that makes sense.

The Return of the Light and In the Light of the Moon are two charming little books full of stories from around the world about the Winter Solstice and the full moon, respectively.

The Charge of the Goddess - The Poetry of Doreen Valiente is a small volume of poetry by one of the most influential women in Wicca.

The Circle Within is a thoughtful, down-to-earth guide for better incorporating Wicca into one's daily life. Very helpful.

The Earth Path is perfect for the ecologically-minded. It shows witches how to really get out in nature and experience it.

A Book of Pagan Prayer is a plain little book packed with a huge variety of prayers and information on creating them.

I know of at least one book on the subject, Sancifying Misandry. On Amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CS5BQG2/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

"Fun" fact: I think this crazy feminist "mythology" is what's referenced in the title of the Gillian Anderson show The Fall (available on Netflix). Watch a few episodes and notice how the show portrays men and women. It's literally the only show I've seen I could call misandrist.

Few things:

• Garst inserts a comment about "mother goddesses" at one point. I suspect she subscribes to the theory that we used to live in peaceful quasi-matriarchal societies that were conquered by brutal patriarchs. This feminist myth was popularized by figures like Riane Eisler ("The Chalice and the Blade") and is dissected by pro-MRA Canadian academics Paul Nathanson and Katherine Young in their book Sanctifying Misandry: Goddess Ideology and the Fall of Men. It is no longer taken seriously by any credible academics; here's a good debunking.
  
  
• Garst claims that NOW is only opposed to "forced" shared parenting. This is a trick of language. NOW opposes default shared parenting, ie the idea that a woman should be "forced" to share parenting with her ex instead of getting primary custody (and the corollary: the man is forced to lose access to his children). They do not merely oppose shared parenting in cases where eg the husband is legitimately abusive. Thankfully someone in the audience mentioned NOW's opposition to a shared parenting bill in Florida during the Q and A.
  
  
• Garst mentions that a woman dressed up like a man, fought in the revolutionary war and later received a pension for her service. She therefore portrays war as an exercise in glory rather than brutal sacrifice and forced servitude. In reality the vast majority of wars have been fought by men who had to be coerced into the role of soldier. Eg men in Europe who abandoned their posts during WWI were shot.
  
  
• Garst's opinions on marriage are disturbing. She says people shouldn't get married until their 30's. Putting aside the fact that men probably shouldn't get married at all until the laws change, this is horrible advice. Honey Badger Brian Martinez was in the audience and mentioned in the Q and A the minor fact that after age 26 women suffer an increased risk (which grows exponentially with age) of pregnancy complications. They also suffer an increased risk of getting cancer if they don't have any children at all. NOW actually opposed an awareness campaign that sought to teach women about age and fertility; this is a remarkable example of feminists placing ideology above even female health. I found the general tone of the discussion about abortion by both parties troubling; while I support the right of women to get an abortion, I think it's a tragedy when it happens.
  
  Armchair quarterback time. Straughan did a brilliant job as always but perhaps a little constructive criticism couldn't hurt:
  
  
• She rightly points out that if women were subject to conscription they would not be placed in front line combat but fulfill supplementary roles. This was a missed opportunity to talk about male disposability and the sacrifices men make in exchange for their rights.
  
  
• the feminist's primary concern seemed to be abortion rights. Yet Straughan never mentioned the fact that men don't have the right of legal parental surrender. Whereas women can have an abortion or drop the baby off at a safe haven (sometimes they can even kill their newborns and receive no punishment, as happened last week in Canada), men are on the hook for 18 years whether they wanted the baby or not. IMO just quoting dissident second wave feminist Karen DeCrow on the subject would blow the minds of quite a few third wave feminists.
  
  
• Straughan began by stressing the importance of equal responsibilities for women and equal compassion for men, yet didn't really follow through with examples of female institutional privilege beyond the custody issue. In debates of this nature it would be highly useful to stress: institutional discrimination against boys in school; the massive difference in the way men and women are treated by the criminal justice system; the health care spending gap; the suicide gap; the workplace death gap and so forth. These stats could be listed in about 20 seconds and would make a powerful impact.
  
  Overall though a pretty good discussion, and though the feminist is obviously wrong about a number of issues she did show a willingness to acknowledge female privilege and change her views.
  
  Thanks "bad" Karen or /u/girlwriteswhat ;)

My favorite right now is The Goddess is in the Details! https://www.amazon.com/Goddess-Details-Wisdom-Everyday-Witch/dp/0738714860

My favorite books are the following:
About the Goddess:

When God Was a Woman

The Great Cosmic Mother: Rediscovering the Religion of the Earth

The White Goddess: A Historical Grammar of Poetic Myth (FSG Classics)

On occult knowledge:

The Kybalion by The Three Initiates

On sigils:

Practical Sigil Magic: Creating Personal Symbols for Success

I've been working for Rhiannon for a few months and I've always gotten a very motherly vibe from her. Sometimes she can vague when it comes to communication. I found this book by Jhenah Telyndru to be quite helpful well it comes to honoring her. If you're interest in working with her in a more Brythonic polytheist way, Dun Brython might be of interest. And of course there's the Mabinogion but I'm sure you've probably heard of it by now. I hope this helps!

Late comment but thought it weirdly fortuitous seeing this discussion after coming across a book today at the library I visited for the first time. It’s called Jailbreaking the Goddess and discusses a somewhat newer version of the fivefold goddess model.

The more common model seems to be maiden, mother, crone, with warrior and lover added. The book breaks the idea down a little differently, using Latin names, with the following:

Femella: girl, the primal child, the divine child.

Potens: the woman of strength, full of potential and power.

Creatrix: female creator, the maker, mother, author.

Sapientia: the wise woman, teacher, leader, woman of science and art.

Antiqua: the old woman, dreamer, storyteller, the witch at the gate.

Image of the page with better detail.

Like this better but I do have yet to read most of the book. There are further chapters on each, such as how the creator is more than merely a mother archetype with artworks, songs, and revolutions of thought under her purview. I truly think though that, if you’re drawn to getting power from the goddess model, you could do so from one, three, or five, or however many faces you’re moved to commune with.

The misandry series.

• Spreading Misandry
  
• Legalizing Misandry
  
• Sanctifying Misandry
  
  edit: added links

Not what I mean at all. Where the hell do you live? As I told you, I live in SoCal. Give me examples that are somewhat remotely relavent to me. Do you think that Egalitarians/MRAs support ANY of those things? Are you new to this subreddit? If you are trying to justify the evils of feminism by comparing them to the Taliban, you're setting the bar pretty damn low.


For over half a century, feminism has been Spreading Misandry, Legalizing Misandry and Sanctifying Misandry.


Waging a war on men and sadly, even a war against boys.

That is why I, like most members of this subreddit, are vehemently antifeminist.

A pic you might appreciate:

http://odishareporter.in/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/ardhanareswer.png

You might also find Hermaphrodeities: The Transgender Spirituality Workbook to be interesting, along with Transgender Spirituality: Man into Goddess: Sakhi Bhava.

I recommended the Kybalion in my previous comment before seeing this post. It seems you have already read the Kybalion then. You are already off to a great start. But there are, as always, up to seven layers of meaning to any text. So you should consider it as more of a reference work than anything; only when your journey is complete will you be able to make full use of its contents.

I might have also referenced the Bhagavad Gita. It seems like our attraction to the mystical is in a very similar pattern. Since you have gone this far, then, as per my other comment I would recommend Mark Stavish's Egregores, but also I might recommend the works of Manly P. Hall, and also his largest influencer, H. P. Blavatsky. Specifically ISIS Unveiled for the latter.

Manly P. Hall would be an especially good resource for so-called "fast tracking." His works are very encyclopedic. Particularly his masterwork The Secret Teachings of All Ages.

You may also find Max Heindel's The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception beneficial.

I can think of several that focus on many goddesses from around the world. All these books present these goddesses as being aspects of The Goddess which is not my own theology, so I sift through some of the text with saltshakers handy.

• A trio of books by Michelle Skye focused on many different goddesses from around the world: Goddess Alive!, Goddess Aloud!, and Goddess Afoot!
  
• Stephanie Woodfield's Drawing Down the Sun
  
  If you'd like books on working with specific goddesses, I can offer suggestions for the Morrigan and Brighid. I've contributed content to a Brighid devotional and another text for Brighidine Paganism. Devotionals might be helpful if you're looking for a specific Lady; I can think of several titles for Kemetic and Norse goddesses.

Monica Sjoo is worth a read if that's where your interests lie.

I wasn't sure what the rules are for this contest, but this is $4.44!

As a gift though, I would rather have this or anything off of my wishlist.

If you’re interested in the philosophy most people understand typical monotheism, atheism/agnosticism, polytheism but there are also several types of pantheism that often get overlooked. Alan Watts recordings are easy to find and remarkably poignant even after many decades.

If you’re interested in the more practical aspects of witchcraft or something a little lighter, I’ve really enjoyed Deborah Blake’s books like the Goddess is in the Details.

I’m also a big fan of Kelly Ann Maddox on YouTube because her advice is very versatile and applicable no matter what direction your practice takes and her work is very psychologically sound.

Perhaps not helpful for dysphoria banishment, but I am LOVING this text re: the problems with the traditional maiden-mother-crone view of feminist spirituality, which really does infuse much of the craft. Hope it helps!

Jailbreaking the Goddess: A Radical Revisioning of Feminist Spirituality https://www.amazon.com/dp/0738747971/