The Goddess's Illusion

The Goddess's Illusion
Author: Katherine Dotterer
Publisher: KatSpell Press
Total Pages: 482
Release: 2024-05-21
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 195561413X

The Regency-inspired kingdom of Calatini is filled with magic and tender romance. But even in Calatini, magic comes with a cost, and sometimes a curse can become a blessing. Kit, the young, widowed Countess of Blaine, must remarry. She's already chosen the perfect husband—except she can't stand his kisses. But on Longnight, the Goddess blesses her with a powerful illusion: Kit shall appear a hideous crone until she becomes who she was meant to be. Before anyone from court sees her, she flees to the one person she knows shall help—Mel, the gentleman she loved as a girl who is now a priest for the Goddess. Mel, the middle son of a wealthy duke but called to serve the Goddess, has been avoiding Kit since discovering her cruel lies separated his brother from the girl he loved. But when Kit begs Mel for his help, he feels compelled to agree for the sake of the devout and tender girl he'd once loved. But no one can break the Goddess's illusion, not even a wise elf or a powerful seer. So with Mel's support, Kit settles into life at the Goddess's temple. She and Mel continue to clash, and those clashes soon lead to passionate kisses—ones she actually enjoys. But a priest would never marry an unworthy lady like her, and she can't live the rest of her life as a crone. Somehow, Kit must break her unwanted illusion, forget about Mel, and return to court where she belongs. Yet the Goddess's plans are not so easy to foil, and she has other ideas for Kit and Mel. The Goddess's Illusion is Jane Austen meets Howl's Moving Castle, with the outpouring of magic, fantasy, and clean romance that make the Calatini Tales beloved. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ "As I continue to read the stories in the Calatini world, I'm completely captured by the writing of Katherine Dotterer ... the romance in this is mostly clean and certainly swoonworthy."

Kali

Kali
Author: Sarah Caldwell
Publisher: Jaico Publishing House
Total Pages: 100
Release: 2013-12-07
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 8184955154

In Colour These tiny treasures of metaphysical and mythological knowledge serve as enlightening rubrics for understanding Indian tradition and theology. Exquisitely illustrated, this series serves as a contemporary matrix for illuminating our human experience and offers insightful access into Eastern spirituality. This attractive addition to Mandala’s bestselling minibook series explores Hinduism’s most enigmatic figure in all of her glory. A wide range of vivid illustrations, both traditional and contemporary, showcases the paradoxical and often shocking imagery of Kali, whose outrageous appearance and behavior shatter all social conventions. These intense tales recount Kali’s origins as the shadow self of Durga – a goddess who appears in the world in order to save the terrified gods from the demons Sumbha and Nisumbha. Brandishing weapons of destruction and cackling madly, she annihilates an ever-increasing number of miscreants who try her patience. She comes not only to restore balance within the universe, but also to help humanity cut through the bonds of illusion and attachment.

THE EVOLUTION OF THE GOD ILLUSION

THE EVOLUTION OF THE GOD ILLUSION
Author: Ir. Jim K K Wong
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
Total Pages: 176
Release: 2012-06-16
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1477114009

As one may have read Cicero in The Nature Of The Gods, ancient people were vivid observers of the sky and the celestial bodies because of their livelihood- they were mostly engaged in agriculture and animal husbandry. The cycles of nature and seasons were the most important factors affecting farming civilizations. The brilliant ‘stars’ Jupiter, Saturn, Venus and the zodiac were also objects of great interest. These heavenly bodies were regarded as deities even by learned philosophers. Cicero and Socrates had a field day demolishing these strongly held prevailing ideas. One popular god illusion of the West and Middle East began with patriarch Abraham who was an astronomer from Mesopotamia. He studied Jupiter avidly and could predict its behavior which he used it to his advantage in his migration to the Fertile Crescent and in his encounters with hostile inhabitants. Abraham had the delusion that Jupiter-Yahweh was a deity who could be depended to assist him in troubled times. The Yahweh Delusion was passed down from Abraham to son Isaac and grandson Jacob. Jacob’s 12 sons migrated to Egypt, multiplied and eventually became slaves. Moses a pariah Egyptian prince became the rebel leader of the Hebrew slaves when he discovered his roots. At the opportune moment, c.1450 BCE, Venus erupted from unstable fast-spinning Red Giant Jupiter and shot into the inner solar system like a billiard ball along a highly elliptical orbit. It had several close encounters with Earth, Moon and Mars and created stunning phenomena or ‘miracles’ such as the much exaggerated Ten Plagues, parting of the Red Sea, the rain of manna, apparent stopping of the Earth’s rotation, and even the destruction of the mighty army of Sennacherib near Jerusalem. Moses and his successors apparently knew and could predict more or less unusual celestial phenomena and attributed them to a tribal deity Yahweh who was connected with their deliverance and survival. Every successful prediction or expectation resulted in augmenting the god illusion. The god illusion evolved through stupendous sagas, cross fertilized by neighbors and reformers roughly from 1500 BCE to 500 BCE. However, the Hebrews had a confused idea of this savior deity and its feminine aspects, such as the Celestial Cow giving manna-milk. In the evolutionary process, Yahwist patriarchs literally wrote off the influential Goddess and made Yahweh a lone male god of Judaism and Christianity. The underlying motive developing this god illusion is Moses’ and Israel’s covetousness of the fertile Holy Land. Moses needed a justification to commit genocide, to rob, loot, destroy and drive out people inhabiting the land of milk and honey. The justification is a tribal god of Israelites who gives mandate to his chosen race to rob and steal the Promise Land from ‘evil’ worshippers of false gods! The underlying theory for this god illusion evolution hypothesis is based on Immanuel Velikovsky’s bestseller of the 1950s, Worlds in Collision. This hypothesis met fierce opposition in academia and Establishment Science. The AAAS Symposium 1974 was convened to address the serious challenge. Here, the author produces abstracts from various experts in various disciplines of sciences and arts to counter objections to the underlying theory. The god illusion presented here is my own interpretation of the psychological impacts and aspects of these astounding celestial phenomena. I am using appropriate knowledge in several disciplines to support my thesis, such as radiation chemistry, upper atmosphere chemistry and behavioral science. My training as a stock analyst to read the underlying environment enables me to read in between the lines, to speculate and connect the gaps and dots together and present a satisfying version of the god illusion.

The Triumph of the Goddess

The Triumph of the Goddess
Author: C. Mackenzie Brown
Publisher: SUNY Press
Total Pages: 352
Release: 1990-08-29
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9780791403648

The authors of the Devī-Bhāgavata Purāna endeavored to demonstrate the superiority of the Devī over competing masculine deities, and to articulate in new ways the manifold nature of the Goddess. Brown's book sets out to examine how the Purana pursues these ends. The Devī-Bhāgavata employs many ancient myths and motifs from older masculine theologies, incorporating them into a thoroughly "feminized" theological framework. The text also seeks to supplant older "masculine" canonical authorities. Part I of Brown's study explores these strategies by focusing on the Purana's self-conscious endeavor to supersede the famous VaisBhagavata Purana. The Devī-Bhāgavata also re-envisions older mythological traditions about the Goddess, especially those in the first great Sanskritic glorification of the Goddess, the Devi-Mahatmya. Brown shows in Part II how this re-envisioning process transforms the Devī from a primarily martial and erotic goddess into the World-Mother of infinite compassion. Part III examines the Devi Gita, the philosophical climax of the Purana modeled upon the Bhagavad Gita. The Devi Gita, while affirming that ultimate reality is the divine Mother, avows that her highest form as consciousness encompasses all gender, thereby suggesting the final triumph of the Goddess. It is not simply that She is superior to the male gods, but rather that She transcends Her own sexuality without denying it.

Empowerment and Integration Through the Goddess

Empowerment and Integration Through the Goddess
Author: Wistancia Stone
Publisher: iUniverse
Total Pages: 426
Release: 2001-05
Genre: Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN: 0595179304

mpowerment and Integration of the Goddess is perhaps the most profound and informative book written on the subject of the Divine Feminine and how women and men can integrate the Goddess energies into self and the world. Since early in Earth’s history, abuse, denial, and ignorance of the Divine Feminine has led to the enormous patriarchal attitudes that pervade mass consciousness and even Spiritual literature. This book provides one of the most in-depth studies of this issue ever written; from the Divine Mother, Archangels and inner plane Ascended Masters’ perspective! Absolute must reading for all who tread a Spiritual path! Collectively, we are shifting out of polarity consciousness and choosing empowered, balanced lives. This book braids polarity into oneness, reveals the disparity of heart/mind, internal/external, compassion/will, experience/knowledge, love/power, and assists us across the bridge of transition into the return of full consciousness. You will discover: How the imbalance began, What Goddess energy really is, How to balance Feminine and Masculine, Why experiencing the Heart is vital, Manifestation through The Goddess, Feeling into Physical Ascension, Meditations/attunements to activate the Divine Feminine, What a balanced Master is, and How to Balance Love, Wisdom and Power

The Oxford History of Hinduism: The Goddess

The Oxford History of Hinduism: The Goddess
Author: Mandakranta Bose
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 337
Release: 2018-05-30
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0191079693

The Oxford History of Hinduism: The Goddess provides a critical exposition of the Hindu idea of the divine feminine, or Devī, conceived as a singularity expressed in many forms. With the theological principles examined in the opening chapters, the book proceeds to describe and expound historically how individual manifestations of Devī have been imagined in Hindu religious culture and their impact upon Hindu social life. In this quest the contributors draw upon the history and philosophy of major Hindu ideologies, such as the Purāṇic, Tāntric, and Vaiṣṇava belief systems. A particular distinction of the book is its attention not only to the major goddesses from the earliest period of Hindu religious history but also to goddesses of later origin, in many cases of regional provenance and influence. Viewed through the lens of worship practices, legend, and literature, belief in goddesses is discovered as the formative impulse of much of public and private life. The influence of the goddess culture is especially powerful on women's life, often paradoxically situating women between veneration and subjection. This apparent contradiction arises from the humanization of goddesses while acknowledging their divinity, which is central to Hindu beliefs. In addition to studying the social and theological aspect of the goddess ideology, the contributors take anthropological, sociological, and literary approaches to delineate the emotional force of the goddess figure that claims intense human attachments and shapes personal and communal lives.

God of Desire

God of Desire
Author: Catherine Benton
Publisher: SUNY Press
Total Pages: 256
Release: 2006-06-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9780791465660

Presents Kamadeva, the Hindu god of desire, in tales, art, and ritual. Also covers Kamadeva's appearance in Buddhist lore.

Secrets of the Eternal Moon Phase Goddesses

Secrets of the Eternal Moon Phase Goddesses
Author: Julie Peters
Publisher: Turner Publishing Company
Total Pages: 207
Release: 2016-05-09
Genre: Self-Help
ISBN: 1594736235

Wholeness Is Limiting―Possibilities Emerge When We're in Pieces Everyone experiences brokenness at some point in their lives―a romantic relationship fails, a job ends, a dream dies, an illness emerges. During these times it is easy to focus on our human frailty and to want nothing more than to be whole again. But what are we missing when we overlook the ugliness, fear, anger and vulnerability of being in pieces? The Nityas, or the Eternal Moon Phase Goddesses of Tantric philosophy, teach us that we miss the empowerment of the full human experience and the growth that comes from renewing ourselves again and again. This introduction to Tantric mythology as a contemporary resource for personal and spiritual growth guides you to reach into your pain and ask the larger questions about your relationships, not only with your lover but also with your community and with yourself. Each goddess prompts you to explore some aspect of relationship, such as loneliness, true love, equality, instinct, learning from the other, and learning to be alone. In seeking answers to these questions―supported by yogic wisdom, modern research into psychology and sociology, and nightly meditation and journaling practices―you will find empowerment in discovering who you are and what you truly desire.

In Praise of the Goddess

In Praise of the Goddess
Author:
Publisher: Nicolas-Hays, Inc.
Total Pages: 407
Release: 2003-12-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0892546166

About 16 centuries ago, an unknown Indian author or authors gathered together the diverse threads of already ancient traditions and wove them into a verbal tapestry that today is still the central text for worshippers of the Hindu Devi, the Divine Mother. This spiritual classic, the Devimahatmya, addresses the perennial questions of the nature of the universe, humankind, and divinity. How are they related, how do we live in a world torn between good and evil, and how do we find lasting satisfaction and inner peace? These questions and their answers form the substance of the Devimahatmya. Its narrative of a dispossessed king, a merchant betrayed by the family he loves, and a seer whose teaching leads beyond existential suffering sets the stage for a trilogy of myths concerning the all-powerful Divine Mother, Durga, and the fierce battles she wages against throngs of demonic foes. In these allegories, her adversaries represent our all-too-human impulses toward power, possessions, and pleasure. The battlefields symbolize the field of human consciousness on which our lives' dramas play out in joy and sorrow, in wisdom and folly. The Devimahatmya speaks to us across the ages of the experiences and beliefs of our ancient ancestors. We sense their enchantment at nature's bounty and their terror before its destructive fury, their recognition of the good and evil in the human heart, and their understanding that everything in our experience is the expression of a greater reality, personified as the Divine Mother.