Review: Arc of the Goddess by Rachel Patterson

Arc of the Goddess is a year-long course in goddess-oriented spirituality that you can step into any time you like and follow at your own pace. The book sprung out of an online course run by Rachel Patterson and Tracey Roberts via the Kitchen Witch School of Natural Witchery, but is perfect for those who prefer to study and work alone.

Each chapter covers a single month and follows the same format. It starts with details of nine goddesses the authors associate with the time of year, taken from various cultures and pantheons across the world. There's a huge variety and likely to be some goddesses you have never heard of as well as those who are well known. For example, May's goddesses are:

• Corn Woman: Native American goddess of sustenance
• Green Tara: Buddhist saviour-goddess
• Hera: Wife of Zeus and queen of heaven in Ancient Greece
• Isis: Goddess of Magic from Egypt
• Mawu: West African moon goddess
• Juno: Roman goddess of marriage
• Oonagh: An Irish queen of the faeries
• Gula: Patroness of physicians
• Poluknalai: Lady of the beasts from Afghanistan

This is followed by a list of feast and celebration days for deities throughout the month; a guided meditation to meet one of the goddesses; details of the type of magic suitable for the time of year; the outline of a ritual you can perform as well as some moon magic; lists of crystals and herbs; altar decorations and details of things to make including incense, mandalas, spirit dolls, natural beauty products, meditation beads and food.

Obviously you don't have to follow all of the suggestions each month - and in fact you could reuse Arc of the Goddess every year, trying out different things each cycle.

Publisher Moon Books says on its website:

This year-long Arc of the Goddess course will take you on a personal journey of discovery, taking each month as the wheel of the year turns and introducing you to different goddesses and pantheons with your choice (or theirs…) about who you work with and how you work with them.
The authors hope to help you connect with the magical energies of each month as well as giving you lots of practical exercises to work with and suggestions on how to make your spiritual connection stronger.
At the end of the course it is hoped you will not only have discovered your own personal pantheon of goddesses to work with, but also uncovered The Goddess Within…

Rachel Patterson is producing an Arc of the Goddess Oracle to accompany the book, although it isn't essential for completing the course. Arc of the Goddess would be a great companion volume to Rachel's earlier books Grimoire of a Kitchen Witch and The Art of Ritual. Her previous books also include Pagan Portals Moon Magic and A Kitchen Witch's World of Magical Plants and Herbs.

Arc of the Goddesscan be ordered via Amazon.

Links and previous related posts
http://www.moon-books.net/

http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2016/04/review-art-of-ritual-by-rachel-patterson.html
http://www.kitchenwitchhearth.net/
Arc of the Goddess
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2013/05/review-grimoire-of-kitchen-witch.html