Legendary Ladies: 50 Goddesses to Empower and Inspire You

By Ann Shen

Goddesses — Mythology — Inspiration

Readers who have enjoyed Warrior Goddess Training or Women Who Run with the Wolves will love Ann Shen’s Legendary Ladies

Goddesses from mythology: Goddesses from our past are celebrated in this lushly illustrated book by Ann Shen, the author and artist who created Bad Girls Throughout History. Ann is an illustrator, letterer, and author based in Los Angeles who has created artwork for a number of publications, campaigns, products, and galleries.

Explore the feminine divine and feel empowered: Legendary goddesses and powerful deities are celebrated in gorgeous artwork and enlightening essays. Lushly illustrated goddesses that you will love include:

• Aphrodite, the Greek goddess whose love overcame mortality
• Mazu, the Chinese deity who safely guides travelers home
• Lakshmi, the Hindu provider of fortune and prosperity

Unique alternative to Goddess cards or other gift items: Ann Shen's signature watercolors make Legendary Ladies a unique, gift-worthy homage to the mighty women within.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Chronicle Books Digital
• Release date: Apr 3, 2018
• ISBN: 9781452163482

Ann Shen

Ann Shen is an illustrator and graphic designer whose bright, colorful style has been put to work all over the world. She lives in Los Angeles.

Book preview

Mythology is a funny thing. When you really think about it, mythology is, at the root—with all due respect to that which is sacred and religious—stories that we have told ourselves about our own origins. Humans have long searched for answers about how we came to be, why we came to be, and what our purpose is. We’ve experienced many of the same struggles, no matter the trappings of our time and place in history. Mythology reveals all this. It unveils our truest desires, our greatest needs, and our most painful experiences: it lays it bare at our feet and reveals the truth about ourselves and the cultures that have shaped and interpreted these myths. Maybe even better than history and facts have done—because myths tell us more about what’s truly important to us and what a culture’s ideals are.

Goddesses have been a part of mythology since the very beginning, many responsible for creating the world as we know it. The divine feminine is often the force of life itself, from which we all stem, and working with it is a way to acknowledge the creator in each of us and the spirit of protection, courage, and love. Many of the goddesses have tales of overcoming, of manifesting—creating things from the power of thought alone—and of unflappable strength. While their stories and dominions vary, the goddesses here have one great common thread: they have all found their own power. And through their stories, and perhaps a little bit of faith and magic, they will empower you.

In the pages that follow, there’s a diverse range of goddesses from many major pantheons across the globe. They represent the things that we value and seek in our lives: creativity, manifestation, love, power, protection, and reinvention. Their stories are wildly diverse; yet some are similar across great distances, illustrating what we value despite borders between us.

Here you will find primordial goddesses who existed before time itself, playful divinities who love to intervene with our mortal coils, and your greatest champions. Many have stories of great adventure, of courage, of sacrifice. All have stories that will help guide you in your everyday life.

Throughout, a common thread runs: that the masculine does not exist without the feminine, that they are two parts of every living being on Earth. Recent history has been largely patriarchal, which means the divine feminine has been oppressed for much too long. Hopefully you will find a patron goddess (or many) in here with whom you can connect—for guidance, for growth, for strength, or for whatever you need at this stage in your life. Use the categories to find a goddess to help you through where you are currently; refer back often as your life changes. Or simply enjoy their stories and be emboldened by this long history of women who have been integral in the foundation of many civilizations.

The divine feminine has always been here and will continue to be a part of our stories. Now it’s up to you to honor it within yourself, because you are a descendent of these wild, willful women. These are our collective mothers, after all.

ORIGIN: Hindu

MYTHOLOGY: Mother of the endless universe, Aditi is one of the earliest sky goddesses in the Hindu pantheon. Her name translates to limitless, just like her reach and powers. She existed before time and is said to be the goddess of the past and the future, controlling all of time. Aditi is also the source of the stars, suns, planets, and moons and then gave birth to twelve Adityas, who were spirits that became the twelve Zodiac signs. They take turns ruling the cosmos by month and created

Reviews for Legendary Ladies

[gerconk · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Legendary Ladies by Ann Shen tell us of goddesses of various cultures in a brief form with brightly drawn illustrations. It is easy to read and speaks of well-known Greek and Roman goddesses as well as lesser known goddesses from around the world. With the one-page information and the colorful pictures, it would be a good book for young girls ten or twelve years old.

[essieyesterday · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

When I got this book the first thing I did was flip to each of the pages with Indian goddesses on them (seven in all!!!) and just stare in amazement. If you were raised on a mythology other than Greco-Roman or Egyptian, you may have a similar experience to mine as you flip through. An earlier review described this book's illustrations as "Disneyfied" versions of these goddesses; that is true, and Disneyfication isn't without its disadvantages. However, I'm honestly thrilled to see the way the book represented its pantheon of women: innocently sweet, magical-looking, and yeah sure, Disney. But if you grew up playing pretend that you were one of these goddesses (or if even now, you daydream of morphing into destruction-goddess Kali once in a while, just to keep people on their toes) the illustrations in this book will feel like they were beamed straight from your childhood imagination to Ann Shen's pen. Raw mythology is no kids' movie, for sure, but I think that women who don't look like any animated princess may get a big kick out of seeing themselves represented in the goddesses of this book. I know I did.As the cover shows, this is clearly a gorgeous book. Luscious illustrations portray the fifty legendary ladies and through them, their diverse cultures, costumes, stories, and forms of physical beauty are honored as well. Skimming through, you'll quickly build up a list of favorite pages. Some of mine were the Norse goddess Freya, in her cat-drawn chariot; Hindu sky goddess Aditi, whose starry sari flows off the page; and my absolute favorite, the Hawai'ian goddess Pele, who has a smoke cloud for hair and an active volcano for skirts. Each illustration comes with a brief, Wikipedian-sounding summary of the goddess's role in mythology, which either works well or feels too dry depending on the page. Overall I can see the rationale for sticking to broad overviews; the literally gory details of mythology would no doubt overwhelm some readers, and the book is clearly intended to be light reading. Capping each of the summaries is a short blurb with directions on when and how to call on each goddess. These directions unfortunately are so generic and new-agey they're likely to invoke only eye-rolls; it would've been better to axe them and instead quote an interesting line or two from the written mythology concerning each goddess. That would have countered the dryness of the main text, and connected readers directly with the myths the book celebrates. The major weakness of this book for me was that huge swaths of the globe are not represented in it. We meet no ladies of legend from South America, Canada or Alaska, Russia, Australia, the Middle East, Central Asia, or Africa apart from West Africa and Egypt. The book is clearly not meant to be an exhaustive list, so it's understandable that there had to be a cutoff point somewhere. But to compensate for that, I would've liked to see a much more thorough bibliography both for the goddesses mentioned and for plenty of others, to acknowledge as much of the world and as many mythologies as possible.Overall, this book is so eye-catching and fun to page through, it's bound to be a great armchair read for just about anyone in need of a girl-positive pick-me-up. Or to anyone who just likes beautifully illustrated books. It'd also be excellent for introducing readers, especially young adults, to world mythology. Despite the gaps in its coverage there are still relatively few books that put all the world's mythologies on the same footing as the Greeks'. This book's greatest success is that it makes each goddess, regardless of culture or fame, look truly legendary. I think that quality will pique readers' curiosity, and hopefully lead them to seek out stories of incredible women that they haven't heard before.

[over.the.edge · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Legendary Ladies: 50 Goddesses to Empower and Inspire You ????By Ann Shen2018Chronicle BooksWe Are Women. Hear Us Roar!!The inspiring, sometimes wild mythologies and the incredible individuality of the femininity of the women shared here represent the diversity, not just in the things we may each value and seek, but in the rich similarities and common threads that have existed between women, for many centuries. Despite the distance, different cultures and beliefs and borders that divide us, we are all women. We all have our stories. The ones shared here, some from lesser known goddesses and some obvious choices are divided into 5 categories, according to the goddesses strengths.This is a fun, inspiring and wonderfully illustrated introduction to the mythology of the feminine throughout the history.Highly recommended. Some of my favorites were:The Muses (but of course!), the Greek Goddess of memory, art and science; Saraswati the Hindus Goddess of knowledge, music and arts;Gaia the Greek Goddess of Mother EarthBrigit, Irish Goddess of creative arts, poetry and music;Rhiannon,Welsh Goddess of strength....And so many moreRecommended.

[hmcdonald-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I loved this book. It is perfect for any age, the illustrations are gorgeous, and it is a quick and easy read. The book features goddesses from cultures all over the world, including familiar faces like Aphrodite, and many that I had never heard of before. I would definitely recommend this for young girls who are looking to be inspired.

[sarahbest_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

“Legendary Ladies: 50 Goddesses to Empower and Inspire You” is a beautifully illustrated collection of portraits by Ann Shen who previously created “Bad Girls Throughout History”, a delightful volume of stories about audacious women who broke rules and made history. This current volume of Legendary Ladies highlights the Goddesses from many world cultures, grouped broadly into categories like Love and Power. Each entry features a full-page illustration of the Goddess in action, surrounded by the landscapes, objects, and animals they are mythologically associated with. For example Artemis is depicted with bears (from the myth of Orion), hunting dogs, her bow, and a moon crown. Richly illustrated with gold foil on the cover, and with each Goddesses’ name written in hand-lettering as well, this book would make a great gift or small coffee table book. It’s beautiful (as I expect from my favorite publisher, Chronicle Books). However, where this book fails me is in the copy. Growing up, I was inspired by mythology. Myths have a way of drawing us in. Unfortunately this book doesn’t draw so much on myths and stories as much as it does facts. It often uses phrases like “is associated with” which are written in the past tense, and in a distant way that is off-putting rather than illuminating or emotionally evocative. Despite being well-researched (I have some of the source books), the entries read like Wikipedia articles and often deal with sensitive subjects like sexual assault in Greek myths bluntly. Lacking in emotion, I don’t think this volume lives up to Shen’s previous work.Disclosure: I received an advanced readers copy of this book for free.

[jencharlap · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A beautifully illustrated introduction to goddesses from around the world. This would be a perfect gift for a girl aged 8-12 with an interest in the topic. For adults, I feel that the material is a bit thin. However, the entire volume is gorgeous and worth adding to your collection for the illustrations alone, which are truly stunning.

[stacypilot · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is an excellent book to become acquainted with goddesses from around the world. Concisely on one page you are given the country or religion of origin and the mythology of her followed by a "Call on" statement of when you'd want that goddess to aid you. Bright and bold illustrations accompany each goddess on the opposite page. At the back is an excellent references page. What impressed me the most was the organization of the book by the topics of Creativity and Manifestation, Love, Power, Protection, and Reinvention. And I'll admit it-this adult reader hadn't heard of half of the women so I devoured the book in one night. Young readers will like it. I received a copy for review from the Early Reviewers program at Librarything.