Goddess Power Pack: The Goddess Cross

The Goddess Power Pack by Cordelia Brabbs (Godfieldpress, 2005) arrived the other day and I just had to try it out using a spread I found in the book called the Goddess Cross. You draw five cards and lay them out with one card in the center, then one under that, one to the left, one to the right, and one above. Leave them face down and consider them in turn.

Goddess Cross, Goddess Power Pack by Cordelia Brabbs

Middle card: You
Card to left: An aspect you need to work on, possibly to 'tone down', but use your intution in interpreting
Card to right: What you should aspire to in terms of your personality
Card below: Where you need to shape up your act to get the most from your life.
Card above: You should make your actions and decisions from this state of mind.



Middle card: Vesta
Vesta is the goddess of hearth and home, and I am certainly a home body, very comfortable in my home, prefer staying home, and in general am able to entertain myself and be perfectly content curled up on the sofa. She represents security and grounding, hearth and fire, cooking and nourishment and all that homey type stuff. Definitely me.

Left: Pele

This Hawaiian goddess is associated with erupting volcanoes and energy, particularly the energy of an explosive temper. (Though to be honest she looks rather sweet in that card). A little online research reveals that she can be considered a malignant volcano-inhabiting deity who is fickle and dangerous in temperament with a tendency to killing her husbands. Now that's not what the guidebook to the Goddess Power Pack says about her; it advises me to eat plenty of fruit and veg to avoid blood sugar crashes, ha ha. I think the author, Cordelia Brabb, may have put too sweet a spin on this volatile goddess. Her spirit, according to an online source, can be 'quite cruel and destructive.' Going with this knowledge of the goddess, rather than the cutesy 'get in shape, girl' message of the guidebook, I can see where I've been snappy and over-reactive lately. I should tone that down. Sometimes the hearth can get a little too hot, I guess!

Right: Hecate

According the guidebook, Hecate makes decisive choices. Only a brief reference is made to her being 'able to see in three directions at once' and to being a goddess of the crossroads and the moon. According to the cards, I should aspire to be more like Hecate in my personality. Hecate is a goddess of crossroads, of boundaries, city walls, doorways. She is associated with night, the moon, childbirth, the oppressed and nighttime travellers. Being a goddess of crossroads would seem to make her a goddess of choices...and I could certainly use more fearlessness in making choices.

Below: Minevera

In the card, Minerva is seen in a protest march. The guidebook suggests Minerva represents standing up for your beliefs. Minerva is more or less the Roman equivalent to Athena, goddess of poetry, medicine, commerce, wisdom, weaving, crafts and magic. In Rome she was associated with war, so I guess that's where we get the militant nature of the activism depicted in the card. I can identify areas of my life wherein I have been wishy-washy, noncommittal, or approval-seeking. The Minvera card encourages me to get a backbone!

Above: Aphrodite

This very curvy goddess is meant to encourage me to love and accept my body and recognise my own beauty. That is advice every woman can take.  I like the way she is a bit on the pear-shaped side but still loving what she sees in the mirror. It makes a nice change from the stick-thin drawings you sometimes see as representative of beauty in some cards. The guidebook suggests looking yourself in the mirror daily and saying, 'You are beautiful.' Wonder what hubby would think if he walked in on that little conversation.