Author: Lisa Hunt
Hardcover, 122 pages
Publisher: Lewellyn
Publication date: October 2001
ISBN: 0738701181
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Lisa Hunt's beautiful artwork has graced a number of books, games, and Tarot decks. Celestial Goddesses is a collection of twenty watercolor paintings of Goddesses executed especially for this volume. Each illustration is accompanied by a page of information on the goddess and a very short guided meditation about the Goddess, but I doubt many people will buy this book for just these features. Most people are going to buy it for the enchanting paintings.
Lisa says in the introduction that she has always felt drawn to goddesses associated with the heavens. She has selected twenty such goddesses from around the world for this book and illustrated them in watercolor. While the quality of the paintings varies, most are very nice. Two of them, Amaterasu and Luonnotar, could easily have spots on my wall if I were wealthy enough to buy the originals. Only one painting (of Arianhod) does nothing at all for me. The paintings vary stylistically. Some of them are very realistic. Others, more symbolic, would be right at home on a Tarot deck.
The book cover is a montage of parts of four of the paintings. Isis is at the top with Amaterasu, Artemis, and Mawu at the bottom. While the cover can show you the quality of Lisa's work, it only hints at the beauty of the full paintings of these four goddesses. You really need to open the book and feast your eyes on the wonders within. Any one of the paintings could serve as a substitute for a goddess statue on a Wiccan altar.
As I mentioned in the first paragraph, each painting is accompanied by a one page introduction to the goddess and a short one page guided meditation. Lisa also talks about what meditation is and how to meditate at the beginning of the book. While Celestial Goddesses includes a general bibliography, it would have been nice if a specific book or two were listed for each goddess for readers who want to find out more information on a specific goddess.
As a meditation guide or a mythology book, Celestial Goddesses would be a waste of money. As an art book, it is worth every penny if you like even a few of the paintings within it. If you like art books, you owe it to yourself to take a look at this one. Celestial Goddesses would also make a nice birthday or holiday present for anyone who likes watercolors. One does not have to be Pagan to appreciate Lisa's talent.
Reviewed by Randall
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