Evolution of Goddess: A Modern Girl's Guide to Activating Your Feminine Superpowers

by Emma Mildon

Bestselling spiritual author of The Soul Searcher’s Handbook, Emma Mildon—the “goddess-messenger-girlfriend who may just lead you to your inner guru” (Katie Silcox, New York Times bestselling author)—provides a fascinating, fun, and inspiring exploration of the female face of God throughout history, myth, and religion to help women understand, embody, and celebrate their inner goddess.

The Evolution of Goddess is a practical introduction to the goddess realm, digging up the histories of long-forgotten myths of goddesses of love, war, death, the sun, the moon, and more. With this clear-eyed and spirited book, you can finally become familiarized with goddesses from a wide range of cultures throughout history, including the mermaids of the Atlantic, the empresses of ancient Egypt, the wise women of the Middle Ages, right up to the modern-day goddesses who walk amongst us today as humble light workers, educating and inspiring.

Through a goddess assessment, you’ll uncover your own goddess archetype and be given rituals, meditations, and exercises to tap and embolden your own feminine superpowers. Imbue your life with healing, invigorating goddess energy, and discover ways to harness your new empowerment to improve the world. Now is the time to reconnect with the strength and holistic spirituality of our ancestors—to trace the evolution of the Goddess.

Genres: Nonfiction, Self Help, Spirituality, Feminism, Witchcraft, Personal Development, Mythology

240 pages, Paperback

Published July 10, 2018

About the author

Hi, I'm Emma. 

An Author, Columnist, self-confessed geek, and Mother.

Coffee is one of my gods. I am spiritual. An ex-back packer. Have a jarring sarcastic dry-wit, and like to write about anything self-discovery. 

I have been lucky enough to work with the Simon and Schuster Publishing, New York team on two non-fiction books. And am now trying my hand at Indie Publishing fiction books. You know, because the world's a bit of a dick right now and everyone could use some book escapism. Me included. 
​
Some personal stuff people find interesting about me...
I am a born and breed New Zealander. I'm adopted. My mother died when I was age 15 of Cancer which changed the course of my life. I studied Creative Writing and International Business in Toronto, Canada. I've traveled most of the globe while back-packing. I'm a no BS, women-of-my-word, get-shit-done kinda gal aka a write-a-holic. Hence, the coffee.


Check out her latest read, Stitched.
Check out latest book tease: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzQnj...

Reviews

[☘Misericordia☘ ⚡ϟ⚡⛈⚡☁ ❇️❤❣ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Love the ref to a bunch of pantheons. Still, it wasn't all that motivating.

[Jean · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very little takeaway from this book, nice idea but poor delivery. In fact I actually regret buying this book; It’s as empowering as 17 Magazine. One of the most frustrating parts was the authors tone; she attempted to be conversational and cool but the cavalier discussion and “by the way” introduction of supporting evidence left me feeling confused and bored. I often found myself asking “is that the whole point?”, “why am I reading this?”, “what are you trying to prove here?”.

[Ashley Hawkins · Rating 1 out of 5]

I tried listening to this book today, and it is pure trash. Way too much entitled white woman woo and not enough practical paganism. The tone is grating and written for absolute morons, and the author speaks of herself and her inspiration to write this book on par with a second coming. Maybe there are good things in this book, but I can guarantee you can get them from something far more intersectional and grounded.

I have never returned something quicker to Audible than I did this book.

[Shari Suarez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Have you always wanted to learn more about your inner Goddess? Have you always wondered which Goddess archetype you identify with? Emma Mildon answers those questions and more with this book.
She tells you about the different Goddesses in history and mythology and also helps you find the Goddess archetype you identify with along with rituals and exercises to help you tap into your Goddess powers.

[Jenniffer Davies · Rating 1 out of 5]

I disliked it immediately due to errors and slang, but kept skimming through it because I paid god money for it. However, after reading that Hera’s “eyebrows are on fleek” I give up. Horrible book! On to more intelligent things.

[Natalie Ouellette · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are better books on these topics

The author repeats the same message over & over from start to end. To the point where each element feel the same and very surface. They seem to suffer from an identity crisis all at once, all are transformative, cyclical and evolve and change the world. Because (according to her) you need to be at the forefront of change instead of perhaps healing or doing small changes and gestures to your immediate circle. And to top it off it seems rather anti-male energy or motivation. She says she accepts both female and male as vital but over and over she emphasizes that male is bad or evil.

Hard to recommend outside of a light skimming.

[Verónica Fleitas Solich · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good intentions but lacking in sustenance.
Everything he raises is somewhat halfway and the truth is that I expected more. A pity.

[Sylwia · Rating 3 out of 5]

The introduction is off-putting as the author tells us who we are and what we want and why.

Once the author gets into sharing details about history, astrology, spirituality, and politics, I'm interested. I liked listening to her talk about other people's ideas than her own.

Then we have an archetype test, we take it, skip over to ours, read it, relate and absorb, maybe learn, and we're done. The archetype sections provide a lot of tips and guidance on how to stay out of our own ways.

[Veronica Löwenbok · Rating 2 out of 5]

My first impression was that the book was kinda corny but it made me feel empowered when the author walked us through the feminine/maskuline timeline, reminding me that we haven't always been this focused on achievements, and individual success.
I enjoyed her familiar tone, it was like listening to a girl friend which so many seems to hate - but it felt light and fun... for a while. I don't know if it was the person who read it (I listened via Audible) but after a while it felt awkward. I also liked the "encyclopedia of goddesses" part, lifting the many deities and goddesses that is a part of our past.

After that the clichées came close after one another and it went downwards for me.
The use of what might have felt like profound phrases felt shallow and forced, totally random use of goddesses and deities to suit her points and talk of crystals and past lives (not wrong just not my cup of tea) made me loose interest.
No need to read this book, just scroll through any "instagram godess account" and you'll find everything mentioned in this book.



Mitt första intryck var att boken var ganska töntig, men boken fick mig att känna mig stärkt när författaren gick igenom den kvinnliga / maskulina tidslinjen som påminde mig om att vi inte alltid har fokuserat på prestationer och individuell framgång.
Jag tyckte om hennes välbekanta ton, det var som att lyssna på en tjejkompis. Men många andra verkar hata det! Det kändes lätt och roligt... ett tag. Jag vet inte om det var den som läste den (jag lyssnade via Audible) men efter en stund kändes det bra krystat. Jag gillade också "Uppslagverket av gudinnor", som lyfte många gudomar och gudinnor som är en del av vårt förflutna.

Efter det kom klichéerna nära varandra och det gick nedåt för mig.
Användningen av vad som måste ha känts som djupa fraser blev ytligt och påtvingat, helt slumpmässiga hänvisningar till gudinnor för att passa hennes poäng och prat om kristaller och tidigare liv (inte fel, bara min kopp te) gjorde att jag förlorade intresset.
Du behöver inte läsa den här boken, det räcker med att bläddra igenom något "instagram goddess-konto" så hittar du allt som nämns i den här boken.

[Abigail Hall · Rating 1 out of 5]

this is perhaps the worst book i have ever read in my life. the author’s tone tries too hard to be casual and relatable (think “you go girl!” every other line). her diction is heteronormative and assumes that all women are on the same life path (ie stating that a first boyfriend is significant for every woman, and assuming that all women want to have children). her “empowering” messages aren’t especially empowering, and her book conveys the message that women and men (her belief that there are only two genders is also problematic) are inherently “separate but equal.” i was hoping that i could get through the almost condescending tone of the first few chapters, but had to give up on the book because there is a lot of misinformation regarding astrology and other occult topics. also, there is an underwhelming amount of sources cited in a book that clearly draws on many disciplines and mythologies that require research and citations. overall i found the book to be boring, basic, and full of inaccuracies.

[Ania · Rating 2 out of 5]

The biggest problem for me with this book was the style it was written in. Mildon constantly tries to keep things light-hearted and fun, and it ruins it for me. It almost feels like she has some sort of obsessive tic having to squeeze in a humorous paragraph on every other page. I wish she would have taken on this book in a more serious and poetic tone. Overall it is a shallow introduction to how to make Goddess connections and how to grow as a woman. She never goes in depth. Only reason I'm giving this 2 stars and not 1 is that perhaps it can be an alright introduction to these spiritual concepts for young women with no knowledge prior to reading it. It might inspire them to find more profound books (which believe me, there are).

[April · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is a lot of information in this book and I personally think it is best read whenever you feel called to pick it up and just flip to whichever chapter you want to explore.

[Julisa Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review is of reading the book not listening to the audiobook. I had such mixed feelings while reading this book! I think if you read this book and not judge it by the writing style and view it as more of a spiritual, self care, self love and just overall fun book- then you will accept it more.

I started off expecting more because the book seemed to describe itself as trying to start a revolution and trying to make big macro changes. I felt that it had a lot of potential and fell flat. I didn't feel inspired and I didn't feel it delivered what its goals were. That being said I know that big change starts with little ones- so maybe if we focus on us, the bigger change comes when we are ready to do that (?)


I originally expected more intellectual thoughts and discussions but was instead met with repetition and a whole lot of writing with very little said at the beginning. I had hoped for interpretations and applications and to delve deeper than this book gave me. I also feel that although it does mentions other beliefs and goddesses of different cultures, it's missing the infersectional part of feminism. I would say it is definitely focused on a certain population of women. That being said, I did pick out a few quotes in the beginning and some paragraphs that stuck with me that I will take with me.

Reading further into the book, it did become more interesting when they ask you to look at which kind of goddess you are (water, moon, earth, air or sun.) I actually found these portions of the book really fun and interesting. Surprisingly I did take some information away including that one of my strong goddess signs (water) has a little section on skin care where they talk about some tips on how to manage inflammation! I have struggled with inflamed/irritated skin for about 10 years and I switch skin care regimes every 3 months since nothing works. Do I believe everything this books says? Of course not. But I DID find a LOT of parallels and found it very interesting how many things she talks about made sense to me. Once this new skin routine probably fails, like all other have, I do plan to use what this book recommends as my next attempt!

I recommend reading this book in a fun sense and whatever you took away from it, you needed. If you didn't take anything away from it then either you didn't need anything or maybe because it lacked intersectionality and it kind of grouped all women in the same boat, it may not have addressed what you need.

[Gebo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Picked this up by accident, but stayed to get a better understanding of "The Goddess Movement" in spirituality and spiritual coaching, because many of my clients are interested in this stuff, and because her prose is so over the top, it's entertaining in itself.

Kind of falls apart after the first sixth of the book because the rest is a test about what kind of goddess you are followed by a description of each of the five types of goddess which is not super interesting as most would be irrelevant to most readers only interested in their goddess sign (1/5 possibilities).

Re the prose: near the beginning she writes, "No, honey," Zeena removed her glasses to stare down the barrel of my third eye. "No." She shook her head and leaned in toward me, "You are so much more than the girl that writes about evolution. You... you write about empowerment." The hair stood up my arm stood up as goosebumps prickled me with an intuitive call to take note. My soul welled up in my eyes." (She then proceeds to leave Zeena's home, in India, wanting to knock the baskets off of the women's heads and yell at them about freedom.)

At times, this book is a testament of white privilege in spirituality. And also filled with banal Barnum statements like the previous one from Zeena. Spiritual depth is not much.

However, I think for the right person, this book could be helpful. Probably not someone super far into non-Christian spirituality or someone just really into the goddess movement.

[Jackson · Rating 2 out of 5]

I came into this book expecting to learn about mythology from around the world (yes, I read the cover). Only ~5% is actually about mythical goddesses and the rest was some real life women, astrology, and un-motivating motivation. Most of the factual information was just a sentence or two brief description, and on the rare occasion that there was more than that, it was commonly interrupted by the author, which didn’t add anything, if anything, it made it even more unbearable. All of the descriptions of the mythical goddesses were overly (I apologize in advance, but I can’t think of a more accurate word) “yassified”. The only reason that this is getting more than one star is, 1% for what I did learn, but mostly in hopes that an impressionable preteen/teen girl who may be feeling unsure or unconfident will be motivated and empowered by it.

[Cara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lighthearted but informative. I’m glad I read it. An overview of the history of goddesses and their erasure (hello, patriarchy) and a modern take on goddesses around us (Rachel Carson, as Earth Goddess; Erica Mackie and He Yisha, who work to expand solar energy, as sun goddesses; WRISE, who advocates for increased use of wind power, as air goddesses, etc.). Includes descriptions of goddesses worldwide, charts on herbs, crystals, foods, and chakras, for those choosing that route, but it’s a pleasant read, regardless of your use of those things. In my efforts to focus on women authors and feminine issues and energies this year, I found this to be a worthwhile read. Everything does not have to be so serious.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I want to fall in love with this book, I wanted it to speak to me. But something fell flat. Normally I don’t mind books that are written with what I call “girlfriend talk”- that style where the author tries to speak to the reader using colloquial phrases, slang words, and references to pop culture. In this case though it was too much. I found it distracting and kind of annoying. It didn’t help me connect to the content in any meaningful way. I don’t think this book has been or will be helpful with knowing myself better or evolving from where I am.

[Mallory · Rating 5 out of 5]

UGH I didn't get to finish this because it was a library book and had to go back. I read over half though and LOVED it. Will definitely be purchasing for myself very soon!

The book itself is beautifully written, insightful, informative, inspiring....the list goes on. Mildon writes for the modern woman who wishes to unlock her ancient power and it really works. I will for sure be reccomending this one to whoever will give it a chance. 5/5

[Katie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book, I tried! I honestly thought this would be more thought provoking/ mythology book rather than a love and light 101 book. I felt like I was reading Rebecca Campbell’s books all over again, not in a bad way, just in the same way. It was disappointing that all of the goddesses were in bullet point type information and so much of the book was focused on random information. I’m happy this was a gift and I didn’t spend actual money on it.

[Lamer Li · Rating 1 out of 5]

It took the author two whole chapters to first introduce what the book is about and how it's gonna motivate you and inspire you, etc. She made zero points, or maybe they just weren't that persuasive? Like I understand I don't need anyone's permission to blossom, but for f**k's sake could u please explain why? I already know that I am beautiful and worthy, but then what? There's nothing after that, just some motivating quotes with no depth. This is a book that goes nowhere, very disappointed.

[Delaney · Rating 2 out of 5]

I tried to listen to the audible version of this book and couldn’t finish. Honestly, I tried.
Her writing style and terminology annoyed me. As a previous reviewer stated, it was “cringey”.
The author seemed to squeeze every new age word she could think of into the first couple of chapters, which is a turn off for me.

[Traci · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really deep dives into Goddess

I love how it connected goddesses to elements (moon, sun, water, air and earth) and how it spoke to the cycles present within each element as well as elements that complimented one another. I haven't really encountered that in other books on the goddess, so I appreciated it here.

[Sarah-Ann Mitchell · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was a real disappointment. I expected a more in-depth dive into the history of goddesses forgotten by time but this was very superficial. The author’s tone throughout was also grating...the conversational bit was laid on thick and very annoying to read.

[Ellen · Rating 3 out of 5]

She intersperses her language with a few too many “girl”s and that’s coming from me. I agree with the reviews saying how it’s fun to identify your goddess archetype and read about the witchy spiritual crystal/chakra/star sign things - it’s an interesting read but not very impactful or engaging.

[Amanda · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was disappointed in this book. I like the concept, but the delivery was poor. The message was contradictory and overshadowed by phrases like, “I mean ew!” I felt like I was reading a bunch of lists and snippets from Wikipedia. Not to mention some of the historical references were off.

[Trinity Maev Whitfield · Rating 1 out of 5]

While I really wanted to love this book, it reads like a regurgitation of other people's work. I didn't feel enlightened or informed or uplifted. The first 10% of the book basically says "In this book I will..." and then the other 90% doesn't live up to the overplayed introduction.

[Amy Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such a beautiful book with a gorgeous cover and chapter artwork. I also loved the way the book was divided and organized by connecting the goddesses with the elements - and adding the moon goddess was perfect. 👌🏼

[Amandasantana · Rating 3 out of 5]

I throughly enjoyed reading this book. I liked the idea of elemental goddess energy. But I’m not exactly sure what or how you put this into practice.

[Kelsey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good concept & some good info but this writer’s tone & style is awful and cringeworthy.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great read! I was able to understand more about my elemental goddesses and why I can be crazy at moments