Pagan Portals - The Temple Priestesses of Antiquity

by Lady Haight-Ashton

The Temple Priestesses of Antiquity tells the story of the Oracles and Sibyls, Seers, Psychics, Sacred Dancers and Healers of ancient civilizations. They were empowered women who enthralled those who sought their advice and served the Goddess they revered. Tales about ancient Priestesses and the Sacred Temples where they lived, prayed and worked thousands of years ago, have fascinated archaeologists and historians for decades. Living in complex temple structures above ground and in underground cavernous tunnels, they shared vows of chastity and lived a dutiful and respected life. The Temple Priestesses of Antiquity is a story of these women, some well known and others forgotten to the centuries.

Genres: Nonfiction, Paganism

128 pages, Paperback

Published August 1, 2022

Reviews

[Alexia ✨ · Rating 1 out of 5]

Did I want to like this book? Yes. Yes, I did. I spent months waiting for it release... For it to be utterly disappointing. How so, you ask? Well...

This book claims it "tells the story of the Oracles and Sibyls, Seers, Psychics, Sacred Dancers and Healers of ancient civilizations". However, it has ZERO citations. ZERO proof or notes or references to support any of their claims. Just in the introduction alone the author goes on and how priestesses did this and priestesses lived that and... nothing. Zero references. The references pages itself is atricious, I thought I was reading a book written by a middle grader because there's two books and a absurd amount of internet links like Wikipedia (that can serve as a guide but should never serve as a source because it's publicly edited, any academic would tell you that) and Ancient Origins (who is considered a pseudo-science website because it thinks aliens had an impact in ancient times), among many others. This is NOT how you write a book, heck, this is not how you write a paper for a first year History Student (I should know, I've been one). Any professor at a University would slam this down.

The book also goes how "the Goddess this" and "the Goddess that". Which one? Which Goddess? Most ancient societies were polytheistic, they believed in several Gods and Goddesses. Not just one and certantly not some great Mother Goddess. The concept of the Modern Goddess (as defended by Marija Gimbutas, Robert Graves, Jane Ellen Harrison, etc) has been disproven for several years now and the fact that people in the Pagan community continue to assert that there was a "ancient Goddess cult throughout Ancient Europe" is ridiculous and honestly shameful. It is okay to believe in a major Tripled Formed Goddess. It is NOT okay to project those beliefs on societies from thousands of years ago just so it makes our false narrative prettier. If you want more info on this, I highly recommend The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft's chapter on this topic, it's right at the beginning and it's fantastic.

This book was painful and I didn't even read all of it. I'm very disappointed, I had really high hopes and they came crumbling down.

[Catherine Green · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finally, something with Herstory! I enjoyed reading about women in history that we didn’t learn about in school. It is nice to know that women held positions of power throughout the ages, and how they helped shape and grow civilisations and cultures. This is a slim book but it packs a lot in, so be prepared for a thorough Herstory lesson.

[Daphne Flowers · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was okay-ish. Somehow written in a way that topics that normally interest me felt empty of meaning. I wrote down two pieces of information. I just wish it wasn’t the same as scrolling and scrolling through google searches to find minimal info.

[Nadia Dariany · Rating 1 out of 5]

Disappointed! Contributes very little if you already have a basic understanding of ancient history

[Y Sh A · Rating 2 out of 5]

you can tell this book didn't have an editor, sentences are at times without conclusions, plenty of typos.
it's a very superficial covering of the subject, given how many references actually come from Wikipedia, this book could have been a Wikipedia deep dive done in an evening.