From Girl to Goddess: The Heroine's Journey Through Myth and Legend

by Valerie Estelle Frankel

Many are familiar with Joseph Campbell's theory of the hero's journey, the idea that every man from Moses to Hercules grows to adulthood while battling his alter-ego. This book explores the universal heroine's journey as she quests through world myth. Numerous stories from cultures as varied as Chile and Vietnam reveal heroines who battle for safety and identity, thereby upsetting popular notions of the passive, gentle heroine. Only after she has defeated her dark side and reintegrated can the heroine become the bestower of wisdom, the protecting queen and arch-crone.

Genres: Nonfiction, Mythology, Feminism, Writing, Psychology, Philosophy, Research

376 pages, Paperback

First published October 19, 2010

About the author

Valerie Estelle Frankel is the author of 88 books on pop culture, including Doctor Who - The What, Where, and How; The Villain's Journey, History, Pop Culture, and Hidden Meanings in Hamilton; and How Game of Thrones Will End. Many of her books focus on women’s roles in fiction, from her heroine’s journey guides From Girl to Goddess and Superheroines and the Epic Journey to books like Star Wars Meets the Eras of Feminism and Fourth Wave Feminism in Science Fiction and Fantasy. She's editing a series on Jewish Science Fiction for Rowman & Littlefield. Once a lecturer at San Jose State University, she now teaches at Mission College and is a frequent speaker at conferences. Come explore her research at www.vefrankel.com.

Reviews

[Nandakishore Mridula · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have been influenced a lot by Joseph Campbell - in fact, my whole worldview underwent a total transformation when I read The Hero With a Thousand Faces in my late twenties. I found a way to reconcile my atheism in the real world with my spiritual aspirations in the creative world through the writings of this path-breaking mythologist.

But there was still a nagging sense of incompleteness. Campbell talked of the "Hero"'s journey - an exclusively masculine viewpoint. I found it very hard to accept that there was no parallel "heroine's journey" - that the spiritual journey of the male psyche was a template in totality for the human experience.

Ever since then, I was on the hunt for similar feminist narratives. Women Who Run With the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype satisfied this requirement to a certain extent - but I still longed for more... when I discovered this book.

Valerie Frankel delineates the heroine's journey as expressed in myths and fairy tales across the world in exhaustive fashion. It is similar to the hero's journey, yet different. In the second part, she writes about the maiden/ nymph/ crone triad, linked with the waxing/ full/ waning moon.

Fascinating stuff if you are a fan of myth and fairy tales, and a worthwhile addition to one's library.

[Tamora Pierce]

Frankel has been working on this book for a long, long time, and I've been waiting for it for a long time! She sifts through the world's myths and legends and their variants, all featuring female heroes. This is a world analysis, with as much attention paid to Asian, African, aboriginal, and peoples of the oceans as is paid to western tales. Frankel points out how many stories were used to teach young women their role in relation to men, mothers, families, their children, and villages far more than they were taught what was considered a more masculine kind of heroics. The analysis is witty and Frankel's respect for the great female archetypes is obvious, as is her respect for the cultures from which the stories come. For anyone who wants to read these stories and their background, and for anyone who wants to read more than just the typical western stories of female trials and magic, this book is the perfect place to start. It is scholarly but readable, and it will give the person who's truly interested a stepping-off place to explore this great, lesser-known, area of storytelling and myth.

[Christine · Rating 1 out of 5]

Skip this book and read Women Who Run with the Wolves instead. Honestly, if you are going to talk about how a myth reflects women, use the actual myth instead of the liberatto by Wagner.

[Rose A · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve been reading this on and off for over a year. It’s a fascinating study, a good companion, correction possibly, to Campbell. I found lots to interest, excite, and explain. Certainly it has made me look at certain myths and characters and stories in a new light, and also inspired me to create my own. There are places where I felt a little sceptical about the conclusions being drawn but it nevertheless reads lyrically and sometimes even movingly, at least as a female reader, keen to find my own place in the world. I think it’s impossible to read a text like this and not in some way feel called to evaluate one’s own life and the society we live in. We’ll see how long that feeling lasts! Looking forward to using the bibliography and end notes as a jumping off point for further reading.

[Valerie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Editorial Reviews

Once you read this, you’ll never see the female journey the same way again. This book is a fascinating and engaging explanation into the feminine journey and a real treasure of storytelling. It’s at once academic in scope and yet accessible to the layman reader. It contains masterful storytelling and retelling of the myths that are used to support the thesis of the feminine journey.

-Sacramento Book Review | San Francisco Book Review


From Demeter and Persephone of ancient Greek mythology to the Armless Maiden of South Africa, Pele of Hawaiian legend, and the lesbian wise women of Native American folklore, this book gathers stories from around the world representing the heroine's journey. Frankel, a storyteller, essayist, and novelist, seeks to throw off the oppression of our culture's obsession with hero myths as she reveals the heroine's true role, not as the hero's reward, but as an embodiment of one of the goddess archetypes: magical maiden, life-source and creator mother, wise crone, and guardian angel.

-Reference & Research Book News, Inc., p. 3-4, February 2011.


Ever since I used Christopher Vogler's The Hero's Journey to plot my first novel, I have wanted this book. I sensed that my heroine's journey didn't quite fit the outline, and now Valerie Frankel shows why. In the Introduction, Ms. Frankel says, "The heroine's true role is to be neither hero nor his prize." Rather than conquering through war and battle, the heroine wins through patience, fortitude, and wit. Her goal is not to rescue the princess but--of interest to Romance writers--to re(gain) family.

...

There is an extensive appendix of folklore types, reference notes, and bibliography. I only wish it also included some of the gorgeous artwork on the website: www.vefrankel.com

-Christie Maurer, Monterey Bay RWA Monarch News.


The questing heroine, whether a Samoan mermaid or Mayan moon goddess, seeks enlightenment and strength through a quest of ordeals leading to symbolic death. Rather than a sword, she wields magic slippers, a mirror, a chalice. Only after she has defeated her dark side, the wicked witch, can the young woman grow into a bestower of wisdom, the protecting queen and arch-crone, in this universal journey.

-Beacon News

[kari · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great food for thought, however sometimes Frankel's claims feel a bit stretched. I do appreciate though her choice of myths and stories from all over the world, and the way she engages in discussion with pop-culture as well.

[Cara Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an interesting enough book, but not overall convincing. Because it dealt mostly with fairy stories, there was little in it that illustrated the complete journey that Frankel describes – each story would tend to cover only parts of it, which makes it difficult to see a pervasive pattern. I would go along with her argument for the course of each chapter … but I never felt I saw the whole thing in its entireity.

I think the book would have been better served by not limiting itself to folklore. Certainly stories like The Labyrinth, The Wizard of Oz and Spirited Away have enough in common with the arc that she describes, and more completely, that they could have strengthened her thesis.

Also, I know I shouldn’t complain about a book that models itself off Campbell’s The Hero With a Thousand Faces dealing too much in archetypes. But all the characters in a folk tale being aspects of the protagonist, et cetera, drives me a bit batty. Especially some of the stuff about Athena – Frankel speaks of her as the quintessential woman upholding-the-patriarchy, but then discusses how Perseus defeats Medusa on Athena’s behalf – like Athena is so disconnected from her inner wild feminine that she has to send a man to meet with it on her behalf.

And I am just not quite buying it. Especially in combination with the idea that once upon a time all cultures worshipped a great mother goddess, at least until patriarchy came along, and the goddess was split into her different aspects while gods took over.

I’m sorry, I just find it hard to believe that before the ‘patriarchal’ religions took over, all faith was the same. Surely the patriarchy didn’t invent variety in religion?

So that was that book. I did enjoy the discussion of the individual stories a lot, and the variety of them pleased me … but I think I should just stay away from the Jungian folklore books.

[Becky Graham · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF - stopped around pg 60 b/c I couldn't do it anymore.
I'm sure this book has its audience, but it isn't me.
If you are looking for an analysis of myth and legend that supports the idea that a female is not complete without a male counterpart, that marriage is the ultimate happy ending, that the home and hearth is where women belong - you're going to love this book. If you're looking for a feminist read on the heroine's journey, strong female characters, or ways that women in myth subvert the patriarchy in the ways that they could...this is not that book.

[San · Rating 2 out of 5]

I started this book with so much hope because of all the 4-5 star reviews. Stopped at page 107. I am fond of jungian and archetypal telling of stories with some truth or benefit for the reader.

The parts and the stories curated here are half formed, almost as a mix and match of telling without coherence. The writer seems to almost touch the subject of awakening of the heroine but stops abruptly- diverting everything to place the masculine on the pedestal.

Each tale and chapter feels as if the resolution is tangible, that the way of life is expounded but is dissolved into something of little inference or value to the reader, forgettable with a very unfitting aftertaste.

In my opinion, this does not function as a book on telling, or for studying archetypes or even a guide to study the seismic changes in consciousness of the heroine. I'm sorely disappointed in how much premise this book had and how much it failed to deliver in every sphere.

[Alena Xuan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Positives: the stories at the beginning of each chapter, the details and the cultural influence.
Cons: the ending and I wish it was updated and related to some of our more modern fairy tales and how these theories apply today.

Overall, solid read.

[Maddelline · Rating 4 out of 5]

The journey of goddesses and female heroes throughout history.

[Gillian · Rating 5 out of 5]

I took a nice, long, slow journey through this book and found it to be life changing. This book is a masterpiece in my opinion as a writer and as a mystic. Bravo!

[Donna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Who knew those familiar fairy tales we all grew up with as children could be so relevant, enlightening teens and adults to the workings of our modern world? Laced with familiar and not so familiar ancient myths and tales with variations on the same themes, Ms. Frankel's book. "From Girl to Goddess" explores the meanings behind the stories and the lessons they hold that still ring true today concerning relationships, abuse, greed, life cycles, life styles, the powerful and powerless and much more.

Valerie knows her subject, having carefully researched how these myths and stories embedded in every culture, explain both our natural world order and manmade laws. "From Girl to Goddess" includes a wide collection of myths and stories belonging to tiny villages, ancient religions and modern countries throughout the world. These tales have been handed down by elders to successive younger generations over many centuries to explain natural events such as the seasons, birth and death or leaving ones home of origin and the familiar to seek the truth.

Many of these quests come full circle as the seeker finds answers within themselves as they explore an assortment of attributes such as patience, real love, commitment, strength, trust, intelligence, faith and often, out of the box thinking, to solve problems often not of their own making. In a gentle way, this descriptive text helps the reader face their own weaknesses, building self esteem while becoming less helpless in dealing with their own problems, from reading how heroes, victims, seekers of truth, etc. become their own wise mentors and journey from child to adult or girl to goddess. Valerie Estelle Frankel's newest book, "From Girl to Goddess" is a must on every feminist reading list and library bookshelf, and for men who want to better understand the women in their lives.

[Unorthodox Mama · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating:4/5

I love mythology. I love it even more when I get a nice surprise and land in a book that has a nice mix of rare content you don't find in every other book out there.

I was surprised to find the myth I got my daughters name included in this book. Especially given how hard it was for me to find anything on that myth when I was choosing a name.

My favourite section was the "Two Spirits". New territory for me and very interesting.

If you're looking for a book that covers the myths you love and are used to hearing but also want something new, this is that book.

The one small change I would have made with this book would have been to include more pronunciations with names.
Some had it, some didn't and some of them that didn't were brain twisters.

The writing is smooth, the myths are easy to understand, and the content gives you plenty to think about.

It was a great read over all. I would definitely recommend it, and read it again.

A great read for those curious and seasoned mythology lovers alike.


*Disclaimer: I was given a free copy of this book for review. All opinions are my own.

[Christie Maurer · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolutely superb detailing on how the Heroine's Journey unwinds--and is so different from Campbell's well-known Hero's Journey. In the Introduction, Ms. Frankel says, "The heroine's true role is to be neither hero nor his prize." Rather than conquering through war and battle, the heroine wins through patience, fortitude, and wit. Her goal is not to rescue the princess but--of interest to Romance writers--to re(gain) family.

Using myths and folklore from many cultures, Ms. Frankel portrays the heroine's journey to overcome innocence, betrayal, misleading mentors, unconsciousness, allies and enemies, lovers, confront the father, abuse and healing, descent into darkness, the deadly mother, find the elixir, flight and return, goddesshood and wholeness. This is a must-read for any author of women's fiction. My only complaint is that it did not contain pictures of the ancient goddesses. One has to go to a website to find them.

[Lewis Book Reviews · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an excellent read for anyone interested in mythology and fairytales. Not only does this book focus on stories of the heroine, it focuses on the heroine from a wide variety of cultures across the globe. Each story is first told in its entirety and then examined. Instead of being organized by country, the stories are separated into the types of journeys the hero, or in this case heroine, takes. There is also a section on archetypes, giving stories that exemplify the different types of female archetypes in fairytales. This book is perfect for anyone looking for a new view on fairytales.

[Mert · Rating 2 out of 5]

2/5 Stars (%42/100)

From Girl to Goddess: The Heroine's Journey Through Myth and Legend by Valerie Estelle Frankel explores the concept of the heroine’s journey, offering a feminist lens on the traditional hero’s journey. While the book’s premise is intriguing, its execution often feels superficial, with broad generalizations about mythological narratives and a lack of depth in its analysis. The insights may be valuable to readers new to feminist interpretations of mythology, but for those seeking a more nuanced or scholarly exploration, the work can feel repetitive and lacking in original contributions. It was okay, I mostly rated it because of its usefulness to me at that time.

[Jason Stewart · Rating 4 out of 5]

This has been a excellent read, meeting up to my expectations. Frankel has synthesized the Joseph Campbell model, bringing in the long-marginalized tales and myths of the world's great feminine heroes. But more than just restatement of the hero's journey, she incorporates Freud and Jung superbly, giving the reader the framework to see the influence the Feminine image has had in world religion and mythology. Long overdue and a must-read for this generation's authors and scholars.

[Regina Hunter · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think a great book to understanding myths and fairytale's. It also gave me opportunity to remember few fairytale's that I've forgotten, and then compare it to myths not only from Greece or Egypt, but from all over the world. Also a little pagan philosophy and journeys through different stages gave it a final topping.

[CS Peterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Exhaustive encyclopedia of worldwide girl and goddess stories. Great reference - though interpretations and analysis are sometimes a bit contradictory it is valuable as a reference that fills in gaps, complements and expands on Campbell's male centric monomyth.

[JonnaLynn Mandelbaum]

An amazing reference about myths and stories of strong women across cultures. Easily read. It makes sense of stories that otherwise can seem negative or disparaging of women. A great resource for anoyone writing about women and women's issues today.

[Bridgett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Filled with fairy tales and mythology to demonstrate the female's version of the "Hero's Journey" made popular by Joseph Campbell.

[Tarran · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very informative and helpful in plotting the course of a strong female character!