Book 2, Goddesses: Chapter 7, The Vulnerable Goddesses Summary and Analysis

This is the opening chapter devoted to the next triune of goddesses. The first ones were focused upon themselves and their inviolability. This next group takes steps in a different direction. Here, the power is the ability to have relationships.

The goddesses in this chapter learn to venture into intimacy. Sometimes they are a lover or wife or mother, or some combination of these. The author brings readers into 'the circle of fear' at the very beginning of the chapter. She brings up women's associations of vulnerability and the dark side of that situation: being adversely taken advantage of. Readers might well not all feel the same way about this. Vulnerability and trust are closely associated. Jean has chosen to present the dangers and the risks to the readers before addressing...