Awakened Woman
e-magazine
goddessaltar.com
Reviewed by Diane Rae Schulz
This engaging story, set in 5700 B.C. in an area now called Turkey, transports the reader to a place where the Great Goddess was worshipped, and war was definitely not the order of the day. But this peaceful, horticultural society was already feeling the invasive energy of another people they called "barbarians." The story, in fact, opens with the unexpected return of Henne, who had been captured by the People of the Herd --; worshippers and riders of the horse, an animal as yet unknown to her people.Henne gives birth immediately upon her arrival home, to a daughter fathered by Ralic, the leader of the People of the Herd. We are soon told, through the internal thoughts of Henne, that she had killed Ralic in order to make her escape, an event which will bring down the wrath of his son Enak, with his revenge-seeking followers, on Henne's people.
Henne's thinking has already been influenced by her captors. She has learned to love the horse and has become an expert rider. When she is questioned by her own people about her time of captivity, she explains how, in order to save herself from a life of slavery, she had gained favor with the headman who was curious about the power of the Goddess. She became his mate and was granted the status of Priestess, but unlike her own people, she says, "My power was dependent on the status of my mate... In order to survive, I had to learn the ways of the God of the Shining Sky and His horse." She had fallen under the spell of Power as defined by aggression and acquisition. She feels estranged from her people, yet knows the Goddess as her ground of being. She is torn between cultures.
In an almost too perfect scenario, Henne is set in opposition to the visionary Yana, her adopted sister, who is being considered for the position of High Priestess by the elder priestesses of the clan. Smith's novel speaks to a time of great upheaval and change as the traditional matriarchal, and incipient patriarchal peoples meet and make decisions that will affect the course of history thereafter.
Smith has researched her archeological material thoroughly. Her presentation is rich with imaginative details about life as it possibly was lived in prehistoric times. There is also a romantic tone to her characterization: themes of unrequited love, passion between the sexes, rivalry and betrayal, mystery and magic ritual --; all entwine their tendrils around the main characters.
Smith gives us a lot to reflect on. Goddess of the Mountain Harvest is due out this month in paperback from Penguin Putnam, under the Onyx label. Find yourself a comfortable spot by the fire this winter, let your mind be absorbed into another time and place, a time of volcanic change, but a place of decisive and divinely inspired intelligence. Smith seems to suggest that we all need to reconsider our options in this equally challenging place we occupy in time. Hibernation is one of the best ways to find the quiet place one needs to consider those options, but it's always better with an insightful book as a companion.
Goddess of the Mountain Harvest, 1999, Brenda Gates Smith. An Onyx Book, Penguin Putnam: New York.
Order this book from Powell's.
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