I have been a fan of fairy tales since
I was little. I'm not a huge collector, but I do have a small
collection of tales, and I always thought it was both fascinating and
strange how violent some were in different versions (and how tame the
modern mainstream versions are). I was very excited to start reading
Breaking the Mother Goose Code, as I have always thought of fairy
tales as teaching stories, and learning more about what they taught,
especially in a Pagan light, called to me.
I found a lot of new ideas in this
book. I thought it was really interesting how Jeri starts by
examining the image of Mother Goose herself. She details her journey
of looking for and comparing different pictures of Mother Goose and
how the depictions changed over the years. I had never really
thought about the figure of Mother Goose much, and was fascinated to
read about the many faces she wore. Jeri then goes on to try to
uncover which Goddesses might be hidden behind the name Mother Goose.
It was a very interesting read to follow these breadcrumb trails and
to see the ways that different deities in different areas of the
world might have been linked to fairy tales.
Being that her name is Mother Goose,
Jeri also looks at the folklore and magic surrounding geese, ducks
and swans (as they are often used interchangeably). Not only did I
learn a lot about different deities with goose legs (which I hadn't
been aware of!), but also the really interesting swan pits, and
theories about what they might have been for. The image pained in my
head, of women building and caring for these pits, while trying to
bring new life into the world, is a beautiful and hauntingly sad one.
Where I really got drawn in was in her
analysis of the tales themselves. Jeri looks at the structure of the
tales, how most of them seem to follow a archetypal framework. I
thought the connection to shamanic trance journeying was an
interesting way to look at it. I also really enjoyed her connection
between the progression of the main character of the story and the
learning process that a magical practitioner might go through.
Another really interesting perspective
detailed in this book is that fairy tales might be used as actual
spells. By taking key passages, especially if they rhyme, as well as
items that featured in the tale, one might use the story as the
framework from which to enact a spell aligned with the focus of the
story. I can definitely see how fairy tales could inspire this type
of reconstructed working.
A lot of information was presented in
this book. It is obvious that Jeri did an enormous amount of
research, and she shared many of the things she found with her
readers. She asks a lot of questions, and encourages the reader to
continue asking questions. I am definitely going to be thinking
about fairy tales in a different way after reading this book, and I
look forward to revisiting some of my favorite tales through this new
perspective.
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