Guest Post: Awakening your Inner Goddess (sans Fifty Shades of Grey) by Eva Pohler

Awakening Your Inner Goddess (Sans Fifty Shades of Grey)

When I say girls need to awake their inner goddesses, I’m not referring to the kind of inner goddess described by E.L. James in Fifty Shades of Grey (though I’m not opposed to awakening that type either). What I’m talking about is the warrior goddess of power inside each one of us, often latent and unrecognized in girls who continue to live in a world where men hold the highest offices in government, church, and the work force.  Girls are less subjugated today than they were fifty years ago, and although the playing field still isn’t perfectly level, the real culprit holding back most girls is themselves. As Alice Walker has said, “The most common way people give up their power is by believing they don’t have any.”

At the beginning of my Gatekeeper’s Saga, a young adult contemporary fantasy based in Greek myth, fifteen-year-old Therese Mills believes she’s the least powerful person on the planet. Her parents have just died. Her aunt has come to live with her in her beautiful home in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado, but even though this means her friends and school won’t change, Therese is ready to give up on life to join her parents. Death, known as Thanatos, has other plans.

Thanatos briefly meets Therese while she’s in a coma. Avoided by all gods and mortals because of his job, he’s shocked when she throws her arms around him and calls him lovely. He later makes a deal with his father, Hades, to go to the Upperworld to meet her. In return, he must convince Therese to avenge the deaths of her parents.

Throughout book one, The Gatekeeper’s Sons, Therese struggles with her feelings of ineptitude. Thanatos’s sisters, the fierce and beautiful Furies, help her hunt for the killer, but their strength and efficiency make her feel weak. She feels small and insignificant until she learns her aunt’s life is in danger. The desire to protect her loved one helps her rise above her self-pity to become the warrior she never knew she was.

In book two, The Gatekeeper’s Challenge, Therese is required to complete a set of five challenges designed by Hades, who hopes to see her fail because he’s disappointed with the way things turned out in book one. Once again, her desire to protect a loved one—this time Thanatos—pushes her past her doubts and insecurities into determined action. One by one, she faces each seemingly impossible challenge—including Ladon (the one-hundred-headed serpent), the Minotaur, and the Hydra—because it’s the only way to spare Thanatos from an eternity of torment.

The third book of the saga, The Gatekeeper’s Daughter, once again forces Therese to look inward. All gods and goddesses serve humanity or the world in some way, and in order to remain at Thanatos’s side, she must discover her unique purpose while protecting her loved ones against antagonistic forces.

The fourth book, The Gatekeeper’s House, begins with an attack on the Underworld, and now that Therese is just like any other god, she is without the special favors afforded to humans. She’s on her own in this epic battle to rebind the unleashed souls and save the House of Hades while helping the Furies discover the identity of the attacker. She has to learn to put her big girl goddess panties on and run with the big girl goddesses if she’s going to be relevant.

The Gatekeeper’s Secret and The Gatekeeper’s Promise complete this six-book saga, but I can’t divulge more details without ruining the experience for new readers. But I can say that throughout the series, power isn’t something Therese derives from her environment, but something she finds within her once she believes it’s there. Girls need to awaken their inner goddesses and wield their power.

Readers can start this series for free. Visit http://www.evapohler.com/books to download your free copy.

A second series, The Vampires of Athens, explores similar themes. A teen from New York studies abroad in Athens and learns that vampires and demigods are real at a time when war is brewing between them. After making friends on both sides, she unwittingly becomes a catalyst to an uprising led by Dionysus, lord of the vampires. When the adults and gods do nothing to help, the teens are on their own and must find their inner warrior if they’re to save Athens.

Although the first book in the Vampires of Athens isn’t free for purchase, for a limited time I’ll have it delivered directly to your inbox. You just need to tell me where to send it. Go here to request your free book: http://www.evapohler.com/facebook/.

Eva’s Bio: Eva Pohler is the Amazon bestselling author of The Gatekeeper's Saga, The Purgatorium Series, The Vampires of Athens Series, and The Mystery Book Collection. She also teaches writing and literature at a university in San Antonio, where she lives with her husband and three children.