Late last night, I wrote Laurie Sue Brockway, author of “A Goddess is a Girl’s Best Friend,” and asked for her thoughts on the death of Anna Nicole Smith.
Here’s what Brockway wrote back:

This culture has come to know ‘goddess’ as the title bestowed on models, movie stars, and women who embody an astounding physical beauty that most of us could never emulate. I can see how people may call Anna Nicole a Goddess, yet in some ways she seemed a caricature of that.

I see a modern-day goddess as someone who is spiritual and soulful, with an evolving consciousness. Anna Nicole did not strike me as being in touch with her true inner goddess. But she definitely worked the goddess “thing,” and in her public person evoked a sex goddess vibe.

Interestingly, from the perspective of goddess mythology, she lived out several archetypes.

* She was the sex goddess aspect of Venus, who loved to be admired and seen. Venus carried a mirror and loved to look at herself. As much as Anna Nicole was hounded and seemed trapped by her fame in her last months, she used TV as her high tech mirror, able to see herself and reflect her image to the masses.

* She also evoked Uzume, the shaman goddess of Japan, known for being somewhat of a clown and flashing her privates to stir controversy and get a laugh from the other gods and goddesses. Anna Nicole flashed her life–and body parts–for all to see. She didn’t seem to care what people thought of her.

* She showed aspects of Durga, the Hindu Warrior goddess with eight arms who rides a tiger. For better or for worse, Anna Nicole was a tenacious fighter and although in the end we saw the depth of her vulnerability, she survived plenty of slings, arrows and loss and always seemed to at least be able to pretend to walk proudly.

* In the end, she was Innana of ancient Babylon, the goddess of sexuality. Once the Queen of Heaven, and the goddess of Love and War, when her sacred lover/son Tamuz was killed she had to travel seven layers down to the underworld to save him, stripping her earthly possessions, clothes, jewels and egos as she traveled through each level. There she met her dark twin and had to face her before she could rise again and save her love. Just as Innana could not bear the pain of losing Tamuz, I believe Anna Nicole could not bear losing her son Daniel. Perhaps she sacrificed herself to be with him again.

Anna Nicole Smith represented archetypes people seemed to relate to. Now she, and her son, are part of celebrity mythology, leaving one child to carry on.

Well, you don’t get that kind of analysis and commentary everywhere. Eat your heart out, Larry King! For more about Laurie Sue Brockway’s goddess work and online courses (that can help any woman getting connected to her “goddesses within”), look here and here.