Overview: Follow Mestra the shapeshifter through sacred groves and ancient seas, where lyrical voices evoke forgotten worlds of peril and beauty.

She invites you on a journey to re-enchant the world, to discover unforeseen landscapes where primeval spirits, nymphs, and priestesses dance together. Goddesses shelter mysteries here, nurtured by prophetic trees, watered by wellsprings of the spirit.

Verdict: A luminous mystical maiden who is also a cunning trickster, escape artist, lover, and beast, Mestra is more than a figment of imagination. Exploring her ancient myth evokes the deep foreknowing of Earth, the dynamic energy of wild creatures, the pull of elemental forces, and the strength of immortal passions.

Her transformations call us to seasonal cycles of change, and beckon us into the heart of nature’s sacred powers. Mestra embodies the vibrant, evergreen potential that dwells in the female psyche, accessible to us all.

In Greek mythology, Mestra was a daughter of Erysichthon of Thessaly and Antoninus Liberalis called her Hypermestra and Erysichthon Aethon. In time, Mestra was the mother of King Eurypylus of Cos by Poseidon and according to Ovid, she was married to the thief Autolycus.

As we are told here within the wonderful new prose Pagan Portals: Mestra The Shapeshifter from author Dianna Rhyan, Mestra had the ability to change her shape at will, a gift of her rapist Poseidon according to Ovid.

Erysichthon exploited this gift in order to sate the insatiable hunger with which he had been cursed by Demeter for violating a grove sacred to the goddess. The father would repeatedly sell his daughter to suitors for the bride prices they would pay, only to have the girl return home to her father in the form of various animals.

Furthermore, Mestra’s great-granduncle Sisyphus also hoped to win her as a bride for his son Glaucus although that marriage did not take place. Ultimately, Poseidon carried away Mestra to the island of Cos.

But Mestra didn’t start life as a shapeshifter, or even a heroine. She walked the earth and swam the sea of distant long ago as a mortal woman, who may have seemed like a simple girl at first yet bore a mysterious fate.

Thus when we look back to the women of archaic myth, we find so many stories in fragments. This book gathers the pieces of ancient papyrus where the mysterious shapeshifter Mestra appears, places these clues in your hands, and invites you to follow her sacred journey, letting your imagination run wild with her, like wind in the trees or waves in the sounding sea.

About the Author - Dianna Rhyan is a mythologist and therapist who studies ancient nature goddesses, forgotten voices, and the spirituality of sacred landscapes. She has a PhD in Ancient Greek and Latin, taught college for thirty years, and has been a visiting scholar for archaeological excavations in Greece and Cyprus. When not delving into archaic myth, she can be found exploring the Cuyahoga Valley trails of Northeast Ohio. She lives in Wooster, OH.

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