There are some women walking around in human form that you would swear come from the realm of deities. They have demonstrated such superhuman abilities that they have to be goddesses. It’s the only explanation.

Annie Thorisdottir

Annie Thorisdottir is a Crossfit athlete who could take two grown men and deadlift them right now by herself if she wanted to. I imagine it would be difficult to stop her from doing anything she wanted to, for that matter. She is an athlete of such incredible power and strength that she easily lives up to her nickname Thor’s Daughter.

Mo’ne Davis

Mo’ne Davis is the first girl to pitch a winning game in the Little League World Series, and the first Little League player to appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Those are accomplishments enough for any human girl, but Miss Davis pitches a ball through space at 70 miles per hour.  That’s goddess behavior.

Nakano Takeko (1847 – 1868) of the Onna Bogeisha

Nakano Takeko learned to be a Samurai warrior at a time and place when most women just didn’t do that. The ones that did, the Onna Bogeisha, had no problem going to battle right next to the men.  Nakano Takeko was such a goddess with a nagano (a wooden stick with a blade at the end) that it took a bullet to the chest to take her down. Legend has it that as she lay dying she convinced her sister to cut off her head and bury it under a tree to keep the enemy from getting a hold of it. Only a fearless goddess would be so bold.

Kumari Devi, or “Living Goddesses” of Nepal

There is a Hindu religious tradition that entails worshipping pre-adolescent girls. These girls are considered to be the modern incarnations of divine female energy.  They are carried everywhere throughout their childhoods to the extent that when they enter regular society at puberty, they sometimes have trouble learning how to walk.

Everywoman

Really, isn’t every woman a goddess? Women have accomplished so many great feats of strength, innovation, courage and kindness that the only possible answer is yes. Women around the world meet challenges every day with grace, wisdom and beauty that can only be called divine.

Maureen O’Leary is the author of The Arrow, a paranormal urban romance that asks, how would the modern incarnation of an ancient fertility goddess had to deal with a demonic corporate conspiracy to end the world?