Divine Guidance

Feeling a little porky? Perhaps your inner Aphrodite needs to be goosed. Summon the goddess of love inside you and emerge irresistibly zaftig.

Going through some rough times? Unleash your inner Persephone. The goddess of spring can help shepherd you through the darkness.

Everything old is new again as author Agapi Stassinopoulos exhumes ancient role models to craft a distinctly post-feminist approach to self-help. You might call it goddess therapy, although Stassinopoulos’ relationship with the gals of Mt. Olympus covers far more ground.

In her new book, “Conversations With the Goddesses: Revealing the Divine Power Within You” (Stewart, Tabori & Chang), she explores the Greek goddesses in many guises--as heroines of myth, as archetypes for various aspects of one’s personality, and as muses for artwork and poetry.

Stassinopoulos considers herself a cross between the resilient Persephone, the fun-loving Aphrodite and Athena, goddess of the intellect. “Aphrodite is tremendous freedom and joyfulness.” She says the goddess of love and beauty points up a particular sore spot for many women.

“A lot of women don’t think of themselves as beautiful unless they’re a certain shape or look, and I think there’s a lot of healing to do for women about beauty,” Stassinopoulos says. “Because I really think beauty is not a skin-deep thing. It’s a quality that’s inherent in the soul, and we can tap into it.”

How?

* “Display a picture of yourself that you love in a prominent place in your home . . . send it loving thoughts.”

* “Go to an elegant shop, and try on the most beautiful gowns available.”

Stassinopoulos says her well-known older sister, L.A.-based political pundit Arianna Huffington, is a major Athena type.

“Her mind is so sharp, and she’s not afraid to speak her mind,” she says.

Their mother, Elli, is renowned as a nurturer a la fertility goddess Demeter.

“She’s fed the world. She’s fed the Federal Express man. I was raised with tremendous love and encouragement.”

Stassinopoulos, a New Yorker who frequents L.A., discovered the Greek goddesses as a child growing up in Athens. She was awed by their marble stand-ins in temples at Delphi and elsewhere. Later, she portrayed mythological figures as a student at London’s Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. There, she discovered the cathartic impact of being a goddess for a day while on the stage.

“One reason we want to go back to mythology is because they give us an understanding of larger-than-life emotions. And they are not what we would call the positive emotions. There was jealousy, revenge and competitiveness. Identifying with the goddesses gives you tremendous freedom to express those emotions without judging them or feeling guilty about them.”

Stassinopoulos, who has a master’s in psychology, turned her “conversations” with the goddesses into a one-woman show. She’s been performing her work-in-progress, which inspired the book, for the last two years at universities and museums around the country, including the Getty in Malibu. On Feb. 11, she will be at Storyopolis at 7 p.m. on 116 N. Robertson Blvd.

But don’t go expecting a high priestess for the goddess movement.

Says Stassinopoulos: “It’s not about worshiping the goddesses. It’s a tool for understanding our personalities.”