The 7 Virtues of a Philosopher Queen – Empowering Women!

I bought The 7 Virtues of a Philosopher Queen by Barb Stegemann for two reasons:

The cover art
The title

We’ve talked about this before. People, cover art MATTERS. Take, for example, the old(er) cover art for this book, its fourth edition. While it’s not ugly, it’s also not beautiful. My copy is beautiful. Thank goodness, or I might never have read it in the first place… cuz… well, it’s been said. The cover.

(Just for funnsies, here’s another beautiful cover of the same book! Not sure which edition. My edition is the sixth.)

The title obviously matters, too. In this case, it resonated. You see, *** I am a Philosopher Queen *** and I knew it before even reading the book. (Note to self: It didn’t mean what I expected and as it turns out, I’m a work-in-progress on becoming a bona fide Philosopher Queen!)

Can’t beat that art and title combo!

The inside ain’t bad, either! And that, my friends, is a MASSIVE understatement!

Here’s a little history on the reasons Stegemann wrote the book:

This best selling book now in 8th edition was written by The 7 Virtues founder, Barb Stegemann. She wrote this book originally to empower women to harness their buying power and voting power to reverse issues of war and poverty. The book has empowered women to run for office, launch social enterprises and end bullying. Drawing from the stoic wisdom of the great philosophers, The 7 Virtues fragrance collection is literally the thesis rising up out of the book. Harness our buying power and voting power to end war and poverty. (Link)

Okay, the cover doesn’t really matter, once you’ve read this. Am I right? Ignore everything I said above. Kidding. It DOES matter. But also, her reasons for writing the book matter, too… and yes, EVEN MORE.

Want to know more about her and her story? Of course you do! Of note, the original book was SELF-PUBLISHED.

And yeah, you may have seen her on Dragon’s Den, about her essential oils. That part of her story is here: The Perfume and Dragon’s Den Story

Stegemann is a POWERHOUSE.

As you can see, this is NOT your average self-help book!

So…

What is a Philosopher Queen?

If you’re like me, you read the first one and thought, “WTF?” Did you? I sure did! But I kept reading. I’m glad I did.

This book is not going to tell you that you’re an irrational woman, which is a trigger for most women I know.

Instead, it will tell you that you’re human – and that is the focus. More on that later.

We can’t go further without also taking about The 7 Virtues – and sheesh, there are several versions. Talk about confusing!

For clarity, we’ll stick with Stegemann’s list:

Wonder
Moderation
Truth
Courage
Justice
Wisdom
Beauty

I want to be VERY clear. This is NOT a feel-good, sudsy book. I expected it to be… what-with the cover. But had I read the subtitle: A woman’s guide to living & leading in an illogical world, I might have gotten my first hint that this wasn’t a book about rose petals in the bathwater.

It’s also not an academic research paper, as Stegemann tells us in the Prologue. It isn’t written like one, either! Don’t worry!

It IS a “realistic and usable guide for women to navigate their advancement in business and government in other areas, from education to the nonprofit sector.”

The chapters are broken into the virtues, as listed above. Each chapter delves deeply and asks some hard (and interesting) questions that will make you think and lead you where you need to be going.

I know I’m leaving out the whole middle, which is on purpose. Glossing over it would diminish the message and I’d need a million, zillion words to tell you all the stories and lessons. Please, if it sounds like something you’d like, it’s totally worth buying and reading everything straight from Stegemann’s mouth… fingers… you know what I mean. Bonus: She’s a great writer, too!

This book is heavy, not gonna lie. It’s also beautiful. And, useful. And, important!

At the very end of the book, there is a section called, “Love Your Broken Bits”. Reading it broke my heart, not with a sad story but with recognition of a profound truth: “Because of our experiences, all of us have some kind of anxiety or issue, things that scare us and make us different.“

Some will call those things diseases, or disabilities, mental health crises, or phobias.

The truth is much more simple: WE ARE ALL “JUST” HUMAN. (Quotes mine)

Read this book! I think it should be REQUIRED READING for colleges and universities! Also, entrepreneurs, business owners, managers…

EVERYONE.

Yes, this is a book for women, first, obviously. But there is lots to be mined for men, older teenagers (especially girls) and anyone else who wants to make a difference in the world.

A million thumbs up for this book!