The Howard K. Stern team is on one side, with his sister, lawyer and the Trimpsa folks and they are sounding and looking good. Then Anna Nicole’s Friends and Family start swinging, with her mother crying and Larry Berkhead devoting his website to testify to his love. Sometimes it seems like that team may win. From the sidelines we are all getting neck and head strain trying to wrap our brains around this unfolding drama.

The fact that Anna Nicole cannot speak for herself right now encases her memory in the kind of mystery that modern myths are made of.

Howard K. Stern and his family claim she died his spiritual wife and she was to become his legal bride, this month, in a secret Bahamas ceremony. He sold his tale to Entertainment Tonight and the Insider and was seen sobbing on TV last night, as he headed back home to baby DanniLynn by plane. You know what ... I cried too. I really did.

But then ... I heard journalists on Larry King Live talking about how sick it was that Stern sold the interview before Anna Nicole’s body was cold.

Anna Nicole’s family is claiming that Howard K. Stern is a controlling svengali who cut her off from her tribe and pumped her with drugs. An "old friend" of hers was trotted onto Larry King’s last night, and she seemed convincing when she all but came out and said that Stern had something to do with Daniels demise. Then the Stern people came on right afterwards and called this woman an Anna-wanna-be who was all hot air.

All Larry King wanted to know: Why doesn’t Howard K. Stern just allow the paternity test, already?! (How can he, it could put an end to the mystery and an end to the game.)

Anna Nicole’s sister says it could be that Anna’s ex-husband the millionaire is the Baby Daddy, because his sperm was frozen for just that use. Every day some new guy comes out and says he had relations with Anna Nicole Smith and could be the baby daddy.

By the time all these people are done ravaging the remains of Anna Nicole's life and fighting for her child and he r"potential fortune," she might come out looking like an angel. Or at least, a Goddess.

My friend Amy Cunningham, author of the wonderful Chattering Mind blog at Beliefnet.com, asked me if I thought Anna Nicole is a Modern Day Goddess. I shared some mythological insights into the different archetypes Anna Nicole had lived. Amy posted them on her blog. And pow! Many people got very agitated by the Goddess reference of Anna Nicole. They posted some pretty passionate responses. We were surprised it created such a stir. Amy ended up revisiting the Anna-as-Goddess issue today. Check out her interesting comments.

In recent years, we have all seen Anna Nicole slurring her words and seeming out of it on more than one occasion. We went through her court battles for those millions that are now in question. We went through the skinny Trimspa days. And we have seen the worst part of her life documented in the days and months after the birth of her baby and the death of her son. She lived and died by media, and let us see it all.

Amy and I were both remembering today that Anna really was a brighter light in the beginning. She may not be the kind of woman we would want to emulate but she was “different” and times were different for her.

She was the fuller figured model who said take hike to model agencies that dissed her. She made meat-on-the-bones and big boobs work on a woman's body. She was filled with life, joy, brightness. She was a Playboy Playmate of the Year because she was beautiful and hot. She was the gal who packed a bigger butt into those Guess Jeans. Woman appreciated her for it because she brought back the Marilyn Monroe vibe of hips, belly and a real body – as well as a real woman. There was something about her that allowed her to become as famous as she did.

Sadly, her life took some unhealthy turns. Her drug use, slurred speech and shenanigans did not make her a great role model. But she did start out as a bright light, in a more innocent age, and she made a “bigger” body sexy and sassy. If you look at the footage of her at events and out and about, she is posing, and displaying her self with great joy. Don’t some of us wish we could feel that comfortable in our own skin?

Sylvia Brown once said that in Heaven, “everyone is 30.” That’s how I am seeing Anna Nicole, back to her brighter light.

Las night, Howard K. Stern said, sobbing, “I hope she is in a better place and that she is happy and with Daniel.” I think no matter what we think of her, or him, or all of this, there is no reason we cannot practice compassion in her death.

© 2007, Reverend Laurie Sue Brockway

Rev. Laurie Sue Brockway is a leading interfaith and non-denominational wedding officiant. She creates unique ceremonies for couples of all backgrounds and faiths, and is also widely recognized as a relationship coach, bridal stress expert and columnist. She is author of WEDDING GODDESS: A Divine Guide To Transforming Wedding Stress into Wedding Bliss (Perigee Books, May 2005) and the new online course, Discover the Goddess. Visit Rev. Laurie Sue Brockway at www.WeddingGoddessWisdom.com.