The Image Of The Goddess
Male images of divinity are characterized in both
The image of the Goddess inspires women to see
Through the Goddess, women can discover their strengths,
western and eastern religions today,
and women are thus deprived of religious models
and spiritual systems that can speak
to female needs and experience.
In the extremes of male dominated religions,
women are not encouraged to explore their
own strengths and realizations.
They are taught to submit to male authority,
to identify masculine perceptions as their
spiritual ideals, to deny their bodies and sexuality,
and to fit their insights into a male mold,
no matter how ludicrus that may seem.
themselves in a very different light.
As Daughters of the Goddess, they are divine,
their bodies are sacred, and the changing
phases of their lives are holy.
Their aggression is healthy, and
their anger can be purifying.
Their power to create and nurture as well as their
ability to limit and to destroy, when necessary,
is seen as the very force that sustains all life.
enlighten their minds, own their bodies
and celebrate their emotions.
They can move beyond narrow constricting
roles and become whole people.
For women, the Goddess is the symbol
of the inmost self and the beneficent,
nurturing, liberating power within all women.
The Great Mother Goddess
Today, in the awakening of a new millenium,
many strive to find new forms of Spirituality.
As a result, the Goddess has come back to us.
It has been one complete full circle.
35,000 BCE saw the emergence of the Cro-Magnon people,
the first recognizable human society.
Within a few thousand years, worship of
the Great Goddess or Great Mother developed.
For these people, deity was female.
The importance of fertility in crops,
in domesticated animals, in wild animals
and in the tribe itself were of paramount
importance to their survival.
Thus, the Female life-giving principle
was considered divine and a great mystery.
This culture lasted for tens of thousands of years.
They generally lived in peace.
Males and females were treated equally.
Their society was matrilineal;
children took their mothers' names.
Life was based on lunar not solar calendar;
time was experienced as a repetitive cycle,
not linearly as we think of it.
Judaism, Christianity & eventually Islam evolved.
The matrilineal religions were suppressed and
the female principle was gradually driven out of religion,
and women were reduced to a level inferior to men.
The God, King, Priest & Father replaced the Goddess,
Queen, Priestess & Mother.
A woman's testimony was not considered
significant in Jewish courts; women were
not allowed to speak in Christian churches;
positions of authority in the church were limited to men.
A feminine presence was added to Christianity by
the Council of Ephesus in 431 CE when the
Virgin Mary was named Theotokos (Mother of God).
But her role was heavily restricted and included
none of the fertility component present in Pagan religions.
A low point in the fortunes of women
was reached during the Renaissance,
when hundreds of thousands of suspected
female witches were exterminated by burning and hanging.
3-27-01
