Goddess worship

Goddess worship (also Goddess spirituality, Goddess veneration) is a general description for the veneration of a female goddess or goddesses.

Goddess worship was widespread in antiquity, notably with the cults of Cybele and Demeter. In Hinduism, goddess worship remains current in the branch of Shaktism, the worship of "Devi" "Goddess" or "Shakti" "(female) energy".

Goddess worship went into decline in European culture in Late Antiquity, with decline of Hellenistic paganism and the end of the Eleusinian Mysteries in the 2nd century. In folk Catholicism, aspects survive in veneration of the Blessed Virgin, reinforced by the 1950 dogma of the Assumption of Mary.

In western Neopaganism Goddess worship has re-emerged since the 19th century, specifically in the second half of the 20th century with Wicca, and notably in the context of second wave feminism in the 1970s to 1980s.

It is important to distinguish individual, polytheistic goddesses from claims of a "Great Goddess" or "Queen of Heaven". New Age religion tends to describe polytheistic goddesses as "aspects" of a single "Great Goddess", mirroring the concept of a Singular God (e.g. Dion Fortune). This tendency has historical precedents, as in the identification of Holy Wisdom with Virgin Mary, and in the Hindu "Mahadevi", but does not apply to "hard polytheism" and is consequently rejected by polytheistic reconstructionism.

Prehistory

Some authors, the most notable of whom is Marija Gimbutas, believe goddess worship started in prehistoric religion. They believe that artifacts from that period, such as the "Venus of Willendorf", may be representations of power goddesses. However, it is difficult to prove the role of these artifacts conclusively as evidence surrounding their place in their society is scanty. [Peter Ucko and others have asserted that the figurines in question were territorial markers, toys, sex aids, sex education models, and images of priestesses rather than goddesses. ]

Cave paintings and etchings from the Paleolithic Era have been claimed to supportFact|date=May 2008 the notion that Goddess worship/veneration began at that time in human history. At 30,000 years old, these markings, such as those found at Lascaux, France, may be evidenceFact|date=May 2008 of a form of female oriented worship/celebration in the Upper Paleolithic.

Antiquity

*Isis, Sekhmet, Hathor, Bast (or Bastet), a plethora of other Goddesses in Ancient Egyptian Religion.
*Inanna and cognates (Astarte, Asherah, Ishtar) in Ancient Near Eastern religion
*Cybele, Magna Mater
*Tacitus stated that the Aesti, a Germanic tribe, worshipped the "Mother of the Gods", ["Germania", Chap. 45] and that Veleda, a Germanic prophetess, was regarded as divine. [ibid., Chap. 6]
*Sophiology
*Some early Christian sects such as the Collyridians venerated The Virgin Mary as a goddess. Later mystics such as the medieval Julian of Norwich, and Joanna Southcott, referred to the Divine Mother. Mary is commonly seen as the remaining shred of "the Goddess" in Christian Mythology.
* Greek Goddesses - Demeter, Aphrodite, Artemis, Hera, Persephone, Hecate.
* Kali - Indian Time and Change Goddess, or Death Goddess. Along with her consort Shiva she creates and destroys worlds.

Hinduism

*Mahadevi, worshipped in Shaktism, which remains one of the three major traditions of modern Hinduism (see also History of Shaktism)
*Mahakali

New Age and Neopaganism

*Wicca, particularly Dianic Wicca centers on Goddess worship. Dianic Wicca was founded 1971 by Zsuzsanna Budapest, drawing on her native Hungarian folk magic and US second wave feminism. The Spiral Dance, written by Starhawk in 1979, was the first "handbook" of its kind for Wiccans, and was influential in the growth and development of new, "reclaimed" Wiccan movements throughout the world.

Notes

Further reading

* Bailey, Douglass. (2005). "Prehistoric Figurines: Representation and Corporeality in the Neolithic." Routledge Publishers. ISBN 0-415-33152-8
* Balter, Michael. (2005). "The Goddess and the Bull: Catalhoyuk, An Archaeological Journey to the Dawn of Civilization". Free Press. New York. ISBN 0-7432-4360-9
* Daly, Mary". Beyond God The Father." Beacon Press, 1978.
* Eisler, Riane". The Chalice and the Blade." Harper, 1987.
* Eller, Cynthia". Living in the Lap of the Goddess: The Feminist Spirituality Movement in America. " Boston: Beacon Press, 1993.
* Gimbutas, Marija". The Gods and Goddesses of Old Europe." Thames and Hudson 1974 [1982] .
* _____________. "The Language of the Goddess." (Foreword by Joseph Campbell), HarperCollins 1991 [1989] .
* L. Goodison and C. Morris (1998). Ancient Goddesses. The Myths and the Evidence. London: British Museum Press ISBN 0-7141-1761-7
* Monaghan, Patricia. "The Book of Goddesses and Heroines". E.P.Dutton, 1981. "The New Book of Goddesses and Heroines". Llewellyn Worldwide, 1990, 1995.
* Newman, Barbara. (2003) "God and the Goddesses", Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press
* Stone, Merlin. "When God Was a Woman." New York: Harcourt Brace, 1976.
* Peter Ucko, "Anthropomorphic Figurines of Predynastic Egypt and Neolithic Crete" 1968 (countering the more extreme versions of the Neolithic Goddess theory)
* Ucko, Peter "Mother, are you there?" "Cambridge Archaeological Journal," 6, (1996), pp 300-4.
* Walker, Barbara G". The Skeptical Feminist: Discovering the Virgin, Mother & Crone." San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1987.

See also

* Discordianism
* Goddess spirituality
* God
* God (male deity)
* Goddess
* Goddess movement
* Triple Goddess
* Matriarchy
* Patriarchy
* Sky father

External links

* [http://www.ambrea.org/goddess.htm Goddess Ambrea Earth Alliance] - http://www.ambrea.org
* [http://www.religioustolerance.org/goddess.htm Goddess Worship] - ReligiousTolerance.org
* [http://www.debunker.com/texts/goddess_rem.html "The Goddess Remembered"] : debunking the prehistoric mother goddess
* [http://www.mother-god.com/ A Chapel of Our Mother God]
* [http://www.womenandspirituality.net/ Women and Spirituality] featuring Donna Read's classic documentary 'Women and Spirituality: The Goddess Trilogy'