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The Divine Feminine

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What is Goddess Spirituality?

Recognition of the Divine Feminine comes from these points

1. God is rooted in patriarchal concepts of dominance.
2. Early Goddess oriented civilisations were destroyed by aggressive Indo-European tribes who worshipped aggressive sky gods.
3. These newer world religions were monotheist, Judaism, Islam and Christianity, with one god who was male, and took shape in the Iron Age when men dominated societies in Europe and the Middle East.

Many prefer the term goddess spirituality, avoiding the term worship which distances the Divine into a remote, hierarchical separation.

Let's take a quick look at some of her forms .....

In all her forms

There are so many wonderful forms inhabited by the Divine Feminine. So many names, forms and associations, all of which represent not only the feminine aspects of divinity but also aspects of ourselves.

Human Nature hasn't changed over the thousands of years of our history, we still have the same fears and uncertainties. And women still face the same choices in life.

The Mother Goddess remains in myth, and a myth is symbolic narrative, so you can work with the allegorical interpretations. It's simple enough to see the other meanings hidden below the surface of texts and make sense of the statements contained in them without taking literally their references to gods, monsters, or the supernatural.

In all her names

Marija Gimbutas

Gimbutas was an archeologist, linguist, ethnologist, sociologist and and religious historian and largely responsible for the resurgence of interest in Goddess-oriented religions.

"Through an understanding of what the Goddess was, we can better understand nature, and we can then build our ideologies so that it will be easier for us all to live".
Marija Gimbutas 1921 - 1994

The basis of our view of history, our starting point for our studies is the hypothesis that civilisation and written language were born together in the ancient Middle East as a result of pressure from marauders ending in feats of empire-building.

Gimbutas challenged this view by showing three things

* That Neolithic urban settlements greatly pre-dated the "first cities" of the patriarchal tradition
* That at least some of these settlements had no defensive walls, no military burials, and no artwork recording warfare
* That the decorative designs of the artwork of these cultures may actually be a sophisicated system of symbols through which ideas and values could be recorded and transmitted.

By challenging long-held views, Gimbutas also challenged the concept laid down by the Hobbesian thesis. This is the idea that "primitive man" was a murderous brute, a violent, grasping savage incapable of living in society except under systems of excessive force. Without the iron fist of the tyrant the base "instincts" of rapine and murder are rampant, and society fails.

This Hobbesian view is present in modern political structures which still assume that humans are naturally vicious and must be repressed by a strong governmental structure.

Her three best-known books are

The Goddesses and Gods of Old Europe: Myths and Cult Images

The Language of the Goddess

The Civilization of the Goddess: The World of Old Europe

and all of three have stimulated vigorous and varied responses. Her interpretation of European prehistory caused shock and disdainful disbelief in some long-established quarters, her 'bias' was questioned and her conclusions dismissed as female fancy. This is the response you can expect when you challenge many traditional male assumptions.

During her life, Marija Gimbutas published nearly twenty books and over three hundred articles on European prehistory.

From 1950 to 1963, she taught at Harvard as a lecturer in the Department of Anthropology, and researched early European history.

God the Mother

runtime 7.53

An interesting, quite unusual, video on the concept of God the Mother

She Who Is: The Mystery of God in Feminist Theological Discourse

It's common practice to say that God is Spirit. An interesting thing about this is that the word "Spirit" has gradually shifted from being feminine in Hebrew, to neutral in Greek and ultimately Masculine in latin. This isn't much of a surprise in a male-dominated world but exludes the fact that God transcends all categories.

The important for all those who try to link with the Absolute is to know that God is, more than to know exactly what she, it, or he, is.

She Who Is: The Mystery of God in Feminist Theological Discourse

by: Elizabeth A. Johnson

Amazon Price: $18.86 (as of 02/17/2012)

This work is founded in tradition, yet manages to break from the aspects of tradition which are oppressive.

Johnson reviews the history of Christian language about God and explains the need for feminist language about God, while providing a background for non-theologians. She then develops an inclusive and creative Christian spiritual doctrine.

Jungian Approach

Jungian psychology from a female point of view

The Language of the Goddess

Lessons from the Ancient Goddess