The Goddess Unmasked
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Marjorie always thought of God as a judgmental "man in the sky who punishes you if you're bad and rewards you if you're good." Then she was introduced to the concept of the "goddess," a female deity who was "nurturing, mysterious, and loving like the earth, or like a mother." Goddess worship seemed to provide Marjorie with the mystical experience she'd never experienced in her lukewarm religious upbringing.
Rena, a middle-aged woman who was hurt and angered by a painful divorce, was led through a friendship with a kind older woman to join a group of 13 Wiccans. "We believed we could harness positive female energy for good," says Rena. "It was fun and different, and they were like my sisters." One of Rena's first assignments was to set up a home altar with a statue of a goddess.
Marjorie and Rena aren't the only ones drawn to goddess worship. According to a recent American Religious Identification Survey, 200,000 to 300,000 women actively practice it in the U.S., with numbers growing steadily. Many more nibble around the edges, intrigued by the promise of a religion that empowers women and values their spirituality. In fact, the Internet features thousands of websites devoted to goddess worship, as well as books, magazines, training camps, college courses, fairs, and membership groups, often called covens or groves.
An Ancient Religion Made New
Goddess spirituality, goddess worship, the sacred feminine, and the feminine divine all refer to a deity most often identified as "Mother Goddess" or the "Great Goddess." Other names used include Mother Earth, Gaia, Sophia, Artemis, Diana, and Isis. Often associated with the earth, the moon, and fertility, the goddess is usually described as an energy force inside every living and nonliving thing.
Popular writers such as Dan Brown and Sue Monk Kidd have helped to take goddess worship mainstream. Brown's The Da Vinci Code, a blockbuster novel with 50 million copies in print, falsely claims Mary Magdalene and Jesus were married, that Mary's special relationship to Christ endowed her with the true leadership of the church, and that she carried on an ancient tradition of special feminine holiness.
In her New York Times bestselling novel The Secret Life of Bees (slated to become a movie starring Dakota Fanning), Sue Monk Kidd tells the fictional story of motherless 14-year-old Lily, who escapes her abusive father to find comfort in a universal mother/goddess. Bees has sold four million copies and been translated into 23 languages.
Early in her career, Kidd identified herself as a Christian. But in her 1996 memoir, The Dance of the Dissident Daughter, Kidd describes a gradual awakening to a whole new identity that didn't include Christ. "My soul is my own," Kidd proclaimed. "It is all right for women to follow the wisdom in their souls, to name their truth, to embrace the Sacred Feminine. … She is in us."
Originally published in: Today's Christian Woman, 2007, May/June, Vol. 28, Issue 3, Page 30
Related Topics:
Evangelism, Goddess worship, New Age, Spirituality, Wicca
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Madison Holt
I do not need to be honored by a church. I just want to be treated as completely equal to a man. Not "different" but equal, just equal. Not "women can hold these roles" and "men can hold these roles". I do not want to be told what roles I can/not hold...which roles apply to my gender when it comes to faith and life in general. It seems like such a completely outdated way of thinking. I am in my 20s so perhaps women older than I put up with being told what their roles should be. I think my generation laughs at such ideas though. Yes, I realize that only women can give birth. But other than that fact I will do exactly what I want when I want and I laugh at any man or woman who may tell me what roles I should take on. The bible has a bunch of completely outdated ideas about women. Come on people. It's 2011...give up your ridiculous perspectives already. Women, why are you even paying attn to what was written about your gender sooooooo many years ago? The Bible was written over a period of 1400 to 1800 years by more than 40 different authors. Grow up already and start making your own decisions.
Arik
Wow. The author must really think we women who honor the Goddess are very gullible. I did not find my path to her because I was "desperate for a friend." For far too many years, I avoided honoring the Goddess because I was fearful that it was not the right thing to do, fearful because of inane facts Christians claimed to be true. I should not have listened to them. I cannot tell you how much happiness incorporating a true Goddess into my worship has brought to my life. I have been worshiping this way for about 10 years now. So glad I didn't listen to silly articles like this. You can even worship Jesus and the Goddess(es) if that feels right to you. It’s your life – don’t let anyone or any faith tell you exactly how you can or cannot worship. Don't fall for it...worship the Goddess if you are so inclined. It truly has changed my life for the better! Bright blessings to all my sisters (and brothers) who love the Goddess and are bold enough to honor her in worship!
Tami M
My heart breaks for those women who have been driven away from Christ by those who claim to be His followers. I, too, have heard it all: God must be an actual man because we're made in His image and He became incarnate in the form of a male. Women are more foolish and need men to lead them. Women are not trustworthy...and on ad nauseum. Some day, the church will open it's eyes and see what it has done to those who hold up half the sky and repent. But until then, it will continue to drive women away. There is a reason that many women feel that God is a man in the sky waiting to gig them for doing wrong - or who just won't accept them because they don't have the right plumbing.
Robert Ishoy
The Church of SHE has been established just for this purpose. Worshiping the Goddess and her universal truths. To learn more go to the web site http://churchofshe.org
Inanna'sPriest
There is NO evidence that sacred prostitution was ever widespread in pagan societies. It was rare and in most societies virgin priesthood was the ideal (e.g. the "Vestial Virgins" of Rome. The Goddess herself was sometimes associated with chastity (Artemis/Diana for example).
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