Thousands of years ago, the Goddess was viewed as an autonomous entity worthy of

respect from men and women alike. Because of societal changes caused by Eastern
influence, a patriarchical system conquered all aspects of life including religion. Today,
the loss of a strong female presence in Judeo-Christian beliefs has prompted believers to
look to other sources that celebrate the role of women. Goddess religion and feminist
spirituality have increasingly been embraced by men and women as an alternative to the
patriarchy found in traditional biblical religion.
Within a few thousand years the first recognizable human society developed worship of
the Great Goddess or Great Mother. For these people, deity was female. The importance
of fertility in crops, domesticated animals, wild animals and in the tribe itself were of
paramount importance to their survival. Thus, the Female life-giving principle was
considered divine and an
enigma.

This culture lasted for tens of thousands of years, generally living in peace. Males and
females were treated equally. Their society was matrilineal--children took their mothers\'
names, but not a matriarchy (Christ 58-59). Life and time was experienced as a repetitive
cycle, not linearly as is accepted today.

However, Easterners soon brought modern civilization to this culture, including war,
belief in male Gods, exploitation of nature, and knowledge of the male role in
procreation. Goddess worship was gradually combined with worship of male Gods to
produce a variety of Pagan religions, thus losing some of its singular focus on the female
as a deity.

Goddess Worship during the Christian Era was molded by more dominant outside forces.
As Judaism, Christianity & eventually Islam evolved, the Pagan religions were
suppressed and the female principle was gradually driven out of religion. Consequently
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 courts, women were not allowed to speak in churches, and positions of
authority in the church were (almost without exception) limited to men. A feminine
presence was added to Christianity when the Virgin Mary was named Theotokos (Mother
of God). However, her role was heavily restricted and included none of the fertility
components 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. These combined factors propelled
women who did not find traditional structures, views, and rituals fulfilling to return to a
feminine based spirituality more suited to their specific needs.
At the turn of the century, scholars began writing about a “Mother Goddess”. By the
1950s, Gerald Gardner claimed initiation into a coven of English witches in England. He
began publicizing this \"Old Religion\" of Wicca. Gardnerian Witchcraft recognized a
Goddess of Earth-moon-sea as well as the Horned-hunt-sun God (Corbett, 290). Women
could be High Priestesses, but much sexism still prevailed.

Wicca schismed after Gardner\'s death, but these traditions continued to be founded by
and named after men. Meanwhile, women in the US and elsewhere were beginning the
feminist movement. Defining ‘patriarchy’ as the oppressive force they were battling, they
began reexamining all aspects of their lives, including religion. In the 1970s, women
began using the concept of \"Goddess\" as part of the feminist movement. DianicWicca
began: a women-only version that eliminated the God and all male aspects, as well as
many ‘traditional’ Wiccan elements such as hierarchies, secrecy, and
formality.

During the 1980s, while the name Wicca remained, many groups began using the term
\"neo-Pagan\" which retains the God as well as the Goddess, but incorporates the
increased status given to the Goddess and women. The Goddess is oftenidentified with
the Earth and elements in nature explicitly. It has been referred to as \"eco-feminism\" to
reflect this increased emphasis. This stems from the Wiccan ideology that people have a
unique responsibility toward the environment because of our ability to make conscious
choices (Corbett 292).

Goddess worship broadened to include African, Asian, and Native American ideals
beyond the classic Wiccan deities. It became\"politically correct\" by beginning to
include gays and lesbians (formerly neglected with the emphasis on male-female fertility)
as well as the ecological movement and an openness to people of color and other
minorities.

Now considered the fastest growing religion in America by some scholars, neo-Pagans
were represented at the World Council of Religions in 1993. Despite the spread of
feminist and goddess belief, many witches still face discrimination because of their faith.
People outside the neo-Pagan community still often confuse Wicca with Satanism,
feeling that witchcraft is not a valid religion and should not be afforded the same
protections as more \'mainstream\', consensus religions. However, Wicca and other
goddess religions are not Satanistic. Satanism focuses on the Christian idea of the devil,
whereas these spiritualities predate Christianity and have no link to those beliefs (Corbett
292).

Another common misconception is that witches cast spells in order to hurtothers for their
own or someone else’s benefit. This myth has developed through years of media and
literary misrepresentation. While Wicca does not have many concrete beliefs, a universal
code for behavior does exist. Best exemplified in the Wiccan Rede (An ye harm none, do
what ye will) and the Threefold Law (Whatever we do returns to us three times over, be it
good or ill), personal freedom and choice are essential to Wiccan morality and ethics
(Corbett 292).

Modern Goddess worship today can best be described as a renaissance of Paganism. Its
worship of Goddesses and Gods occurred in the middle of this century with the
reemergence of Wicca. With the rise of feminism, new traditions within Wicca were
created in which the Goddess grew in importance, and the role of the God shrank into
obscurity.
The Goddess in both Goddess Worship and Neo-Paganism is often visualized in three
aspects: Maiden, Mother and Crone (Corbett 290). Her aspects are mirrored in the phases
of the moon: waxing, full and waning. The Maiden represents youth, emerging sexuality,
and the independence from men found in virginity. The Mother symbolizes feminine
power, fertility, and nurturing. The Crone is the wisdom and compassion which evolves
from experience, and the one who guides women through the death experience. Although
not all followers of the goddess are Wiccan, virtually all Wiccans are worshipers of the
goddess (Corbett 291).

Beliefs of Goddess religion and Feminist Spiritualities are not absolute or definite. No
official doctrine exists uniting the many branches and forms falling under these
categories of faith. Almost all include a female creator, usually with some male
counterpart. Feminist spirituality acknowledges that female power is independent from
all outside forces. It is an important and intense entity that can be called upon through
rituals, dance, prayer, chants, or meditation. Its message clearly states female ambition
will not be subjugated in a “man’s world”.

Images are of paramount importance to these religions. The portrayal of women in a

positive way reinforces autonomy, beauty of the female figure, and elegance of each
woman’s soul. It calls participants to recognize the goddess within and celebrate their
own connections to time and nature. Goddess images resacrilize the female body,
enabling women to take pride in
themselves and encouraging men and children to respect their feminine power (Christ,
165).
Symbols and rituals are an essential component in goddess religion and feminist
spirituality. They demonstrate our interconnectedness to all that is, and also how diversity
and difference should be celebrated. Symbols evoke respect for the Goddess, Her role in
nature, and the female form in general. Rituals reinforce these values as an outward sign
of commitment and remembrance. This combination of rituals and symbols brings Her
power into believers’ lives. Ritual also creates long lasting moods and motivations which
shape wisdom and become second nature for practitioners (Christ, 25).
A very ancient tradition which creates a sacred space for the Goddess is the creation of a
home altar. Images, candles, books, and symbols can be incorporated to personalize and
add meaning to the space. Rituals may be done in solitude or within a gathering of
believer to invoke the power of the Goddess. Other times, pilgrimages are taken to sacred
places which have made a personal impact on the believer. Because there is no liturgy or
official order of worship, these rituals can be molded to suit individual needs. The rituals
may change each time to allow for innovation and spontaneity. Certain groups follow an
established traditional pattern for times, dates, and practices of the rituals (Christ 29).

Holidays and festivals are integral to goddess worship. They are special times of
reflection on our connection to the cyclical patterns of nature and time. Some Goddess
holidays and festivals are celebrated at corresponding times and dates to Judeo-Christian
feast days and holidays. This correspondence originates from the alignment of religious
holidays to the natural rhythms of seasons and nature including the equinoxes, the
solstices, and the holidays falling exactly in between, dividing the year into eight seasons.
Others are held in relation to new and full moons, recognizing the nexus between
women’s cycles and the position of the moon (Christ 28-29).

The ethos that these symbols and rituals create provides a sense of reality and a plan of
action to live by. Individual choice and society’s reactions and decision making are
heavily emphasized. Carol P. Christ lists nine “touchstones” which can be consulted
when attempting to maintain the ethics held in Goddess worship: nurture life, walk in
love and beauty, trust the knowledge that comes through the body, speak the truth about
conflict, pain, and suffering, take only what you need, think about the consequences
ofyour actions for seven generations, approach the taking of life with great restraint,
practice great generosity, and repair relations between all people peacefully (167). These
“touchstones” are not commandments, only a
guideline for virtuous and moral living.

Organization and practices often coincide. Since there is no official leader or hierarchical
system, counting members is nearly impossible. Reluctance to identify with the feminist
spirituality movement stems from the negative associations people make with witchcraft.
However, an estimated 50,000 American believers have been recorded (Corbett 294).

Practitioners often gather in small groups (between three and twenty people) called
covens. Others are solitaries who practice alone depending on location, personal choice,
or other circumstances. Covens are usually all female, but some are mixed or male only.
Many of the larger organizations have adopted home-study programs, museums, libraries,
and stores for those interested in learning more about the beliefs of Goddess religion.
Others hold conferences and celebrations to join the smaller, fragmented groups. Some
groups strive to emphasize one specific aspect of their beliefs, such as Dianic Wicca does
with feminism (Corbett 294-95). Although the popularity and acceptance of feminist
spirituality seems to be increasing, Wicca and other groups are still not afforded the same
status and recognition as other religions. Many misconceptions still exist today about the
beliefs, practices, and organizations which are categorized as Goddess religion. The
followers of these traditions do not see themselves as contradicting more mainstream
religious beliefs. They view their spirituality as a refocusing and reprioritizing of values
forgotten by a patriarchical society over thousands of years.

Works Cited

1. Christ, Carol P. “Why Women Need the Goddess: Phenomenal, Psychological, and
Political Reflections” in Womanspirit Rising: A Feminist Reader in Religion, ed. Carol.
P. Christ and Judith Plaskow. San Francisco: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1979. pp276-
285

2. Christ, Carol P. Rebirth of the Goddess: Finding Meaning in Feminist Spirituality.

New York City: Routledge, 1997.

3. Corbett, Julia Mitchell. Religion in America-4th edition. Upper Saddle River, New
Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2000.

4. Starhawk (Miriam Stamos). The Spiral Dance: A Rebirth of the Ancient Religion of
the Great Goddess. San Francisco: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1979.