Return of the Goddess as a Hope for Women and Nature
By: Sofia M
Tags: Religion, Nature, Patriarchy, Spiritual, Goddess

The 1960s saw revolution in many aspects of life challenging established social norms and taboos especially in the West. Changes entered the realms of culture, politics and even spiritual domain. Since then we’ve witnessed substantive steps in promoting rights and freedoms throughout the world which touched many aspects of life. Yet, one sphere seems to be the slowest in terms of reforming itself. Religions have been most resistant to any change, as such oftentimes creating the grounds for shift of interest towards new/other spiritual directions, as was the case of emerging of New Age in the 70s. Goddess Movement was one direction in the New Age beliefs that emerged in the North America, West Europe, Australia, etc.

While a good amount of work, both academic as well as practical, was evolving around this topic, today we hear little about this or other directions in New Age creating any substantial alternative to conventional religions unless we are the ones researching the field. There may be several reasons behind this. Firstly, New Age beliefs have been quite decentralized, with no one book or one method prescribed for individuals to achieve the spiritual experiences practiced by this movement[1].

Another reason could be the resistance of some conventional religious institutions towards New Age spiritualism[2]. Scaling the resources that these institutions have in comparison with the New Age movement, it wouldn’t be a challenge to block the further advancement of New Age spiritualism had those institutions wanted to do so. Strong patriarchal resistance to such beliefs as Goddess beliefs could play its role as well. The latter are quite old beliefs (therefore New Age title doesn’t fit well in this case), which were meticulously transferred (not erased) into patriarchal religions that have ruled us ever since.

Even feminist movements, which have created the grounds for the return of Goddess beliefs, did not pursue it further, possibly under the patriarchal-structured mentality of leaving the emotional/spiritual behind in pursue of more substantive/material goals (which to some extent benefited the patriarchy). One also arrives at this thought after reading Charlene Spretnak’s article on Ecofeminism: Our Roots and Flowering.

There are a lot of demonstrations on how this neglect of the spiritual has been harmful for societies and beneficial for patriarchal (religious) institutions. Considering religions and spiritual as no longer a substantive matter affecting our lives, the reformation of these institutions and finally establishing spirituality over religions has not taken place, which although may sound as something harming the religious institutions themselves, have in fact benefited them in keeping their “earthly estates”, as well as ideological chains.

Progressives/atheists/or else consider that the religions do not affect our lives as they used to, but the deep roots of religious dogmas in reality affect our everyday lives, whether it is hierarchic relations in families or workplaces, which stems from an authority on top and others below, or environmental crisis, as we no longer treat the Earth as paradise as a result of collective memory of being expelled from it.

In fact it is of particular interest to research how specifically Abrahamic religions have not only transformed Goddess beliefs, but also managed to penetrate into our consciousness deep enough leaving little space for questioning the dogmas. As such the dichotomy created by hierarchy with god above and people below normalized hierarchic relations also promoting competition rather than cooperation. This top and bottom dichotomy has permeated everywhere and valued everything that is on top, whether it is our head/knowledge/logic, the boss, the god or else, and degraded everything that is below, whether it is our emotions often taken as illogical, sexual organs/sexuality taken as sinful or the Earth that has been disregarded ever since.

However, substantive work done in the 70s to shake off the heavy dust from Goddess beliefs allows us to not only see the roots of our beliefs and religions, but gives us a second chance to restore the balance and harmony in the world by restoring justice also for women and nature that were tossed in the abyss of oblivion. The more this topic is researched, the more apparent the link between Goddess beliefs and nature becomes.

The Interlink between Goddess and Nature

The Goddess beliefs back in Palaeolithic times evolved parallel to people’s elaborations about reproduction processes which was closely tied with life processes in nature. Some of the Goddess figurines found in areas of south of France, Balkans, show that reproduction that was being attributed to only women, initially was imagined to emerge in the buttocks where the life-bearing egg was located. This belief was paralleled with the Cosmic Egg beliefs. Whole life on Earth was thought to begin from such an egg, and this has resulted for certain birds, such as duck or other water related birds to be taken as symbol of life giving Creatress. We learn this and much more from the works of archaeologist and anthropologist Marija Gimbutas[3]. Later the Goddess figurines develop and include other female body parts involved in reproduction. Gradually symbolism is also found on some figurines, such as spirals depicting life circles as such showing certain ideological thinking evolving as well.

Cucuteni Venus Figurine with Spirals Pinterest.ch

The symbolism is of particular interest as the adoption of these symbols by later beliefs and religions shows the gradual transformation of the spiritual realms into a political tool. The beginning of transformations was initiated once the settled Goddess cultures came in contact with travelling newcomers, who were in search of food and new shelter and therefore had tools for hunting and defense from the unknown. In case of Old Europe, as Marija Gimbutas calls the Balkan region, these newcomers were from the East (she calls them the Indo-Europeans or the Kurgans), while in case of Goddess dominated Canaan, today’s Lebanon, Palestine, newcomers were from the east and south — Indo Europeans and Semitic tribes respectively, as Joseph Campbell mentions in his works[4].

The transformations are visible once we trace the beliefs that the newcomers brought with them and how those merged with Goddess beliefs, e.g. through familial ties, and later on started to dominate over Goddess beliefs eventually overshadowing them. What we observe is the intrusion of the warrior gods created by those in constant move and fight for living, into areas where peaceful goddesses were dominating.

We learn from excavations and studies by the above-mentioned academics that for example Vinča culture in today’s Balkans was a women/goddess centered culture with no traces of wars and weapons found there. Similarly Joseph Campbell describes goddess dominated Canaan starting to have warrior, punishing gods after the contact with the abovementioned newcomers. Here as well, he sees the link between nature and conditions that led to having warrior and peaceful gods.

“Life in the desert [where these tribes came from] doesn’t leave you feeling terribly grateful toward the Mother Goddess; your whole dependency is on the tribe, and the tribal god then becomes the dominant figure”. Campbell then writes, “And so, with these masculine Semitic mythologies, we have for the first time a separation of the individual from the divine, and […] we are separated from God, God is separated from man’s world, man is turned against nature, nature is turned against man. You do not have this separation in the mythologies of the Great Mother”.

And slowly the transformation of Goddess beliefs takes place as the Goddesses are married off, or become sisters and mothers of male gods, or become victims of rape, while their representatives on Earth, such as their temple priestesses are turned into temple prostitutes.

This transformation continued for many centuries and penetrated many layers of life, in spiritual realms, as well as in realms of culture, architecture, language, health, etc. Centuries-long practices of pushing away the female centered beliefs led to the shift of goddesses of the seasons — Horaes into whores[5], thus affecting the language as well as the image of these goddesses.

Many more practices similar to this took place, the culmination of which as scholar Sylvia Federici names it, was the genocide of (peasant) women in Middle Ages in the form of witch hunt and in the name of inquisition[6]. This was the last attempt to finally eradicate any knowledge and practice stemming from Goddess beliefs this way creating atmosphere of distrust among neighbors, weakening communal living and breaking ties with the nature. This was the period that paved the road for further land-grabs from peasants, industrialization and wild capitalism setting in, eventually creating all types of crisis, including environmental, that we are facing today.

It took women several centuries to heal the trauma inflicted by persecutions, before the first awakening started in the 1970s. And yet, goddess spirit was never completely lost as in many parts of the world Mary was as revered as her Son, and there were always people who pursued their spiritual quests looking for the wider picture behind the dogmas.

Dismantling the ancient goddess-related meanings behind symbols that have been used in modern religions has an immense empowering effect that also gives hope for redefinition and revival of human-nature relations. Aiming to scratch the surface of the ancient Goddess beliefs, below we present some cases of symbol transformation to show the gradual change that have shifted us from our roots. The main source used for this purpose has been Barbara Walker’s The Woman’s Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets.

Appropriated Symbols and the Decline that Followed

The Tetramorph

One such expropriated symbols for example in Christianity is Tetramorph. It is composed of four creatures — bull/cow, eagle, lion and angel, presenting four evangelists — Luke, John, Mark and Matthew respectively. These are oftentimes depicted around the Christ images and are described as guardians of four corners of the paradise.

And yet, the bull/cow has been a goddess symbol since times immemorial. Its horns resemblance with the lunar crescent has been representing the life cycles. The horn symbolism is traced as far as 25.000 years ago, with fertility statuette found in various locations, including in Laussel, south France with a horn in the hand of a pregnant woman.

Laussel figurine bradshawfoundation.com

Even some 2500 years before Christ, head of the Egyptian goddess Isis was decorated with horns with the sun located in between. Later, as the male gods started dominating, we see Greek god Zeus taking the form of a bull to abduct and rape Europa.

In Bible as well we learn that the golden calf statue angers Moses who orders it to be crushed. The annual killing of the bull during the bullfight in some parts of the world was also a covert symbolic killing of the feminine by the male matador, the latter also symbolizing the sun, as a result the sun killing the moon-bull, the light killing the dark. And yet, Joseph Campbell in one of his works mentions, that while the competition between the light and dark can be traced in patriarchal religions, in Goddess traditions light and dark, similar to death and life, were taken as a natural part of the life cycle, not in opposition or competition, but in unity[7].

Goddess Isis with her son Horus louvre.fr

The bird symbol was as well linked with Goddesses. Initially the link was with water related birds due to the egg symbolism discussed above. Later the vulture became the symbol as the bird that takes the soul from corpse to the other world and thus supports the life cycles. Importantly, any symbolism in Goddess traditions related to death was always accompanied with rebirth symbols. Vulture was later substituted with eagle, which had the similar functions linking the life and death worlds.

Interestingly, wings of vultures/eagles have been since then attached to angels, while in Scandinavia, the vultures and angels are united in one female figure — the Valkyres, who had similar function as the vultures. Angels were female in many traditions and in some places like India their main function was to bring joy and pleasure, including sexual pleasure as endowed by nature. Yet, later patriarchal influence turned angels into males who initially were bestowing children upon women, but later this function was discarded as the pursuit of chastity was captivating the minds of the religious men.

Goddess Nut amntenofre.tumblr.com

Lion accompanied some later period Goddesses, as in case of Mesopotamian goddess Innana as a symbol of her power, and yet, lion with its symbolism became especially widespread in later Sumerian and Assyrian myths under the influence of dominating male gods.

The Serpent

Another well known goddess symbol is theserpent which thanks to its ability to shed its skin, became the symbol of resurrection and thus life cycles, eventually representing the most well known modern day symbol in medicine. As a manifestation of life cycle, Ouroboros is another symbol of the serpent biting its own tail. This cycle, as much as the spirals often found on goddess statuettes, symbolize the holistic lifestyle, where we do not depart from our origins, but rather come back to it — this way retaining the living energy.

The snake is met in many mythologies, whether as a serpent or a (water protecting) dragon and yet again, under the further patriarchal dominance it is either accused of luring Eve (as in Bible), or is killed by some male deity/hero in the subsequent times. For example theLevites — an Israeli priest tribe, called themselves adherents of the Great Serpent, or sons of Leviathan. Moreover, their beliefs linked the serpent and the moon goddess.

However, Yahweh — god of Israelites, and Leviathan were enemies, until Yahweh took over it. Similar myths were created elsewhere as well, where certain male deity or subsequently a saint would kill the “chaos-creating”, “evil” dragon/serpent usually linked with the feminine, Zeus vs. Typhon or Apollo vs. Python in Greek mythology, Marduk vs. Tiamat in Babylonian mythology, which eventually impacted modern day religions too, such as in case of St. George killing the Dragon in Christianity.

Corfu Medusa Pinterest.com

Other symbols

The link between woman and nature and the belief around them becomes even more evident, once we look at other sacred phenomena in Goddess traditions. For example women menstrual cycles were sacred prior to patriarchy’s abhorrence towards this natural process. The knowledge around the cycles was closely tied with the moon, (though the sun as well, as in many old traditions was linked with the Goddesses (Arinna among the Hittites, Amaterasu among the Japanese).

And yet, the moon cycles reflected in three phases — waxing, full and waning moon, in many old traditions around the world were linked with three aspects of the feminine — the maiden, mother and the old woman. These in their turn were representing new beginnings, fertility and wisdom as three aspects of the goddess. Yet again in later centuries one or two of the triad turned into male creating the Father-Mother-Son pattern with the Son figure being the Saviour (Osiris-Isis-Horus).

Patriarchy further pushed the woman out of the spiritual realms, living an all male company as Father-Son-Holy Spirit/Ghost (of no gender). In Gnostic traditions, however, the Holy Ghost remained as feminine — Sophia. The culmination of this process of leaving the women out of the spiritual realms was the witch hunt under the Inquisition, which covered the wise women with the veil of witches that were to be exterminated.

Even the menstruation blood in many parts of the world (from South America to Mesopotamia) was considered as sacred life giving liquid. In Mesopotamia, for example, the Great Goddess made humans from clay by infusing the “blood of life”. She taught the women to form clay dolls and smear them with menstrual blood, which was named Adamah, meaning bloody clay. Up until the middle ages women in some parts of Europe were making such clay dolls as a symbol of fertility, and yet, such pursuit was called witchcraft.

In Koran as well it is mentioned that Allah- Al-Lat in pre-Islamic Arabia — made man out of flowing blood, where Al-Lat was the Goddess of creation (her worship came to an end when her temple in Taif was demolished on the order of Prophet Muhammad). In various old traditions kings or pharaohs were legitimate to reign once they drank the blood of their worshiped Goddess (e.g. blood of Isis in Egypt), while in other traditions, as in case of Taoists in China, drinking it was believed to make men immortal (or at least long-lived).

The red color itself was considered sacred and revered as a color of longevity, power. In many cultures from East to West anything painted in red was considered as sacred. In Greece and southern Russia, eggs were painted in red and laid on graves to strengthen the dead. Until today red carpets are laid for special events as a symbol of success.

And yet under patriarchal beliefs menstrual blood was feared and menstruating women were to be avoided. In Zoroastrian beliefs for example, menstruation was brought by the first mother, who began to first menstruating after coupling with Ahriman, the Great Serpent after which she “seduced” the first man who had previously lived alone in the garden and knew nothing of sex. Jews borrowed many details from these Zoroastrian myths. Even today orthodox Jews refuse to shake hands with a woman because she might be menstruating. In Talmud, the Nazirite is even advised to stay away from wine, grapes and vineyards. Christianity inherited such beliefs as well forbidding menstruating women from entering the church for example.

And yet, despite all the religious zeal to discredit life cycles and anything related to women and nature, medieval peasants believed that menstrual blood could heal, nourish and fertilize. For example in some parts of Europe the belief was that a menstruating woman could protect the crop by walking around the field. Peasant women carried the seeds to the fields in rags stained with their menstrual blood.

Another way to protect the fields since ancient times was an effigy of a man hanging on a cross, as the belief was that the sacred blood would fertilize the earth. Not only this tradition survived in the form of modern day scarecrows, but in Christianity too we see Jesus on a cross, even though this was a later addition, since initially the belief is that Jesus was crucified on a T-shaped wood. Wide range of crosses existed in old pre-Christian times with Egyptian ankh being one such symbol of life composed of the same T-shaped symbol with a female oval symbol surmounting on top of it, thus showing the unity of the two sexes.

Even the language underwent transformations under the influence of transformations of female to male deities. The Hebrew word almah for example, used for Mary, was “mistakenly” translated as virgin, while it’s real meaning is a young woman. Its root is further traced in Persian Al-Mah meaning unmated Moon-goddess.

The Christianization of the world subsequently rendered Mary’s title as virgin thus not only desecrating the naturally endowed processes, but also setting the grounds for control of women genitals that was to become a powerful tool in the hands of the patriarchy. Even prior to Abrahamic religions, as the process of transformation of female-to-male deities had started, here too, we see glorification of virgin births (Zeus-Marnas “virgin-born Zeus”, Heracles born of Virgin Alcmene, etc). And yet, after Christianity became the official religion of Roman empire, all previous virgin births were discarded claimed to be work of the devil, deceiver, serpent.

Duality in Patriarchal Religions and the Return of the Unity in Goddess Beliefs

This patriarchal psychosis around the virginity, menstruation blood, sexuality and other natural processes not only divided women’s between extremities of “pure virgins” and “whores” with nothing in between. This duality has in fact occurred in all natural domains as in sun and moon, light and dark, life and death, where anything luminous, orderly was ascribed to the male, while anything dark, chaotic, “devilish” was to be doomed as female.

Prescribing anything dark, evil and chaotic to the female humans and goddesses, the patriarchal religions have thus established themselves in a counter position not with the satan, but specifically with women and nature, anything related to which had been subsequently demonized.

And yet, in Goddess traditions all these artificial dualitites are part of the unity, whole, natural. There is no division between life and death as there is no division between human and nature. Therefore unveiling anything related to Goddess beliefs could not only unchain the women, but finally bring the humans back to where they belong to — nature and harmony with it.

[1] New Age Spirituality: a.k.a. Self-Spirituality, New Spirituality, Mind-Body-Spirit, 2017 https://consciousreminder.com/2017/08/25/new-age-spirituality-k-self-spirituality-new-spirituality-mind-body-spirit/

[2] A Christian reflection on the “New Age”, 2003

http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/interelg/documents/rc_pc_interelg_doc_20030203_new-age_en.html

[3] The World of the Goddess — Marija Gimbutas, uploaded to youtube in 2011

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yU1bEmq_pf0

[4] Joseph Campbell, Goddesses: Mysteries of the Feminine Divine, New World Library, 2013

[5] Barbara G. Walker, The Woman’s Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets, Harper and Row, 1983

[6] Silvia Federici, Caliban and the Witch, Autonomedia, 2004 https://monoskop.org/images/d/d8/Federici_Silvia_Caliban_and_the_Witch_Women_the_Body_and_Primitive_Accumulation_2004.pdf

[7] Joseph Campbell, Occidental Mythology, 1973