Goddess Culture
Saturday, November 17th, 2007This is a description from wikipedia that I thought is an interesting read. Enjoy.
Goddess worship is a general description for the veneration of a female deity or deities. Many New Age Goddess devotees prefer the term goddess spirituality, avoiding the term “worship” for a faith that does not distance the Divine into a remote, hierarchical separation. Goddess veneration may be also used instead of “worship”, as it can imply respect and intimacy without undue deference. In such contexts, “spirituality” is often preferred to “religion” because major organised religions have not recognized the concept of a goddess, or goddesses, with the notable exception of Hinduism.
Goddess worship can be conservative, supporting male dominance, state control, and empire building; or it can be feminist, challenging those all patriarchal traditions. It can and usually does support women’s ancient, natural spiritual authority. In Western society goddess worship has developed into a distinct culture since the mid-19th century. Goddess worship is not necessarily feminist, though in Western societies the feminist version is probably the most articulate.
Modern day Goddess temples and churches in many forms are currently in operation all over the world. Some are small circles in (usually) women’s homes, and some are larger, federally registered non-profit churches that offer Sunday services like many other “traditional” churches. The first such modern church generally recognized is The Goddess Temple of Orange County, in Irvine, California. Usually, the services in such circles and churches is eclectic, and emphasizes a spirit of sharing of wisdom, rather than a leader lecturing a passive congregation.
Some goddess circles/churches/temples are “woman only” and others serve mixed groups. Women-only groups generally prefer to celebrate the Goddess in woman-only space for many reasons: 1) women hold a different frequency from men; 2) women cannot heal together from the ills of patriarchy while under the “male gaze.” 3) goddess celebration is usually and naturally woman-centered, and the “blood mysteries” of females is an essential part of this form of spirituality; men, with different bodies, cannot truly share in this form of spirituality, so dependent upon “body knowing”.
Pagan and Neopagan religions or denominations generally recognise goddess worship as one of their few areas of consensus. However, not all goddess worship is Pagan. More Christians are recognizing the Mary’s as goddesses, both Mary, the mother of Jesus, and Mary Magdalene. The Jewish faith recognizes “Shekhinah.”
The female deity may be referred to in all inclusive terms, such as “The Great Goddess” or “Queen of Heaven”, or she may be referred to in more specific terms: Kali, Isis, or Kwan Yin. Frequently, because of her many names, she is known as “She of Ten Thousand Names.”
Some authors, the most notable of whom is Marija Gimbutas, believe goddess worship started in prehistoric times. 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. Male scholars including Peter Ucko have asserted that the figurines in question were territorial markers, toys, sex aids, sex education models, and images of priestesses rather than goddesses. Those who hold, as Gimbutas did, that these ancient images are of the Female Divine believe that archaeology is a patriarchal and male-dominated field, which tends to belittle and trivialize what was an ancient, worldwide general religion honoring the Female Principle.
Those who are of Goddess Spirituality generally believe that Goddess religion is the root of all other religions, since cave paintings and etchings from the Paleolithic Era seem to support 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, are clearly evidence of a form of female oriented worship/celebration much older than all modern day religions, and philosophies such as Buddhism, most of which are less than two to three thousand years old.
To continue the learning series on aspects of other religions, I though I wold today talk about Hindu gods and goddesses. Much of the prejudice in the world today towards Hindus comes from a lack of understanding regarding the gods and goddesses. 
