GW '11 - Chapter 2: Basics of Goddess Spirituality

Firstly, I'd like to say I love the artistic renditions that are at the beginning of each chapter.

I find it interesting, that for reasons seeming to stem from a desire to be politically correct, that the author chooses to use the word "thealogy" rather than "theology".  I understand her reasoning, moving away from the masculine oriented vernacular, but then again not having changed that word wouldn't have taken away from the chapter for me either because I understand we are speaking specifically of the Goddess archetype, versus Gods, or Gods and Goddesses.

For me the questions posed at the very beginning of the chapter are not all that important to the practice of Goddess work/worship.  As the author states, one does not need to be a thea/theologian to practice or worship.  Where we differ is that I believe it takes you through the beginnings of getting there.  While everyone who has faith in some deity may develop their own theological thoughts, not developing anything concrete or an ability to answer the "great questions" associated with that practice is not going to take away from their ability to practice.

There are also several other questions posed in the beginning of the chapter which are not covered by the reading, but I thought I would share my thoughts about them nonetheless.  As a clergy member and an avid follower of the Goddess I might have further insight than those who may be more passively studying with Her or just beginning their explorations of Her.

Does the presence of a goddess empower the women of a culture?

• It can, but as for our culture, I don't think it does.  The empowerment really is up to the women of the culture/society.  And as some of you may be experiencing this line of thinking is new and so it is with many women.  Division of church and state aside, the country is still run and was in fact formed by those who held certain beliefs, to date these have all been monotheistic and male centered.  While the Goddess may live and breathe in our time, without support She is just a quiet presence in our society.  I think for the empowerment to be felt that we as women need to make the effort on our own parts to recognize and honor Her in our everyday lives.

Can religion praise the divine feminine while institutions oppress real women?

• Again I hearken back to the division of church and state issue.  While it's said that this is so, it's not necessarily felt because obviously those who run the government and institutions are going to make decisions and policies based on their own lines of thought, which in fact are affected by their beliefs.  Whether they think about them actively or not.  I think that again this becomes the role of women to fix, if you want to feel the divine and praise it you need to put forth the effort.  Not only to recognize the divine feminine but to change the stigmas.  If you want things more goddess centered or equal, then you need to bring that energy into your own life and then you would need to involve yourself in a place where your views/opinions would be heard and affect people.  So if you don't do it, who will?

What is the connection between spirit and body in goddess religion?

• In my personal practice every woman is a smaller, mortal derivation of the Goddess.  Just as She is able to give live to the entirety of the world, we on a smaller scale are also able to give life.  While She nurtures and helps form us (with the help of the God), so do we as mothers and mentors.  Feeling that link though is really up to the individual.  For those who feel that the Goddess is more strictly an outside force only, I think that that may prove as a bit of a challenge.

How does this differ from male centered religions?

• In the schema of Christianity, which we will use as our primary example, the God force is seen as separate and away from man.  In the form of Christ who is the son, but the savior, but also a form of God being his son, we get a bit muddled because while he was "created in his image" and he looks like man, man is still under God.  "One nation, under God..."  I think that this placement of man below God, is to express his superiority, but I don't feel that it denotes any kind of equal footing.  That is the choice of monotheistic religions overall I feel.

Can goddess worship be incorporated into traditional monotheistic religions?

• On an individual basis, I think yes.  For the whole of say, Christianity, I do not believe there would be enough of a positive consensus for that to happen.  I also believe that the "higher ups" in the ministry would greatly object, saying that that was just not how things were done etc and so on.

Would such a change destroy the very basis of such religions?

• The problem with answering this question is that there is no easy answer.  Particularly within Christianity there are many ways in which to express your practice.  This can easily be seen by all of the different sects within the overall religion.  While they all may hold some of the same basic beliefs, the stricture with which they worship is not equal.  Some are, pardon the phrase, "hell-bent" on worshiping a certain way.  Saying that practices that are off limits remain that way completely without exception to all followers.  Others are more lax and while the guidelines may be there they are much less strict in their implementation of them.  Then there is the "whole other can of worms" that even if the specific sect says, "this is the way things should be done", that doesn't mean that everyone who counts themselves within that sect will in fact practice just that way.  With the addition of human perception and opinion you run into deal with a person's interpretation of how they believe things should be done.  Personally I believe as the religions are not in their originality suited and based to deal with an egalitarian system among the deital worship, and in fact there is no "place" for one made that yes in fact it would quite destroy the original religion.  Does that mean that some off shoot could not be created to accommodate, no, and I think that a perfectly viable way.  However, I do believe that a great many of the "previous" line of thought would object and claim them as blasphemers.

The Goddess:  Immanent VS Transcendent

• My own beliefs hold that the Goddess is in fact both.  The transcendent form of the Goddess is, I agree, in totality much beyond the scope of the human mind.  For She is all and everything, both creator and destroyer, and without exact form.  In our mindsets it's easier to relate to Her when we have a set image, such as Hera or Kali, but even in those forms She is still very vast and hard to pin point as one particular thing.  The Goddess within is that feminine energy which ultimately makes us identify with the feminine presence on something beyond just a biological level.  I do not see one's conscience, however, as a form of the immanent deity in all exactness.  The conscience to me is a form of the Higher Self, or the Soul, and while it is much closer to actual divinity than just our physical bodies, it's detachment from that whole Source, and attachment to our physical presence separates it.

The points she brings up between the pros and cons with the immanent versus transcendent I agree with very much so.  It can be problematical to someone beginning Goddess worship to view the immanent goddess as any kind of real power, but that really stems from our own views of our limitations.  While superhuman feats of strengths and such abilities that could easily be translated to a transcendent deity are beyond us as humans, that is partially because we are human.  And to be human, to me, is to learn from our weaknesses and limitations.  So while we may not be able to go beyond a certain scope, in this form we are better able to learn the lessons we need to while we live in this form.  I do believe that the transcendent version of any deity comes with a bit more responsibility than the immanent version.  A point is brought up in the reading that the transcendent goddess can seem to impersonal and distant.  I do not believe that this is so at all, to me She knows that we must sometimes fall, and that there is often a purpose to what seem like bad or negative things.  Pain and hardship are great teachers, they show us what we can endure and teach us resolve and to keep going even when it feels as though there is no reason to continue.  The issue is recognizing this as a person, some are just not brought up to think in this way or it never occurs to them, therefore they merely lament their troubles and that is where it ends.

I think the author puts it best when she says:

She is all, she is everything.  She is around us, and she is within us.

We cannot be without her, and we can never encompass all of her.

One or Many?

• Again, I personally hold the belief in both.  To me every individual goddess is part of the Goddess.  My stress here is on punctuation.  To me any smaller versions of Her are merely facets of the ultimate Goddess.  These smaller facets and aspects have a greater accessibility to some as they seem more "human".  Hera, for example, is generally characterized in Her myths to be a jealous wife with a philandering husband.  She is also very crafty in catching said husband.  This archetype, of the jealous wife, is someone we as women can relate to.  Whereas considering the Great Goddess, all that is, to be jealous may seem blasphemous to some - how could you accuse Her of being anything but divine and perfect (but that is very much a construct of the monotheistic God, He is All and He is Perfect...eg He has no faults and makes no mistakes.)

In dealing with the concept of to which ones do we pay homage, I believe that whomever you choose and connect with is fine.  In reality though, we are chosen rather than choosing.  Having a particular affinity for a certain god/dess is Them calling to us, rather than us choosing Them.  In the event that you mean to work with a particular deity for a particular purpose, I again believe that it is a bit more than just us traveling through the religious supermarket and picking a can or box off the shelf.  To choose one deity over another I do not think, in the grand scheme of things is any kind of slight to any other deity as again they are all One with the God or Goddess.

The choice to work with only a female or only a male deity is also a personal choice.  Some feel called to do so and there is nothing wrong with that.  Others like myself choose a more egalitarian approach.  To me my approach directly reflects how I feel a relationship should go - with equal, but differing - responsibilities for each partner (this is without regard to traditional gender roles and in fact includes same sex couples).  What I would ask others is how do your views of worship relate to your views in your relationships?

She is both an expression of what we know about our human world,

and she is a power far beyond expression.