For 20,000 years, female goddess worship has been practiced and documented on ancient reliefs, cave walls, pottery, textiles and in literature. Goddess teachings focus on compassion for all living beings and a reverence for the Earth itself as the body of the goddess.
The Rise of Goddess Spirituality and the Sacred Feminine
According to Karen Tate, a goddess scholar and author of Walking an Ancient Path: Rebirthing Goddess on Planet Earth [O Books, 2008], the world is seeing a paradigm shift. She says people are embracing the values of the feminine as a way to combat the male dominated model that has prevailed for centuries.
Tate argues that the reason war and suffering plague is the Earth is that its inhabitants have lost the feminine qualities of nurturing, caring and equality. These traits have been overwhelmed for ages by the male qualities of protection and force, which were traditionally used to protect the goddess and uphold her ideals, going out of control.
The increase in new male archetypes that reject aggressive behavior and dominating others to achieve a sense of power are just one indication that the world's spiritual consciousness is changing.
Going Green and Honoring Mother Earth
More than ever, people are concerning themselves with the carbon footprints they are leaving behind on the planet. The new push to go green, recycle, reuse and invest in renewable energy sources, Tate says, has a divine feminine quality to it.
For centuries, the Earth has been associated with the goddess in traditional and ritual religious practices. Gaia is the ancient Greek goddess of Mother Earth. Demeter also represented the Earth in the Greek culture. The Chinese goddess Kuan Yin is associated with the Earth as well as compassion and mercy, which Tate believes the world has been lacking for a long time.
Renewed focus on sustaining the Earth can translate to a renewed interest in the goddess and returning to the feminine aspects of divinity.
Sacred Goddess Temples
As the goddess movement has gained momentum, temples have opened or regained popularity because people want to worship goddess qualities and bring them back into every day life.
In 2002, the Goddess Temple or Orange County was founded by Ava Park, a former business woman trained in women's spirituality, metaphysics and Buddhism who wanted to restore the sacred feminine in modern day religion.
Starting with just a handful of members, the Irvine, California-based temple has grown to over 100 women and Park leads female-only Sunday services and Friday worship for either gender.
In Indian Springs, Nevada, the Temple of Goddess Spirituality Dedicated to Sekmet celebrates lunar and solar holidays and offers baby blessings, memorials and hand-fastings to worshipers of the divine feminine. The temple is a project of the Center for the Study of the Gift Economy and is directed by Genevieve Vaughan. It seeks to honor feminine values and the Mother.
Combining feminist spirituality principles with elements of Wicca, the Temple of Diana is a goddess and woman-centered, Earth-based, feminist denomination of the Wiccan religion. It is located in Madison, Wisconsin, with affiliated groves across the nation.
The Rise of Travel to Sacred Goddess Sites
According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, sacred or purposeful travel with religious intent grew 22.5 percent between 2002 and 2004.
A February 11, 2006, article in the Los Angeles Times, noted that sacred sites around the globe are more frequently becoming hot travel destinations. Female, and occasionally male, travelers want to add more meaning to their outings and to do this they add visits to divine feminine sites to their itineraries.
Sacred goddess sites are found in the Americas, England, Asian Minor, Italy, Greece and Egypt. Some more exotic places that people find feminist spirituality is in classic Judeo-Christian artifacts that, centuries ago, were created using original goddess pieces.
Sources:
- "Blazing a Trail for Followers of the 'Divine Feminine'" by Lisa Richardson, Los Angeles Times, February 11, 2006.
- The Karen Tate Official Website
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