For some reason I have become more and more drawn to anything "goddess". For example, the simple representation of female energy pictured here calls to me. So, I've been exploring this connection with women's spirituality/goddess energy.I agree with the following. . . .
Women's spirituality is grounded in our experience. Rather than focusing on a theology that is abstract and draws its principles from an ethereal logic, we ourselves determine what Spirit means to us according to our own experience.
Our spirituality is rooted in the daily experience of being a woman, whether we are cultivating herbs or cooking with them, diapering a baby, giving a presentation, or dressing for a formal dance.
Women's spirituality is an active proclamation that women (and all people) are a spark of the divine and that we ourselves are the best determinants of what is meaningful in life, what is sacred, what is moral, what is beautiful.
The Goddess fervor is yet another manifestation of the resurgence in feminine energy and power on this planet. However, this does not necessarily mean that all women are literally worshiping goddesses.
The goddess is a symbol of the archetypal divine femine. We think she is showing up so widely now because the planet needs to develop its femine values and qualities. The Goddess is here to help us - and we need all the help we can get as we navigte these tricky seas, passing through the perilous straits of our time. Having an icon of Kwan Yin or Isis or Astarte on one's private altar may be seen as heretical by some. We foresee these statues, and other like them, on a lot more altars in the years to come as more and more people use them to evoke the divine femine.
Having said that, not all women involved in women's spirituality find meaning in the Goddess. Many are not attracted to her as a means of developing their spirituality but may find similar comfort and inspiration in figures like Mary, the mother of Jesus, women saints, or other women found in religious writings. - from Sacred Circles by Robin Deenn Carnes & Sally Craig
What is the Role of the Goddess?
In our time, in our culture, the goddess once again is becoming
a symbol of empowerment for women, a catalyst for an
emerging earth-centered spirituality, a metaphor for earth as a
living organism, an archetype for femine consciousness, a
mentor for healers, the emblem of a new political movement, an
inspiration for artists, a model for resacralizing woman's body
and the mystery of human sexuality.
Elinor Gadon,
The Once and Future Goddess
