Women & Religion The Goddess Cultures

The Great Goddess  The political, economic, social and religious foundation of matriarchal society was the agricultural year.  Fostered a cyclical view of life birth, death, re-birth  The Great Goddess or Mother Goddess personified Mother Earth as is the supreme deity

 To survive societies need to produce both children and food  They worshiped the Great Goddess to receive these blessings  All women are considered daughters of the great goddess, are highly valued and hold important positions including the head of family

 During the Paleolithic period, the art forms are directly associated with the stone and bone industries Cave paintings with animals and statuettes of women, often pregnant--have been found suggesting the practice of hunting and fertility rituals

 The annual King  Transformation of ritual  Reinterpretations and emergence of Patriarchy

Ancient Egypt  Isis is associated with the star Sirius, rising just before the flooding of the Nile and was seen as a bringer of fertility

Mesopotamia  Ishtar is a goddess of fertility, love, and war. In the Babylonian religion she "was the divine personification of the planet Venus".[ [

Indo-Iranian religion  Ushas is an exalted divinity and the medium of the awakening, the activity and the growth of the other gods; she is the first condition of realization  By her increasing illumination the whole nature of man is clarified; through her humans arrives at the truth

Graeco-Roman religion  Hera's importance in the early archaic period is attested by the large building projects in her honor.  The temples of Hera, were the very earliest monumental Greek temples constructed, in the 8th century BC.  Was originally the goddess of a matriarchal people, presumably inhabiting Greece before the Hellenes.

Celtic religion  Brigantia "high, lofty, elevated". Meaning "the high goddess".  Associated with Spring, plants, animals and fertility

Hinduism  Devi, the mother goddess.  one presiding female force, one in truth and many in expression, giving the world and the cosmos the energy for motion.

Hawaiian  Haumea  a goddess of fertility and childbirth in Hawaiian tradition

Dineh  Changing Woman Creates the dineh nation by rubbing her body Gives birth to twin heros

Lakotah  White Buffalo Woman

The Woman's Bible  Woman's Bible, written by famous 19th Century feminist Elizabeth Cady Stanton and a "Revising Committee", is one of the first attempts by women to evaluate the Judeo-Christian legacy and its impact on women through history.

 Stanton concluded that 'the Bible in its teachings degrades Women from Genesis to Revelation'.  However she and the other contributors found much to admire in the Bible, particularly some of the Old Testament women.  While many of her views are still controversial, time and advances in womens' rights have lessened some of the shock value of this book.  Stanton doesn't go as far as some modern feminist theologians and proclaim 'God is a woman', but there are several contributions which discuss the gender of the 'Elohim' and the female aspects of the Kabbalah.