1. Ancient Fertility Religions
AKA: mystery myth, paganism, neo-paganism, Goddess religions

2. Where it comes from? Pre-written history-no real resource material
Oral tradition
Comes mostly from archeology, passages
Proceed any PATRARCHIAL religions
Matriarchal

3. Cyclical nature of the religion: moon, water, woman’s monthly cycle, reincarnation
The Circle of Life

4. 3 aspects of the Goddess

5. Examples of the Goddess
Maid
Matron
Crone
Greeks-Hebe
Hera
Hecate
Persephone
Demeter
Artemis-
Virgin goddess
of Ephesus
huntress

6. Goddesses from other cultures
Ishtar- Mesopotamia
Great goddess even in the Bible: Eve, Mary, Mary Magdalene
Isis from Egypt

7. Pattern to the great goddesses story
Morns a loss (dying god archetypal pattern)
Searches for a loved one
Brings about a form of resurrection
Return of the God
Establishes new practices/belief system for followers

8. Rituals Marriage of the spiritual, emotional, physical and mental
Immortality of the soul (reincarnation)
Life and sexuality
Nature and the natural world

9. More rituals
Fertility in the natural world “frolicking in the daisies”
Summer solstice

10. Woman is sacred
Only through communion with the goddess can a man “see god”
Sex was a religious experience
Holy women in temples: temple prostitutes
Women viewed as virgins, mother or prostitutes

12. Fertility Symbols
Moon (maid,matron, crone)= (new moon, full moon, crescent)
Bull horns-male symbol
Snake: wisdom, bringer of knowledge, shed his skin-renewal
Coil
Butterfly- metamorphous
Bee- triumphs over death, reincarnation, hibernation

13. So what happened?
Indo-Europeans come down from the north with patri-lineal gods and beliefs
Subvert all that is positive about the goddess
Bull horns turned into devil horns, women are seen as temptresses
Women’s sexuality is subverted

14. Example:
The oracle at Delphi-Apollo kills the snake and makes the oracle his own
Society moves from matrilineal heritage to patrilineal

15. Hold overs: Pagan- pagus- place- locality
Christmas season- winter solstice
Spring equinox- Easter
Halloween- harvest
May day- Beltane

16. Where can we find examples of the Goddess Religions?
Firebrand and The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley
DaVinci Code by Dan Brown
Clan of the Cave Bear