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 Posted: Tue Jul 24, 2012 9:40 pm
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Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2012 9:53 pm
What is a Goddess?
A Goddess is a Divine female being of supernatural powers or attributes, believed in and worshiped by people and is often believed to be the source of life and being and worshiped as the principal deity in various religions. For thousands of years, around the world our ancestors are believed to have worshipped a Divine and powerful Mother-Goddess, who was honoured as the Mother of all life.
The Goddess Within, the Goddess Outside.
Where is the Goddess? Does the Goddess dwell within us? Is the "still small voice" of conscience, a manifestation of the imminent deity within ourselves? For many, the imminent Goddess provides an immense and satisfying intimacy with the inner Goddess. Finding a connection to the divine within ourselves, seeking the strength of the Goddess within to better our lives, can be a transformative, enlightening and empowering experience.
The imminent Goddess need not be confined to human form, many cultures perceive the imminent Goddess within nature, in plants, trees, mountains and stars, each inhabited by a unique Goddess spirit that is both mortal and immortal. For every star that dies, another is being formed in nebulous gases in the universe. For each plant or tree that dies, another is waiting to be reborn in the seeds of the previous, the spirit of the Goddess becomes immortal in that this energy always exists in uncountable forms.
To others, the Goddess is transcendent, and exists outside ourselves, here the Goddess becomes the Universe, Gaia, Mother Nature, the Great Goddess or the Great Mother. The transcendent Goddess is vast beyond measure, timeless and immortal, a unfathomable spirit that is at once everywhere and in all times.
Many that walk the path of the Goddess see the divine as both imminent and transcendent, believing that the Goddess within can be called upon for strength and vision in facing the challenges of life. Whilst perceiving that the energy of the Goddess exists throughout nature where each fragment is the Goddess, yet no one fragment contains all and she exists as a force beyond individual plants, animals and people.
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Where did the idea of a Goddess come from?
Our prehistoric ancestors were hunters and gatherers, who depended on the earth to provide, food, clothing, shelter and life itself. The importance of fertility in crops, in domesticated animals, in wild animals and in the tribe itself were of paramount importance to their survival. Their society was probably matriarchal and that children took their mothers' names. Their life was based on lunar (not solar) calendar and time was experienced as a repetitive cycle, not linearly as we think of it today. Thus, the Female life-giving principle was considered divine and shrouded in mystery.
Natures Mother who bringest all to life and revives
all from day to day. The food of life Thou grantest in
eternal fidelity. And when the soul hath retired we
take refuge in Thee. All that Thou grantest falls
back somewhere into Thy Womb.
Third Century AD Prayer to Terra Matris.
Cave paintings and rock carvings of Goddesses, some as old as 35,000 years B.C.E. or earlier, depict the Divine life-giving Goddess. The Venus of Willendorf, is perhaps the most well known of these ancient Mother-Goddess deities, most of the early images of the Goddess show an abundant, round, full figured being. An early symbol in human history is the zig-zag, which was used by Neanderthals around 40,000 B.C. and has been interpreted as representing water. The Goddess is closely associated with water and births.
In mediaeval times, it was claimed that Britain was given to their ancestors by the Goddess Diana. In 1136, Geoffrey of Monmouthshire, describes in his "History of The Kings Of Britain" how refugees escaping the siege of Troy, were seeking a new homeland. Their leader called upon Diana to help them:
" O powerful Goddess,
terror of the forest glades,
yet hope of the wild woodlands,
you, who have the power to go into orbit,
though the airy heavens and halls of hell,
pronounce a judgement that concerns the Earth.
Tell me which lands you wish us to inhabit.
Tell me of a safe dwelling-place,
where I am to worship you down the ages,
and where, to the chanting of maidens,
I shall dedicate temples to you. "
In the ancient world, Goddesses were commonly patronesses of cities, justice, was, handicraft and home life, agriculture, love and learning. They were seen as standing for aspects of human nature and civilisation rather than that of nature and the elements.
Apuleius in his work Metamorphoses, declared that Isis was the embodiment of all other Goddesses and identified with the Moon and nature. It would be this concept of the Goddess that would become dominant in modern paganism.
The faces and aspects of the Goddess are not static or frozen in time but are forever changing, evolving and metamorphosing. In each age, like children growing, so the Goddess grows and changes with us.
So it was during the years 1300-1800, in English love poetry, the most popular Goddesses were Venus - Goddess of Love, Diana - Goddess of Chastity and Hunting, Minerva - Goddess of Wisdom, and Juno as a symbol of Queenliness.
After the 1800's Juno is replaced by Proserpine - Goddess of the Seasons or the Dead, by 1830 Minerva is replaced by Cere or Demeter - Lady of The Harvest. The Goddess Venus also undergoes changes during this time, acquiring dominion over the woodlands or the sea, and Diana becomes associated with the Moon, the greenwood and wild animals.
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Is the Goddess only for women?
No, during the Goddess worshipping era of the past, the Goddess was the central figure, and was celebrated by men, women and children. The Goddess embodies all mystery and magik and by giving her this allegiance, man sanctified and purified himself.
She was both nurturing and fierce. She was the one the all things came from and all things returned. A renaissance of Goddess worship has take place during the middle of this century with the re-emergence of Wicca. Here both men and women celebrate the Divine Goddess and God, a spiritual balance is taking place, acknowledging both the female and male aspects of Divinity, the New Age Aquarius, with its feminine energies, hopes to bring balance to the destructive aspects of the Piscean Age.
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Does anyone still believe in a Goddess?
Yes, many cultures never lost touch with the Female Divinity, the Hindus of India have many Goddesses amongst their pantheon of deities. In Japanese culture, the great Sun Goddess, Amaterasu is still honoured as the Divine Mother of the Japanese people. In China the Goddess of Mercy, Kwan Yin (Quan Yin) still attracts many devotees. A feminine presence was added to Christianity by the Council of Ephesus in 431 CE when the Virgin Mary was named Theotokos (Mother of God). With the re-emergence of Wicca, Dianic Wicca, Goddess and Neo-paganism, more and more people are incorporating Goddess worship into their beliefs.
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What kinds of Goddesses are there?
There are many thousands of Goddesses, throughout the world, each region had its own aspects of the Goddess, the Great Mother Goddess, however appears to have had a universal following. The Goddess has been known by many names and aspects in many different cultures and ages: Anat, Aphrodite, Aradia, Arianrhod, Artemis, Astarte, Brighid, Ceres, Demeter, Diana, Eostre, Freya, Gaia, Hera, Ishtar, Isis, Juno, Kali, Lilith, Ma'at, Mary, Minerva, Ostare, Persephone, Venus, Vesta, etc.
The Goddess is often visualized in her three aspects: Maiden, Mother and Crone, and her corresponding sacred colours white, red, black.
I wove it once with colours white,
With black I wound it through
Then I did dye it with a red
That binds the life to you.
These aspects are mirrored in the phases of the moon: waxing, full and waning. The Maiden represents youth, emerging sexuality, the huntress running with her hounds. The Mother symbolizes feminine power, fertility, and nurturing. The Crone is wisdom, the compassion which comes from experience, and the one who guides us through the death experience. All aspects of the Triple-Goddess represent different types of healing and growth.
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Reclaiming The Goddess
The Goddess did not simply die out or go into cold storage, only to be revived in the same forms she manifested then, instead she remained veiled and denigrated and ignored most of the time or else she is exalted, hymned and pedestalled as an allegorical abstraction of female divinity.
In allowing the Goddess to become an abstraction, we have lost touch with the Goddess. We no longer speak the language of the Goddess, we have forgotten how and we have allowed the concept of the Goddess to be almost erased from consciousness.
With the resurgence of modern Paganism, with it views on a balanced human and divine nature, so some have found that the Goddess has always been there, yet somehow humanity forgot and so the idea of a Goddess as a central point of creation is finding a welcome response.
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Modern Goddess Worship.
The Neo-pagans, modern witches and even scientists, are starting to view Gaia after the Greek Goddess, or Mother Earth, as a bio system and we are all dependant upon each other for survival. She attributes consciousness to the earth and believes it to be spiritual as well. In other words, Gaia is a living and evolving being that has a spiritual destiny. Goddess worship is an attempt to reintroduce the sacred aspect of the earth and to remind us all that She is our ever- bountiful Mother. The Goddess is the giver of all life and is found in all of creation.
An acceptance of the Goddess is important to both men and women, for men it allows them to acknowledge the feminine energies within and to accept their desire and need of a protective, nurturing feminine presence. "The importance of the Goddess symbol for women cannot be overstressed. The image of the Goddess inspires women to see ourselves as divine, our bodies as sacred, the changing phases of our lives as holy, our aggression as healthy, and our anger as purifying. Through the Goddess, we can discover our strength, enlighten our minds, own our bodies, and celebrate our emotions."
When an individual seeks the Goddess either through Wicca, the feminist movement, the New Age, or the liberal church, he or she is beginning a journey to bring to balance the female and male energies. We are a blending of both male and female energies, so it it natural to want to balance our spiritual lives, by accepting the Goddess and God, we start our quest to discover our inner 'higher self'. This higher self, is often referred to as the "god self," and is the path to pure truth, deep wisdom. The Yin Yang symbol is a perfect reminder of the balance that is achieved when these two energies come together in a positive way.
SpiritLady Yve
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Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2012 10:22 pm
The Goddess and The God
The Goddess
The Goddess is the universal Mother. The Goddess is known by three aspects: the Maiden, the Mother and the Crone, symbolized in the waxing and waning of the Moon. She is the unploughed fields, the full harvest and the dormant, frost covered Earth all at the same time. She gives birth to abundance. But as life is Her gift, She lends it with the promise of death. This is not darkness and oblivion, but rest from the toils of physical existence.
Since the Goddess is nature, all nature, She is both the Temptress and the Crone; the tornado and the fresh spring rain; the cradle and the grave.
Though She is possessed of both natures, She is revered as the giver of fertility, love and abundance, though she is acknowledged for her darker side as well. She is seen in the Moon, the soundless, ever moving sea, and in the green growth of the first spring. She is the embodiment of fertility and love.
The Goddess has been known as the Queen of Heaven, Mother of the Gods that made the Gods, the Divine Source, the Great Mother and by countless other titles.
There are many symbols used to represent the Lady such as the cauldron, cup, five petalled flowers, the mirror, necklace, seashell, pearl, silver, emerald, labrys, a round or a holed stone and many more. The Goddess is also represented by many animals such as the rabbit, the bear, the owl, the cat, dog, bat, goose, cow, dolphin, lion, horse, wren, scorpion, spider and bee. All are sacred to the Goddess.
Lady of the Moon, Earth Mother, Sister of Power
The Goddess speaks:
I am the Great Mother, worshiped by all creation existent prior to their consciousness. I am the primal female force, boundless and eternal.
I am the chaste Goddess of the Moon, the Lady of all magic. The winds and moving leaves sing My name. I wear the crescent Moon upon My brow and My feet rest among the starry heavens. I am a field untouched by the plow. Rejoice in Me and know the fullness of youth.
I am the blessed Mother, the gracious Lady of the harvest. I am clothed with the deep, cool wonder of the Earth and the gold of the fields heavy with grain. By Me the tides of the Earth are ruled, all things come to fruitation according to My season. I am refuge and healing. I am the life giving Mother, wondrously fertile.
Worship Me as the Crone, tender of the unbroken cycle of death and rebirth. I am the wheel, the shadow of the Moon. I rule the tides of women and men and give release and renewal to weary souls. Though the darkness of death is My domain, the joy of birth is My gift.
I am the Goddess of the Moon, the Earth, the Seas. My names and strengths are manifold. I pour forth magic and power, peace and wisdom. I am the eternal Maiden, Mother of all and Crone of darkness and I send you My blessings of limitless love.
The God
The God is seen in the Sun, brilliantly shining overhead throughout the day, rid=sing and setting in the endless cycle that governs our lives. The God is also tender of the wild animals. As the Horned God, He is sometimes seen wearing horns on His head, symbolizing His connection with these beasts.
The God's domain includes the forests untouched by human hands, burning deserts and towering mountains. The stars are sometimes thought to be under His domain since they are like distant Suns. The yearly cycle of greening maturation and harvest has long been associated with the Sun. God is the fully ripened harvest, intoxicating wine pressed from grapes, golden grain waving in a lone field, shimmering apples hanging from the trees on October afternoons.
Symbols often used to depict the God are thee sword, horns, spear, candle, gold, brass, diamond, the sickle, arrow, magical wand, knife, acorn, pine cone and many others. The God of the Sky, of rain and lightning, descended upon and united with the Goddess, spreading seed upon the land, celebrating Her fertility.
The Horned One; The Harvest King
The God speaks:
I am the radiant King of the Heavens, flooding the Earth with warmth and encouraging the hidden seed of creation to burst forth into manifestation. I lift My shining spear to light the lives of all beings and daily pour forth My gold upon the Earth, putting to flight the powers of darkness.
I am the master of the beasts, wild and free. I run with the swift stag and soar as a sacred falcon against the shimmering sky. The ancient woods and wild places emanate My power and the birds of the air sing of My sanctity.
I am also the harvest, offering up My grain and fruit beneath the sickle of time so that all may be nourished. For without planting there can be no harvest; without winter, no spring.
Worship Me as the thousand-named Sun of creation, the Spirit of the horned stag in the wild, the endless harvest. See in the yearly cycle of festivals My birth, death and rebirth- and know that such is the destiny of all creation.
I am the spark of life, the radiant Sun, the giver of peace and rest and I send My rays of blessings to warm the hearts and strengthen the minds of all.
SpiritLady Yve
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Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2012 10:37 pm
Charge of the God
By: Janet and Stewart Farrar
Listen to the words of the Great Father,
Who of old was called Osiris,
Adonis, Zeus, Thor, Pan,
Cernunnos, Herne, Lugh and by many other names;
My Law is Harmony with all things.
Mine is the secret that opens the gates of life
And mine is the dish of salt of the earth
That is the body of Cernunnos.
That is the eternal circle of rebirth.
I give the knowledge of life everlasting,
And beyond death I give the promise
Of regeneration and renewal.
I am the sacrifice, the father of all things,
And my protection blankets the earth.
Hear the words of the dancing God,
The music of whose laughter stirs the winds,
Whose voice calls the seasons:
I who am the Lord of the Hunt
And the Power of the Light,
Sun among the clouds
And the secret of the flame.
I call upon your bodies to arise and come unto me
For I am the flesh of the earth and all its beings.
Through me all things must die and with me are reborn.
Let my worship be in the body that sings,
For behold all acts of willing sacrifice are my rituals.
Let there be desire and fear,
Anger and weakness, joy and peace,
Awe and longing within you.
For these too are part of the mysteries found within yourself.
Within me all beginnings have endings,
And all endings have beginnings.
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Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2012 10:38 pm
Charge of the Goddess
By: Doreen Valiente
Listen to the words of the Great Mother;
She who of old was also called among men
Artemis, Astarte, Athene, Dione, Melusine,
Aphrodite, Cerridwen, Cybele, Arianrhod,
Isis, Diana, Bride
And by many other names:
Whenever ye have need of anything, once in the month,
And better it be when the moon is full,
Then shall ye assemble in some secret place
And adore the spirit of me,
Who am Queen of all the witches.
There shall ye assemble,
Ye who are fain to learn all sorcery,
Yet have not won its deepest secrets;
To these will I teach things that are yet unknown.
And ye shall be free from slavery;
And as a sign that ye be really free,
Ye shall be naked in your rites;
And ye shall dance, sing, feast, make music and love,
All in my praise.
For mine is the ecstasy of the spirit,
And mine also is joy on earth;
For my law is love unto all beings.
Keep pure your highest ideal; strive ever towards it;
Let naught stop you or turn you aside.
For mine is the secret door which opens upon the Land of Youth,
And mine is the cup of the wind of life,
And the Cauldron of Cerridwen,
Which is the Holy Grail of immortality.
I am the Gracious Goddess,
Who gives the gift of joy unto the heart of man.
Upon earth, I give the knowledge of the spirit eternal;
And beyond death, I give peace and freedom
And reunion with those who have gone before.
Nor do I demand aught in sacrifice;
For behold,
I am the Mother of all living,
And my love is poured out upon the earth.
Hear ye the words of the Star Goddess;
She in the dust of whose feet are the hosts of heaven,
And whose body encircles the Universe.
I who am the beauty of the green earth,
And the white Moon among the stars,
And the mystery of the waters,
And the desire of the heart of man,
Call unto thy soul.
Arise, and come unto me.
For I am the soul of nature, who gives life to the universe.
From me all things proceed,
And unto me all things must return;
And before thy face, beloved of Gods and of men,
Let thine innermost divine self be enfolded in the rapture of the infinite.
Let my worship be within the heart that rejoiceth;
For behold,
All acts of love and pleasure are my rituals.
And therefore let there be beauty and strength,
Power and compassion, honor and humility,
Mirth and reverence within you.
And thou who thinkest to seek for me,
Know thy seeking and yearning shall avial thee not
Unless thou knowest the mystery;
That if that which thou seekest thee findest not within thee,
Though wilt never find it without thee.
For behold,
I have been with thee from the beginning;
And I am that which is attained
At the end of desire.
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Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2012 3:23 am
A-Z List of Crone Goddesses
Ala (Nigerian) : The spirits of the dead find peace in her womb.
Ama No Uzumi (Japanese) : A Shinto ancestral Goddess of longevity, protection and psychic abilities.
Asase Yaa (West African) : She represents the womb of the earth from whom we are all birthed and will return to at our death.
Annis (Celtic) : A frightening old woman, keeper of wisdom and old ways.
Badb: (Irish) A shape shifting warrior Goddess who symbolizes the cycles of life and death, wisdom and inspiration.
Baubo (Greek) : A bawdy Goddess who uses female sexuality and laughter to raise a smile from Demeter,
Baba Yaga (Russian) : In Slavic mythology she is the wild old woman; the witch; and mistress of magic.
Ceridwen (Celtic) : The Keeper of the Cauldron.
Cailleach Bear (Celtic): The hag and destroyer Goddess who ruled over disease, death, wisdom, seasonal rites and weather magic.
Elli (Nordic) : Goddess of old age, she defeated Thor.
Grandmother Spiderwoman (Native American) : An old wise woman who gave man the sun and fire.
Ereshkigal (Sumerian): Goddess of the Underworld
Estsanatlehi (Native American) : Goddess of life, death and immortality.
Hekate (Greek) : Goddess of the underworld and magic.
Hella (Nordic) : Ruler of Helheim, the land of the dead.
Inari (Japanese) : She guides and protects the spirits of the dead.
Kali (Indian) : Goddess of destruction and rebirth.
Kalma (Finnish) : Underworld Goddess of death and decay.
Lara (Roman): Mother of the dead
Libitina (Roman): Goddess of funerals and pyres.
Lilith (Hebrew) : Adams first wife and guardian of women's mysteries.
Macha (Irish): The wild woman who battles against injustice to woman and children.
Mórrígan (Celtic): Crow Goddess who understands the nature of death.
Mother Holle (German): The Wise Queen of Winter
Nicneven (Celtic): Goddess of Magic and winter.
Nephthys (Egyptian): A funerary Goddess associated with death, magic and reincarnation.
Sedna (Inuit): Mistress of life and death
XochiQuetzal (Mexican): Goddess of the cycles of life celebrated on the Day Of the Dead.
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