Learn about incorporating divine feminine energy into your life and your spiritual practices, and why the divine mother is just as important to many as the divine father.
“Isis, Astarte, Diana, Hekate, Demeter, Kali, Inanna!” is a powerful goddess chant that devotees of some of today’s goddess spirituality use in their practices. Who is this goddess people speak of and why are so many people flocking to religions and Circles that venerate female deities instead of just the classical male god of creation? Join Mysticsense as we explore today’s goddess spirituality and how it all got started. Find out how anybody can incorporate worship of the divine feminine into their own practices, even people who worship a divine father god.
Who is the Goddess?
The goddess is a female deity. Some people believe that all goddesses, especially high holy mother goddesses, are an aspect of one mother goddess and that people all over the world worshiped her by names in their own languages. These mother goddesses are protectors, and matron spirits, some being mothers of entire pantheons of other gods and goddesses. They are life bringers, healers, destroyers, and upholders of divine order. Both feared and loved, mother goddesses have been consulted for guidance throughout the centuries, and while many patriarchal monotheistic religions worship a father god, even they have saints or mother figures their devotees speak to for love and support.
Evidence of goddess worship dates back to prehistoric times. It is believed that stone artifacts of plus sized women called the Venus Sculptures, represented a mother goddess of life and sustenance. An example is the famous Venus of Willendorf of Germany from 20,000 to 33,000 years ago. An even older sculpture from mammoth ivory called the Venus of Hohle Felz is around 40,000 years old. Things found in caves like the 25,000 year old carving in France of The Venus of Laussel further reinforce modern people’s belief that ancient people had goddesses who were believed to give life, nourishment, and love. Read about the goddess Oya here: Oya, Goddess of Transformation
What Got Modern Goddess Spirituality Started?
The Great Goddess Hypothesis was presented as early as the 1860’s and stated that a single mother goddess was worshiped in prehistoric times. People speculated that goddess worship was suppressed beginning in the time of Theodosius I with his Theodosian Decrees that banned pagan religions between 389 and 391 CE. It was further speculated by people like Margaret Alice Murray that the Medieval Christian Churches suppressed pre Christian goddess traditions and magical practice even more during the Inquisition at witch trials.
It was speculated that goddesses stopped being worshiped because of the rise of patriarchal monotheistic religions like Islam and Christianity. These religions deny the existence of goddesses, and say there is only one god in existence. It is said that this is a male god who is not only a god of everything, but also the god who created everything. Not everybody agrees. Some feminists in the 1960’s and 1970’s were heavily influenced by the writings of authors like Merlin Stone, Robert Graves, and Marija Gimbutas. These authors wrote about ancient religious traditions that were centered around goddess worship.
A movement called The Goddess Movement arose in response. Dianic Wiccan groups and organizations like the Church of Aphrodite as well as some Hellenic Druidic groups focus on worship of goddesses. Not everybody who embraces goddess spirituality belongs to an established religious group, however. Some people are solitary religious practitioners, and other people believe in a traditional religion- but that god is not necessarily just male.
In Genesis 1: 26-27 in the new American Standard Version of the Bible, it says, “Then God said, “Let Us make mankind in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the livestock and over all the earth, and over every crawling thing that crawls on the earth. So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” In this passage, is god a man or a woman, or both since he made both men and women in his image? Some people say god is both male and female. So, venerating the feminine is just as important as the masculine. Read about gods and goddesses of war here: Who is the Goddess and God of War?
Are All Mother Goddesses the Same?
There is a belief by some people that there is one mighty mother goddess who people throughout time have worshiped using their own names for her. Other people believe each goddess is different. The goddess Venus might be a goddess of love like the goddess Freya, but these two goddesses were worshiped by different people and the stories about them are nothing alike. So, a lot of people would say that not all goddesses of love are exactly the same. Other people would say that the stories are different because people created stories about the goddess within their own cultures to reflect their own beliefs and their societies where they lived. Is it possible that one mother goddess exists who made different forms of herself known to different people in different places?
Anything is possible. However, if you want to speak to Hekate, don't call out for the goddess Isis. If you want to give a gift to the goddess Kali Ma, don't give her an offering ascribed to the goddess Hera. Some people say that the stories about the goddesses are just folklore, and that folklore is created out of the human desire to understand forces of nature. However, the lore is important for understanding each goddess who you want to communicate with. So in a way it is possible that all of the goddesses are just different reflections of the same mother goddess, but people have been communicating the same way with individual goddesses for thousands of years and that type of communication works. Read about unleashing your inner goddess here: How To Unleash Your Inner Goddess
What About the Father God?
Isn’t god a man? Some people say so. Some people say there are different deities, some of whom are male, and others are female. Some people say god is not a human being- but an immortal spiritual being- and is therefore not a man or a woman. Other people believe the divine has both male and female attributes and human beings ascribe human traits to the divine to feel they understand the divine more. Everybody who worships a deity does what they feel brings them closer to that deity. If that means you call yours a god, do that. If saying you venerate a goddess makes you feel closer, do that. The way to believe depends on the individual believer, and your beliefs are perfect, whether you think god is male, female, both, or neither.
The Benefits of Worshiping a Female Deity
There are some benefits to embracing the divine feminine. Tapping into feminine divine energy balances the spiritual energy that you have when you worship a male God. You can learn things that the goddesses teach, and you can have a powerful connection with the goddess.
Balance
Wicca is considered a goddess centered religion, but that wasn't always the case. Early Wicca worshiped a father god as well as a mother goddess in order to balance the male and female in ritual. Even if you don't practice that religion, and you don't worship a father God, most religions are patriarchal, so we live in a patriarchal world. If you are always focused on masculine energy, you will only be reaching for attributes like assertiveness, success, and self-expression. When you focus on goddess spirituality you will learn the things that the goddesses teach like nurturing, compassion, and gentleness. Balancing all of these masculine and feminine qualities will help you to be more successful, a better version of yourself, and more in touch with the powers of the universe. Libras love to balance and you can read about that Zodiac Sign here: Libra Traits | Star Sign in the Spotlight
Learning
What do goddesses teach? They teach compassion, nurturing, and they support women by empowering them. Goddess centered spirituality celebrates the mysteries of womanhood. The woman's natural cycle allows her to conceive and carry life. All of us were born of a woman. As we grow, our bodies change. We go from being a child, to being a woman, to being an elderly lady. These three stages of a woman's life are referred to as Maiden, Mother, and Crone. Goddess spirituality celebrates our youth, our maturing, and our wisdom in our older years. We learn to value our bodies, imperfections and all, and we learn our value within our communities.
We also learn the sacredness of the sisterhood of women when we embrace goddess spirituality. Some patriarchal traditions focus only on the woman's duties as a wife and mother, but goddess centered spirituality focuses on how much value we have beyond those two roles. Women are teachers, caretakers, artists, scientists, healers, thinkers, inventors, and protectors. We are also compassionate listeners and givers of wise advice. Goddess spirituality teaches that we are not the weaker sex, and not just born to serve men, but we are equal to men in our unique talents and abilities. Something else to learn about is the Tree of Life and you can read about that here: What Can We Learn From The World Tree Of Life?
Connection to The Great Mother
Spirituality connects you to female deities, and some people believe that it connects you to the ultimate female being, a great mother goddess who created everything. Some people see a feminine divinity as something more abstract than just a singular being. They see this life force as what brought everything into existence, and the energy underlying the animation of all life. They see this as the life force from which we came, the life force which we are connected to, and the ultimate reality that we all return to when we die. Even if you don't believe that there is one major feminine being that created all things, if you believe in goddesses, when you communicate with them it connects you to them. Some sons never cut away and stay attached to their mother’s late in life. You can read about these “mama’s boys” here: How to Deal with a Mama’s Boy
Practicing Goddess Spirituality
Practicing goddess spirituality is simple. There are a few things that you can do that are easily accessible to everyone. You can say prayers to communicate with the goddess. You can do rituals to help you to focus on her. You can also set your mind on the goddess and open yourself to receiving messages from her.
Prayers
An ancient prayer to the goddess might be what you think you need, but you don’t. To worship, you can write your own prayer. Decide what you want to pray for, and address the goddess directly. For example, to pray to the Norse goddess Freyja for a lover, say “Beautiful Freyja, goddess of love, hear me! My heart is open to love, but I am without a lover. Guide me to who will return all the love I have to share. Freyja, hear me!” Prayer is just communication with a deity. The words don't have to be beautiful, or poetic. They can be simple. Speak from your heart and the goddess will hear you.
Rituals
A simple ritual to your goddess is to build an altar for her. Choose a spot that will be undisturbed and in it, place some type of tabletop or shelf there where you can put things for your goddess. Start with a beautiful altar cloth in a color and a pattern that you think your goddess would like and lay it on top of your altar. Then add candles, crystals, flowers, incense, decorations, and gifts that you feel your goddess would like. Do research on your individual goddess to see what offerings people have given her throughout history. Then set aside time at least once a week to light a candle and talk with your goddess. Read about rituals and spells for the New Moon here: New Moon Spells and Rituals
Opening your mind to the goddess is an important way to communicate with her. This starts with a simple mental exercise, and it expands from there. Sit quietly in a comfortable place away from noises, bright lights, and all distractions. Visualize your goddess as the air that you breathe. Breathe deeply and take the goddess into the very core of your being. Feel the breath of the goddess move through your lungs and through your bloodstream and incorporate itself deep into the cells of your entire body.
Then, feel the breath of the goddess moving into your mind, into your heart, and deep into your soul. Anytime you feel disconnected or need to reach out to the goddess do this visualization and deep breathing exercise for a few minutes until you feel connected to her again. Simply opening yourself mentally will invite her in. Then listen for any messages that you may receive from her at any time. Once you establish regular contact with her, she will hear you and you will hear her.
Goddess spirituality isn’t for everyone, but for some people, it’s everything. There are many goddesses who many people have followed throughout history and today’s goddess worshippers are just as devoted as goddess devotees of the past. Worship of goddesses teaches balance, compassion, and nurturing, and empowers women in ways that father god spirituality doesn’t. May you find the spirituality that makes you feel one with the divine creator, and may you touch the divine within you, be it the goddess or father god. So Be It.
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