brian said:
Well, for a start I'm not implying that Divinity - "the Goddess" - has an objective human form, that prances around the stars and through the galaxies with nothnig much to do.
But I am curious as to what form the Goddess takes for people here. I'm thinking particularly on Hecate, the well-rounded Earth Mother aspect of neolithic finds, and curious as to how personal romanticism takes form with it.
Basically, what does the Goddess look like to any of the neo-pagans present?
The feminine aspect of God/Goddess is not just for neopagans. Even some Christian protestant denominations have begun to explore this idea here in the states. For Catholics she is personified in Mary, (which is limited by the virgin-is-the-only-pure-woman myth of man.)
For me, I think that the Originator of all things is not truly describable by any human. But in our efforts to comprehend we should not place the limitation of having only male characteristics, and leave out the beauty of the female creature's characteristics. To do this makes the Creator less than his creation.
Even the male-dominated culture's Bible contains descriptions of God's love as a protective female-mother in some verses. Yet today men seem to want a God that asks "what do women want?" or worse "Egad, I have created that which I do not understand!" or even worse "Well everybody makes mistakes sometimes; at least my man was okay." (What are men thinking?
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For many women it is easier to envision the "goddess" in her many forms than to envision that a bearded patriarch, who seems to think his woman-creature is inferior to his man-creature, is all there is.
Dr.Clarissa Estes' many descriptions of the ancient-female archetype may help you understand better how women (and some men) might see the "goddess." Jung posited both male and female archetypes within the psyche of both men and women. Dr. Estes uses the mythologies and stories of various cultures to explain them.
It is little wonder that men find it hard to understand woman's need to see a feminine aspect to G-d. Our culture, even our language is saturated with male dominance. Men are indoctrinated from early childhood with the superiority of men. Unfortunately so are women.
Perhaps someday a computer program will be created that changes every "he" to a "she" in every text where it is used to mean either, and substitutes "woman" everywhere the word "man" is used to mean humankind, so that men who will understand such things might get, at least, a tiny glimpse of the suboordination of women in our culture and our language. Maybe it should be mandatory in schools to achieve the balance that has been missing so long that it takes extraordinary means to comprehend how utterly saturated we all are in the "superior-man" doctrines.
I hope you do understand me as not a "male-bashing feminazi," but rather a woman who has struggled for a long time to reach a bit of enlightenment in these matters, and who only hopes that future ages of humankind can achieve a balance between men and women. Our little girls should not have to grow up asking, as I did, as many women have, "Why doesn't God love me as much as he loves the boys?"