The Goddess and the Church

[Guest guest]

The Goddess and the Church

 

Russ Wise

------

 

 

 

The goddess, or Great Mother, has existed since the beginning of time...it is

out of the primordial depths of her womb that the Universe and all life is born.

Morwyn, Secrets Of A Witch's Coven

Reverence for the goddess is becoming more prevalent in our day. The

goddess is embraced by witchcraft, feminism, the occult, and the liberal

church. The New Age that is about to dawn upon us will be, according to the

occult world, a feminine age. Likewise, those who hold this view believe that

this current, masculine age has been an age of destruction and broken

relationships among humanity. The New Age with its feminine energies will

bring balance to the destructive aspects of the Piscean Age.

 

Rosemary Radford Ruether in her book, Womanguides: Readings Toward A

Feminist Theology, states " It is to the women that we look for salvation in the

healing and restorative waters of Aquarius. It is to such a New Age that we

look now with hope as the present age of masculism succeeds in destroying

itself. " According to Starhawk, a feminist and practicing witch, " the symbolism

of the Goddess is not a parallel structure to the symbolism of God the Father.

The Goddess does not rule the world; She is the world. " (1)

 

In order for this feminine age to come into full fruition a shift in

consciousness

must take place in the world. This shift in thinking and perception of reality

will

bring forth the goddess.(2)

 

As interest in the occult continues to rise and gain popularity in our culture,

the goddess becomes more popular as a deity. The modern woman is at a

crossroads in her spiritual quest. It is imperative that she realize her

inherent

deity, her god nature, for she is to be the salvation of humanity.

 

According to those who hold a belief in the Great Goddess, Europe was once

ruled by a matriarchal egalitarian religion. Their belief dictates that Old

Europe was a culture that worshiped a matrifocal (mother-focused),

sedentary, peaceful, art-loving, goddess between 5,000 and 25,000 years

before the rise of the first male-oriented religion. They maintain that this

egalitarian culture was overrun and destroyed by a semi-nomadic,

horse-riding, Indo-European group of invaders who were patrifocal

(father-focused), mobile, warlike, and indifferent to art.(3) The ease with

which

the peaceful goddess worshipers were subdued confirmed to the war-like

Indo-European invaders their feelings of natural superiority. The matriarchal

religion of these early settlers was eventually assimilated into the more

dominant patriarchal religion of the invaders. As these invaders imposed their

patriarchal culture on the conquered peoples, rapes(4) and myths about male

warriors killing serpents appeared for the first time in their history. The

serpent

was a symbol of the goddess worshipers. As the assimilation of cultures

continued, the Great Mother Goddess became fragmented into many lesser

goddesses.

 

According to Merlin Stone, author of When God Was a Woman, the

disenthronement of the Great Goddess, begun by the Indo- European

invaders, was finally accomplished by the Hebrew, Christian, and Moslem

religions that arose later.(5) The male deity took the prominent place. The

female goddesses faded into the background, and women in society followed

suit.(6)

 

 

The Goddess and Witchcraft

In the world of witchcraft the goddess is the giver of life. Jean Shinoda Bolen,

M.D., in her book, Goddesses In Everywoman, has this to say about the

goddess:

 

The Great Goddess was worshiped as the feminine life force deeply

connected to nature and fertility, responsible both for creating life and for

destroying life.(7)

 

She also proclaims, " The Great Goddess was regarded as immortal,

changeless, and omnipotent " prior to the coming of Christianity. For witchcraft,

the goddess is the earth itself. Mother Earth or Gaia, as the goddess is known

in occult circles, is an evolving being as is all of nature. In the New Age

world

view, environmentalism and the ecological movement play an important part

in restoring the goddess. In her best-selling book, The Spiral Dance,

Starhawk says

 

 

The model of the Goddess, who is immanent in nature, fosters respect for the

sacredness of all living things. Witchcraft can be seen as a religion of

ecology.

Its goal is harmony with nature, so that life may not just survive, but

thrive.(8)

Witches think of Gaia, or Mother Earth, as a biosystem. They attribute

consciousness to earth and believe it to be spiritual as well. In other words,

Gaia is a living and evolving being that has a spiritual destiny. Those who

practice witchcraft take responsibility for Mother Earth's evolutionary

development.

 

The environmental movement of our day is greatly influenced by those who

practice witchcraft or hold neopagan beliefs. Witchcraft is an attempt to

reintroduce the sacred aspect of the earth that was, according to their belief,

destroyed by the Christian world. The goddess is, therefore, a direct affront

against the male- dominated religion of the Hebrew God.

 

Christianity taught that God was transcendent, apart from nature, and was a

masculine deity. Witchcraft holds a pantheistic view of God. God is nature.

Therefore, God is in all things and all things are a part of God. However, this

God is in actuality a goddess and predates the male God. The goddess is the

giver of all life and is found in all of creation.

 

 

The importance of the Goddess symbol for women cannot be over stressed.

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.(9)

For Betty Sue Flowers, a University of Texas English professor, the women's

spirituality movement is the answer to the male-oriented religion of

Christianity. She was a keynote speaker for the International Conference on

Women's Spirituality in Austin, Texas, and addressed the conference on the

return of the goddess. According to Flowers,

 

 

The goddess is a metaphor that reminds us of the female side of spirituality.

Metaphors are important. You can't know God directly. You can only know

images of God, and each image or metaphor is a door. Some doors are open

and others are closed. A door that is only male is only half open.(10)

 

The Goddess and Feminism

For many in the feminist world, the goddess is an expression of worship. A

growing number within the feminist movement have bought into witchcraft as

the central focus of their allegiance. Those who have become a part of the

women's spirituality movement reject what they call the patriarchal

Judeo-Christian tradition, deploring sexist language, predominantly

masculine imagery and largely male leadership.(11)

 

In a Wall Street Journal article, Sonia L. Nazario stated, " Women first wanted

to apply feminism to political and economic realms, then to their families.

Now, they want it in their spiritual lives. " (12)

 

To fully understand the implications of the women's spirituality movement one

only needs to read the current literature on the subject. The editors of the

book Radical Feminism state that " Political institutions such as religion,

because they are based on philosophies of hierarchical orders and reinforce

male oppression of females, must be destroyed. "

 

Radical feminists believe that the traditional church must be dismantled. For

example, in her book Changing of the Gods: Feminism and the End of

Traditional Religions, Naomi Goldenburg announced,

 

 

The feminist movement in Western culture is engaged in the slow execution of

Christ and Yahweh....It is likely that as we watch Christ and Yahweh tumble to

the ground, we will completely outgrow the need for an external God.(13)

Many feminists are obviously moving away from an understanding of deity as

an external " male " God who stands apart from Creation to a conception of

deity as a goddess that is realized within one's inner self and is one with

nature.

 

Some extreme feminists in the goddess movement " pray for the time when

science will make men unnecessary for procreation. " (14) The radical feminist

see the goddess movement as a spiritual outlet for their long-held beliefs.

According to Mark Muesse, an assistant professor of religious studies at

Rhodes College,

 

 

some feminist Christians push for changes ranging from the ordination of

women and the generic, non-sexual terms for God and humanity to

overhauling the very theology.(15)

Perhaps the most descriptive word for the feminist movement is

" transformation. " Catherine Keller, Associate Professor of Theology at Xavier

University, in her essay " Feminism and the New Paradigm, " proclaims that the

world-wide feminist movement is bringing about the end of patriarchy, the

eclipse of the politics of separation, and the beginning of a new era modeled

on the dynamic, holistic paradigm. Radical feminism envisions that era, and

the long process leading toward it, as a comprehensive transformation.

 

Another aspect of this transformation is the blending of the sexes. The feminist

movement seeks a common mold for all of humanity. Jungian Psychotherapist

John Weir Perry believes that we must find our individuality by discovering

androgyny. He states,

 

 

To reach a new consensus, we have to avoid falling back into stereotypes,

and that requires truly developing our individuality. It is an ongoing work of

self-realization and self- actualization. For men it means growing into their

native maleness and balancing it with their femaleness. For women, it's the

same growing into their full womanhood, and that includes their masculine

side.(16)

This process sounds more like androgyny (or sameness) than individuality

and it reflects a paradigm-shift involving nothing less than the reordering of

man's understanding of God. A shift from thinking of God as male to seeing

and experiencing God as a goddess: the Mother of Life.

 

 

The Goddess and the Occult

In the world of the occult, popularly known as the New Age, the goddess is

believed to be resident within the individual and simply needs to be

awakened. In other words, the individual is inherently divine. Starhawk, a

witch who works with the Catholic priest Matthew Fox at his Institute of

Creation Spirituality, says that an individual can awaken the goddess by

invoking, or inviting, her presence. Starhawk tells us,

 

 

To invoke the Goddess is to awaken the Goddess within, to become ...that

aspect we invoke. An invocation channels power through a visualized image

of Divinity....We are already one with the Goddess--she has been with us from

the beginning, so fulfillment becomes...a matter of self-awareness. For

women, the Goddess is the symbol of the inmost self. She awakens the mind

and spirit and emotions.(17)

Jean Shinoda Bolen, a Jungian analyst and Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at

the University of California, when asked the question, What ails our society?,

put it this way: " We suffer from the absence of one half of our spiritual

potential--the Goddess. " (18) Individuals who follow New Age teaching

believe that the male-dominated religion of this present age has been an

injustice to humanity and the ecosystem. Therefore, there must be a

balancing of energies. The male energies must diminish and the feminine

energies must increase in order for the goddess to empower the individual.

 

The New Age of occultism promises to be an age of peace, harmony, and

tranquility. Whereas the present dark age of brokenness and separation

continues to bring war, conflict, and disharmony, so it is the goddess with her

feminine aspects of unity, love, and peace that will offer a solution for

mankind

and circumvent his destruction. For many in our society this appears to be the

answer to man's dilemma. However, an occult solution that denies Christ's

atonement for sin cannot fully meet a holy God's requirement for wholeness.

 

For the pagan, the goddess represents life and all it has to offer. " The

Goddess religion is a conscious attempt to reshape culture. " (19) This

reshaping is nothing less than viewing man and his understanding of reality

from a female-centered perspective which focuses on the Divine as being

female. Therefore, considerable emphasis is placed initially on feminine

attributes, but ultimately the focus is on eroticism and sexuality.

 

 

Women are clearly the catalyst for the formation of the new spirituality. It is

women above all who are in the process of reversing Genesis...by validating

and freeing their sexuality.(20)

A major part of this transformative process is the empowerment of women.

The rise of the goddess is a direct assault on the patriarchal foundation of

Christianity. This new feminist spirituality affirms bisexuality, lesbianism,

homosexuality, and androgyny (through the expression of transvestitism).

 

As this revival of the goddess continues, a growing lack of distinction between

male and female will become the norm. Jungian Psychotherapist John Weir

Perry maintains,

 

 

Both current psychology and ancient history point to an emerging

transformation in our sense of both society and self, a transformation that

includes redefining the notion of what it means to be men and women.(21)

The Bible clearly indicates that men and women were created as distinctive

beings, male and female. This rising occult influence in our society seeks to

undermine the Biblical absolute that gives our culture stability. Once again the

Bible rings true as it states,

 

 

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but

according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap

up teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned

aside to fables (2 Tim. 4:3).

 

The Goddess and the Liberal Church

The message of the goddess has gained a hearing in the church as well. The

philosophy of the goddess is currently being taught in the classrooms of some

of our seminaries. In a growing number of seminaries the student population

is becoming increasingly female, and many of these women have a feminist

outlook on life. Mary Daly, who considers herself to be a Christian feminist,

says this about traditional Christianity: " To put it bluntly, I propose that

Christianity itself should be castrated. " (22) The primary focus of the

" Christian "

feminist is to bring an end to what they perceive as male-dominated religion

by " castrating " the male influence from religion. Daly continued by saying,

 

 

I am suggesting that the idea of salvation uniquely by a male savior

perpetuates the problem of patriarchal oppression.(23)

Reverend Susan Cady, co-author of Sophia: The Future of Feminist

Spirituality and pastor of Emmanuel United Methodist Church in Philadelphia,

is one example of the direction that Daly and others are taking the church.

The authors of Sophia state that, " Sophia is a female, goddess-like figure

appearing clearly in the Scriptures of the Hebrew tradition. "

 

Wisdom Feast, the authors' latest book, clearly identifies Jesus with Sophia.

Sophialogy presents Sophia as a separate goddess and Jesus as her

prophet. The book takes liberty with Jesus by replacing the masculine deity

with the feminine deity Sophia. Another example of how goddess " thealogy "

(note feminist spelling for theology) is making its way into the liberal church

is

through seminars held on seminary campuses.

 

One such seminar was held at the Perkins School of Theology at Southern

Methodist University. " Wisdomweaving: Woman Embodied in Faiths " was

held at the school in February of 1990. If one looks at the schedule of the

seminar, it is obvious that the emphasis was not on orthodoxy. Linda Finnell,

a follower of Wicca and one of the speakers, spoke on the subject of

" Returning to the Goddess Through Dianic Witchcraft. " Two of the keynote

speakers were of a New Age persuasion. In fact, one, Sr. Jose Hobday, works

with Matthew Fox and Starhawk at the Institute for Creation Spirituality.

 

A growing number of churches in the United States and around the world are

embracing the New Age lie. Many churches have introduced A Course in

Miracles, Yoga, Silva Mind Control, Unity teachings, and metaphysics into

their teaching material. Some churches have taken a further step into the New

Age by hiring onto their staffs individuals who hold to a metaphysical world

view.

 

Along with the deception that is subtly gaining influence in the liberal church,

there are a growing number of churches affiliated with the New Age. These

churches, without apology, teach the Luciferian gospel. They are the

seed-bed of the occult.

 

It is amazing that while the liberal church will not accept or believe in Satan,

they are willing to embrace Lucifer as an angel of light. It is interesting to

note

that the New Age Church represents itself as the Church of Light.

 

Whether the individual seeks the goddess through witchcraft, the feminist

movement, the New Age, or the liberal church, he or she is beginning a quest

to understand and discover the " higher self. " The higher self, often referred to

as the " god self, " is believed to be pure truth, deep wisdom. In actuality, this

so-called " truth " or " wisdom " embodies the oldest lie in the Book, the lie of

self- deification: " Ye shall become as Gods. " As Christians we must learn to

discern every spirit lest we too become deceived.

 

© 1997 Probe Ministries

------

 

Notes

 

1. Starhawk, The Spiral Dance (New York, N.Y.: Harper & Row, Publishers,

1989), 23.

 

2. Elinor W. Gadon, The Once & Future Goddess (New York: HarperCollins

Publishers, 1989), xiv.

 

3. Ibid., xii-xiii. See also Lynnie Levy, Of A Like Mind (Madison, Wis.: OALM,

1991), vol. VIII, no. 3, pp. 2-3.

 

4. See also Zsuzsanna Emese Budapest, The Holy Book of Women's

Mysteries (Oakland, Calif.: Susan B. Anthony Coven No. 1, 1986), 12.

 

5. See also Gadon, The Once & Future Goddess, xiii.

 

6.Jean Shinoda Bolen, Goddesses in Everywoman (San Francisco: Harper &

Row, 1984), 21.

 

7. Ibid., 20.

 

8. Starhawk, The Spiral Dance, 25.

 

9. Ibid., 24.

 

 

10. Carlos Vidal Greth, " The Spirit of Women, " The Austin- American

Statesman, 5 March 1991, Sec D.

 

11. Ibid.

 

12. Sonia L. Nazario, " Is Goddess Worship Finally Going to Put Men in Their

Place?, " The Wall Street Journal, 7 June 1990, sec. A.

 

13. Naomi Goldenberg, Changing of the Gods: Feminism and the End of

Traditional Religions (Boston, Mass.: Beacon Press, 1979), 4, 25.

 

14. Nazario, " Goddess Worship. "

 

15. Deirdre Donahue, " Dawn of The Goddesses,' " USA Today, 26 September

1990, sec. D.

 

16. John Weir Perry, " Myth, Ritual, and the Decline of Patriarchy, " Magical

Blend 33 (January 1992): 103.

 

17. Starhawk, The Spiral Dance, 99.

 

18. Jean Shinoda Bolen, " The Women's Movement in Transition: The

Goddess & the Grail, " Magical Blend 33 (January 1992), 8.

 

19. Starhawk, The Spiral Dance, 11.

 

20. Donna Steichen, " The Goddess Goes to Washington, " Fidelity Magazine

(December 1986), 42.

 

21. Perry, " Decline of Patriarchy, " Magical Blend, 62.

 

22. Alice Hageman, Theology After the Demise of God the Father: A Call for

the Castration of Sexist Religion (New York: Association Press, 1974), 132.

 

23. Ibid., 138.

 

------

 

About the Author

Russ Wise has been an observer of the occult and cults (both Eastern and

Western) for over 20 years. Russ seeks to create an awareness of these

non-biblical teachings in the Christian community, thereby helping to prevent

Christians from falling victim to these deceptions. He is a former associate

speaker with Probe Ministries and resides in Richardson, Texas, with his wife,

Wendy.