Goddess movement

One version of the Spiral Goddess symbol of modern Paganism

The Goddess movement is a revivalistic Neopagan religious movement[1][2] which includes spiritual beliefs and practices that emerged primarily in the United States in the late 1960s[1] (Feraferia is one of the earliest) and predominantly in the Western world[2] (North America, Western Europe, Australia, and New Zealand) during the 1970s.[3][4] The movement grew as a reaction both against Abrahamic religions,[2] which exclusively have gods who are referred to using masculine grammatical articles and pronouns,[5][6] and secularism.[7] It revolves around Goddess worship and the veneration for the divine feminine, and may include a focus on women or on one or more understandings of gender or femininity.[2]

The Goddess movement is a widespread non-centralized trend in modern Paganism, and it therefore has no centralized tenets of belief.[8] Beliefs and practices vary widely among Goddess worshippers, from the name and the number of goddesses worshipped to the specific rituals and rites that are used.[2] Some, such as Dianic Wicca, exclusively worship female deities, but others do not. Belief systems range from monotheistic to polytheistic to pantheistic, and encompass a range of theological variety similar to that in the broader Neopagan community.[2] Common pluralistic belief means that a self-identified Goddess worshipper could theoretically worship any number of different female deities from various cultures and religions all over the world.[9][10] Based on its characteristics, the Goddess movement is also referred to as a form of cultural religiosity that is increasingly diverse, geographically widespread, eclectic, and more dynamic in process.[11]

The estimated population of the movement is only in the U.S. 500,000 and in the U.K. 120,000.[12]

  1. ^ a b Rountree, Kathryn (2006). "Goddess movement". In Peter B. Clarke (ed.). Encyclopedia of new religious movements. London; New York: Routledge. pp. 240–242. ISBN 9-78-0-415-26707-6.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Nicolae, Téa (January 2023). "The Western Revival of Goddess Worship". Feminist Theology. 31 (2). SAGE Publications: 130–142. doi:10.1177/09667350221135089. ISSN 1745-5189. S2CID 254735598.
  3. ^ Adler, Margot (2006) [1979]. Drawing Down the Moon: Witches, Druids, Goddess-Worshippers, and Other Pagans in America Today (Reprint rev. and expand. ed.). New York: Penguin/Arcana. ISBN 0-14-019536-X. | at Archive.org
  4. ^ Rountree, Kathryn (2004). Embracing the Witch and the Goddess: Feminist Ritual-makers in New Zealand. London: Psychology Press. pp. ix, 9. ISBN 0415303583.
  5. ^ Upenieks, Laura; Bonhag, Rebecca (March 2024). "Masculine God Imagery and Sense of Life Purpose: Examining Contingencies with America's "Four Gods"". Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. 63 (1). Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion: 76–102. doi:10.1111/jssr.12881. ISSN 1468-5906. S2CID 265057828.
  6. ^ Christiano, Kevin J.; Kivisto, Peter; Swatos, William H. Jr., eds. (2015) [2002]. "Excursus on the History of Religions". Sociology of Religion: Contemporary Developments (3rd ed.). Walnut Creek, California: AltaMira Press. pp. 254–255. doi:10.2307/3512222. ISBN 978-1-4422-1691-4. JSTOR 3512222. LCCN 2001035412. S2CID 154932078.
  7. ^ O'Brien, Jodi (2008). Encyclopedia of Gender and Society. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications. p. 709. ISBN 9781452266022.
  8. ^ Reid-Bowen, Paul (2016). Goddess as Nature: Towards a Philosophical Thealogy. Oxon: Routledge. p. 23. ISBN 9780754656272.
  9. ^ Christ, Carol P. (1997). Rebirth of the Goddess: Finding Meaning in Feminist Spirituality. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-1367-6384-7. Archived from the original on 2016-01-09. Retrieved 2015-10-30.
  10. ^ Christ, Carol P. (2003). She Who Changes: Re-imagining the Divine in the World. Palgrave MacMillan. ISBN 978-1-4039-6083-2. Archived from the original on 2016-01-09. Retrieved 2015-10-30.
  11. ^ Griffin, Wendy, ed. (2000). Daughters of the Goddess: Studies of Identity, Healing, and Empowerment. Walnut Creek, Ca: AltaMira Press. ISBN 0-7425-0347-X. Collection of essays on the Goddess movement.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link) p. 61.
  12. ^ Griffin 2000, p. 14.