Goddess

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For other uses, see Goddess (disambiguation).

laws, justice, and more. Some themes, such as discord or disease, which are considered negative within their cultural contexts also are found associated with some goddesses. There are as many differently described and understood goddesses as there are male, shapeshifting
, or neuter gods.

In some faiths, a sacred female figure holds a central place in religious prayer and worship. For example, Shaktism (one of the three major Hindu sects), holds that the ultimate deity, the source of all reality, is Mahadevi (Supreme Goddess) and in some forms of Tantric Shaivism, the pair of Shiva and Shakti are the ultimate principle (with the goddess representing the active, creative power of God). Meanwhile, in Vajrayana Buddhism, ultimate reality is often seen as being composed of two principles depicted as two deities in union (yab yum, "father-mother") symbolising the non-duality of the two principles of perfect wisdom (female) and skillful compassion (male).[2]

Polytheist religions, including Polytheistic reconstructionists, honour multiple goddesses and gods, and usually view them as discrete, separate beings. These deities may be part of a pantheon, or different regions may have tutelary deities.

Etymology

The noun

Classical Greek, and several Semitic languages
—that add a feminine ending to the language's word for god.

Historical polytheism

Further information: Polytheism

Ancient Near East

Mesopotamia

Main articles:
Assyro-Babylonian religion and Sumerian religion

Gaga
.

Ancient Africa (Egypt)

Main article:
Netjeret

Canaan

Further information: The Hebrew Goddess

Goddesses of the

Ba`alat Gebal, Astarte, Anat
.

Anatolia

Pre-Islamic Arabia

In pre-Islamic

Uhud", the war cry of the Qurayshites was, "O people of Uzzā, people of Hubal
!" (Tawil 1993).

According to

William Montgomery Watt
, who argue for its plausibility.

The Quran (

Q53:19-31) warns of the vanity of trusting to the intercession of female deities, in particular "the daughters of god".[8]

Indo-European traditions

See also:
Proto-Indo-European religion

Pre-Christian and pre-Islamic goddesses in cultures that spoke Indo-European languages.

Indian

Further information:
Proto-Indo-Iranian religion and Rigvedic deities

Iranian

  • Anahita: or Anahit, or Nahid, or Arədvī Sūrā Anāhitā, or Aban: the divinity of "the Waters" and hence associated with fertility, healing, beauty and wisdom.
  • yazatas
    , representing insight and revelation, hence "conscience" or "religion".
  • Amesha Spentas
    , a female divinity associated with earth and Mother Nature. She is also associated with the female virtue of devotion (to family, husband, and child). In the Iranian calendar, her name is on the twelfth month and also the fifth day of the month.
  • yazatas.[9]

Greco-Roman

Portrait-Statue of an unknown woman as Ceres, Roman goddess of agriculture and motherly relationships
Main articles:
Religion in ancient Greece and Religion in ancient Rome
  • Eleusinian Mysteries: Baubo (goddess of mirth), Demeter (goddess of the harvest) and Persephone (goddess of spring, queen of the Underworld as the wife of Hades).
  • Greek muses: Calliope (goddess of epic poetry), Clio (history), Erato (love poetry), Euterpe (music, song, and lyric poetry), Melpomene (tragedy), Polyhymnia (sacred poetry), Terpsichore (dance), Thalia (comedy and pastoral poetry), and Urania (astronomy).
  • Aphrodite: Goddess of love and beauty.
  • Artemis: Virgin goddess of the wilderness and the hunt.
  • Athena: Virgin goddess of strategy, warfare, and crafts.
  • Eris: Goddess of chaos.
  • Gaia
    : Primordial goddess of the Earth. Most gods descend from her.
  • Hecate: Goddess of sorcery and crossroads. Often considered a chthonic or lunar goddess. She is either portrayed as a single goddess or a triple goddess (maiden, mother, crone).
  • Hera: Goddess of womanhood, marriage and childbirth, queen of Olympus as the wife of Zeus.
  • Hestia: Virgin goddess of the hearth, domesticity and family.
  • Iris: Goddess of rainbows.
  • Leto: Titan goddess of childhood.
  • Nike: Goddess of victory. She is predominantly pictured with Zeus or Athena and sometimes Ares.
  • Selene: Titan goddess of the Moon.
  • Rhea: Titan goddess of motherhood.

Celtic

Main article:
Celtic pantheon

Goddesses and Otherworldly Women in

Celtic polytheism
include:

The Celts honoured goddesses of nature and natural forces, as well as those connected with skills and professions such as healing, warfare and poetry. The Celtic goddesses have diverse qualities such as abundance, creation and beauty, as well as harshness, slaughter and vengeance. They have been depicted as beautiful or hideous, old hags or young women, and at times may transform their appearance from one state to another, or into their associated creatures such as crows, cows, wolves or eels, to name but a few. In Irish mythology in particular, tutelary goddesses are often associated with sovereignty and various features of the land, notably mountains, rivers, forests and holy wells.[10]

Germanic

Hyndla (1895) by Lorenz Frølich
.
Further information:
List of Germanic deities and heroes § Goddesses

Surviving accounts of

valkyries, the norns, and the dísir are associated with a Germanic concept of fate (Old Norse Ørlög, Old English Wyrd), and celebrations were held in their honour, such as the Dísablót and Disting
.

Pre-Columbian America

Aztec

Main article: Aztec religion
Tovar Codex
.

Maya

Main article: Maya religion

Inca

Main article: Religion in the Inca Empire

Native North America

Goddesses of various Native North American peoples include:

Folk religion and animism

Further information:
Marian devotion

African religions

Further information:
African diasporic religions
Further information:
Yemaja

In African and African diasporic religions, goddesses are often syncretised with

Mater Dolorosa). There is also Buk, a Sudanese and Ethiopian goddess still worshipped in the southern regions. She represents the fertile aspect of women. She is related to the deity of a similar name, Abuk.[11] Another Ethiopian goddess is Atete
, the goddess of spring and fertility. Farmers traditionally leave some of their products at the end of each harvesting season as an offering while women sing traditional songs.

A rare example of henotheism focused on a single Goddess is found among the

Southern Nuba of Sudan. The Nuba conceive of the creator Goddess as the "Great Mother" who gave birth to earth and to mankind.[12]

Chinese folk religion

Main article: Chinese folk religion
Further information: Queen Mother of the West
  • Mazu
    is the goddess of the sea who protects fishermen and sailors, widely worshipped in the south-eastern coastal areas of China and neighbouring areas in Southeast Asia.
  • The Goddess Weaver Zhinü, daughter of the Celestial Mother, wove the
    stars and their light, known as "the Silver River" (what Westerners call "The Milky Way Galaxy"), for heaven and earth. She was identified with the star Westerners know as Vega.[13]

Shinto

Utagawa Kunisada

Goddess

Ame-no-Uzume-no-Mikoto, Inari and Konohanasakuya-hime.[14]

Dharmic Religions

In the

Indus Valley civilisation.[16][17]

Hinduism

Main article: God and gender in Hinduism
Further information: Devi and Shakti
The Goddess Trinity (tridevi, "tri-goddess") of Shaktism, Lakshmi (left), Parvati (middle) and Saraswati (right).

Nirṛti (destruction) and Saraswati. The Devīsūktam is an important source for the goddess idea in Vedic religion. Important Hindu goddesses today include Lakshmi, Saraswati, Durga, Kali, Tripurasundari, Parvati, and Radha
.

There is much diversity in the

Advaita) see all gods and goddesses as emanations of a single formless impersonal source called Brahman
. Other theologies are more personal regarding the ultimate deity.

Some traditions posit a dual deity in the form of

Shaktiman
, "possessor of power") and his consort, a female "power" (Shakti), and their relationship is interpreted in different ways depending on the tradition's theology.

In

Shaktas consider the Goddess to be the ultimate source of all things and the mother of all gods and goddesses. She is considered to have ten main avatars called the ten mahavidyas in some traditions. Another important concept is the Shakta trinity, the tridevi, which sees Mahadevi as manifesting in three main goddesses: Mahasaraswati, Mahalakshmi, and Mahakali.

The Hindu warrior goddess Durga killing the buffalo-demon Mahishasura.

In the great Shakta scripture known as the Devi Mahatmya

(Glory of the Goddess), all the goddesses are aspects of one presiding female force—one in truth and many in expression, which also is the creative power of the cosmos. It expresses through philosophical tracts and metaphor, that the potentiality of masculine being is actuated by the feminine divine.

Local deities of different village regions in India were often identified with "mainstream" Hindu deities, a process that has been called Sanskritisation. Others attribute it to the influence of monism or Advaita, which discounts polytheist or monotheist categorisation. While the monist forces have led to a fusion between some of the goddesses (108 names are common for many goddesses), centrifugal forces have also resulted in new goddesses and rituals gaining ascendance among the laity in different parts of Hindu world. Thus, the immensely popular goddess Durga was a pre-Vedic goddess who was later fused with Parvati, a process that can be traced through texts such as Kalika Purana (10th century), Durgabhaktitarangini (Vidyapati 15th century), Chandimangal (16th century) etc.

Widely celebrated

Hindu festival Navaratri is in the honour of the divine feminine Devi (Durga
) and spans nine nights of prayer in the autumn, also referred as Sharada Navratri.

Buddhism

Cundī Buddha Mother (also known as Cundā), Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).
Statue of Tara, Urgyen Sanag Choling Gompa near Kulu, Himchal Pradesh

There are numerous female deities in the various Buddhist traditions.[18] Buddhist goddesses are widely depicted in Buddhist art.[19] Early Buddhism in India venerated various female goddesses. These were mostly considered to be devas or spirits (such as yakshinis). They include Prthivi (earth goddess), Hariti, Lakshmi and Mayadevi (the mother of the Buddha).[20] Some of these figures remain important in Theravada Buddhism today, including Maya and Prthivi (known as Phra Mae Thorani in Southeast Asia).

Indian

Prajñāpāramitā Devi
, these goddesses were even called "mother of Buddhas" (Sanskrit: buddhamatr) and bhagavati, indicating they were seen as fully awakened Buddhas themselves.

In the Mahayana traditions, some are considered to be bodhisattvas (beings advancing on the path to Buddhahood) or full Buddhas, while others are just devas (worldly deities).[19] The most important Buddhist female deities in East Asian Buddhism are the bodhisattva Guanyin and the "mother of Buddhas" Cundi. In Tibetan Buddhism, Tara is the most important female deity (often considered to be a full Buddha).[22]

The tantric dakini Vajrayogini is an important tantric meditation deity (yidam) in Tibetan Vajrayana, and is also considered to be a female Buddha in her own right.[23][22] Tantric Buddhist goddesses were often considered to be fully awakened Buddhas and sometimes are depicted with unique tantric elements, such as skullcups and flaying knives. These tantric deities include Simhamukha, Mahamaya, Vajrayogini, Chinnamunda and Kurukulla.[22]

Mahayana goddesses are often termed "devis" (Sanskrit: devi, "female deity", "goddess", Tibetan: lhamo) or even bhagavani (the female version of bhagavan, indicating Buddhahood).[24]

Abrahamic religions

Judaism

Further information: The Hebrew Goddess and Shekhinah

According to

Aggadic midrashim, the Zohar and Jewish mysticism.[26]

The Zohar tradition has influenced

Ishtar and Asherah. In The Epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh was said to have destroyed a tree that was in a sacred grove dedicated to the goddess Ishtar/Inanna/Asherah. Lilith ran into the wilderness in despair. She then is depicted in the Talmud and Kabbalah as first wife to God's first creation of man, Adam. In time, as stated in the Old Testament, the Hebrew followers continued to worship "False Idols", like Asherah, as being as powerful as God. Jeremiah
speaks of his (and God's) displeasure at this behaviour to the Hebrew people about the worship of the goddess in the Old Testament. Lilith is banished from Adam and God's presence when she is discovered to be a "demon" and Eve becomes Adam's wife.

The following female deities are mentioned in prominent Hebrew texts:

More commonly, modern Judaism acknowledges Shekhinah as the feminine aspect of God.[27][28] Shekhinah is considered to be the presence of God on Earth and/or the spirit of the Jewish people, forever trying to reunite with the other elements of God through tikkun olam.[29] She is also associated with the moon, the earth, David, and Rachel.[30][31]

Christianity

Main article: Veneration of Mary in the Catholic Church
Virgin Sophia design on a Harmony Society doorway in Harmony, Pennsylvania, carved by Frederick Reichert Rapp (1775–1834).

The veneration of

Mother of God, Queen of Heaven, Mother of the Church, the Blessed Virgin Mary, Star of the Sea
, and other lofty titles.

Marian devotion similar to this kind is also found in Eastern Orthodoxy and sometimes in Anglicanism, although not in the majority of denominations of Protestantism. In some Christian traditions (like the Orthodox tradition),

Mother Goddess
.

In

Jane Leade wrote copious descriptions of her visions and dialogues with the "Virgin Sophia" who, she said, revealed to her the spiritual workings of the universe. Leade was hugely influenced by the theosophical writings of 16th-century German Christian mystic Jakob Böhme, who also speaks of Sophia in works such as The Way to Christ.[33] Jakob Böhme was very influential to a number of Christian mystics and religious leaders, including George Rapp and the Harmony Society
.

Latter Day Saint movement

The members of most denominations in the Latter Day Saint movement believe in, although they do not directly worship, a Heavenly Mother who is the female counterpart of the Heavenly Father. Together they are referred to as Heavenly Parents. Adherents also believe that all humans, both women and men, have the potential to become gods through a process known as exaltation.

Neopaganism

Main article: Goddess movement

Most

duotheistic belief system, consisting of a single goddess and a single god, who in hieros gamos
represent a united whole, others recognise only one or more goddesses.

Wicca

Further information:
Goddess (Wicca) and Triple Goddess (Neopaganism)
The lunar Triple Goddess symbol.

In Wicca "the Goddess" is the deity of prime importance, along with her consort the Horned God. Within many forms of Wicca the Goddess has come to be considered as a universal deity, more in line with her description in the

Gaia. Similarly to Isis and certain late Classical conceptions of Selene, she is the summation of all other goddesses, who represent her different names and aspects across the different cultures. The Goddess is often portrayed with strong lunar symbolism, drawing on various cultures and deities such as Diana, Hecate, and Isis, and is often depicted as the Maiden, Mother, and Crone triad popularised by Robert Graves (see Triple Goddess below). Many depictions of her also draw strongly on Celtic goddesses. Some Wiccans, or Witches, believe there are many goddesses, and in some forms of Wicca, notably Dianic Wicca, the Goddess alone is worshipped, and the God
plays very little (or no) part in their worship and ritual. The first history of Wiccans or Witches (nature based religion) appear on cave paintings that show early humans worshipping a feminine nature deity for luck and harvest (BCE). Later Celtics form a more formal form of Witches (Wiccans) with the triquetra (maiden mother crone),pentagram etc. They have evolved into the strong, nature based, animal rights loving and women rights religion of today.

Goddesses or demi-goddesses appear in sets of three in a number of ancient European pagan mythologies; these include the Greek

Brighid and her two sisters, also called Brighid, from Irish or Celtic mythology
.

Robert Graves popularised the triad of "Maiden" (or "Virgin"), "Mother" and "Crone", and while this idea did not rest on sound scholarship, his poetic inspiration has gained a tenacious hold. Considerable variation in the precise conceptions of these figures exists, as typically occurs in Neopaganism and indeed in pagan religions in general. Some choose to interpret them as three stages in a woman's life, separated by menarche and menopause. Others find this too biologically based and rigid, and prefer a freer interpretation, with the Maiden as birth (independent, self-centred, seeking), the Mother as giving birth (interrelated, compassionate nurturing, creating), and the Crone as death and renewal (holistic, remote, unknowable) — and all three erotic and wise.

Feminism

Main article: Feminist theology
Musei Capitolini

Goddess movement

Main article: Goddess movement

At least since first-wave feminism in the United States, there has been interest in analysing religion to see if and how doctrines and practices treat women unfairly, as in Elizabeth Cady Stanton's The Woman's Bible. Again in second-wave feminism in the U.S., as well as in many European and other countries, religion became the focus of some feminist analysis in Judaism, Christianity, and other religions, and some women turned to ancient goddess religions as an alternative to Abrahamic religions (Womanspirit Rising 1979; Weaving the Visions 1989). Today both women and men continue to be involved in the Goddess movement (Christ 1997). The popularity of organisations such as the Fellowship of Isis attest to the continuing growth of the religion of the Goddess throughout the world.

While much of the attempt at gender equity in mainstream Christianity (Judaism never recognised any gender for God) is aimed at reinterpreting scripture and degenderising language used to name and describe the divine (Ruether, 1984; Plaskow, 1991), there are a growing number of people who identify as Christians or Jews who are trying to integrate goddess imagery into their religions (Kien, 2000; Kidd 1996,"Goddess Christians Yahoo Group").

Sacred feminine

Main article: Thealogy
"Divine Feminine" redirects here. For the Mac Miller album, see The Divine Feminine.

The term "sacred feminine" was first coined in the 1970s, in New Age popularisations of the Hindu Shakti. Hinduism also worships multitude of goddesses that have their important role and thus in all came to interest for the New Age, feminist, and lesbian feminist movements.[34]

Metaphorical use

The term "goddess" has also been adapted to poetic and secular use as a complimentary description of a non-mythological woman.

OED notes 1579 as the date of the earliest attestation of such figurative use, in Lauretta the diuine Petrarches
Goddesse.

Shakespeare had several of his male characters address female characters as goddesses, including Demetrius to Helena in A Midsummer Night's Dream ("O Helen, goddess, nymph, perfect, divine!"), Berowne to Rosaline in Love's Labour's Lost ("A woman I forswore; but I will prove, Thou being a goddess, I forswore not thee"), and Bertram to Diana in All's Well That Ends Well. Pisanio also compares Imogen to a goddess to describe her composure under duress in Cymbeline.

See also

References

  1. ISBN 978-1438110387
    . Text: goddesses Female deities.
  2. ISBN 978-0-8348-2842-1
    . Retrieved 18 January 2020.
  3. incomplete short citation
    ]
  4. ISBN 0-06-090854-8
    .
  5. ^ Sylvia Brinton Perera, Descent to the Goddess (Toronto 1982) re Inanna and Ereshkigal.
  6. ISBN 978-0313294976
    .
  7. ^ Collins, Paul (1994). "The Sumerian Goddess Inanna (3400-2200 BC)". Papers of from the Institute of Archaeology. Vol. 5. UCL. pp. 110–111.
  8. Sale's Text
    , Preliminary Discourse, and Notes    . London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner, and Co.
  9. ^ Taheri, Sadreddin (2014). "Goddesses in Iranian Culture and Mythology". Tehran: Roshangaran va Motale’at-e Zanan Publications.
  10. ISBN 9781903296264
    .
  11. ^ Relke, RJ (2001). "CHAPTER 4: THE AFRICAN NILOTIC PEOPLES AS ETHNOGRAPHIC PARALLELS: FINDING THE RIGHT "FIT": AN APPROPRIATE ETHNOGRAPHIC PARALLEL". UNE. 25-32. Retrieved 2 January 2024.
  12. ISBN 9780435940027
    .
  13. ISBN 1439106495
    . Retrieved 22 April 2016.
  14. ^ "Amaterasu". World History Encyclopedia. Retrieved 21 February 2019.
  15. ISBN 0-520-06339-2
    .
  16. ^ Thomaskutty, Johnson. ""Glimpses of the 'Feminine' in Indian Religion and Society: A Christian Perspective" by Johnson Thomaskutty": 81. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  17. ISBN 978-81-250-1438-6
    .
  18. ^ for a full overview and list of goddesses see: Shaw, Miranda (2006). Buddhist Goddesses of India, Princeton University Press.
  19. ^ a b "| Wisdom, Compassion and Wrath: The Many Faces of Female Buddhist Deities – Intern Exhibition OnlineRuth Chandler Williamson Gallery". rcwg.scrippscollege.edu. Retrieved 16 November 2023.
  20. ^ Shaw, Miranda (2006). Buddhist Goddesses of India, pp. 5-6. Princeton University Press.
  21. ^ a b Shaw, Miranda (2006). Buddhist Goddesses of India, pp. 6-7. Princeton University Press.
  22. ^ a b c Shaw, Miranda (2006). Buddhist Goddesses of India, p. 8. Princeton University Press.
  23. ^ "Female Power in the Himalayas | Rubin Museum of Art". rubinmuseum.org. Retrieved 16 November 2023.
  24. ^ "Subject: Goddess Terminology (Devi)". www.himalayanart.org. Retrieved 16 November 2023.
  25. ^ "Samael & Lilith - Unexplained - IN SEARCH FOR TRUTH". rin.ru.
  26. ISBN 0195358708
    .
  27. ^ "Shekhinah: The Divine Feminine". My Jewish Learning. Retrieved 2 January 2024.
  28. ^ "Shekhina | Divine Presence, Feminine Aspect, Holiness | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 2 January 2024.
  29. ^ Freeman, Tzvi (2014). "Who Is Shechinah, And What Does She Want from My Life?". Chabad. Retrieved 2 January 2024.
  30. ^ "Ten Sefirot: Shekhinah, Malkhut". www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org. Retrieved 2 January 2024.
  31. ^ "The Shekhinah | telshemesh.org". www.telshemesh.org. Retrieved 2 January 2024.
  32. ^ "Redemptoris Mater (25 March 1987) | John Paul II". www.vatican.va. Retrieved 2 January 2024.
  33. Böhme, Jacob (1622). The Way to Christ
    . William Law (trans.). Pater-noster Row, London: M. Richardson.
  34. ISBN 9780520908833
    . Retrieved 22 April 2016. goddess.
  35. incomplete short citation
    ]

Further reading
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