Goddess

A goddess is a female deity, in contrast with a male deity known as a "god". A great many cultures have goddesses, sometimes alone, but more often as part of a larger that includes both of the conventional genders and in some cases even hermaphroditic (or gender neutral) deities.

New religious movements

Wicca and Neopaganism

Wiccan practice generally includes veneration of the Great Goddess along with the Horned God, though Dianic Wiccans celebrate only the Goddess or goddesses. Wiccan mythology mostly draws on ancient European mythology, which informs other kinds of neopaganism, and other neopagans are interested in reconstructing various ancient pagan religions directly.

Related Topics:
Wiccan - Horned God - Dianic Wiccans

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Many pagans today draw a connection between a Mother Earth goddess and ecological concerns.

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The Goddess can appear as the "Lady of the Ten Thousand Names", as did Isis. Adherents refer to her as 'Queen of Heaven', 'Lady of the Beasts', 'Creatrix' and just 'the Lady.' Worshippers sometimes approach her through her different aspects, represented by individual goddesses like Sarasvati, Lakshmi, Uma, Kali (of the Hindu tradition) Isis, Guan Yin, Pele or Athena.

Related Topics:
Isis - Sarasvati - Lakshmi - Uma - Kali - Hindu - Guan Yin - Pele - Athena

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Some Wiccans perceive the goddess Aradia as a kind of messianic Daughter deity. They revere the yoni or vulva as a symbol of the Goddess, together with the cowrie shell, the (Moon) Crescent, the Earth, the Serpent, the Tree, the five pointed pentagram and the Eight Pointed Star, the Quartered Circle (compare Celtic Cross), and many animals and birds.

Related Topics:
Aradia - Messianic - Vulva - Pentagram - Celtic Cross

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Triple Goddess

Goddesses or demi-goddesses appear in sets of three in a number of ancient European pagan mythologies; these include the Greek Erinyes (Furies) and Moirae (Fates); the Norse Norns (Fates); Brighid and her two sisters, also called Brighid, from Irish or Keltoi mythology, and so on. One might also see the three witches in Shakespeare's Macbeth as following this pattern. 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

Related Topics:
Erinyes - Moirae - Norns - Brighid - Macbeth - Robert Graves

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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 (wholistic, remote, unknowable) — and all three erotic and wise. Often three of the four phases of the moon (waxing, full, waning) symbolise the three aspects of the Triple Goddess: put together they appear in a single symbol comprising a circle flanked by two mirrored crescents. Some, however, find the triple incomplete, and prefer to add a fourth aspect. This might be a "Dark Goddess" or "Wisewoman", perhaps as suggested by the missing dark of the moon in the symbolism above, or it might be a specifically erotic goddess standing for a phase of life between Maiden (Virgin) and Mother, or a Warrior between Mother and Crone. There is a male counterpart of this in the English poem "The Parlement of the Thre Ages".

Related Topics:
Menarche - Menopause - Moon - Warrior

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The Triple Goddess as Maiden, Mother and Crone has also reached modern popular culture, such as Neil Gaiman's own conception of the Furies in The Sandman, and elsewhere.

Related Topics:
Neil Gaiman - The Sandman

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Religious feminism

:Main article: Goddess movement

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The Goddess movement is a religious movement in the West focused on goddesses or more usually a single "Great Goddess".

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Discordianism

In the Discordian religion, Eris is considered the one true goddess, although many times the Principia Discordia mentions other deities, and in fact it quotes multiple stories about Eris, none of which necessarily agree with each other. Discordians don't have a problem with this, as they are prohibited from believing what they read by the Pentabarf (an example of Self reference leading to Paradox). This is posed by a series of contradictory statements, nonsensical stories and empty metaphors to create a deconstructive view of the world.

Related Topics:
Discordian - Eris - Principia Discordia - Pentabarf - Self reference - Paradox

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