For 35,000 years—millennia before Yahweh, Christ, Buddha or Mohammed appeared on the scene—the Goddess was worshipped as the primary divinity. She was everywhere: in the seasons, the tides, the sun and the moon, and the birth and death cycles of all living things. During the time of the Goddess, scripture was Nature and Nature was feminine. As we move into the dark time of the year and the promise of rebirth offered by the Winter Solstice and the holidays of hope and light, the Divine Feminine, our most ancient divinity is calling us to remember and return.
Between 3500 and 2000 BCE when the warrior tribes with their masculine gods and patriarchal societies descended on the rich lands of the Fertile Crescent where Inanna was the reigning Goddess. These patriarchal tribes first challenged, then attacked and finally crushed the Goddess, her beliefs and the ways of those who worshipped her. At best, women were stripped of their influence at spiritual and cultural levels; at worst, they were enslaved and demonized.
Today more and more women, and men, are questioning traditional biblical teaching about deity. Although many people assert that God is beyond gender, long centuries of referring to "Him" as masculine and addressing Him as Lord, King, Father, etc have been a strong conditioning factor in our lives, whether we are "religious" or not. Sacred duties and religious rituals have been largely in the hands of men, and a priestly hierarchy.
Because history is written by the victors—the patriarchy—this image of a masculine God and his earthly spokesmen is presented as one prevailing since time immemorial; it is "natural" and enshrined in both Holy Writ and religious tradition. Nothing could be further from the truth!
Without the Divine Feminine as an integral part of our psyches, our hearts and minds, we are a world dangerously out of balance. For without the feminine to balance the masculine, the patriarchy has become a twisted task master who sees itself as the center of all life instead of living in partnership with the others, the earth and the cosmos. This world view, as we now know, has created disastrous affects on the earth itself and has led to almost constant warfare. Without the feminine, the masculine has no womb. Without the womb, there is little hope for compassion and creativity to take their place as two of the great triumphs of human history.
"The Goddess in all her manifestations was a symbol of the unity of all life in Nature. Her power was in water and stone, in tomb and cave, in animals and birds, snakes and fish, hill, trees, and flowers. Hence a holistic and mythopoetic perception of the sacredness and mystery of all there is on earth." ~ Marija Gimbutas, archeologist |
This series builds on the exploration of the Feminine that we explored over the last year in TeleSeminars, TeleWorkshops and the Retreat in Italy. However, you do not need to have attended any previous teleseminars to attend and fully partipate! Join me in the first in the series on Thursday, January 8, 2009 .
Future teleSeminars will be held the second Thursday of month through April 2009. All teleSeminars run for an hour and fifteen minutes, will be recorded and available for download. If you can't attend in person, you will receive the download.
The Second Thursday of the Month 1pm Eastern Time
January 8, February 12 , March 12 , April 9
Sign up for all four sessions and get one session free.
4 sessions: $60. CDs are $10 extra per session or $40 for the series.
Each session: $20 with audio download,$30 with a CD
Overview of the Four TeleSeminars
Registration: Sign up for all four TeleSeminars and get one free
Emily's Past Work with The Divine Feminine
Home Page of the Divine Feminine Series