Just within the last few years, countless books have been written about "reclaiming" the Goddess within. If you have already read one or more of these books, then congratulations -- you already have an understanding of what this article is all about. If you haven't, I would like to share the finer points with you here.
Over the last few months, many women have written me e-mails, asking me to post something to this website for women about the "goddess movement," or just asking for more information about what it is really "all about." This is not intended to be an all inclusive guide to the goddess reclamation movement, but a short and simple explanation of what it is, and why it is important.
First, there is a great deal of confusion about what the movement is "all about." Many women are immediately put off by the mere mention of the word "goddess," believing this all has something to do with the literal worship of Goddesses or a call to drop their existing religions, and return to pre-Christian goddess worship. This is not at all what the goddess movement is about, ladies. (Yes, there are many women and men who have chosen to return to their Earth Spirituality roots, but again, this is a personal choice, and is not what the movement is really about.)
The goddess reclamation movement is much more of an inner movement than it is an external one. First and foremost, it is about giving women back the right to be WOMEN. The reclamation of what it means to be born a woman -- feminine (rather than meek or demure), strong (rather than masculine), sensual (rather than submissive), loving and nurturing (rather than self sacrificial), assertive and determined (rather than domineering or pushy), and maternal (not necessarily as mother, but as healer). In short, a woman. Not a woman pretending to be a man, not a woman afraid to be a woman, and certainly not a woman pretending to be a young girl.
If you are still with me in this article, then I have not offended you by suggesting that it is acceptable for a woman to simply BE a woman. When exactly we lost sight of that is unclear. I do not feel it happened at one particular time, as a result of one particular event or another, but was more of a chipping away, an erosion and blending of the sexes.
Several authors have suggested that when the "old" religions -- the pantheistic worship of many gods and goddesses -- began to give way to the monotheistic religions (e.g., one God, recognized as "male" or as a "He"), woman's role and place within society was deemed to be less worthy than before. For me, it is an interesting theory. People have always recognized the Divine Spirit within humankind; in the pantheistic religions, it was no different. Men and women embodied the spirit of the Divine gods and goddesses. It stands to reason that if there were no longer female goddesses that the society viewed as "elevated," but rather only one God who was recognized as a male deity, then the women in their own social group would be seen as subordinate -- and certainly not "goddess-like."
Over time, of course, there have been many social changes and unheavals that have continued to shape and define what it means to "be a woman." Women have struggled to reclaim their status and identity for years, and within the last century have made great strides in doing so. But....as women have clawed their way back up the societal ladder, something was left behind -- something rather important -- what it really means to be a woman. Ask any man, and he will tell you honestly that men are no longer sure of what women expect, or really want. Do I hold the door open, or don't I? Do I pull the seat out at a restaurant, or don't I? Does she want me to call her, or does she want to call me? On, and on, and on. And many women are just as confused as men are, no longer sure of what they are 'supposed' to feel, 'supposed' to do, or how they are 'supposed' to act. And these are the tiny issues. The larger, and more important issues are much more complex.
There are three phases to a woman's life: Maiden, Mother, and Wise Woman. (Some writers use the very old phrase "Crone" when referring to the Wise Woman, but I choose not to for very obvious reasons. When attempting to illicit a positive response from a woman, you do not willingly use a term which has come to have very negative connotations!) You have likely seen the depiction of the three phases of woman as the triple moon symbol, each phase of the moon representing a unique cycle of a woman's life.
Wise Woman
Long ago, women did not mourn the loss of their youth -- it would never have occured to them to do so. Women celebrated their entry into the wise woman phase of their life, and held celebrations for each other, honoring this rite of passage. Menopause was a cause for joy, a recognition of attainment of a certain status within society. When was the last time you overheard a woman saying she was hosting a menopause party? Nowadays, when a woman turns 40 or 50 (with some women, even 30) she views herself as being 'old,' 'past her prime',' too old to marry,' 'unattractive,' 'too old to bear children,' rather than embracing the new cycle and phase of her life, and being proud of the experience and maturity she has to offer her younger, less experienced counterparts. This phase of a woman's life is the culmination of all of her life's experiences; a phase where she can quietly look back upon all she has achieved, all she has offered to the world at large, and to the people she has personally touched, and can look forward to her continued role in society as an experienced, mature woman whom younger women can turn to for advice, solace, comfort and healing.
Mother
Many women get hung up on the struggle between career and motherhood, choosing to put off one or the other, and in the end never feeling as though she made the "right" choice. I think it is a long overdue understanding that not all women want to be mothers, or can be mothers, or even should be mothers. However, all women do enter into a "mother" phase in their life, in which their natural, innate, female, maternal energies are at their peak. How these energies are utilized is entirely up to the individual woman, and is a highly personal decision. These maternal, healing, loving and nurturing energies are not something to be ignored or set aside -- this causes many women to feel frustrated and discouraged at this point in their lives. The surplus of energy can be channeled into any number of areas if we allow....in a marital or other significant relationship, relationships with other women, the care for elderly or ill parents, or even in the care and nurturing of animals or a garden. The point is that women should recognize this part of themselves and embrace it, rather than turning a blind eye or attempting to ignore something which cannot be escaped. Society's confusion and vacillation about a woman's "intended" role within the last 25 years or so has shifted the scales so drastically toward the other side that a great many women cannot even tolerate the slightest twinge of a maternal energy within themselves or their counterparts, viewing them as outdated, sexist, weak, or worse. Yes, the idea that a woman "has" to become a mother in order to be a "real" woman is in fact not only outdated, but is a major factor in what caused the state of things today. But in the context of this article we are not talking about literal motherhood, but the "mother energy" which we all come into at some point, and cannot deny. The mother phase of a woman's life is, in many ways, the most fruitful and energetic time of life. Unfortunately, many women today spend this season of their life obsessing about what is around the corner, and how much longer they can hold onto this season, rather than fully embracing it while it is occurring.
Maiden
The maiden phase of a woman's life is, unfortunately, the one which our society is obsessed and focused upon. They will have us believe that every beautiful woman is a young woman; every man's desire is a young woman. What the media doesn't tell us is that young women were, in our distant past, revered only for their fertility, and married or partnered off quickly at youth only because the life expectancy was not what it is today. Okay ladies, we now know that if we care for our bodies, and with a little help from good genes, we can all expect to live well into our 80's or more. Do we really need to continue to revere the 18 year old for her innocence and fertility? Not when women are now having babies in their 50's, we don't! And more importantly, letting go of the maiden season, once and for all when it is over, is an empowering and liberating act for a woman. For the younger women who might be reading this, I do not mean to suggest that there is nothing worthwhile or meaningful to embrace within the maiden season of your life. The maiden season of a woman's life is filled with exciting discoveries of both the world and herself, open-armed appreciation of new experiences which will forever shape the woman she will come to be, and beginning to lay the foundation for the rest of her life. Fairly wonderful stuff. If you are within this season of your life, embrace it fully, and do not rush through it in attempt to launch yourself into the next phase of your life before your time. But again, for women who are past this phase, it is a destructive and extremely self-limiting decision to allow society's view of the maiden to cause you to denigrate your own season of life.
The recognition of the "goddess within" is an idea long overdue for women. In the old pantheistic societies, women inherently recognized the divine aspects of the many goddesses within themselves -- beauty, motherhood/healing, strength, creativity, determination, intelligence, intuition, sensuous, and so on -- qualities which do not have to be sought after, purchased, or bargained for, but which are inherently within all women. The goddess reclamation movement is reaching out to women in an effort to help women regain that recognition; that while the pantheistic religions, for many, are no longer applicable, these are the inherent qualities of Woman.
As I said, this is an "in a nutshell" introduction to the goddess reclamation movement. I have not attempted to cover this subject in-depth -- this is, after all, a website, not a book! There are many, many more issues which are explored in-depth in dozens of books and websites devoted solely to this topic.
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