BBC - Religions - Paganism: The Goddess movement (2024)

FAQs

BBC - Religions - Paganism: The Goddess movement? ›

So in a sense the Goddess is another way of saying the great creative forces of life in the Universe, the great cycles of birth and growth and death and regeneration. And today there's a whole scientific theory - the Gaia theory - that says the Earth is a living organism.

Marija Gimbutas, often dubbed "Grandmother of the Goddess Movement" in the 1990s, continues to be cited by many feminist writers, including Max Dashu. Many other scholars, including Joan Marler and Marguerite Rigoglioso, support her work.

Pagans believe that nature is sacred and that the natural cycles of birth, growth and death observed in the world around us carry profoundly spiritual meanings. Human beings are seen as part of nature, along with other animals, trees, stones, plants and everything else that is of this earth.

Anglo-Saxon paganism was a polytheistic belief system, focused around a belief in deities known as the ése (singular ós). The most prominent of these deities was probably Woden; other prominent gods included Thunor and Tiw.

Pagan religions follow the female divine principle, identified as the Goddess beside or in place of the male divine principle, as expressed in the Abrahamic God.

Hinduism worships and respects women and the many strengths and powers a woman possesses. Hinduism is an ancient religion that began in present day India. In ancient Hindu scriptures women were worshipped in the form of goddesses to represent all woman's strength, beauty, wisdom , bravery and talent.

In the Dharmic religions (mainly Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism), there are many goddesses that are widely venerated. The earliest source for several of these goddesses is the Vedas. However, goddesses can also be found in the art of the even more ancient Indus Valley civilisation.

Criticism of its historicity. Many pagan traditions have been criticized on the basis that they bear little resemblance to the historical practices of which they claim to be revivals. Gerald Gardner, the founder of Wicca, claimed that it is a continuation of an ancient persecuted Witch cult, a widely discredited notion ...

The early Christians adapted many elements of paganism. Ancient pagan funeral rituals often remained within Christian culture as aspects of custom and community with very little alteration. A type of song sung at death, the ritual lament, is one of the oldest of all art forms.

Pagans view the world as a place of joy and life, not of sin and suffering. We believe that the divine is here with us in the natural world, not in some faraway place in the sky.

What is a pagan according to the Bible? ›

When Christianity became generally accepted in the towns and cities of the empire, paganus was used to refer to a villager who continued to worship the old gods. Christians used the term for anyone not of their faith or of the Jewish faith. The word in Old English for such a person was what is now heathen.

Pagan religion is still practiced widely throughout the Western world, and today it is more popular than ever. Some focus on specific branches of Paganism, such as Druidry, while the UK's Pagan Federation, and the Australian Pan-Pacific Pagan Alliance embrace wide schools of religious thought.

One principle of the pagan movement is polytheism, the belief in and veneration of multiple gods or goddesses. Within the pagan movement, there can be found many deities, both male and female, who have various associations and embody forces of nature, aspects of culture, and facets of human psychology.

It may consist of informal prayer or meditation, or of formal, structured rituals through which the participants affirm their deep spiritual connection with nature, honour their Gods and Goddesses, and celebrate the seasonal festivals of the turning year and the rites of passage of human life.

Mother of all things, watch over me tonight, Hold me in your arms, until the morning light. Blessed be the mother goddess, by all her many names. May she bless my family and friends. May she bless the animals of the world, and all people everywhere.

Paganism encompasses a diverse community with some groups concentrating on specific traditions, practices or elements such as ecology, witchcraft, Celtic traditions or certain gods. Wiccans, Druids, Shamans, Sacred Ecologists, Odinists and Heathens all make up parts of the Pagan community.

American artist Mary Beth Edelson engaged with the figure of the prehistoric Goddess through photomontages and performances, during which the artist summoned an ancient goddess lost to historical record. Climate activist and eco-feminist Monica Sjöö was a leading member of the goddess movement in the UK.

According to legend, Durga was created for the slaying of the buffalo demon Mahishasura by Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva, and the lesser gods, who were otherwise powerless to overcome him. Embodying their collective energy (shakti), she is both derivative from the male divinities and the true source of their inner power.

From the 1970s to the 1990s, archaeologist Marija Gimbutas developed the “Goddess Theory,” focusing on a divine female figure worshipped in “Old Europe” and displaced by Metal Ages' patriarchal warrior cultures.

Ishtar (the word comes from the Akkadian language; she was known as Inanna in Sumerian) was the first deity for which we have written evidence. She was closely related to romantic love, but also familial love, the loving bonds between communities, and sexual love.