goddesses) within Goddess Spirituality.[1] Given that Contemporary Paganism has partly legitimated itself as a critique of doctrinal monotheisms (particularly Christianity), this latter dynamic might be something of a surprise to non-Pagans. However, it is the androcentric and phallocentric qualities of monotheism with which Goddess spiritualists take issue.
Goddess spirituality – the-a-logy[2] as opposed to theology − has
exerted a significant influence on many of these Pagan paths. This is
especially the case of Contemporary Pagan witchcraft where the default
position of the duotheism of Mother Goddess and Horned God in Wicca is
predominantly practiced in many covens as a thealogical spirituality, with
Goddess dominant over God at least at the level of practice, if not liturgy.
An example of this within witchcraft is Dianic witchcraft. This is a female
only, Goddess-centred spirituality espousing a radical separatist feminism
which is often accompanied by a lesbian identity politics.[3] Since the 1970s,
however, one can discern the emergence of Goddess spirituality as a
specific path in its own right outside of mainstream witchcrafts.[4]
Long suggests that the Goddess Movement has three major sources
of inspiration: Paganism, feminism and, what she terms, feminist
theological forms of Judeo-Christianity.[5] Indeed recent years has seen
both a feminization of Contemporary Pagan liturgy and rhetoric
accompanied by an increase in numbers of female practitioners. Indeed
- ↑ Dennis D. Carpenter, ‘Emergent Nature Spirituality: An Examination of the Major Spiritual Contours of the Contemporary Pagan Worldview’ in James R. Lewis (ed.), Magical Religion and Modern Witchcraft, Albany, NY: State University of New York Press 1996a, 35-72.
- ↑ Naomi Goldenberg, Changing of the Gods: Feminism and the End of Traditional Religions, Boston: Beacon 1979, 96.
- ↑ For example, Zusanna E. Budapest, The Holy Book of Women’s Mysteries, Oakland, CA: Susan B. Anthony Coven 1979; Pam Lunn, ‘Do Women need the GODDESS? Some Phenomenological and Sociological Reflections’ in Feminist Theology 3 (1993), 17-38; Susan Greenwood, Magic, Witchcraft and the Otherworld: An Anthropology, London: Berg 2000.
- ↑ See Asphodel Long, ‘The Goddess Movement in Britain Today’ in Feminist Theology 5 (1994), 11-39; ‘The One or the Many: The Great Goddess Revisited’ in Feminist Theology 15 (1997), 13-29.
- ↑ Long ‘The Goddess Movement in Britain Today’, 13; also note Yvonne Maria Werner, Christian Masculinity for a critical analysis of the perceived feminization of Christianity.
