Did that Entry Point Determine What You Learned – or Didn’t Learn – about Her?

In the early days, before my understanding of sacred feminine liberation thealogy was developed, I was startled by a respected friend announcing she was leaving what we loosely called Goddess Spirituality because it lacked substance. Besides the Wiccan Rede, she felt what we were learning about Goddess Spirituality didn’t delve enough into ethics, morality and social justice. Learning about individual pantheons, the Threefold Law, or the Wheel of the Year was not really providing us adequate guidance as a template for living. Her decision stuck with me because I believed she had a point, and I kept mulling it over for some time. Yes, there was so much to learn – tarot, doing ritual, herstory, astrology, women’s blood mysteries, herbology, study of various traditions, sacred sites, which goddess called us, etc. But what about making the ancient teachings relevant to help counter our contemporary patriarchal world? What did Goddess Spirituality offer to help humanity ascend and evolve? I set out on a quest to answer that question.

Few people in the West realize all the people around the world who still have a goddess in their spiritual universe. India has never forgotten their goddesses, though most female deities have been reduced to shadows of their former glory as they are spousified or domesticated. Mexico has Guadalupe. The Shinto in Japan has Amaterasu, the Sun Goddess, who is displayed in plain sight on their national flag. Polynesians have Pele, whose volcanoes erupt, demanding our attention. Brigit is a goddess and a saint in Ireland. Mary, mother of Jesus and Mary Magdalene have taken on Goddess status in recent years. Kwan Yin is huge in Asia, where people also have the Rice Goddesses who provide all they need to sustain themselves. Our indigenous neighbors have never forgotten White Buffalo Woman and Spider Grandmother who created the universe.

We know societies that revered Goddess were often egalitarian in nature, where women could own businesses, run countries, divorce their husbands and choose their role in life. And sociologists tell us women often fared better in countries that retained a feminine face of god. Still, in the West, the majority of people only know the big three Abrahamic religions of Christianity, Islam, Judaism – patriarchal religions that have led to male leadership in all phases of life, leaving women second-class citizens, where too many women’s roles are determined by their biology. Goddesses aren’t thought about much beyond elementary school where Hera is marginalized to a jealous wife chasing after her philandering husband and Aphrodite is little more than a symbol for romance, love and sex. It’s forgotten, if ever known, Demeter and Persephone were revered for over 2000 years in the Eleusinian Mystery religion. Pretty significant when you consider the age of the United States is nearing only 250 years young. Pagan cultures brought us democracy, helped civilize the world, brought us engineering, architecture, medicine and science. Then a new era dawned – the Dark Ages of Christianity, and that knowledge was rejected, not unlike many rejecting science for ideology or self-serving beliefs today.

What also jumped out on this quest was those who discover Goddess do so in so many varied ways. People may discover Goddess through their family heritage, Red Tents, Wicca, art history, as they deconstruct or rebel against the religion they grew up with, by way of spiritual psychology, feminism, mythology or history. That entry point may determine what they learn about Goddess. Pro and con, with no one holy book like a bible, Wiccans, Pagans and Goddess Advocates may very well have different way showers, elders and foremothers who determine what they learn about Goddess Spirituality.

I realized the Goddess-curious or practitioner might not ever become aware of spiritual psychology, liberation thealogy, patriarchal conditioning, women’s blood mysteries, comparative religions, the four phases of a woman’s life, embodiment or energetics. Likewise, for some there was a fork in the road as some practitioners never recognized or took that path of activism and social justice that some find crucial as a goddess advocate. (Could that be because of the firewall between Church and State? That has not stopped Christians from learning who to support from their church’s pulpit, leading to Christian Nationalists making policy in the White House.)

As my own books reflect, my growth as a Priestess became more than making ancient rituals relevant for contemporary devotees. The spirituality was also about freedom and liberation, as Christianity was in the early days when it attracted the poor, women and slaves. Sacred Feminine liberation thealogy is at the crossroads of politics, social justice, spirituality and personal transformation. Getting beyond the basics, Goddess Spirituality is the new liberation thealogy of our time. Goddess sets us free from domination and patriarchal oppression! 

Now, with certainty, I could counter my friends’ faulty conclusion that Goddess Spirituality lacked substance. The Sacred Trident of the Divine Feminine, as deity, archetype and ideal, does in fact teach us quite a lot about how to live a peaceful, joyous, empowered and sustainable life when one knows where to look – and you can find out more with my new book, Divine Feminine: Deity, Archetype and Ideal, now available to pre-order.  If you care to be well-rounded when it comes to Goddess, check it out!  And while you’re at it, buy your best friend a copy, too!

For more details: https://www.collectiveinkbooks.com/moon-books/our-books/pagan-portals-divine-feminine

Rev. Dr. Karen Tate is an eight-times published author, speaker, workshop presenter, sacred tour leader and social justice activist. She’s been named one of the 13 Most Influential Women in Goddess Spirituality and a Wisdom Keeper of the Women’s Spirituality Movement. She can be seen in the film Femme: Women Healing the World produced by Wonderland Entertainment. Karen is the host of the long-running podcast, Voices of the Sacred Feminine, airing since 2009.

Her books include Goddess Calling: Inspirational Messages of Sacred Feminine Liberation Thealogy, the award winning Walking An Ancient Path: Rebirthing Goddess on Planet Earth, Sacred Places of Goddess: 108 Destinations, Normalizing Abuse: A Commentary on the Culture of Pervasive Abuse and Divine Feminine: Deity, Archetype and Ideal. She’s curated the Manifesting A New Normal Trilogy which includes the anthologies Voices of the Sacred Feminine: Conversations to ReShape Our World, Goddess 2.0: Advancing a New Path Forward and Awaken the Feminine: Dismantling Domination to Restore Balance on Mother Earth. She’s contributed to numerous anthologies and academic journals.

Karen is a Certified Caring Economy Conversation Leader and Power of Partnership Practitioner from Riane Eisler’s Center for Partnership Studies. She’s also received a certification in Psychology of Political Activism: Women Changing the World from Smith College and from the Compassionate Integrity Institute. Most recently she’s become a member of the Center for Non-Religious Spirituality and the Association for Spiritual Integrity. Karen is a legally ordained “non-denominational” minister, and she received an honorary Doctorate of Ministry for her many years of service to the community. She teaches the Unitarian Universalist curriculums Cakes for the Queen of Heaven and Rise Up and Call Her Name and is an associate of the Joseph Campbell Foundation.

Karen is often called upon to lead spiritual services, give talks to media and public and private groups such as the Spiritual Unity Movement, Council for the Parliament of World Religions, American Academy of Religion, Joseph Campbell RoundTables, Unitarian Universalist churches and colleges such as the California Institute for Integral Studies. She lives in the Pacific Northwest with Roy, her husband of more than three decades and their three feline daughters Lilly, Luna and Freya.