#she said matriarchal goddess powers activate!

[happyheidi]

deer walks into a store and later brings her whole family for another visit 🛒

Horsetooth Store, Gas, and RV Park

(via)

[writingonjorvik]

Jorvegian Myth: Aideen Is Dead

That's a big claim (and kinda an overdone one in fandom) so let's just get into the reasoning. Spoilers for the most recent quests under the cut.

We've known for a while that Aideen hasn't intervened with, anything on Jorvik really, for a really long time. This started me on two theories on why that might be. Generally, I don't believe Aideen is the only entity of her kind. If that was the case, what about the rest of Earth? Aideen is only described as to have saved Jorvik, but what about the rest of the world? Did is not die? Was is just left alone to recover from Jorvik's survival? This gets supported by a comment Ydris made in the most recent quests if the MC chooses to say that they have faith in Aideen. Ydris laughs at the comment, implies Aideen is unreliable, and suggests putting your faith somewhere else. I'll address the fact that she's unreliable to him later, and just point out that this implies there are other entities to put one's faith in in Ydris's mind.

The assumption then was that either a) Aideen is like a Shinto kami or b) she can no longer be corporal because she was wounded/killed. In the instance of situation a, Aideen can't help Jorvik because there isn't enough faith in her and/or the land has become too wounded. In situation b, which I'm finding more likely, she can't intervene because she's dead. In either situation, I think this better sets up narrative agency for the MC but I will get to that in a bit.

We know that Aideen now is in all living things. She's basically the Force and this reveal from the Catherine quests has been widely debated in the community. However, we also know she had to be, at some point, corporeal. If for no other reason than the fact that we have physical depictions of Aideen, Aideen had to, at some point, be physical enough for people to have the legend of a girl coming to the island, riding over its waters, and healing it (likely started by Fripp and the JWHs). This fact is consistent so far with all three versions of the creation myth of Jorvik. So how did Aideen go from a physical form to an incorporeal one?

The answer actually fits into the myth that seems to be the basis of the Soul Riders, a myth I covered forever ago on this blog: a variant on the myth of the Triple Goddess and her fourth form. Most of you probably know the Triple Goddess myth, Maiden, Matron, Crone/Matriarch. It is a highly prominent goddess archetype in Celtic and Norse mythos, which SSO has always drawn from. But the Triple Goddess excludes a fourth Soul Rider, the Lightning Circle in particular, unless you include her fourth form. The Tempest. And the Tempest is the dead version of the Triple Goddess and the wild magic that came out of it.

So to return to the point, both things are true about Aideen. She did come through with Fripp as an incredibly powerful entity on a cosmic scale, likely to deal with Garnok. In healing Jorvik though (and potentially binding it to Pandoria), Jorvik needed more power to restore itself so that one day it could be cut off from Pandoria again. And Aideen's life force was enough to do that. So Aideen, after gifting Jorvik with horses and the Soul Riders and magic, gave herself to become the life force of the island. She died but her power lives on in the island, feeding it so one day it can survive alone once more. And that's Fripp's job to solve on how to separate. But now that she's dead, like Ydris said, she's not exactly a reliable source to call on.

This I feel is more supported by the comic @ellipuukangas just released with SSO. We see Aideen in a corporeal state here. But the text is what interests me. "Seeds of a dead world." Jorvik was dead, it was a dead rock, that's been in the Jorvegian and witches' creation myth. "Life and death at once." The two are inseparable, trading spaces. Jorvik's survival for Aideen's life. One has to die for the other to live. All magic comes with a price. Fripp has been the biggest proponent of that mantra. Aideen, his friend whom he traveled to Jorvik with, gave her life so that Jorvik would live. He knows the real risk of magic more than anyone because he say the greatest price paid. (There's a whole aside to have here that this specific event might be what shattered Fripp's memory because PTSD can do fun stuff to memory, but not the point now.)

As to how this all comes back to the story now, I think it sets up the opportunity for a better version of the "Aideen is in everything, so everyone is special." Because that message is rather mixed in this medium. I've talked about it before, so briefly, the MC has lacked a lot of agency in the story. They don't have any powers that we as players can actively control and they rely rather heavily on coordinating others to get things done. Which is more of a book hero than a video game hero. The one thing the MC had going for them was that they were Aideen reborn/champion/whatever and the Catherine quests took that away. They made everyone special. Which, grand scale, is an ok message and it sets up for more multiplayer focused narratives, but it takes away the importance of agency and choice for the player themself.

Yes, everyone is special and unique, but there are people who choose to be more. Who drive themselves to be better, to do better, to make a difference. Who stand for the fact that all things are special and therefore deserve the right to live. And the choice to go beyond should be what sets the MC apart, not above, but apart, from Catherine. And that's the same thing Aideen would have done. That some have to sacrifice more so all people can live in peace.

I think Aideen, along with her gifts, foresaw her death has being required to save Jorvik. And in doing so she created a challenge, a series of trials. Someone who was incredibly in tune with her magic, like Catherine and the MC, could choose to take up the mantle of Aideen, could take on these challenges, to become her chosen, to become the solution to Fripp's quest to free Jorvik, and the one would who defeat Garnok. And the choice to accept that destiny is what makes the MC different from Catherine. Catherine choose to reject destiny, to reject that mantle. She didn't want to be a chosen one, she didn't even really want to be a Soul Rider. She wanted to be loved and to love, and she finished that with Justin. However, the MC can choose to take up that challenge and both what Catherine said can be true along with allowing the player to maintain that agency.

Aideen may have died, but her power lives on. Her gift wasn't destiny, it was freedom. But sacrifice is required to maintain freedom from pure chaos. That is the choice of the Keepers, of the Soul Riders, and that the MC has to make. Someone has to make that sacrifice for the rest of Jorvik to survive. That was Aideen's choice, now it's the player's.

[inkellman]

Lamiste is a goddess in my story who is believed to have started and uphold social order. As such, she is highly revered and is considered to be her pantheon’s matriarch. Her origins are currently in the making, but while she is considered ancient, she is younger than her homeplanet’s primordial deities. She represents the birth of civilization, so while the gods and goddesses before her are considered to be gods of natural laws, the deities she gave birth to and after are considered to be the outcome and realizations towards how those natural laws work.

 The deities mentioned below are considered to be under her household. They are her children and grandchildren:

Skhaliene

She is Lamiste’s first born daughter, The Lady of Wanton. Skhaleine represents people’s realization that they still have primal urges in need of control despite their present civility. Uncouth and somewhat unstable, Skhaleine highly expresses both spite and lust (sexual or otherwise). She commits behaviors deemed to be a perversion of morals set up by society yet still has a strong desire to conform and be accepted. Lamiste is often shown to try and get her under control. Skhaleine’s reactions to these being often very unpredictable.

Nabhiyal and Nebrol

Brother and sister of Skhaliene, the god of lies and the goddess of truth respectively, these twin-spouse deities’ story focuses on why it is difficult if not impossible to know the complete truth about their world.  More of this will be explained later on, as I have difficulties finding the right words for it, plus it’s so long that it needs its own post.

Lamiste’s relationship with the two of them tends to run hot and cold depending on who manages to hurt or stroke her ego at the moment. While Nebrol keeps on receiving her unfavorable remarks despite her praising her honesty, Nabhiyal takes advantage of Lamiste’s insecurities to get what he wants. This leaves Nebrol confused about what her mother truly thinks of her, while Nabhiyal deems her pathetic for such a powerful goddess.

Nhibos

He is one of Skhaliene’s many children and the most well-known of them. Nhibos is considered to be a mixture of older and newer concepts of nature. The seasons are even compared to the psychological development he went through throughout the years. Spring of more mellow attitudes as a small child, summer for his heated youth that showcased his uncontested fury, fall for the calming of his soul, and finally winter that makes him callous and cold. And while parts of him can be controlled, he will never be fully tame.

This is relevant because the way Nhibos deals with his emotions heavily plays into his interactions with Lamiste, and the two of them butt heads on every front. The old goddess is heavily driven by social obligation, but the young god doesn’t care and constantly gets into activities she doesn’t approve of. For every punishment Lamiste comes up with, he breaks another rule to get around them. 

The only thing that is stopping them from biting each other’s necks is that Lamiste cares too much about her reputation to constantly come in contact with Nhibos, who manages to embarrass her with most things he does, and the fact that the young god actually doesn’t try to bother her when she isn’t bothering him.

With all of those said, Lamiste’s character is built upon based on both the good and bad of society. She can never fully enforce the laws because of her ego.

Credits:

Lamiste © @inkellman [I bought her design as an adoptable from @luffik though the character’s lore was made by myself way before then]

Mentioned characters: Skhaliene, Nabhiyal, Nebrol, and Nhibos are also © to me @inkellman

[bladekindeyewear]

Alright, new bonus upd8... time for Catnapped Part 2.

Time to see some Jasprose tormenting a captured Prez Jane I’m guessing?

==>

--yes!  But in newspaper format!  --I shouldn’t post pictures because, again, this is bonus material, but... my goodness!  An adorable pic of Jasprose and the kidnapped Jane looking all fucking tsundere, newsprint detailing Jasprose having declared herself Queen (!) and just, detaining Crocker indefinitely, giving her a time-out presumably until she swings back to the sane end of economics.  (Hopefully with some seen-the-Light seer-ness about her actions.  I wonder how Okay she is with what’s happening with robo-Rose?)

--Ooh, and we get a pic of Swifer!  A small one, anyway.  She looks cute.  Looks like she and most of the other leftover players are congregating for a discussion with Jasprose and captive about what exactly is going to happen?

--Heh, Rose never wrote about Jasprose’s existence in the history texts of their adventure.  Nice reference to the sprites’ conspicuous absence Epilogueways.

> ==>

Oh geez, Jasprose’s on a throne and everything.  :D

--pff.  She has some issues with their informally-written constitution, though not the ones I’d expect.  Mostly technical and linguistic.

JASPROSESPRITE^2: Listen, Janey. JASPROSESPRITE^2: Janeypoo. JASPROSESPRITE^2: Janeums. JASPROSESPRITE^2: Your government's a fucking joke. JASPROSESPRITE^2: It's for clowns, by clowns, and you're the clownfucker-in-chief. JANE: I can't believe I'm getting called a JOKE by a fucking MONGREL HOUSECAT!

Oh, geez.  Hot fire getting spit here!  Jasprose bringing in irrelevant knowledge from Candy Rose that isn’t canon, Jane losing any restraint--!  But Jasprose’s references to Candy from her basically-Ultimate-Self status are a pretty good indicator of why she’d resort to this, considering she knows the direction Jane’s administration will probably go without a bit of intervention.

JASPROSESPRITE^2: Now I'm just a simple kitty goddess with broad multiuniversal knowledge of multiple timelines' experience, who also happens to be the infinitely wise lesbotic Casanova of anyone's dreams, but I know a red flag when I see it.

I’m warming back up to Jasprose, guys and gals.

> ==>

Hm!  The art style is going to continue not to really push the bustiness on Jane and leave that in the descriptions, I sort of like that.

JASPROSESPRITE^2: Your lack of so much as a completed high school education and any government experience is actively inimical to the idea you could serve as a competent mid-level bureaucrat in a global government, much less its purresident! JANE: ...

...yeah, her lack of legal experience translated right to the Constitution itself. VP Romneytroll would end up ruling by proxy, effectively, which may or may not have been any better.

JASPROSESPRITE^2: Once you learn a thing or two about the three pillars of good rulership, the Carapace Kingdom will certify your election results and recognize the Earth C purresidentail government again. JANE: Oh jesus christ. JANE: What are these three vaunted pillars? JASPROSESPRITE^2: It's simple, cherry pie: JASPROSESPRITE^2: Women, wine, and song.

Oh dear.  Now we’re back to the insanity I would’ve expected.  The Cheshire Cat taking their turn at running the Mad Tea Party and all.

> ==>

...um... a fenestrated portal?  What the fuck??  Did she “uncaptchalogue” that or magic it whole with super sprite powers?  (EDIT: Anon added: "Portal/window summoning is Jasperose's main shtick. I think page 7652 is the first example." I've really gotten rusty on some late-Homestuck stuff; I think the fact this window wasn't sprite-creation-colored really threw me off.) Does it even lead to the same universe??? This could get crazy.

Omigosh that painting of everyone’s coronation in the background.

> ==>

Sending them all through the portal toge-- EXCUSE ME??????

> PROBLEM SLEUTH^2

Son of a bitch.

> PS: Inspect office.

Some Problem Sleuth fans on the art/writing team REALLY wanted to take their hand at this, didn’t they.

> PS: Look out the window.

I thought I was being hyperbolic when I said the window might lead to another universe, but dear lord.  “Midnight City”?!?

> PS: Get key.

You pick up the gun.

The grip is cold against your palm. This is your only friend in the world right now. It's gonna be a long night, again.

.....I hadn’t had the slightest, SLIGHTEST clue how badly I wanted all of this until this page.

> Next.

Hah.  Ace Dick has a yacht.  We’re fully post Problem Sleuth aren’t we? No wonder the title.

Is the Jasprose Party gonna start wrecking shit downtown and he’s gonna be called in to fix it?

> PS: Pick up the phone.

OH GOSH this ART.  She’s taken them all out for drinks in another dimension and is putting her most annoying flirt on.

> ==>

OH GOD EVERYTHING IS PINK.

JASPROSESPRITE^2: There's a lot of bad outcomes, but you aren't inherently evil. JASPROSESPRITE^2: And you just got elected, you haven't done anything irredeemable yet. JASPROSESPRITE^2: You've just got a lot of societal conditioning to undo!

Yup!  We’re “fixing” the canon timeline’s Jane so she isn’t quite so depressingly shit, the way she got sledgehammered with awful in both timelines.  Hopefully enough of it sticks that we can feel good about being Jane fans again, and feel good FOR her and how she’s turning out.

JANE: Tell me, then, JASPROSE, JANE: In what part of this seedy bar, exactly, is my "redemption arc" located? JASPROSESPRITE^2: I'm not quite all-seeing.

Hm.  So despite the fact that Jasprose’s methods are doubtless gonna be a little flighty, she has some good Lighty feelings about success being in this direction even if she doesn’t know how.  The fact that she DOESN’T know how is probably a good thing.  Chances rising on a decent outcome to all this, though they were already somewhat high just by virtue of SOMEONE trying to do something about it.

> ==>

Oh my fucking god you flirty sprite.  This ART.

...Heh, no wonder they brought Swifer and crew to bring some political reality to the situation, she’s really on point.

...Kanaya left her as MATRIARCH?!??  No wonder she’s peeved.

Oh shit.  Jasprose is also trying to un-Dirk Jane.  That’s wonderful.  If we’re going to have to bear firsthand witness to Dirk fucking character after character over with morally bankrupt, skeevy narrative mind control over in the main story, at least we can see that efforts are underway to make sure any further influence back on Earth is undone in his absence.  Dirk was likely keeping Jasprose out of the picture in the first place, as an Epilogue co-writer.

> Meanwhile.

Oh geez, here comes Dad.  Dad and PS are gonna team up to rescue their daughter aren’t they.

> ==>

Yep, that art style can only mean one thing.

See y’all next time!  I heard enough Patreon-ers contributed to Homestuck that they’ll start twice-a-month updates, so... ugh.  More work for me.  @_@

[atlanqueen]

all hail queen mera

❛ 𝘐 𝘈𝘔 𝘛𝘏𝘌 𝘚𝘌𝘈 & 𝘕𝘖𝘉𝘖𝘋𝘠 𝘖𝘞𝘕𝘚 𝘔𝘌. ❜

LINKS.

AESTHETIC SIDEBLOG     ∕    PLAYLIST    

BASICS.

Given / Birth Name : Y'Mera Xebella Challa Nickname / Preferred Name : Mera, My Queen Alias(es) : Aquawoman Birthdate / Age : 26 June / Thirty-six Place of Birth : Xebel / “Dimension Aqua” : an extradimensional penal colony of Atlantis Current Location : Amnesty Bay, Atlantis Gender Identity : CIS Female, DFAB Sexual / Romantic Orientation : Morosexual / Panromantic Ethnicity / Race / Cultural Heritage: Atlantean / Xebellian, no one is entirely sure where the bridge to Xebel exists and it is often confused with the Bermuda Triangle. While this one path towards it, the more frequently used ( and the one accessible to Mera ) is located in the Indian Ocean, where there is actually a deeper history of wrecks. Split between the two, her appearance evokes this. As such, Mera’s ancestors often influenced the religions of ancient civilizations due to association with electricity and water ( Ixazaluoh, Atabey, Varuna ).  Marital Status : Married Occupation : Queen of Atlantis / Crown Princess of Xebel Religious Beliefs : Polytheism is generally practiced among Atlantis / Xebel, Mera herself takes on a more “okay boomer” approach in regards to this, oftentimes bemoaning the clutter in the ocean caused by their dumbass relics. Essentially, Mera tends to believe in herself above most else and her devotion is to that as a ruler, or rather to the ocean she works in tandem with.  

CHARACTERISTICS.

Height : 5′2″ Weight : This bitch is dense. Body Type / Build : Ectomorph / slim & toned Eye Color : Dark green / sometimes blue or white ( when chatting with Her... the ocean ) Hair Color / Texture : Red. Though her hair appears full and voluminous, it is coarse to the touch, she really does just luck out that it dries like that.  Recognizable Features / Scars : She has tattoos up her hands / arms which look incredibly similar to henna, signifiers of her mastery of the various levels of Xebellian / Atlantean socerery ( they only appear when she is practicing. Additionally Mera has a few scars ( shoulder / abdomen / back ) from battles involving Tritan and Orm.  Speech Patterns / Accent : While on the surface, Mera tends to speak in proper english. There is a hint of an accent, though being that it is not of the world it can’t exactly be placed. Mera tends to speak on the slower side, as she is not one who likes repeating herself.  Languages Spoken : Her default is Atlantean or English, though she is capable of speaking all languages of the world ( it’s a whole thing ).  Powers / Skills / Abilities : Atlantean Physiology ( amphibian nature, enhanced vision, enhanced hearing ); superhuman durability / speed / reflexes / stamina / agility / strength; hydrokinesis / liquid construct creation; low-grade telepathy ( can’t read minds but can communicate / typically works best in water ); ocean sensory ( can feel disturbances in the ocean ); water sense ( knows / communicates with bodies of water ); master combatant; historiographer; leadership Overall Health : Peak physical health

RELATIONSHIPS.

Order of Birth : Eldest Number of Siblings : One Father’s Status + Relationship : Ryus ( father, alive ). Though Mera was deeply devoted to her father all throughout her childhood, the affection could not be considered mutual. Expectations of her to rule a kingdom she was taught to also be disgusted by, along with his eagerness to marry her off / train her to be a queen assassin ultimately showed her his true colors. That being said, he was the greatest influence on her in her most formative years and her skills as a warrior and sorceress. She has made attempts to be the bridge between Xebel and Atlantis, making some strides in the area however his resentment over loss of control in his weapon has caused a bit of friction.  Mother’s Status + Relationship : Circe ( mother, deceased ). Young enough when her mother died, Mera holds no memories of the world. She does, however, hold the sound of shells gifted to her upon coming of age as her most prized possession. Lammia ( paternal grandmother, deceased ). Mera’s maternal influence came from the Dowager Matriarch of Xebel. Mera held great affection for her grandmother and learned all skills as a politician through her.  Sibling Status + Relationship : Hila ( identical twin sister, alive ). Their relationship is complicated -- with Hila having a rebellious nature and tendency to kick up trouble wherever she goes, though ultimately they do love each other.  Loyalty / Affiliation : Atlantis, The Justice League.

PERSONALITY.

Astrological Sign: Cancer Sun, Capricorn Moon, Taurus Ascendant  MBTI : INTJ-A Hobbies : Playing instruments ( flute, harp, Arthur taught her how to play piano ), Crowned Queen of being able to drink Tom Curry under the table.  Bad Habits : Extremely picky eater, bickering as a love language Three Positive Traits : Dutiful, righteous, ambitious  Three Negative Traits : Short-tempered, stubborn, pretentious Moral Alignment : Neutral Good

ASSOCIATIONS.

One Song : She’s Always a Woman - Billy Joel.  One Quote / Piece of Art : Ocean Goddess - Jennylynn Fields. / “ She carries herself like a god. She is a composed ocean of waves that could become turbulent if you test her. ” One Fear : Losing the people she loves / incompetence   One Strength : Leadership One Object : Shell of sounds, from her mother.  One Place : Amnesty Bay Lighthouse One Food : Mango One Scent : Saltwater One Lucky Charm : Her engagement ring.

NOTES.

Born the Crown Princess of Xebel, a prison-kingdom known for active rebellion against Atlantis, it was banished to another dimension long before Mera was born. The people of Xebel are scavengers as a result ( it helps that the ‘bridge’ to this dimension lands in the Indian Ocean, whose warm waters have caused a lot of wrecks over the years ). 

Sticking with movie canon, Atlantis is on a more feudalistic set-up

Mera’s betrothal to the next King of Atlantis ( Orm ) had been set before her birth. This was an effort to alleviate tension / build a pathway back towards Xebel reclaiming some glory.

Her mother died shortly after childbirth, Mera was thus raised by her father with help from his chief taskmaster, Leron and her grandmother Lammia.

Luck of the draw would leave her, the elder of the twins, tasked with winning over a kingdom inclined to look at her as a Princess of Garbage while her own domain began to mistrust her for spending her time in Atlantis. While following the traditional route in studying the power of hydrokinesis, Mera would also frequent the kingdom she was set to rule. 

She was able to build a close relationship with Atlanna in this time, one of the few who ever accept Mera completely. And it is through this, as well, that her subsequent banishment became a defining moment in Mera’s life. 

Her training as a warrior came to head at her coming of age, to prove herself worthy of being a queen. Tasked with killing the only other claim to the throne, she was sent to the surface. 

It. Did. Not. Go. As. Planned. 

A confusing series of dates later, Mera began to soften to the cause of the surface world and become more disillusioned to her place among her own, while encouraging the rightful heir to accept his place in both. Mera became a key advisor, and eventually was unburdened with the task of marriage by way of diplomacy. 

Her placement in destroying the reign of a true Atlantean didn’t win her many friends in a kingdom whose nobles barely accept her, but she made due. 

( And would you look at that, she ended up marrying a King of Atlantis after all, regardless. )

After two back to back wars defending Atlantis, Mera was coronated to begin a long reign of monarchy on equal footing, something the kingdom had rarely seen. 

Though she does split her time between Atlantis and the surface, her priority is typically her kingdom. Mera takes her duty as a queen extremely seriously. 

She joined the Justice League not long after Arthur, having proven her loyalty to the safety of the world as opposed to being a figurehead for the wills of the elite in her own. 

As such, her identity is not publicly known ( disdain for being labelled as a mermaid abound ) and her stance on the Accords is to be in direct contradiction. Atlantis’ status as relatively unknown allows for certain anonymity while operating in these efforts.  

[rgst73jennvo]

Female Oppression within Buddhism in Pre-Modern Japan

Prehistorically, Japanese women have always been viewed as an emblem of fertility and priesthood. Buddhism, introduced to Japan in the Nara Period (710-784), slowly changed how women were portrayed and transformed the former matrilineal society to a patrilineal one. The oppression of women then progressively became very prevalent throughout Japan until the Postwar era (WWII). Expressions of certain myths and ideas contributed to the belief of women’s spiritual inferiority to men. Gender inequality within Buddhist teachings lead to the formation of social gender norms that deny women the chance to make their own decisions. Therefore, Buddhism can be seen as an instrument of patriarchy, used to exclude women and to restrict them of their freedom of thought and action.

Prior to the Nara Period, Japan mainly had a matriarchal social system. Women were seen as a symbol of priesthood and fertility. A woman’s reproductive capability represented strength and power. Spirituality was equal among men and women; both genders were able to reach their peak of spirituality in the same ways and with the same results. Some women were powerful political leaders. For example, Himiko, the Queen of Wa, ruled prehistoric Japan with her brother (189-248). She was in charge of the state’s inner government while her brother was in charge of relations with the outside world. Her leadership confirmed Japan’s earlier matrilineal system and proved the success of a woman’s ability to command. Japanese mythology also played a huge role in the empowerment of women in prehistoric Japan. According to popular tales, Amaterasu was the Japanese goddess of the sun. She was said to have created ancient Japan with her brothers, Susanoo (god of the sea) and Tsukuyomi (god of the moon), and is the direct ancestor of the royal family. Based on her story, Amaterasu showed how influential and self-reliant a woman can be.  

Buddhism was introduced to the Japanese state in the Nara Period. Women played a huge part in the spread of this new religious movement. In fact, the first followers to be ordained in Japan were three women, one of which as young as 12 years old (Zenshin). Still in a matrilineal system, Japan produced six female monarchs within the first 200 years after its introduction of the Buddhist institution. These monarchs further expanded the movement by serving as patrons. Empress Komyo became head of the state in 729. As a passionate Buddhist patron, she founded the nunneries, Temples of the Lotus Atonement for Sin, in 741. The name of these nunneries was the first subtle hint at the spiritual inferiority women had to men in Buddhist teachings. It demonstrated the sinful state that women needed to atone for, with attribution to their gender. Nevertheless, during this time period, Buddhism exemplified inclusivity toward women. They were able to follow the institution by becoming, nuns, patrons, laywomen, or devotees. Nihon Ryoiki was a text composed by Kyokai, a monk at Yakushiji (temple in Nara). This written work consisted of tales associated with Buddhist elements, one-third of it being about women within the religious organization. It expresses that women were a representation of compassion and devotion. Stories in the text were of both good and bad women; however, it does not convey women to be impure or sinful. Reproductive women were especially praised since “boundless compassion and motherly love was idealized” (Ambros, Chapter 3).

The Heian Period brought the decline of Buddhist convents and the governmental support for nunneries. Many scholars attribute this phenomenon to the absence of a female monarch as head of the state. Tendai Buddhism was introduced during this era. This new movement did not believe in the training of nuns, excluding them from their corresponding mountain centers (i.e. Mount Hiei). Polygamy was prevalent in the marriage system, allowing men to marry as many concubines as he wanted after his primary wife. Among the elite, women were given various benefits and rights. As a primary wife, the woman and her husband shared an uxorilocal marriage. It meant that the couple resided with her natal family, strengthening her relationship with her parents. The people, during this time period, believed that “women were daughters and sisters before they were wives, mothers, and widows” (Ambros, Chapter 4). Daughters were able to inherit property from their parents and wives from their husbands. Allowance was given out to the mothers and sisters of the male heir of the family.

Although elite women received numerous advantages, a rising negative perception of women occurred in the nobility. At times, women were compared to demons because of their personal thought. Due to social etiquette within the nobility, romantic communication was forbidden in public. Therefore, women tend to restrain their sexuality and feelings of jealousy or lust (demonic emotions). Female oppressive beliefs like the 3 Obediences, the 5 Hindrances, and blood pollution were established in the Heian Period. The 3 Obediences is the idea that women should obey their father in childhood, their husband in marriage, and their son in old age. The 5 Hindrances are five obstacles that prevent a woman from attaining enlightenment: desire, ill-will, dull mind, restlessness, and doubt. Blood pollution is the idea that women are defiled because of their production of blood during childbirth or menstruation. Elite women used their religious commitment to Buddhism to combat the obstructive reputation brought upon them. Ordination marked the end of a woman’s sexual activity, resolving their impure state. Becoming nuns was a way for widows to prove their faithfulness to their husband’s family, since it prevented any future marriages.

During the Kamakura Period, the marriage system transformed from uxorilocal to virilocal. In a virilocal marriage, the couple resides with the husband’s natal family and the wife will eventually integrate into their household. The role of the primary wife strengthened and the relationship between husband and wife grew increasingly significant. The concept of the 3 Obediences gained traction, resulting in women living in the shadows of their male counterparts (father, husband, son). The virilocal marriage system and the rising popularity of the 3 Obediences disempowered women, leading to their ineligibility of inheritance rights. Another ideology introduced was the 7 Sins in females: (1) awakening of sexual lust in men, (2) jealousy and selfishness, (3) deceit and envy, (4) negligence of religious practice, (5) dishonesty, (6) shamelessness, (7) blood pollution. Zen and Pure Land Buddhism were eventually introduced to the Japanese people. Both forms of the Buddhist institution had contradictory attitudes towards the Japanese female population. The Zen priesthood acknowledges the significance and necessity of their female followers to progress the spread of Buddhism. As a result, they supported the ordination of women and the training that follows it. Howbeit, female inferiority was still prevalent in the monastic order; nuns were strictly supervised and managed by clergymen. The Pure Land priesthood welcomed female patrons and laywomen. They disagreed with the exclusion of women at sacred rituals and advocated for female salvation. However, the belief of the 7 Sins was widely accepted as an accurate characterization of women.

In the Edo Period, the patriarchal system began to take root and the oppression of women was at its peak. Privilege deprivation of women in nobility occurs when their inheritance rights are restricted. In a patrilineal household, there is an emphasis on the authority of the male head of the house; women tend to have little to no influence. The interests of each individual family member is subordinate to the interests of the family as a whole. Divorce can only be acquired if the husband commences it. Some women turn to the sanctuary of a Buddhist monastery in hopes that the convent will aid them in negotiating a divorce. Prostitution was viewed as an opposition towards the idea of the patrilineal household. Initially, people saw female sex workers as dutiful daughters who sacrificed themselves for the needs of their family. As the period progressed and prostitution became more widespread, women working in the sex industry were considered as selfish people who rejected the patriarchal system because they desired to gain profit outside of their family. Howbeit, in reality, most prostitutes did not have a say in their chosen line of work. They were usually forced into sex work by the male head of their family. In a sense, these women believed and followed a system that failed them. Although impractical, prostitutes try to join a household through a customer. Becoming a wife was ideal for them because it ensured their survival and the end of their sexual exploitation.

A patriarchal system still existed in the Meiji Period, along with its patrilineal household. The marriage system turned monogamous, terminating the practice of keeping concubines. “Good Wife, Wise Mother” was an ideal devised by Nakamura Masanao, with great influence from the West. The wife in a household was perceived as the “better half” of her husband. It advocated for women’s education, so that they could efficiently support their husbands and teach their kids moral and religious values. This concept emphasized the domestication of women, pushing for them to become exceptional homemakers and mothers. The female population resisted the unfair gender norms that society had put upon them and identified themselves as the “New Woman.” “New Woman” is a term describing an independent woman seeking change in a society that oppresses and domesticates her. Although nuns don’t participate in the institution of marriage or motherhood, educational opportunities for them were also provided for them. Married women’s associations are organizations of laywomen who want to make their mark in certain religious movements. They mainly focus on children and young women, establishing daycares, orphanages, and girls’ schools. These organizations strengthened the idea of femininity and gave women a chance to be publicly active while also assuming the role of a wife and mother.

In conclusion, Buddhism played a major role in the evolution of pre-modern Japan from a matriarchal society to a patriarchal one. From prehistoric times to the end of the Nara Period, women were seen as powerful leaders. Through the portrayal of Amaterasu and Empress Komyo, women were signified as independent and self-reliant and can successfully govern as head of the state. The Heian and Kamakura Periods emphasized the decline in a woman’s social status. Negative perceptions of women started to arise due to the establishment of three disempowering Buddhist ideals: 3 Obediences, 5 Hindrances, and blood pollution. These concepts painted women to be inherently sinful and impure. In Edo and Meiji Periods, the patriarchal system rose to become a state fundamental. The patrilineal household shifts all the power to the male head of the house (generally the husband or the male heir), fully oppressing the female population. Although the “Good Wife, Wise Mother” concept provided educational opportunities for wives and nuns, it aimed for the domestication of women. Through the breakdown of the matriarchy in pre-modern Japan, it is evident that religion was used as an implement to execute the oppression of women and successfully endorse the patriarchy.  

Bibliography

Ambros, Barbara R. Women in Japanese Religions. NYU Press, 2015. JSTOR,

www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt15r3zhw.

Ford, James L. Journal of Japanese Studies, vol. 30, no. 2, 2004, pp. 449–453. JSTOR,

www.jstor.org/stable/25064499.

Kawahashi Noriko. “Introduction: Gendering Religious Practices in Japan Multiple Voices,

Multiple Strategies.” Japanese Journal of Religious Studies, vol. 44, no. 1, 2017, pp.

1–13. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/90017628.

Nakamura, Kyōko. “Women and Religion in Japan: Introductory Remarks.” Japanese

Journal of Religious Studies, vol. 10, no. 2/3, 1983, pp. 115–121. JSTOR,

www.jstor.org/stable/30233299.

Noriko, Kawahashi. “Feminist Buddhism as Praxis: Women in Traditional Buddhism.”

Japanese Journal of Religious Studies, vol. 30, no. 3/4, 2003, pp. 291–313. JSTOR,

www.jstor.org/stable/30234052.

Wacker, Monika. “Research on Buddhist Nuns in Japan, Past and Present.” Asian Folklore

Studies, vol. 64, no. 2, 2005, pp. 287–298., www.jstor.org/stable/30030425.

[margridarnauds]

greenwitchpinkcrystals replied to your post “It turns out that every time I see “Danu” listed as an “Earth...”

Why

So, first off, let’s get this out of the way: This is not meant to affect ANYONE’S religious or spiritual practices. If you have a relationship with any of the Tuatha dé that doesn’t fit a given analysis, I’m not going to be the one who says “No, that’s wrong.” That’s YOUR relationship and your belief system, and I’m not going to touch that. That is NOT my place. 

What I’m talking about is purely on an academic level, reading the original medieval texts, and I will say that what I’m about to say, while I think it LEANS towards what I believe the academic consensus is, is not holy writ either. I fully admit that, if it came down to assigning myself to EITHER anti-nativist or nativist, I would probably class myself in with the anti-nativists, AKA The Party Poopers of Celtic Studies, as you’re probably going to find out soon.

On a more simplified level, there are three figures from Irish Mythology who I do NOT like discussing simply because they tend to elicit very strong reactions from people when Commonly Accepted Truths are questioned: Bríg, the Morrigan, and Danu. All three of them tend to activate my fight or flight response when they’re brought up (and, most of the time, my option of choice is FLIGHT.) 

Point 1 (AKA “In Which Rachel Rants About 99% Of The Over-Generalizations of the Tuatha dé Into a Given Function”)

 it’s nearly impossible to concretely assign almost ANY of the Tuatha dé to a function. They aren’t really...a PANTHEON like that, if you look at the texts. They’re an ever-shifting cast of figures loosely tied together by a sprawling body of texts, poems, and genealogies who, while they MIGHT have had a pre-Christian past, are being primarily used as literary figures. And it’s nigh impossible to tell where the one begins and the other ends, especially since the  Tuatha dé SHIFT depending on the text (and sometimes even in the same text!) 

One of my favorite examples is Lugh. Generally regarded as one of the best figures of the Tuatha dé, the hero of Cath Maige Tuired, master of all skills. A GOOD GUY, right? Except...in Sons of Tuireann, he brutally manipulates the deaths of three men simply because he decided that he wanted to have his cake and eat it too. And in the Dindsenchas poem Carn Ui Neit, where he kills Bres. And in How the Dagda Got His Magical Staff, where he kills Cermait for sleeping with his wife. And the main text where he’s a Shining Hero, Cath Maige Tuired, is generally accepted by scholars these days (most notably John Carey and Mark Williams) agree that the text primarily comes out of a 9th century context and is meant to be basically a bolster for the literary elite in light of the Viking invasions (the Fomorians come from Lochlann “Land of Lakes,” which can either mean “Norway” or “Norse occupied Scotland” in a medieval Irish context). It’s not that Lugh is NOT a pre-Christian figure, because the figure Lugus with Gaul is...pretty indicative that there’s SOMETHING, but we have no idea WHAT. And, really as far as the Tuatha dé are concerned, there are probably...less than five figures I would SOLIDLY say we have any evidence for worship for and an idea of where they MAY have fit. Give or take one or two depending how I’m feeling on a given day. (Obviously, some people, even on the more skeptical side of things, can be more or less generous than me; I’m just a naturally very suspicious person. The ‘less than ten’ thing should not be taken as any indication of a consensus here.)

Basically, they couldn’t even agree on how these guys were supposed to behave, much less give them a FUNCTION. Their powers, what and who they’re associated with, etc. all is variable, and it’s impossible to tell which figures were genuine pre-Christian figures and which ones were literary figures who were invented to serve the purposes of the time. (Also, there are some figures who are highly associated with the literary elite but who...don’t pop up in any of the folktales that adapt the same stories, which leads me to suspect that their MAIN association was with the literary elite and they didn’t have any real influence out of that. See: Bres. I WANT my special boy to have been a Big Figure who was worshipped and respected, but the evidence, to ME at least, strongly suggests that he was a figure strongly associated with the literary elite who was tacked on as a villain to Cath Maige Tuired.)

So, my tl;dr here is that, really, it’s hard to assign a “mother goddess” or “Fertility goddess” to the Tuatha dé because, simply put, there is no way to assign that kind of specific function to almost ANY of the figures of the Tuatha dé. How they’re depicted really depends more on what the individual scribe wanted to convey rather than consistently associating them with ONE thing, and even in cases like Cormac’s Glossary, which DOES give a FEW of them functions, it’s....shaky at times, as we’re about to deal with. There are figures who ARE mothers, but it’s hard to really say that they’re...THAT associated with it. Generally speaking, the designation seems to be given to female figures in the text mainly because...they couldn’t think of anything else to apply to women? Ditto for “Fertility”. (See: Bríg. There is no reason to assume that Bríg had ANY association with fertility, and yet it’s a claim I see regularly trotted out.)

Point 2 (AKA “Okay, but what about DANU? Who IS said to be ‘Mother of the Gods?’”): 

Even by the usually-shaky standards of Irish Mythological continuity, (D)anand (not Danu in any of the medieval texts) is...strange, as far as her background. Not in a “There are like ten layers of literary stuff lightly sautéed on top of a Pre-Christian background” way, but in a, “Holy Shit, they REALLY created a goddess out of nothing, didn’t they?” way. The tl;dr is that, INITIALLY the Tuatha dé Danann were...the Tuatha dé. Just “Tuatha dé.” Which translates out very, very roughly to “God-Tribe.” Which WORKED but also, unfortunately, was the same term used for the Israelites in the Bible, which caused Confusion understandably. 

And, well. I’m going to let Mark Williams explain the rest, since he’s the man with the PhD (Also, if you have ANY interest in how our current conceptions of the Tuatha dé have been formed, I HIGHLY recommend this book. It’s a VERY solid, accessible book that doesn’t bog itself in academic jargon and instead tries to create something that can be read and enjoyed by anyone, and unlike me, he’s very open as far as the possibilities): 

This tangle indicates two things: first, the origins and developments of the mysterious Donand are not fully recoverable, and secondly the idea that Irish paganism knew a divine matriarch named Danu cannot now be maintained. The compilers of ‘Cormac’s Glossary’ may have been quite correct that there had once been a goddess called Anu or Ana associated with the Paps mountains, since it beggars belief to think that the pre-Christian Irish would not have associated so impressively breasted a landscape with a female deity. On the other hand it is suspicious that so important a figure as the glossary’s ‘mother of the Irish gods’ should go unmentioned in the early sagas, teeming as they are with former gods and goddesses. This raises the possibility that Ana/Anu may have simply been a local Munster figure, less familiar or even unknown elsewhere in Ireland. 

Michael Clarke foes further, and suggests that the lofty description of Anu/Anu in ‘Cormac’s Glossary’ may itself owe more to medieval learning than to pagan religion, and result from a monastic scholar musing learnedly on the goddess Cybele, mother of the classical gods...He also quotes Isidore, Irish scholars’ favourite source for the learning of Mediterranean antiquity, who describes Cybele in striking terms: “They imagine the same one as both Earth and Great Mother...She is called Mother, because she gives birth to many things. Great, because she generates food; Kindly, because she nourishes all living things through her fruits.” 

This, as Clarke notes, is so close to the Irish glossary entry that it is hard to avoid the suspicion that the ‘personality’ of the goddess Ana-’who used to feed the gods well’-has been cooked up in imitation of the classical deity. That Clarke’s analysis may be right is suggested by a distinctive oddity in the ‘Ana’ entry: While traces of the activities of divine beings are constantly detected in the landscape in Irish tradition, nowhere else is a natural feature described as part of a divinity’s body. This is rare even for the better-attested gods of classical tradition, with the signal exception of the great mother-goddesses of the eastern Mediterranean, of whom Cycle, the ‘Mountain Mother’, came to be the most prominent. Ana/Anu is simply not on the same scale or plane of representation as síd beings like Midir or Óengus, and it is telling that the Paps of Ana were imagined (by the early thirteenth century at the latest) as a pair of síd-mounds, the separate and unconnected dwellings of different otherworldly rulers. 

(Ireland’s Immortals, pg. 189-190)

So, just as much as it’s hard to assign a function to MOST of the Tuatha dé, it’s even harder to really....SAY whether Ana actually existed prior to a certain period of time. She definitely wasn’t called “Danu;” that form of her name is never used at that point. 

Was there a figure who was “Mother to the Gods?” I don’t know. Maybe there was! Maybe she was the Great Mother Goddess of the pre-Christian Irish! I’m not going to claim to KNOW one way or another until we invent time machines and I can properly go back in time to shake an answer out of Cormac in person. But it’s impossible to know and the evidence is scant at best, definitely not worthy of the press she gets. I wish I could tell you. I really do, even if the answer was something that I personally wouldn’t like. But then, we wouldn’t have a field, either. 

[forlornmelody]

OC Interview Meme

Thanks for the tag, @alyssalenko

Last time, Artemis Shepard sat down to answer these questions. I think this time we’ll switch things up and have my Asari OC, Dreya T’Vasi sit in the hot seat.

The rules: Answer the following questions as your OC of choice.

1. What’s your name?

Dreya T’Vasi.

2. Do you know why you are called that?

My father said it sounded like slow moving river.

3. Are you single or taken?

Taken.

4. Have any abilities or powers?

You mean my biotics? They’re nothing special around here but I suppose they’re exotic to non Asari.

5. Stop being a Mary Sue.

Is that a human thing?

6. What’s your eye color?

Violet

7. How about your hair color?

I don’t really have hair? My crests have gold tattoos, though.

8. Have any family members?

I have one mother and one father. Yes. They are both Asari. And if you start spouting garbage about Asari purebloods, I swear by Athame’s tits, I will....

9. Oh? How about any pets?

I have a school of Thessian sunfish, and a...well, the name doesn’t translate well but I have a bird called an eliodia. They are sacred to Athame. Also extremely noisy and notorious thieves.

10. That’s cool, I guess. Now tell me something you don’t like.

The very important dinners and charity functions my parents drag me to. Boooring.

11. Do you have any activities/hobbies that you like to do?

I like painting, drawing, dancing, swimming, and being outside. Anything that involves doing.

12. Have you hurt anyone in any way before?

Not intentionally, well okay. But she had it coming. And we were 35.

13. Ever… killed anyone before?

Goddess, no.

14. What kind of animal are you?

I’ve been called a squid by the human children of diplomats, but if I’m like any animal--it’s the delfinae. They’re...hard to describe. But they fly? Er, float. Biotically. But their main home is in the water.

15. Name your worst habits?

Well. I’m pretty disorganized. I just don’t see the point, when there are so

many

things I’d rather be doing than tidying up, you know?

16. Do you look up to anyone at all?

Naria L’ioni. She an activist matriarch 300 years ago. Sold everything she owned and lived in front of the embassy on Asteria (which was pretty much a farm house in an agrarian colony, but that’s besides the point) to bring awareness to the Morning War on Rannoch. Basically a badass.

17. Are you gay, straight or bisexual?

Gender isn’t as big of a deal where I’m from, so to be honest sexual orientation labels kind of baffle me. I don’t think I really have a preference? At least not physically. If you’re a an asshole or an idiot we’re probably not compatible.

18. Do you go to school?

I’m in advanced biotic training. I love it. My parents want me out of the house and out dancing or commandoing but, meh. I just love biotics for the sake of biotics, you know?

19. Ever want to marry and have any kids one day?

Maybe? I kind of feel like I have other things on my mind right now.

20. Do you have any fangirls/fanboys?

I’ve caught a few people staring at me in class so. 🤷‍♀️

21. What are you most afraid of?

Living a life devoid of meaning.

22. What do you usually wear?

Trousers and blouses, jumpsuits, draping, free flowing garments that aren’t dresses or robes.

23. What one food tempts you?

The word doesn’t quite translate, but it’s very similar to Greek giouvetsi. Except all the ingredients are different..but the taste and texture are very much the same?

24. Am I annoying you?

You are asking a lot of questions. Why so curious?

25. Well, it’s still not over!

At least tell me I get to draw you later.

26. What class are you (low/middle/high)?

High. My parents are rather influential. But I long for a classless society.

27. How many friends do you have?

I have several acquaintances, but not too many friends. It’s difficult to know if people like me for me or if they want to get within my mother and father’s circle.

28. What are your thoughts on pie?

Pie? What is pie?

29. Favourite drink?

Honey mead.

30. What’s your favorite place?

I love the forests and mountains on Nevos. Perfect escape from my parents’ business meetings.

31. Are you interested in anyone?

Most definitely.

32. That was a stupid question…

Mmhm.

33. Would you rather swim in the lake or the ocean?

Ocean!

34. What’s your type?

Capable, talented people. People who don’t give up.

35. Any fetishes?

*cough* Would it be unfair to say....alternative uses of biotics.

36. Camping indoors or outdoors?

Why would anyone camp indoors??

Tagging: @illusivesoul, and @bronzeagelove​. If you want to. <3

[exaltcdone]

apropos of this Important Info here’s brighid’s Most Current life story, for you( r muse’s ) perusal.

born brighid aisling o maoláin to [ Deity Mom and Deity Dad O Maoláin ] on FEBRUARY 29, 1956 in kildare, ireland. 

very shy child. did not speak at all until she was six, perplexed her parents with autism stuff like her sensory issues and getting along great with animals but not her peers. so her relationship with them is probably not very good. 

( myths and legends narrator voice: ) as an aside, most photos of brighid as a child show her asleep, drawing or with animals. or. i don’t know, making shadow puppets or whatever other ~Fanciful~ shit water sign kids do. 

her anxiety has also been with her since she was very little-- the first panic attack she ever had was as a toddler, from being separated from her mother on a walk home at night from a family event.

learnt to knit from family matriarchs when she was five.

did like. Okay in school. did very well in art and music classes, and poorly in the rest. like listed a few bullets up, she didn’t have many friends. probably teased a fair amount.

gave up meat entirely when she was eight, which was. great fun for her parents and peers as you might imagine.

first became part of the OG Hippie counterculture in the 60s ( and probably one of the only people at her school that did it ) when she was twelve and fell in love with it.

so uh . as another aside most of the photos of brighid from that point going forward will be of her in her tie-dye tree-hugger slogan shirts and flower crown on top of her wild ass hair and whatnot. 

as a teenager, she babysat, watched people’s pets, and Engaged in most fine-arts activities. don’t think she was ever Super Into extracurriculars like igraine, but certainly crafted a ton ( given, ) journalled, modelled, sang and played instruments. 

when she was sixteen she began taking on au pair jobs to support herself. it was good work and she liked it a lot ; but deep down it wasn’t good for her because being a hearth goddess she can’t be hopping from house to house for years at a time. it’s . Litcherally not healthy for her as a deity because the hearth is the Centre of the home. so i think her worshipers probably suffered as well. 

even though she hit a few road blocks because of her impulse-spending she saved enough, through au pair and modelling work to get her own apartment. 

then when brighid was about twenty-two, she moved to upstate new york ( for all of like five minutes, it was super overwhelming and she hated it there ) and then western massachusetts to use her Deity Power to support the sustainable farming boom in the 80s. 

she had a very rough start in america. that Sweet Ass Xenophobia ( and probably fatphobia as well ) Messed Her Up Good. and because she had to keep au-pairing to get stable financially at first, which, like i said, is not good for her. 

brighid left massachusetts when she was about thirty-something ( so about late 80s, early 90s ) and became a [ something smaller and more stable ] in peacham, vermont, her last Big( -ish ) move. 

she joined windy hill outdoor education’s team in 2014 and she’s Stayed Put ever since. she’ll have been with them for five years in march.

and there you go!! now brighid’s Jus Chillin! with her Cranky Wife and their cats! and 700 skeins of yarn!!

[allwicca]

The Goddess Movement

By: Debbie Wiseman

We know that thousands of years before the bible was written, creation stories centered on the Goddess, which celebrated vitally important aspects of life. Societies were led by the matriarch, who earned her status of authority through practical knowledge in childcare, agriculture, farming and all other communal tasks of living. It was for the most part, a peaceful celebration of living based on equality for all within their society.

However, overtime, patriarchal religions began to take hold and the idea of superiority and aggression were at the forefront. Goddess worshipping was no longer accepted or encouraged. Over time, the Romans fought hard to suppress or root out all Goddess worship. Which is ironic that a religion like Wicca, whose forerunner was destroyed by the Romans, has claimed the conquerors’ Goddesses for itself. A great many of the Pagan Goddesses come from the Roman/Greek pantheon. Before Romans became Christian, they were pagan and borrowed many deities from other cultures and religions. Many Pagan Goddess names come from the Celtic and the Egyptian religions.

CC BY by Female beauty, 21 million views

Known as the Great Mother, the Goddess is the creator whose limitless fertility brings new life. She is also known as Mother Nature; she creates but she can also destroy. Oftentimes, Goddesses are given titles that can be used for multiple Goddesses. In fact, somewhere in the world there is a Deity for every occasion that could arise. For example, Mother Goddess is the title used for the bountiful embodiment of the earth such as for Greek Goddesses Gaia, Demeter and Cybele. Whereas the title used for the Goddesses Luna, Selene and Artemis (Diana) is the Queen of Heaven. These Goddesses represent the moon as the source of feminine attributes connected to intuition, emotion and psychic ability.

Like many Pagan and Neopagan religions, there are no rules, no bible, no major doctrine; what has survived of ancient Goddess religions has been pieced together in fragments. Most Goddess worshippers do share the goal of living in harmony with nature. Goddess worship has had a revival since the mid to late 1970s as a growing form of spirituality. The popularity has stemmed from the diminished influences of Christianity in many societies. The interest in Paganism and Neopaganism, has made a noticeable impact with the resurgence in popularity in the religious history of the Vikings and all that it entails. These forms of religion use female imagery in celebrating the divine and see the Goddess as primary, all encompassing and essential in their spiritual development. In celebrating the Goddess, they are celebrating a wholeness of self, and the power to define the self is implicit within many of the rituals (Greenwood, 2011). In Goddess spirituality, we centre ourselves within all of our complete self, physically, ethereally, emotionally, mentally and deep in our soul, within time and space, becoming conscious, and present in this moment. The Goddess is seen as a symbol of strength and wholeness of women. The cycles of nature are worshipped and celebrated based on the Wheel of the Year while winter, spring, summer and autumn are viewed as metaphors for birth, growth, fading and death. Attributes traditionally viewed as feminine (i.e., intuition and nurturing) are revered.

The Goddess movement has been very active and significant in Britain. Britain’s ancient pagan traditions contain many hundreds of Goddesses. Archaeologists suggests that the indigenous peoples of Britain, and the Celts who arrived later, both considered Glastonbury a sacred place, as did the early Christians who built their first religious settlements in Britain on the site. Glastonbury Tor, located in Glastonbury is a prominent hill overlooking the Isle of Avalon, Glastonbury and Somerset. It is an ancient sacred location dedicated to the power of the Goddess. At the foot of the hill, there are two different healing springs. One touched red with iron, the other white with calcite, rise within a few feet of each other from the caverns beneath Glastonbury Tor. It is believed that both wells have healing properties in their flow. In addition to the legends associated with Glastonbury, the well is often portrayed as a symbol of the female aspect of deity, with the male symbolized by Glastonbury Tor. As such, it is a popular destination for pilgrims in search of the divine feminine, including modern Pagans (Glastonbury Tor).

CC BY-NC-ND by OnTheWander

Elsewhere in Europe, archaeologists have discovered, that prior to the tenth century, Scandinavia was predominantly Pagan. Paganism was mostly based on local traditions, with a common set of beliefs in their myths. Furthermore, it was a polytheistic religion with its dedication to the many gods and goddesses. As with other societies, the role of the goddesses in Nordic mythology reflected the matriarchal society from which they came. The women were considered to have natural psychic abilities, and performed the roles of seers and shamans for their tribes (Valkyrie Tower).

In Druidry, the Goddess Brigid (also known as Brigit, Bride, Brighid, Brìd, Brígh), is celebrated during the festival of Imbolc, which traditionally takes place during the month of February. She is known as the Goddess of Fire. According to Winter Cymres, Brigid can be seen as the most complex and powerful religious figure in all of Irish history. Folklore tell us that in Ireland, nineteen priestesses kept the perpetual flame of the Goddess Brigid lit at the Shrine of Cill Dara, a tradition that endured into Christian times in honour of St. Brigid, herself said to have been a Druidess before her conversion to Christianity (Druidry.org).

In Wicca, the Goddess is the very essence or central figure of the Craft and worship. It is a religion that honours and celebrates women, the earth, darkness and nature. Most Wiccans are witches that practice white magic and worship Gods and Goddesses. As mentioned in my previous blog on Wicca, Gerald Gardner, the modern-day founder of Wicca, stated that Wiccans worshipped two principal deities, the god of forests and what lies beyond, and the great Triple Goddess of virgin, mother and crone. However, many other goddesses are used as part of an initial ritual into witchcraft, prayer, and worship.

Celebrating the re-emergence of the Goddess does not mean a return to the old ways. What it can do however is to provide a profound healing of the dissatisfaction that infiltrates our society and environment. “In reclaiming the Goddess, in recovering our full human history as men and women, we can learn other patterns of behavior. We can redress the imbalance between the human species and our natural environment, between men and women, exploring the possibility of living in harmony and justice with all things” (Gadon, 1989).

The goal of the Goddess Movement isn’t about removing power from others or changing long held beliefs from any one individual. It is about the opportunity for women to gain their own sense of self and provide them with the strength to walk into their own through the assimilation of all her feminine divinity.

    References

Gadon, Elinor. 1989. The Once and Future Goddess: A Sweeping Visual Chronicle of the Sacred Female and Her Reemergence in the Cult. HarperCollins, New York, NY, 10022

Glastonbury Tor at http://ift.tt/1tQzgnJ

Greenwood, Susan. 2011. The illustrated history of magic and witchcraft: A study of pagan belief and practice around the world, from the first shamans to modern witches and wizards, in 530 images. Leicestershire: Lorenzo Books

Pagan Library at www.paganlibrary.com

Valkyrie Tower at http://ift.tt/2k2VUdg

The White Goddess at http://ift.tt/2kmmkTC

Wicca Spirituality at http://ift.tt/2k2EJZn

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from The Goddess Movement