RE-MEMBERING and RE-CLAIMING GODDESS

What are the ancient roots of Goddess culture in which our modern Goddess spirituality is based?

As a priestess of Goddess I often refer to two practices which in my view are the two most basic and maybe even the most important practices in our modern Goddess spirituality. Those practices are remembering and reclaiming. Both immediately give away that we are not making things up here; we are RE-membering and RE-claiming, we are bringing Her back, back into our conscious, in our actions, relations, back in our society. Accepting that automatically means that She was here before. That Goddess was alive and present amongst us, but that we lost Her, forgot about Her, that She was hidden away. So, when, where and how was She present before and when, where and how was She hidden and/or hiding?

To find out when, where and how Goddess was alive and present amongst us we would have to look into ‘Her-story’. Herstory is mainly that part of history that lies before the time of the written word. About twenty five years ago I visited Skara Brae, an ancient village on the Orkney Island. The guide there told me something that really opened my eyes. He pointed out that history was generally written by the survivors, the victors and the oppressors and that written ancient history was almost completely written down by men. This makes sense with patriarchy (generally and simply said: the male dominated society) starting around 3000 BCE and the origins of writing starting around 3200 BCE. It however does not mean that there was no proof of societies or divination before that.  Herstory is told over and over again by art, by thousands of statues of Goddess, by painting on the walls in caves, by architecture, by traditions handed down or sometimes still very much alive in these times. And herstory can be read in the Land, on the body of Mother Earth herself.

Archaeology is our dearest ally when exploring herstory. But even that was not an automatic or easy process. All over our Western world little statues of Goddess were found. But the world of archaeology again was dominated by men and at first She was often interpreted and named as a ‘Lady’ or a ‘Venus’, with the latter mostly referring to it being some sort of sexual or even pornographic image. And that was if you were lucky, many Goddess statutes have just been categorised as ‘figurines’ or not even seen as female. 

A few years ago I visited the The Dutch National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden and still a lot of obvious Goddess statues were named ‘figurines’.  I was shocked and wrote to the museum and gave them the titles of a few books that would make it very clear that they should re-label their ‘figurines’ into the ‘Goddess statues’ to start with.

The books I referred to in that context were the books of Marije Gimbutas (almost all her work),  Merlin Stone (‘when God was a Woman’), Elinor W. Gadon (‘the once & future Goddess’) and of the Dutch Goddess writer Annine van der Meer (‘van Venus tot Madonna’). Especially Marije Gimbutas was the one who recognised, interpreted and named a lot of ancient archaeological finds as Goddess or Goddess related. She really put Goddess back on the map and started to re-write history into herstory...

Through people like Marije Gimbutas things slowly but surely started to make more sense, more and more was recognised (re-cognised, bringing back to cognition, knowing).  It was like shells were taken of the eyes of archaeologists. People started to understand more of the Goddess symbolism as well. For instance: even if a statue wasn’t clearly feminine, if it had a V-shaped sign on Herbody, it could be classified as a Goddess or Goddess votive statue. And from the way Goddess statues were depicted they could make up how the people then thought about their Goddess. She was often portrayed with a full body, which meant She was live giving, birth mother, creatrix. She was often holding up Her breasts, which meant She was nourishing, providing, Goddess of abundance. The womb was however not just Her life giving symbol, it was also the place to return after death. Burial mounds can be seen as the womb of the Goddess to which you return after you die, where you are safe until you will be born again from that same womb.

Many books, essays and stories have been written about Goddess since. I remember all too well how amazed I was about how much had been written about Her, when I first opened the door to the world of Goddess.  How much evidence there actually is in books, in museums, in ancient sites you can visit in places like Malta, Turkey, Crete, Greece, but also much closer to home in the UK and even in The Netherlands. Temples, stone circles, burial mounds, depictions of Shelagh Na Gig on churches... If you know where and how to look, She is actually everywhere!  Even in the shape of the Land, for instance in Avebury, Wiltshire UK, where a huge stone circle and two stone avenues actually form a perfect uterus with tubes and all. Or in the same area, where Silbury Hill is so clearly the pregnant womb of the Mother that a three dimensional (ancient modern) statue is made of Her. Talking about reclaiming!

This is where we can find our roots. She was there in the time before patriarchy, She was present and real not just in Europe, but actually all over the world. And fortunately, people gave Her form in statues and worshipped Her in temples, so we could find Her again.

Because She did go in hiding, but not totally voluntarily I may add. I do not want to dwell here and now on the horrors about how patriarchy and their male God(s) banished Her totally and tried to destroy Her. How Sophia and Asherah were written out of the bible, how many stories were rewritten and Hades abducted Persephone into the underworld and how many of wise women and men were burned at the stake in Her name... Safe to say that especially here in the Western World, the ‘new’ God did not leave any room for Goddess and everything possible was done to make us forget all about Her.

And for centuries it looked on the surface that they had succeeded. But of course She never really disappeared. She was present in legends, myths and stories. Everybody who was taught the ancient languages heard of Athena and Diana and the pantheon of Greek and Roman Goddesses. We kept visiting the temples of Hathor and Isis as tourists. In the Eastern religions and cultures the Goddesses like Durga, Lakshmi and Kali returned in our vision with the connection with for instance India, especially in the Sixties.  And do not underestimate the role that Mary has played and is still playing in keeping Goddess alive in our hearts, memories and lives. It is well known that many Christian traditions are built on ancient pagan rituals as well as many Christian sites are built at places that were devoted to Goddess, and many of them are devoted to Mary.  I therefore often call Mary, Goddess underground. She certainly was Goddess for me when I was growing up and still is now!

Now and here, as we are really bringing Her back as She leads us back to Her. We are remembering Her through all the information that is available to us now, but we also learn to remember Her in ourselves. We are remembering Her when we come to certain places where She is very present, like sacred sites and temples and places like Glastonbury (Avalon). We feel we are coming home to Her as She calls us home to Her. We are remembering Her in people we meet and coincidental situations we find ourselves in as She speaks to us through synchronicity.

We reclaim Her many names and forms, like reclaiming Britannia as the sovereign Goddess of the British Islands (as done during the Glastonbury Goddess Conference 2012), not as the Goddess of war, colonisation and domination, but as the Mother Goddess who provides for and protects Her land and people.  We rewrite history into herstory, by recognising that the ‘evil’ great snake slain by Apollo, was actually the loving Earth Goddess Gaia and that Eve was sharing the Mother’s wisdom with Adam when she handed him the apple.

And with the return of Goddess, we remember and reclaim ourselves. We remember that we are one, that there is no separation, no lack, but unity and abundance. That we, women and men of all countries, cultures and traditions, can live in peace if we love and support each other. And we reclaim ourselves as Her priestesses and priests honouring Her and each other and celebrating all She gives us, in life, death and rebirth!

What are the ancient roots of Goddess culture in which our modern Goddess spirituality is based? Ultimately it is rooted in us, in our genes, in our memory, in our cultures and traditions, in our lands. And it is up to us to remember and reclaim Her, up to us to bring Her back!

"I have been with you since the beginning,

and I will be with you at the end. I

 am part of you and you are part of me.

Allow me to love you.

Allow me to honour you.

Allow me to return."

Marion van Eupen, November 2012