The Meanings of Goddess - Part 1 

Max Dashu, the Suppressed Histories Archives

So much confusion has been sown about goddess veneration. Resistance to seeing any sacral value in ancient female icons has been a particular sticking point in academia. There, emphasis is usually placed on theoretical frameworks that seem to ignore the sense of sacredness that pervades aboriginal cultures. And there has been fundamental misunderstanding of what the Women’s Spirituality movement means when we speak of Goddess or goddesses. These are some of my reflections on these gaps and what needs to be clarified.

The Computer Goddesses 

by Barbara Ardinger

Our Found Goddesses are the ones we make up. Sure, we can appeal to Aphrodite for love and Ops when our bank account is running dry and Frigga to get our house in order, but which of the traditional goddesses is in charge of computers? We Find new goddesses to deal with modern issues.

Imbolc and Bridget 

by Cheryl Straffon

In rural areas, especially in the Celtic enclaves of Ireland and Scotland, a great number of customs grew up around this time, most associated with the Goddess whose festival this became, Bridget or Bride (pronounced Breed). When Christianity eventually took over, it found that such an important festival and its much-loved Goddess could not be ignored, so they changed the name to Candlemass, which still takes place in the Christian church on February 2nd, the festival of the purification of the virgin. The all-loving and nurturing Goddess, protectress of women and of childbirth, was turned into a festival in which the mother of Christ (who was still considered to be a virgin) had somehow to be cleansed of the process of giving birth, as if it were somehow unclean or shameful.

by Jacqui Woodward-Smith

Brigit of the mantles,
Brigit of the peat-heap,
Brigit of the twining hair
(Trad.)

by Rev. Karen Tate

Dan Brown's bestseller, The Da Vinci Code, piqued the curiosity of millions of all faiths with his accounts of the Sacred Feminine. With nearly 50 million books sold, the long anticipated film version of Brown’s story hit the screen in May associated with such a hotbed of controversy the likes of which the film industry had not seen since The Passion of the Christ. With the release of The Da Vinci Code dvd, this theme of the partnership of Mary Magdalene and Jesus, and the glimpse into the true herstory of Goddess will no doubt continue to be in the hearts, minds and living rooms of millions more for sometime to come despite Church disdain for the theme.

Jill Smith's recent sequence of pictures: The Moon and the Mountain - the Standstill Journey, inspired by the 1987 lunar standstill were exhibited in the summer of 2006 at the An Lanntair Arts Centre, Stornoway, Isle of Lewis, and at the Calanais Visitor Centre, Isle of Lewis. Click on the thumbnails below to see larger versions and don't forget to visit Jill's own website (where you can buy originals and see much more of her work). The final picture in the sequence refers to plans to build a huge windfarm on Lewis which would be a bit of a disaster for the local environment and also the beauty of the place.