What is "Goddess Worship?"?

Question

Aside the obvious answer that it is the worshiping of a Goddess. It sounds interesting, but I only ever hear women talking about it.

I'm not being a jerk, I am seriously interested: What Goddess? What's the belief structure? What should I look up in Wikipedia to find out more?

Answer 1

In the modern Pagan community you're going to get more answers to that question than you know what to do with. Choose a Goddess, there's someone out there who worships her. There is no set belief structure. Each person and each group worships in his or her own way. In Wikipedia, I'd try,

Goddess worship (obviously)
Dianic Wicca (this is Goddess worship taken to extremes)
Pagan goddesses
Witchcraft

Also, a good website for info is : www.witchvox.com

Good luck in your searching!

Answer 2

Goddess worship is either due to a polytheistic culture (i.e. having more than one god, meaning that roughly half will be female, half male - and even some hermaphrodite gods) so the worship of Devi, a Hindu goddess, or Isis, one of the gods of ancient Egypt. Goddess worship also arose out of feminism - the believe that God was made male out of a patriarchal and sexist male-dominant society, and therefore believe the Abrahamic (Christian, Jewish and Islamic) God is either female, or a male AND female 'monad', which would fall in line with the trinity. If God can be father, son and holy ghost then surely 'he' can be female as well - and thereby include women into the previously male-dominated viewpoint.

Answer 3

Goddess Worhip is not just worhiping female Goddesses. In Hinduism it is called "DEVI UPPASANA". or more familiarly, Sakthism.

SAKTISM
In his seminal History of the Shakta Religion, N. N. Bhattacharyya explained that "[those] who worship the Supreme Deity exclusively as a Female Principle are called Shakta. The Shaktas conceive their Great Goddess as the personification of primordial energy and the source of all divine and cosmic evolution. She is identified with the Supreme Being, conceived as the Source and the Spring as well as the Controller of all the forces and potentialities of Nature. Nowhere in the religious history of the world do we come across such a completely female-oriented system."

Alternative interpretations of Shaktism, however -- primarily those of Shaivite scholars, such as Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami -- argue that the feminine manifest is ultimately only the vehicle through which the masculine Un-manifest Parasiva is ultimately reached. In this interpretation, the Divine Mother becomes something of a mediatrix, who bestows advaitic moksha on those who worship Her. Thus, these Shaivite views often conclude that Shaktism is effectively a sub-denomination of Saivism, arguing that Devi is worshipped in order to attain union with Siva, who in Shaktism is the impersonal unmanifest Absolute. This remains a minority view in Shaktism proper, which considers Siva as an equal and inseparable aspect of Devi.

Origin and History
Shaktism as we know it today developed between the 4th and the 7th centuries CE in India. It was during this development that the many religious texts, known as the Tantras, were written. In a certain sense, one could consider oneself a Shakta (a devotee of Shakti), a Shaiva (a devotee of Shiva), and a Vaishnava (a devotee of Vishnu) all at the same time.

Roots in Hinduism
This form of Hinduism is strongly associated with Vedanta, Samkhya and Tantra Hindu philosophies and is ultimately monist, though there is a rich tradition of Bhakti yoga associated with it. The feminine energy (Shakti) is considered to be the motive force behind all action and existence in the phenomenal cosmos in Hinduism. The cosmos itself is Brahman, the concept of the unchanging, infinite, immanent and transcendent reality that is the Divine Ground of all being, the "world soul". Masculine potentiality is actualized by feminine dynamism, embodied in multitudinous goddesses who are ultimately reconciled in one.

Answer 4

I hope I don't shock you... You might want to think out of the box on this one: Goddess worship doesn't always have to do with religion & spirituality.

Look up the term 'Goddess' with respect to any D/s relationship. Many men realize women are superior to them and act accordingly. Hence the term Goddess Worship.

Answer 5

Most Goddess worshipers consider themselves Wiccan or at least in some way connected to Wicca. Some follow a particular form of paganism. Others, like myself, worship a goddess in our own idiosyncratic ways. Your best bet is to look up Wicca and goddess and folow the links where you feel the desire for more information.

Answer 6

No way. historical Egyptians had lady deities as did the Greeks, Romans, Sumarians, Mayaians, Celts and so on, and so on it is in basic terms in the near previous (interior the human timeline) that some cultures based around a unmarried male godhead. Even in a number of those religions there remains a effectual lady counterweight in Mary, the mum of God. it is in basic terms that interior the previous few an prolonged time that persons brazenly fought/debated/worshiped the female divine energies.

Answer 7

Goddess worship means worship of nature/power and also conceptualising God in a female form. It exists in almost all religions and cultures. It is mostly nature worship and it could also mean worshipping God as one's own mother or also as a giver of various boons/blessings. There are numerous goddesses in various cultures and are worshipped for various purposes. If a more elaborate answer is reqired, please write to me.

Answer 8

You have a choice of a whole lot of Goddesses...a few examples-
Aphrodite, Minerva, Athena, Hera, Ashera ( a Jewish goddess who was Jehovah's wife), Frea, Hecate. Many anthropoligists believe goddesses were worshipped before gods.

Answer 9

It is breaking the Ten Commandments, the first two I might add:

Thou shall have no other gods before me

Thou shall not make unto thee any graven image

This is found in Exodus 20:1-17

There is no goddess, there is only one God!

Answer 10

All prophets have claimed to be messengers of GOD Therefore there is only one GOD of all religions.To accept GOD today there is no UNIVERSALITY. Universality is only MOTHER CHILD relationship. MOTHER GODESS worship should be universally accepted. Then there would be no reliogious Strifes D B Saxeba