I'm interested in a religion that reveres females, any Serious suggestions?

Question

I'm studying Sikhism at the moment, does anyone have any Pagan historical links to goddess based religions?

Cute, John H, but no thanks.

Answer 1

Most goddess-based religions are going to be modern. There were cults of goddesses within big civic religions (Germanic, Greek, Roman) but you can't say they are goddess based.

Dianic Paganism is the easy one.

Answer 2

Though Hindus worship Durga, Kali, Lakshmi, Saraswati for specific reasons, they are not in real life reverent towards females. Guru Nanak Devji was the first person to speak against the exploitations of ignorant masses by hindu religious heads and spearheaded a new way of life i.e. sikhism wherein the women were treated at par with the men and paved the way for equality of genders.

Answer 3

Search :

1.Vestal Virgins ( Ancient Rome )

2. Cult of Athena ( the Parthenon in Athens was such a
temple )

3. Cult of Artemis ( ancient Greece )

4. Cult of Aphrodite ( ancient Greece )

5. Cult of Kali ( ancient Hindu goddess ) but be careful of the Thuggies !

6. Cult of Mahimata ( the most ancient Vedic Earth Mother )

6. Cult of Isis ( ancient Egypt )

7. Cult of Ianna / Ishtar ( ancient Sumer )

8. Cult of Freya ( Norse )

9. Cult of Anu ( Celtic )

That should give you some material to work with.

Answer 4

A lot of the ancient religions had goddesses in them, though I don't believe there's any extant documentation on a goddess-only religion that's not modern.

That said, in ancient times, there were certainly groups/individuals that devoted themselves to specific goddesses - Rome's Vestal Virgins, the Irish Flamekeepers of Brighid, etc.

Answer 5

With your warrior outlook, perhaps study of Artemis / Diana would be appropriate...

"The goddess Artemis played an intriguing role in Greek mythology and religion. She was known as the "Mistress of Animals" and the protectress of children, but she was also a huntress and the goddess who could bring death with her arrows. Myths such as the one about Niobe show Artemis as a strong willed and powerful goddess, a female who could punish injustices against the gods with ferocious and deadly accuracy."

Answer 6

Astarte (from Greek Αστάρτη (Astártē)) is the name of a major goddess as known from Northwestern Semitic regions, cognate in name, origin and functions with the goddess Ishtar in Mesopotamian texts. Another transliteration is ‘Ashtart; other names for the goddess include Hebrew or Phoenician עשתרת (transliterated Ashtoreth), Ugaritic ‘strt (also ‘Astart or ‘Athtart, transliterated Atirat), and Akkadian dAs-tar-tú (also Astartu). Etruscan Uni-Astre (Pyrgi Tablets).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astarte

Zoroastrian goddess Anahita
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anahita

Chang'e, Ch'ang-O or Chang-Ngo (Chinese: 嫦娥; pinyin: Cháng'é), also known as Heng-E or Heng-O (姮娥; Héng'é), is the Chinese goddess of the moon. Unlike many lunar deities in other cultures who personify the moon, Chang'e only lives on the moon. As the "woman on the Moon," Chang'e could be considered the Chinese complement to the Western notion of a man in the moon. The lunar crater Chang-Ngo is named after her.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chang'e_(mythology)

Indian goddess Kali the Ultimate Reality (Brahman) and Source of Being
http://www.exoticindiaart.com/kali.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kali

Here is a list you can look through...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_deities

Answer 7

Christianity does revere females.... the problem is that southern culture has been read into it and changed the meaning of things... as well as missinterpretations of the Bible. Actually in the Bible you will read about female Prophets, and women leading churches in their houses... it's awesome and definitely reveres females! Jesus was born of a Female :) If females wern't revered, then why on earth would Jesus have been born of a female??

Sikhism, on the other hand, does NOT revere females. I live here in India and I see it first-hand. Goddess-based religions aren't necessarily the answer. Those usually have a lack of males...
it's best to have a little bit of both :) Where both are respected :)

Answer 8

in my opinion the question might want to be vise verse. What are options? they are the end results of previous conditioning which the options has had. The enlightened has divorced himself/herself from the body-options. body-options options will come & bypass despite the indisputable fact that the gjnani isn't worried. the position because the ignorant one receives in touch and creates names and varieties. for this reason it truly is the ignorant human who got here first in spite of from which faith, has created many faiths and is making an attempt to educate the prevalence inspite of the help of wars and killing chance free beings

Answer 9

Lesbianism

Answer 10

Wicca comes to mind -- lots of feminine power there. But of course, I'm Wiccan, so it WOULD be the first that springs to mind. :-)