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         The following was originally posted in the Wiccaning echo
                    of Crystal Link by Lady Galadriel.
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In Saturday's Atlanta Journal-Constitution there was a large article on 
Goddess Worship which appeared on the Religion page. I thought I would 
transcribe it, as it was fairly positive in tone, and I was also impressed 
by the fact that it wasn't at Halloween! 
 
                             IN HER OWN IMAGE 
            Goddess worship is a hot topic as 100,000 followers
                   praise Isis and other such dieties. 
                      By Gayle White, Staff Reporter 
 
      In and out of the mainstream of American religion, as many as 100,000 
women are worshiping a deity in their own image. 

      Ceremonies take different forms: 

o A high priestess invokes Isis, a deity of ancient Egypt. 
o Witches form a firelit circle to honor the Great Mother. 
o A United Methodist minister sings of "fairest Sophia, ruler of all 
  nature." 

      Goddess worship "is a real hot topic these days," says Dr. Cynthia 
Patterson, associate professor of history at Emory University. The interest 
has affected the academic and religious rrealms, as more women are studying 
goddess-related mythology and cultures, she said. 

      Theologians link increasing interest in goddesses to the women's 
liberation and ecological movements. 

      Along with their quest for greater political and economic power, 
women began to demand greater spiritual identity and to express their 
dissatisfaction with what they considered patriarchal religions that label 
woman as the origin of the world's sin. And as concerns about pollution and 
environmental hazards arise, they fear for the health of Mother Earth. 

                    Goddess Worship 30,000 Years Old? 

      Feminist worshipers say they are not creating new identities, but 
reclaiming old ones. 

      Some recent books claim goddess worship goes back 30,000 years, long 
before the days of Moses and Abraham, although other scholars are skeptical. 

      Outside Western and Islamic culture, female deities have frequently 
been worshiped. 

      Unlike religions that recognize a single omnipotent, omniscient 
paternal figure, feminist religions often honor various goddesses as 
representing important female traits. 

      "Feminine divinities tend to divide up female power," said Dr. 
Patterson. "There might be one female who represents motherhood, one for 
sexuality, one for crafts and skills." 

      Goddess worship centers on nature - life within everyone and everyone 
as a part of life. 

      Gods and goddesses are "aspects of divinity defined in a way we can 
deal with them as human beings," says the Rev. Ruth Wiskind of Atlanta, a 
therapist and a priestess in the Fellowship of Isis, a 15-year-old 
Ireland-based group with 11,000 members in 67 countries, including about 
200 in Georgia. 

      It is named for Isis, chief goddess of the ancient Egyptians, also 
worshiped in Greece and Rome shortly before the birth of Christ. 

      "What we're accessing is what  already exists within us," said the 
Rev. Wiskind. "When we focus on the femine in the divine, we're looking for 
reaffirmation of ourselves." 

      Some Isis followers belive in her literal as well as symbolic 
existence. 

      "Isis has been on this Earth in the physical," said the Rev. Gail 
Mack of Norcross, another priestess. "She has come back several times when 
her prescence was needed. When she is not in an incarnate state, her energy 
is still present." 

      Isis is the `healing mother' she said. The mother image, the woman as 
nurturer, is common throughout goddess worship. 

      "The first contact we have with our parents is our mother," said Lady 
Kali Morgaine. She is a priestess under High Priestess Lady Sintana of the 
200 strong Ravenwood Church and Seminary of Wicca in Dekalb County. 

      Wicca, or witchcraft, an ancient pagan religion, recognizes both god 
and goddess, but the high priestess is considered the center of the coven. 

      "The matriarchal organization of Wicca comes from the old idea that 
woman is center of the home, the keeper of the hearth fire, and that the 
home revolves around her," said Lady Morgaine. She was raised a Southern 
Baptist and became an Episcopalian, but left the church because of a debate 
about whether women should be priests. 

                 Male and Female Qualities of the Divine 

      Most goddess-oriented religions recognize male and female qualities 
of the divine, and claim men and women among there followers. 

      The Rev. Deanna Aylward Burch of Atlanta and West Palm Beach, a 
secretary and minister of the 15-member Radiant Light Church, said her 
mission is to bring traditional religion and goddess recognition together. 

      "To do that is to bring forward the feminine, because we've already 
got the masculine here," she said. "It's like rolling back the stone of a 
cave and saying it's allright to come out now." 

      The allusion to Jesus' resurrection is no accident. The Rev. Burch, 
who was raised a Catholic, considers herself very Christ-centered. Her 
church includes members from both Eastern and Western religions. 

      In the Christian Trinity  - Father, Son and Holy Spirit - she 
considers the Holy Spirit feminine, or the Mother. 

      Even within solidly traditional Christian churches, some ministers 
are making an effort to ascribe both feminine and masculine attributes to 
God. 

      Although much of biblical language about God is solidly masculine, 
the Bible presents several images of a loving, nurturing mother, said the 
Rev. Elaine Puckett, minister of the 250 member Park St. United Methodist 
Church in Atlanta. In Psalms God is pictured as giving birth to creation. 
In the New Testament, Jesus weeps over Jerusalem like a hen over her chicks. 

      She said she encourages people to examine what will be lost if they 
limit God to only masculinity. 

                 Gender-Neutral Ways To Talk About Faith 

      "I think that what we have in scripture is a beautiful marriage of 
the elements of all of us that are both masculine and feminine," she said. 

      Several major Protestant groups are studying inclusive language, or 
gender-neutral ways of talking about their beliefs. 

      Some mainstream Christians choose to address the feminine in God as 
Sophia, the Greek word for Wisdom. In Proverbs, wisdom is personified as a 
woman. 

      Two United Methodist ministers and a Catholic laywoman wrote 
"Wisdom's Feast", a book that includes hymns, liturgies and sermons to 
Sophia. In some cases, the authors substitute Sophia for Jesus or God. 

      The first book of the Bible said that God created people in his own 
image, male and female, said the Rev. Susan Cady of Pennsylvania, one of 
the authors. 

      "The feminine image of God has always been there. We have chosen not 
to recognize it," she said. 

      Theologians say it is important to distinguish between 
Sophia_Christology, which identifies Sophia as an aspect of God, and 
Sophiology, which treats her as a seperate goddess. Both views have 
followers among academics. 

      Some women not affliated with any religion have found comfort in the 
idea of a goddess. 

      "I would react violently to someone who referred to me as a 
goddess-worshiper," said Linda Evans, a Stone Mountain marketing 
consultant, "but I think I represent a lot of women and men in that I've 
certainly incorporated goddess culture and the goddess in my own life." 

      In honoring the goddess, she said, "I`m simply saying that I honor 
the female type energy we find around us as well as the male...I don't 
think I am going to hell for it." 

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The article was accompanied by three pictures - one of Lady Sintana in the
circle of stones at Ravenwood, one of a Wiccan altar, and one of necklaces
and medallions which featured both a pentagram and a hexagram. 

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                               C R E D I T S
Original Text:  Gayle White, Staff Reporter, Atlanta Journal & Constitution
Typing       :  Lady Galadriel, High Priestess, Grove of the Unicorn
Editing Etc. :  Julius Caesar, SysOp, Caesar's Palace BBS
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