Goddess Blogging Round-up

I think I am going to make this a bit of a regular attempt, though I notice there are times when the topic of the Goddess is more active than others. So since I noticed a lot of good Goddess content on the web recently, I thought I would gather some links in one spot and let you guys surf around to your heart's content. This is also a good way for me to keep track of all the topics that I want to ponder and possibly create future posts of my own on.

One June 11, 2008 Carol P. Christ talked about the "Ethics of Goddess Religion" on the Women and Spirituality blog.

Last week in a cave in Crete 17 women pilgrims solemnly affirmed nine touchstones of the ethics of Goddess religion in front of a naturally formed stalactite altar used by the Minoans more that 3500 years ago.

The topic of whether or not Goddess Religion was still Pagan floated around a few blogs last week. I think the original catalyst came from Judith at Medusa Coils. I have been developing my own theories on this one, but as usual I'm taking my time about it.

Trends in Feminist Spirituality from Medusa Coils:

Feeding into seeing Goddess as a distinct path of Paganism is the feeling among participants in some Pagan groups that patriarchal practices or attitudes which led them to leave Abrahamic religions have made their way into some Pagan groups.

Then led to a response from Jason at the Wild Hunt Blog which seemed to lead to a few folks linking to it and spreading it around nicely.

Ailia at Paleothea has been posting some really interesting stuff lately as well such as the two posts quoted below.

Was There Ever a Goddess and What Was She Like?

It makes a great deal of sense to me personally that separating one’s worship from oneself physically - either by worshiping an utterly non-corporal deity, or locating the deity far from one’s experience of the world (e.g. in Heaven), or theologically denying physical experience (such as death) - might put the feminine divine at a disadvantage. As a woman, I root a number of my conceptions of my own gender in my body’s (hypothetical) ability to produce life. I am extremely aware that this has been a crucial definition for my foremothers. Thus it seems “only natural” that feminine deities - particularly the Great Ones - should include as a crucial element of their identity the creation (and potentially destruction) of physical life.

Athena the Misogynist

Go online, and it is easy to find scores of sites dedicated to Athena as the patron Goddess of good feminist neo-pagans. In my opinion, however, Athena was more of a product and purveyor of “the patriarchy” than any other Goddess in the Olympic pantheon. There was no other goddess with such power in the (Athenian) populace, and this came from the very fact that her power was not that of a feminist revolutionary, but rather the embodiment of the patriarchy as the parthenogenic daughter of The Father (Zeus). The oppression of women had been Athena’s realm since she founded Athens (and decreed that women shouldn’t vote or be citizens). Sex was an important tool for that oppression (keeping in mind the fact that gender identity and erotic desire can and should be distinguished) as illustrated in the myths surrounding the House of Athens.