different roots for Goddess worship

[Norebo]

Hey all,

This might be a silly question, but are there any Goddess groups/temples/schools of thought/conversations that do not have an intrinsic Wiccan/Neopagan foundation?

I understand that traditional Shakti devotion is another thing entirely which stands apart from the contemporary Goddess movement in the anglosphere, but I have had a hard time coming across Goddess communities which are not Wicca-normative. Now just to be clear, I have no problem with Wicca or its influence on emergent religions, but it is not at all the path I've traveled to arrive at the veneration of the Great Mother.

In the past 5 years, I meandered through vague New Age monism with a dash of Zen sensibilities, then continued through Neoplatonic philosophy and Spinoza-esque wonder until I finally had a breakthrough and felt the power of loving devotion to a feminine, panentheistic deity. That was just about a year ago.

When I first went in search of others who might share my beliefs, I naturally came across communities within the Goddess movement. It didn't take long before I noticed a pattern of what was normalized in these groups.
- circle and/or spell casting
- invoking the classical Greek elements
- "Wheel of the Year" with holidays in multiple non-English languages (huh?) and a story about dying & rebirthing gods (double huh??)
- mythology about an pre-Bronze Age goddess cult all over Europe
- reference to the Tripple-Goddess as conceptualized by Robert Graves
- reference to as many historical female deities as possible (I'm a huge history buff, but I was lost as to what this movement had to do with any ancient religions at all)

I first thought "what did any of this have to do with just simply loving the Divine?" Of course, I have now spent enough time learning all about the origins of the movement in Wicca, and how Gerald Gardner synthesized - quite brilliantly, in my opinion - existing occultist trends of the early 20th century with a melange of Celtic and Germanic folklore.

It's all well and good, but it didn't have anything to do with my journey at all. I don't really care for Tarot, or magic(k), or borrowing divine images from cultures not my own, or seeking ancient secrets, or anything like that. I think the Wheel of the Year is pretty clever, but I'd really just rather celebrate Thanksgiving four times per year. I'm a California tree-hugger from a multi-ethnic (i.e. not eurocentric) household who spent a lot of time talking to rocks as a kid

Any kindred spirits out there? Where have you found your place in the community?

Thanks in advance for any input!

 

[beenherebeforeagain]

Hey all,

This might be a silly question, but are there any Goddess groups/temples/schools of thought/conversations that do not have an intrinsic Wiccan/Neopagan foundation?

I understand that traditional Shakti devotion is another thing entirely which stands apart from the contemporary Goddess movement in the anglosphere, but I have had a hard time coming across Goddess communities which are not Wicca-normative. Now just to be clear, I have no problem with Wicca or its influence on emergent religions, but it is not at all the path I've traveled to arrive at the veneration of the Great Mother.

In the past 5 years, I meandered through vague New Age monism with a dash of Zen sensibilities, then continued through Neoplatonic philosophy and Spinoza-esque wonder until I finally had a breakthrough and felt the power of loving devotion to a feminine, panentheistic deity. That was just about a year ago.

When I first went in search of others who might share my beliefs, I naturally came across communities within the Goddess movement. It didn't take long before I noticed a pattern of what was normalized in these groups.
- circle and/or spell casting
- invoking the classical Greek elements
- "Wheel of the Year" with holidays in multiple non-English languages (huh?) and a story about dying & rebirthing gods (double huh??)
- mythology about an pre-Bronze Age goddess cult all over Europe
- reference to the Tripple-Goddess as conceptualized by Robert Graves
- reference to as many historical female deities as possible (I'm a huge history buff, but I was lost as to what this movement had to do with any ancient religions at all)

I first thought "what did any of this have to do with just simply loving the Divine?" Of course, I have now spent enough time learning all about the origins of the movement in Wicca, and how Gerald Gardner synthesized - quite brilliantly, in my opinion - existing occultist trends of the early 20th century with a melange of Celtic and Germanic folklore.

It's all well and good, but it didn't have anything to do with my journey at all. I don't really care for Tarot, or magic(k), or borrowing divine images from cultures not my own, or seeking ancient secrets, or anything like that. I think the Wheel of the Year is pretty clever, but I'd really just rather celebrate Thanksgiving four times per year. I'm a California tree-hugger from a multi-ethnic (i.e. not eurocentric) household who spent a lot of time talking to rocks as a kid

Any kindred spirits out there? Where have you found your place in the community?

Thanks in advance for any input!

Morning! You sound pretty animistic to me. especially the talking to rocks part. Sounds like you're pretty comfortable with your path so far, and it sounds to me like what you're most comfortable with is the simplest--which is pretty much animism is, although even some animistic traditions get pretty complicated. Have you looked much into that?

 

[Willamena]

- invoking the classical Greek elements
- "Wheel of the Year" with holidays in multiple non-English languages (huh?) and a story about dying & rebirthing gods (double huh??)
- mythology about an pre-Bronze Age goddess cult all over Europe
- reference to the Tripple-Goddess as conceptualized by Robert Graves
- reference to as many historical female deities as possible (I'm a huge history buff, but I was lost as to what this movement had to do with any ancient religions at all)

As an aside, you may be interested in this book. I enjoyed it, and it may help explain a lot of these.

 

[GoodbyeDave]

I know exactly how you feel about Wicca. There's Shaktist Hinduism
Shaktism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
and, of course, you can just pursue your own path. There are probably a lot of Goddess devotees in reconstructionist religions (think of Isis, Cybele) and there's the Fellowship of Isis:
Fellowship of Isis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Quintessence]

I think you might find some of what you're looking for in women's spirituality groups affiliated with various religious organizations, but if you're a man, participating in those can sometimes be problematic. You'd have to approach them on a case-by-case basis and see if they'd be up for including a male who honors the divine as feminine. Some groups are more flexible than others, so it just depends. You'd be more likely, I think, to find groups like this at Unitarian Universalist fellowships and at New Age organizations. A few of them will cross-pollinate with contemporary Paganism, but not all. Sorry I can't give you any specific leads, but sexing the gods isn't really my thing so I don't pay much attention to what's out there.