The Divine Feminine: The Sacred Power of the Goddess

Throughout history and across cultures, the Divine Feminine – the sacred feminine, the Goddess, the female aspect of the divine – has been recognised, revered and worshipped in various forms and manifestations. From the earliest prehistoric Paleolithic carvings of voluptuous female figures, to the ancient Greek deities, to modern day feminine spiritual movements, the power and mystery of the feminine has captured the human imagination and been expressed through art, ritual and religious beliefs.

In prehistoric times, from about 25,000 to 250,000 years ago, the famous Venus of Willendorf figurines and other similar carvings show that the earliest humans worshipped a maternal fertility goddess. These tiny figurines of women with exaggerated maternal features like large breasts, hips and bellies, likely symbolised the life-giving, nurturing power of the feminine.

Ancient Sumerian religion featured a host of important goddesses like Inanna, queen of the heavens, associated with love, war, and sexuality. Her visit to the underworld is a key myth. In Egypt, goddesses like Isis and Hathor were central to religion, as sources of fertility and magic. In India, the Mahadevi is the Supreme Goddess and consort to Shiva, personifying shakti, divine feminine energy. The Hindu trinity of Lakshmi, Durga and Saraswati are still worshipped today.

Greek mythology is filled with powerful goddesses – the queen of the gods Hera, the sea-goddess Amphitrite, the magic-wielding Hecate, and the maiden Artemis, Lady of the Wilderness. Gaia, the Earth itself, was the original mother goddess. Along with her Minoan counterparts, they were incorporated into the Greek pantheon. The Celts revered triple goddesses of sovereignty and fertility in their sacred lands.

The Virgin Mary, though not officially a goddess, is revered by the Catholic Church, with qualities of purity, compassion, and grace serving as a model of feminine virtue and strength, especially for women. The early Christian church sought to suppress goddess worship, but the popularity of Mary shows the persistence of the feminine divine.

In many African cultures, the Yoruba orisha Oshun is the goddess of love, beauty and the river, still worshipped today in Afro-Caribbean traditions like Santeria. The Fon/Gbe Mami Wata is a water and fertility goddess.

Modern feminist spirituality and Goddess religions celebrate the divine feminine, sometimes as a single goddess, sometimes in her many aspects across cultures. The Goddess Movement draws inspiration from the power of the feminine and the cycles of nature.

So from Venus figurines to modern movements, the divine feminine as symbol, metaphor and lived experience has endured in the human psyche, giving rise to the many manifestations of the Goddess that have been loved and worshipped across cultures for millennia. The feminine divine is a fundamental aspect of the human spiritual impulse, reflecting the sacredness of fertility, the mystery of birth, and the nurturing power of the feminine.