Return to the Goddess

by Rev. Tess Pender, M. Div.

We call her Mother Earth, and for millennia She was our Goddess, our Mother, our center. Then the patriarchal revolution replaced Her with their sky gods and relegated her to the position of handmaiden.

​But still, in every corner of the world, her worship continues. Women in city apartments gather in her name. Rural communities invoke her blessing when planting season arrives. And, in virtually every community disconnected from our modern world, her devotees sing her praises. She is the Lady of Guadalupe, the Goddess in the Moon, the Virgin Mother, the comfort of the afflicted. In a sweat lodge, we sit in her womb to pray and ask Great Spirit to bless us. On a vision quest, she is the one to whom we cry for a vision, she is the ruler of the Dreamtime, and the seer.

She is the First Creator we learn to worship, and our souls cry to return to her arms! It is hard today to find Circle of Goddess worshipers, but there are pockets. There are some from Christianity who splintered to focus on the Marys. From Wicca (the ancient pagan beliefs of the Celts), spring the Dianic groups of today, a feminist version of Wicca made popular in the late 1900s. Native American tradition venerates White Buffalo Calf Woman, and the Australian Dreamtime looks to the Feminine.

The most effective way to engage in Goddess-centered spirituality is to create a coven and begin holding ceremonies. Find a group of women, buy a book (Goddess Connections: Goddess rituals for the modern priestess by Tara Reynolds, or The Goddess Celebrates by Diane Stein). Decide on some ground rules: How often to meet, where and when, how to invite new people, is this a women-only group, will food be part of the ritual, who will create the rituals, (a high-priestess or a rotation among members).

For example, one group had these rules:

• Meet monthly, second Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.​
• Meeting place rotated, the hostess was responsible for the entire ritual, including creating an altar, creating and leading the ritual, and providing the feast (thus avoiding a monthly potluck).
• The group size limit was no more than 13 members. Guests could be invited once but had to be accepted as members to return. All members had to agree before admitting a new member.
• Eventually, there was a ritual in February to initiate new members. The group hosted a co-ed ritual twice yearly at Winter and Summer Solstice and invited spouses and friends.

This group started with only two women (each one invited one or more), continued meeting for over a decade, and the members stayed close for life. The shared devotion to the Feminine Principle was a new, fulfilling spirituality that also supported growth and change. It provided a gateway to a permanent connection to the divine. Rotating the role of high priestess meant that each woman, in turn, embodied the Divine Feminine. Each claimed responsibility for the group’s connection to the Goddess and explored the many possible ways to worship.

Turning to the Great Goddess is an eminently feminist spiritual practice. It is one that leads naturally to raising children who respect and honor the feminine, who believe in their divine nature, and thus independently select a personal spirituality. Welcoming the return of the mother reclaims the inner warrior, the proud, courageous Aphrodite and Diana in every woman, and recognizes the divine aspect of every moment of life.

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In Earth-centered spirituality, each animal is a relative, and as the prayer says in sweat lodges, every step is sacred, every thought a prayer. Living in this way is to return to the time when the Goddess was present, a participant in all of life’s activities; that is, a retreat to a numinous life. Every individual is called to express their divine nature and connect to the sacred. It is a truly consecrated way to live, safely residing in the womb of the All-Mother.

Tess Pender's article, Return to the Goddess, appeared in the June 2017 A issue of OM Times Magazine.