The Red Road 181

8/8/2019 The Red Road 181

1/10

Sociology of Reli,~on 1997, 58:2 181-190

C o u n t e r c u l t u r a l S p i r i t u a l i s t s ' P e r c e p t i o n sof t h e G o d d e s s

Jon P. Bloch*Indiana University

This article explores how the Goddess movement might influence the spiritual worldviews ofwomen and men who do not consider themselves to be exclusively worshippers of the Goddess.Excerpts from in-depth interviews w ith alternative spiritualists suggest that the G oddes s movem entcan spiritually empow er w om en and h elp them to articulate gender-based inequalities, even whe nwo m en do not label themselves as Goddess worshippers in the strict sense. Ho wev er, these wo m ends o believe that the Goddess is one necessary half of a spiritua| whole, and so atso indu de non .Goddess images of the divine in their spiritual systems, including images of the male. M en migh t dsoseek a "balance" between m ale and female symbols o f the divine, b ut they might view the Goddess asmore nurturing or expressive than self.empowering.

Th e Goddess m ove m ent is said to offer self-empow ermen t through a specific"nam ing" of female experience as divine, an d to shun w hat are perceived to bepat r iarchal va lues tha t promote gender inequal i t ies . These individual andsocial ly-located concerns are enacted r i tual is t ical ly, yet also feature feministideology tha t can be applied be yon d the ritua l setting (Ad ler 1986; Ch rist 1987;Englesman 1987; Starhaw k 1989; Al len 1992; Neitz 1994; Griffin 1995). Indeed,Goddess- or Dianic-based spirituality can be conceptualized asa cultural move-ment aimed at el iminating patr iarchal biases through what Gusfield (see Neitz1994) referred to asa process of "carrying over" spiritual values across socialdomains. In other areas, i t has been demonstrated that persons who do not

officially align themselves with newer forms o f spirituality nonethe less indicateacceptance of some of these bel iefs (Don ahue 1 9 9 3 ) - perhaps because theyhave encou ntered "carriers" of the new message. Therefore, the quest ion m ightbe posed: How pervasive is the Goddess movement? Does it influence peoplewho are not in the strict sense Goddess worshippers?

W hile previous scholarship ha s focused on small groups of Godd ess-worshipping individuals, in this exp lorato ry article I will exam ine th e w ays, ifany, tha t the symbol ic presence of the Goddess has permeated the spi r i tua lworldview of persons who don o t exclus ively label themselves Goddess-worshippers. I will include information on both women and men in this regard,to see how bo th genders m ight be utilizing aspects of the Godd ess m ovem ent. In

* Direct correspondence toJon P. Bloc.h, Department of Sociology, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 474 08.

181

b y g u e s t on

S e p t em

b er 1 1

,2

0 1 0

s o c r el . ox f or d

j o ur n

al s . or g

D ownl

o a d e d f r om
http://socrel.oxfordjournals.org/http://socrel.oxfordjournals.org/http://socrel.oxfordjournals.org/http://socrel.oxfordjournals.org/http://socrel.oxfordjournals.org/http://socrel.oxfordjournals.org/http://socrel.oxfordjournals.org/http://socrel.oxfordjournals.org/http://socrel.oxfordjournals.org/http://socrel.oxfordjournals.org/http://socrel.oxfordjournals.org/http://socrel.oxfordjournals.org/http://socrel.oxfordjournals.org/http://socrel.oxfordjournals.org/http://socrel.oxfordjournals.org/http://socrel.oxfordjournals.org/http://socrel.oxfordjournals.org/http://socrel.oxfordjournals.org/http://socrel.oxfordjournals.org/http://socrel.oxfordjournals.org/http://socrel.oxfordjournals.org/http://socrel.oxfordjournals.org/http://socrel.oxfordjournals.org/http://socrel.oxfordjournals.org/http://socrel.oxfordjournals.org/http://socrel.oxfordjournals.org/


2/10

182 S O C l O L O G Y O F R E L I G I O N

so doing , i t is hop ed tha t m ore un ders tan ding m ight be ga ined as to the ex ten-s iveness and pe rmuta t ions o f t he Goddess movem en t .

M E T H O D S

Du ring 1993 and 1994, t cond ucted 18 m on ths of pre[ iminary f ie ldwork byat te nd ing N ew A ge an d N eo -P ag an 1 classes, worksho ps, fairs, and fest ivals acrossa three-s ta te reg ion . I became acquain ted wi th a re la t ive ly unbounded ne tworkof persons w ho f requen t ly par t ic ipa te in the same sp i r i tua l ac t iv i t ies , w i thoutnecessar i ly be longing to any one h ighly-organized group. These persons expendconsiderable energy in pursui t of their spir i tual bel iefs , yet they shun ident ifyingw i th any one sp i ri tua l t rad i t ion to such an ex tent tha t they do not chose to p lacea la bel o n the ir spiritual beliefs. 2

A s has be soc io logica l ly predic ted , the re is a t rend toward the pr iva t i -za t ion of the re l ig ious expe r ience and away from the soc ial ins t itu t ion , whe rebythe a l t e rna t ive o r coun te rcuhura l sp i r i t ua l i s t cons ide r s h im/he r se l f t o be theuh ima te au thor i ty a s to wha t t o be l i eve o r p rac t i ce , and f ee l s r e l a t ive lyunc ons t r a ined to p ick and ch ose f rom an ec l ec t ic s e l ec t ion o f i n fo rm a t ions o u rc e s ( L u c k m a n n 1 9 6 7 ; L u h m a n n 1 9 8 2 ) . Ye t t h e r e is a c o u n t e r c u l t u r a lspir i tual community, as manifested in fest ivals , fairs , and workshops, as well asthrough popular l i te ra ture . Such persons a l so tend to share in common opin ionson publ ic i ssues , and see sp i r i tua l i ty as a means by which to change not onlythemselves but soc ie ty a t la rge (Bel lah 1976; S tone 1978; Mehon,e t . a l 1990;

Kel ly 1992; Nei tz 1994) . Perhap s such indiv iduals a re sugges tive of w hat W ebe r( see S tub 1972) r e fe r r ed to a sas t a t u s g r o u p , c lus ters of indiv iduals whosecom m ona l ty is based in sha red ideas , be l ie f s , o r conce rn s th a t t r ansc endtradi t ional class or organizat ional boundaries .

Ul t imate ly, I cons t ruc ted a sample of 22 aherna t ive sp i r i tua l i s t s who e i thera l l kne w each o the r o r l ea s t knew m any o f the same peop le , and w ho o f t enpar t ic ipa ted in the same group ac t iv i t ies , bu t who d id not necessar i ly be l ieve inor prac t ice the same th ings . S uch a sample would be more representa t ive of wha tsociological l iterature suggests abo ut c ou nte rcu hu ral spir itual ity, as well as w hat Iobserved f i r s thand. My in terv iews wi th these persons were conducted over a s ix-m on th pe r iod f rom 1994 to 1995 . Th rou gh my exp lo ra to ry fi e ldwork , I e s tab -l i shed soc ia l t ies wi th a num ber of indiv iduals , 11 of wh om becam e par t of thesample of 22. A no th er 11 indiv iduals were persons whom I had not m et before ,but who responded to ads I p laced in s t ra teg ic loca t ions ( such as an occul t

Ne w Ag e" refers to the ma nifesta tion of psychic activity th roug h parapsychological techn iques , such asme dium s, hypnosis, or guided m edita tion , wh ile Neo-Pagan ism invo lves magical practices u tilizing the o ccultand/o r cosmic powers us~d to willfully enact chan ge (M eh on a nd Moo re 198 2). Som e persons strictly adhere toone approach or the other, but many others are more l ikely to combine these spir i tua[ approaches intopersonal ized, eclect ic assortments . I general ly wil l refer to this spir i tual network as "ahernat ive" or

"cou ntercu kura l." Also, I will refer to these beliefs as "spiritual," and no t "religious," wh ich suggests a mo reorganized doctrine, and w hich term is no t preferred by persons I interviewed .

2Aprop os of this, only abo ut 10 percen t of the upwards of 330,000 persons who m ight be loosely classified

as Neo-Pagan belong to an o rganized coven o r group (Melton,e t . a l 1990; Kelly 1992).

b y g u e s t on

S e p t em

b er 1 1

,2

0 1 0


j o ur n

al s . or g

D ownl

o a d e d f r om


3/10

C O U N T E R C U LT U R A L S P IR I TU A L I ST S ' P E R C E PT IO N S O F T H E G O D D E S S 1 8 3

books tore) . H al l the in terv iews were male , ha ll : were female . Thu s , th ou gh thesample was la rgely one of con ven ienc e , e ffort s were made to safeguard aga ins tunin te nde d b iases by gender of researcher 's fami l ia ri ty w i th the in terv iewee .

G ive n th a t th e spok en word i s the pr imary m eans by w hich a re l ig ious be lie f

is g iven subs tance (Fe nn 1980; S t rom berg 1993; Szuchewycz 1994) , I e lec ted touse the spoke n wo rd to explore sources of co m m on alty across interviewees. Firs t ,I s imply turned on a tape recorder, and le t eac h in terv iewee ta lk about h is or herspir itual l ife, in as mu ch detai l and for ho w ev er long as he or she fel t com fortable(Riessman 1993) . Th is in i tia l phase of eac h in terv iew las ted anyw here f rom 20minutes to two hours . Af ter probing for c la r i f ica t ion on cer ta in poin ts ra i sed , Iasked a shor t l i st o f ques t ions to each person (Riessm an 1993) , inc luding th ein te rv iewee ' s op in ion o f bo th "G od" a nd "Goddess . " Th i s s econd phase o f t hein terv iew lasted anyw here f rom 15 to 45 m inutes . Thus , in te rv iewees ha d a t leas ttwo oppor tuni t ies to d iscuss the G oddess m w i thout pro m pt ing , and in responseto specif ic que st ions.

T H E G O D D E S S A N D W O M E N . S E E K IN G E Q U A L I T Y

W itho u t any p rompt ing f rom m yse lf , each o f t he 11 wo m en I i n te rv iewedmade r e fe rence to the Goddess . These women s t a t ed tha t t he Goddess p rov ideda sense of sp i ri tua l va l ida t ion a sa w om an th a t could not be found in the a l [egedpat r ia rchal b iases of main l ine re lig ious theology. 3 Thu s , the Go ddess m ove m entwas seen as relevan t to issues of ge nd er ineq ual i ty bey ond the self . For exam ple,

cons ider remarks made by Gypsy4, a l ibrar ian in her 2Os, w ho bega n he r s tory byte l l ing me her mother ' s advice when, as a ch i ld , she f i r s t announced she wantedto ex plore different religions.

T h e o n e r e c o m m e n d a t i o n m y m o t h e r h a d p u t o n a l l t h i s w as t h a t , u m , t o f in d o u t h o w t h e yfee l - - f e l t abou t wom en wi th t he i r r e li g ions , and so I s a id , 'Oh we l l, t ha t ' s f a ir enough , I 'm aw o m a n , y o u k n o w . ' A n d s o, w h e n e v e r y o u g o t o a c h u r c h t h e p r ie s t o f s o m e t h i n g a l w ay swan t s t o w e lcome you l ike , 'Oh , come o n in , p l ea se come back , da -da -da -da -da ,' so rd a lwaysask h im. H e 'd be l i ke , 'Do you hav e any ques t ions? ' and I 'd - - I ' d go , 'Wh a t t o l e do w omenhave? ' An d e ve ry t ime i t seemed l i ke t hey were s tumbl ing ove r t he i r words a rtd t hey d id n ' trea l ly kno w h ow to te l l th is 10 -year-o ld g i r l tha t in m ost of those re l ig ions , they [women] werea l e sse r ves se l , and they weren ' t qu i t e a s im po r t an t a s men , and , um, I neve r f e l t l ike I go t ac o m f o r t a b l e an s w e r fr o m a n y o f t h e m , o r t h a t t h e y h a d a n y b e l i e f i n w h a t t h e , / w e r e s a yi n ga b o u t w o m e n .

3 Som e mem bers of liberal mainline churches c laim a different experience. Bellah (1976 ) argues that thecountercu|tural ideology is indicative of larger Protestant/contempo rary m ainlin e religious pursuits. Ce rtainlyrecent years have seen m ainlin e denom inations such as the E piscopal and M ethodist churches embroiled in

controversies ove r issues such as gender-neutral wording, or prayers to the G oddess. In a ny eve nt, altem ativespiritualists, taken a s a whole, have amb ivalent feelings toward m ainline religions th at stem largely frompersonal experience.

4 AII interviewees have been given pseudonyms.

b y g u e s t on

S e p t em

b er 1 1

,2

0 1 0


j o ur n

al s . or g

D ownl

o a d e d f r om


4/10

184 S O C l O L O G Y O F R E L IG I O N

Based on this observation that women were a "lesser vessel" in mainlinereligions, Gypsy pursued G oddess-based spirituality through literature by autho rssuch as Starhawk an d Z. Budapest, as well as thro ugh networking w ith w om en'sspirituality circles at New Age and Neo-Pagan festivals. A socio-political con-

cero for gender equality was linked to her individual pursuit of a spirituality thatdid not make her feel like a "lesser vessel."

However, none of the women I interviewed considered themselves to befeminist separatists, or exclusively Goddess worshippers; they also sought tohonor and pursue non-Goddess forms of spirituality. In fact, a pervasive themeacross interviewees was that mainstream society inaccurately perceived the worldas dualistic. In countercultural spirituality, these dualisms often are perceived asa separat ion of the "sacred" heave ns from the "m unda ne" earth m or the"sacred" male god from the "m unda ne" w oma n. A lternativ e spiritualists strive toconceptually realign these dualisms into a spiritual wholeness, wherebybothearth and sky are sacred -- andboth the fem ale and the male are, as well (A llen1992; McGaa 1992). Hence, female interviewees did not speak in terms of agender-neut ra l de i ty(s) . Rather, they aff i rmed both the male and femaleelem ents of the dualistic strain as being equa lly valid and co-existing.

Th us, w hile she foun d m ainline religions p atriarchal, Gyp sy also stated:

I t wasn 't t ha t I t houg h t t h a t w omen were be tt e r, bu t I t hou gh t t h a t t he f emale a spec t needs mbe worked on more now, because o f how mu ch the mascu l ine in f luence has had tha t we needa push towards the f ema le. No t t ha t t h ey ' r e more im por t an t once again , bu t t o ba l ance ou tth e last 2,000 years [laughter] .

Ultim ately, Gy psy sought "balance," but by emphasizing both the male andfemale "aspect" of the divine, not by simply labeling the divine as genderless.(Later, when asked to comment on the word "God," she replied, "Part of thewhole." When asked to comment on the word "Goddess," she replied, "Part ofthe whole.") 5

In ano ther exam ple, an interviewee called Clarissa (a college stude nt in her20s) related the following:

I t' s - - we ll , fo r me - - and I mean th i s is no t - - i t' s no t impor t an t fo r eve ryone, bu t I t h ink i t' sr eaUy impo r t an t t o r ecogn ize the f ema le c rea t ive fo rce . And I - - l ike , I ho no r the ea r th a smo the r ea r th , you know . I t h ink e spec ia l ly l i ke in C hr i s t i an i ty, they ignore tha t . I t 's a m a le,y o u k n o w, Cx x t w h o c r e at e d e ve r y th i n g , a n d w h o h a d n o t h i n g - - a n d h a d n o t h i n g t o d o w i t h ,you know, f ema le l i ke power to g ive b i r th . A nd I j u s t t h in k i t 's - - I mean th a t i t 's cen t r a l t omy be li ef , you know, tha t f ema le i s t ha t power o f , you know, be ing ab le to g ive b i r th andcrea te i s - - you know, the ear ly soci -socie ties were matr iarchies , you know, an d wo m en wereh o n o r e d .

Frequently in countercultural spir i tual i ty, a connection is made betweenhonoring the earth as sacred and honoring the Goddess (Adler 1986; Starhawk

5lndeed, when I spoke to her a ye ar later wh en conducting follow-up interviewswith th e sample, she took

me to task for over-emphasizing her goddess-based roots, and under-emphasizing her ultimate co nc em withspiritual balance between th e female and the m ale.

b y g u e s t on

S e p t em

b er 1 1

,2

0 1 0


j o ur n

al s . or g

D ownl

o a d e d f r om


5/10

COUNT ERCULTU RAL SPIRITUALISTS' PERCEPTIONS OF THE GODDESS185

1 9 8 9 ; A l l e n 1 9 9 2 ; M c G a a 1 9 9 2 ) . A n d t h i s i s s e e n i n C l a r i ss a ' s r e m a r k s . S h e f e ltt h a t t h e " f e m a l e c r e a t i v e fo r ce " o r " p o w e r " o f " m o t h e r e a r t h " m u s t b e h o n o r e d a ssp i r i t ua l .

H o w e v e r , C l a r i s s a l a te r s t a t e d t h e f o l l o w i n g :

I was taught to be really competitive, and you know, just, you know, to get what I wantwh ich is a good thing, I mean I'm n ot saying it was all bad. But I thin k you need a balance o fbo th m ale and female spirit, you know, inside.

F o r C l a ri ss a , c o m p e t i t i v e n e s s h a s b e e n a s s o c i at e d w i t h t h e m a l e , w h i le o t h e rf o r m s o f " p o w e r " n s u c h a s t h e a b i l i t y t o c r e a t e l if e - - w o u l d b e f e m a l e . S h ea s s er te d t h a t s h e u l t i m a t e l y s o u g h t " b a l a n c e " b e t w e e n t h e s e t w o k i n d s o f e n e r gy.G e n d e r d i s t i n c t i o n s f i g u r ed i n t o d i f f e r e n t a s p e c t s o f b o t h p u b l i c a n d p r i v a t ec o n c e m s f o r C l a r i s s a , a n d h e r a p p r o a c h w a s n o t t o e l i m i n a t e t h e s e d i s t i n c t i o n s

b u t t o e m b r a c e t h e m s i m u l t a n e o u s l y.N o t d i ss i m i la r w a s t h e s e n t i m e n t v o i c e d b y an i n t e rv i e w e e c a l l ed A l e x , a

c o l le g e s t u d e n t i n h e r 2 0 s .

After awhile, I h a d a friend who got me inte rested in the G oddess religions and earth mo therreligions, sort of a female-like power. The earth energy that is everywhere and everything,and, um, so I started - - I don 't know - - [ started reading m ore about that, and ir just - - irreally interested me in a way as being a woman, and the fact tha t ther e have b een like paint-ings in caves, like statues an d a lot of artifacts have been fo und , life from 25 of 30 thousandyears ago , like, th at give people good reason to believe in Goddess religion with an cien t

humans, you know, m uch m ore than Christianity. So I thought that was pretty cool.

S i m i l a r t o t h e o t h e r w o m e n i n t e r v i e w e d , A l e x w a s in t r ig u e d b y t h e c o n c e p to f a f e m a l e d i v i n i t y, a n d h a s s o u g h t t o f e e l a c o n n e c t i o n t o t h is " f e m a l e - l ik ep o w e r. " Ye t s h e w e n t o n t o sa y :

For me, I guess, wh en I say 'the G oddess,' I m ean like it 's not really a deity I speak of, or somelike wo man , you know, in th e sk y, or something. It 's m ore like - - it 's more like an energy, andit encompasses, you know, not just female energy, but male energy and it -- and it 's a nicebalance. A nd it encompasses different aspects of people.

T h o u g h A i e x u s ed t h e t e rm " G o d d e s s " a s o p p o s e d t o " G o d , " s he d id n o t s e ei t a s f u n d a m e n t a l l y f e m a le , b u t r a t h e r a s a ls o e n c o m p a s s i n g " m a l e e n e r g y, "m a k i n g f or " a n i c e b a la n c e . " T h u s , e v e n w h e n s o m e o n e r ef er s t o " t h e G o d d e s s , "t h e y c a n b e t h i n k i n g i n t e rm s of b o t h f e m a l e a n d m a l e m n o t u n l i k e w h a t s o m ep e o p le m i g h t c o n c e p t u a l i z e w h e n h e a r i n g t h e w o r d " G o d . " O n c e a g ai n , g e n d e rp o l a ri ti e s w e r e n o t e l i m i n a t e d s o m u c h a s s i m u l t a n e o u s l y a d d r es s e d to a c h i e v e ac o h e s i v e w h o l e .

F i n a ll y, M e l a n i e , a n o f fi ce w o r k e r i n h e r 2 0 s , m a d e t h e f o l l o w i n g c o m m e n t s .

I don't l ike the basic Christian idea of Go d, and - - and A mericans' idea of Jesus as a whiteman. Um , I find th at very arrogant and hyp ocritical, like um [my family religion], and 'cause Imean, Jesus back in tha t time was Jewish, and in th e area th at he lived in, he was obviouslyArabic, so he had dark skin. Anyw ay, I don 't w ant to get into tha t. I think that his overallmessage, 'I aro the son of man, worship thyself, ' is wonderful. But I don't see very many

b y g u e s t on

S e p t em

b er 1 1

,2

0 1 0


j o ur n

al s . or g

D ownl

o a d e d f r om


6/10

186 S O C I O L O G Y O F R E L I G I O N

C h r i s t i a n s f o l lo w i n g t h a t o r l i s t e n in g t o it . U m , w h e n e v e r I r e a d - - o r t r y a n d r e a d ~ t h eB i b l e , I g e t s o a n g r y, b e c a u s e i t' s fu l l o f so m e g u y r a p i n g h i s d a u g h t e r s t o h a v e k i d s f o r G o d .

M elanie was outsp oke n in her dislike of wh at she perceived to be the patri-

archal bias in Christianity. But she proved to be outspoken on other matters, aswell.

I l i k e t h e g o d d e s s r e l ig i o n s a l o t. U m , t h e m a t r i a r c h a l s o c i e ti e s . N o t i n a p r e j u d i c e d m a n n e r ,c a u s e a l o t o f t h e m ~ l i k e C h r i s t i a n i t y i s v e r y p a t r i a rc h a l a n d m a l e- b a se d , t h e r e a r e m a t r i -a r c h a l s o c ie ti e s t h a t a r e m a n . h a t i n g . T h e y j u St d r i v e m e n u t s . T h e y c r a ck m e u p .

W h en asked to elaborate on this, she stated the following:

T h e y ' r e j u s t a s b a d a s t h e w o m e n - h a t i n g w h a t e v e r - t h e y - a r e . T h a t ' s n o t g o in g t o h e l p a n y b o d y.

I l o v e m e n a n d w o m e n , a n d I d o n ' t t h i n k t h e y ' r e - - I d o t h i n k t h e r e a t e m y s t er i es th e r e t h a ta r e di f fe r e n t. Yo u k n o w , I ' m n o t g o i n g t o fu l ly u n d e r s t a n d w h a t i t 's li k e t o h a v e a n a p p e n d a g et h a t g r o w s , a n d a m a n ' s n o t g o i n g t o fu l ly u n d e r s t a n d w h a t i t's li k e t o h a v e a c h i l d g r ow i n s i d et h e m ~ u m , s o m e w o m e n w o n ' t e i t h e r ~ u h , b u t t h e y w o n ' t u n d e r s t a n d w h a t i t' s l ik e t oh a v e a m e n s t r u a l c y c l e , o r s o m e t h i n g l ik e th a t . B u t i n g e n e r a l , t o m e a l l l if e i s e q u a l .

Having stated that she objected to what she felt to be the patriarchal bias inmainline rel igions, ul t imately Melanie was seeking balance between the maleand the female. Like other female interviewees, she expressed her belief thatthere were dist inct ions between the male and female domains, but that ul t i -

ma tely they were "equal."In sum , the w om en I interviewed spoke of Godd ess spirituality a sa mean s of

obtaining gender eq uali ty and self-validat ion by having a female image of thedivine with which to identify. But they did not exclude other spir i tual possi-bilities. The alleged dualism between male and female was acknowledged, andbalance was sought by honor ing both - - ra ther than s t ra ight forwardly advo-cating androgyny.6

T H E G O DD E SS A N D M E N : S EE K IN G N U RT U R A N C E

T he 11 me n I interviewed similarly saw "Godd ess" within a larger framew orkof "balance." Ce rtain attributes were conceptualized as male of female, but bo thcategories were dee me d necessary for holistic spirituality. For example, an indi-vidual called Jesse said that "Goddess" was "the female principle" while "God"was "the m ale principle." W he n ano ther m an, Badger, was asked what cam e tomind when he heard the word "Goddess," he answered, "God." Upon hearing

6As the in te rv iewer was male , the ques t ion migh t be ra i sed as to whe ther th i s migh t have in f luenced

com men ts female in terv iewees made regard ing th is e lemen t o f "ba lance . " However, i t shou ld be po in ted ou ttha t each o f the wo men I in te rv iewed ac t ive ly par t ic ipa tes in cosexu a l sp i ri tual ac tiv i ti e s . A t the same t ime ,these wom en d id no t seem to fee l cons t ra ined in o ffer ing num erous c r i tiques o f wh a t the y fe l t to be thepatr iarcha l biases of U S society.

b y g u e s t on

S e p t em

b er 1 1

,2

0 1 0


j o ur n

al s . or g

D ownl

o a d e d f r om


7/10

C O U N T E R C U LT U R A L S P IR I T U A L IS T S ' PE R C E P T IO N S OF T H E G O D D E S S187

the word "God," he replied "Goddess." And a man cal led Edward said that"Goddess" was "the female aspect of God. '7

However, comments made by men about the Goddess also differed fromthose made by women. Only 5 of the 11 men mentioned the Goddess without

first being prompted to do so. And while the women interviewees spoke of theGoddess in terms of larger gender inequalities, the men I interviewed spoke ofthe G oddess more as an expressive or nurturing force th at aided one 's imm ediateself.

More than any of the men I interviewed, Jack, a graduate student in his 20s,discussed a deep personal connection with the Goddess. (He was also the onlyman who talked about the Goddess in terms of large-scale gender inequalities.)Feeling isolated from his peers a t a crucial ph ase in his life, he foun d it difficultto accept the m ale G od of his Ca tholic upbringing. For w hen he could not"love" the p eople w ho w ere being cruel to hito, he felt that this m ale God w ouldwant to "punish" h im. When asked why he fe l t more comfor table wi th the"Goddess" than with "G od," Jack replied as follows:

S e e , t h a t 's t h e p r o b l e m I h a v e w i t h a m a l e k i n d o f G o d , b e c au s e , u m , f o r c e n t u r ie s , m e nb e e n d o m i n a n t a n d w o m e n h a v e b e e n , u m , s u b m i s si v e in s o c ie t y. A n d I r e a ll y d o n ' t t h a t G o d is a m a l e o f a f em a l e , b u t I l ik e m o r e t h e i d ea o f a G o d w h o i s n u r t u r i n g t h a n w h o i s a v e n g i n g , a n d l li k e m o r e t h e i d e a o f a G o d w h o is p r o t e c t i v e a n d w h o h a s feq u a l i ti e s t h a n o f a G o d w h o is m a l e a n d h a s , u h , u h , a t t a c k i n g q u a l it i e s, a n d , u h , y o u kwar qua l i t

Although he stated that ul t imately God did not have a gender, Jack asso-ciated m ale concepts of dei ty with dom inance of me n ov er wom en, as well aswith "war quali t ies ." But he associated the Goddess with the more "nurturing"and "protec t ive qual i t ies ." Whi le women sa id they apprecia ted the Goddessbecause it enabled them to feel not excluded from the divine, Jack utilized theGoddess more for healin g and nu rturing.

Similarly, another man, Anthony, a teacher in his 40s, responded as followswhen hearing th e word "Goddess."

H e l p ~ a b e i n g t h a t I w o u l d g o t o fo r h e l p , f o r a s s is t an c e . [ T h e n , u p o n h e a r i n g t h e 'God ' ] : G on e ~ som e th in g a l i tt l e b i t f a r the r away, som e th ing a l i t tl e b i t f a r the r away ththa t wasn ' t a s ea s i ly acces sib l e.

Here again, contrast was made between that which is male and female.A nth on y was less explicit than Jack as to the quali ties he assigns to the G od an dthe Goddess, but he communicated a s imilar sentiment: the Goddess was morenurturing than is the G od.

7 The one possible exception here was aman cal led Steven, who said that he fel t much of the

spirituality was essentially a potiti ial agenda disguised as a spiritual one. Yet he was no t troubled by of there be/ng goddesses -- in fact, he believed that different entities across different religious andtraditions do in fact l i terally exist, and are not mere manifestations of psychological states of beingascribe to the idea of on e grea t Goddess. I subscribe to the idea of ma ny." An d so he was not troubnotion of there being goddesses who serve perfectly valid functions per se, just that the way it is applied did no t m eet h is criteria for spiritual rigor.

b y g u e s t on

S e p t em

b er 1 1

,2

0 1 0


j o ur n

al s . or g

D ownl

o a d e d f r om


8/10

188 SOCIOLOGY OF RELIGION

S o m e t i m e s , c o u n t e r c u l t u r a l s p i ri tu a l is ts v ie w d e it i es a s e m b o d i m e n t s fo r ce s w i th in t he s el f, a s opposed t o l i t e r al be ings . O ne i n t e rv i ew ee ca l l ed J ers h o p k e e p e r i n h i s 3 0 s , a s s e r t e d t h a t b o t h t h e m a l e a s p ec t s o f " G o d " a n d tf e m a l e a s p e ct s o f " G o d d e s s " c a n b e m a n i f e s t e d f r o m w i t h i n . H e s a id t h a t h

s e e k i n g t h i s " b a l a n c e " a s a n i n d i v i d u a l , a n d w h e n p r o b e d t o e x p l a i n w h a t means , he r ep l i ed :

I guess a good example w ould be for awhile I was dealing w ith like what is it to be a mto look around. Basically, it 's the M arlboro man w ho's a real macho person riding arobis big horse, and finally coming to ah understanding th at yeah, there's the m an in mthere's also the feminine w ithin people. A nd it was really good to be able to co nnec t wfeminine aspects of myself, and actually bring this out, and being in balance be.':,veen [Asked for an example:] Th at it's okay to cry, and it's okay to be affectionate w ith peookay to hug another man.

I n a r ti c u l a t in g w h a t h e m e a n t b y a " b a l a n c e " b e t w e e n t h e " G o d " a n d t" G o d d e s s " w i t h i n h i t o , J e r r y g o n t r a s t e d c e r t a i n q u a l i t i e s b e i n g m a l e o r f e mA s w i t h o t h e r m e n I i n t e r v i e w e d , t h e m o r e ex p r e s si v e o r n u r t u r i n g q u a l i t i e s wt h e f e m a l e o n e s.

T h i s c o n c e p t o f t h e G o d d e s s a s b e i n g n u r t u r i n g s o m e t i m e s w a s e x p r e s s e dt e r m s o f a m o r e e x p l i c i t f o r m o f a s si s ta n c e . H e r e , a n i n t e r v i e w e e c a l le d A r t h ug radua t e s t uden t i n h i s 30s , de sc r ibe s a sp i r i t ua l exe rc i s e i n wh ich t he fo l l owo c c u r r e d .

I evoked a, uh - - an energy that I later identified as the G oddess of Ishtar. U h, the SuBabylonian Goddess of Ishtar. A t least tha t was how I identified it. I told you, I do n't it's the sam e one, 'cause it's speaking English to m e. And I started talking to h er in tepriestess. Uh, she said she wanted me to have a child, and I said, 'Well, in order forhav e a child, I have to have a priestess, I have to h ave som ebody to actually do th e wwith.' An d - - but I said, 'I 'm willing to m ake this deal. I'm willing to offer you the c hiwill offer me a priestess.'

I n c o n v e y i n g t h i s i n f o r m a t i o n , A r t h u r d i d n o t p a u s e t o e x p l a i n t o t hl i s t e n e r t h a t a d e i t y c a n b e fe m a l e ; i t w a s s i m p l y a g i v e n . A n d a s a m a l e , h e

n o t fe e l a w k w a r d i n d e a l i n g w i t h a f e m a l e s p i r p r e s e n c e . I n f a ct , t h i s wh o w A r t h u r b e g a n t h e s to r y o f m e e t i n g t h e w o m a n w h o w a s t o b e c o m e h i s a n d t h e m o t h e r o f t h e i r c h i l d ( i . e. , h i s " p r i es t e ss " ) , w h e r e b y m a j o r l if e e v ew e r e f r a m e d a r o u n d a f e m a l e , n o t a m a l e , d e i t y. A n d y e t , h e r e g a r d e d t h i s da s a n e q u a I w i t h w h o m h e c o u l d n e g o t i a t e a " b a r g a i n . " T h e G o d d e s s d i d p r o v i d e s p ir i tu a l i d e n t if i c a t i o n o f g e n d e r e m p o w e r m e n t ( as w i t h t h e w o m eb u t w a s th e r e t o a s si st A r t h u r i n a c h i e v i n g h i s g o al .

I n su m , t h e m e n ( l i k e t h e w o m e n ) s p o k e o f c e r t a i n q u a li t ie s a s b e i n g m a lf e m a l e , a n d o f se e k i n g a b a l a n c e b e t w e e n t h e t w o . B u t t h e y s p o k e le ss in t e r mt h e G o d d e s s i n r e g a r d t o p a t r i a r c h a l b ia s es o r s e l f - e m p o w e r m e n t , a n d m o r et e r m s o f h o w t h e G o d d e s s s e rv e d s o m e s o r t o f e x p r es s iv e o r n u r t u r i n g f u n c t i othe i r l ive s .

b y g u e s t on

S e p t em

b er 1 1

,2

0 1 0


j o ur n

al s . or g

D ownl

o a d e d f r om


9/10

COUNTERCULTURA L SPIRITUALISTS' PERCEPTIONS OF THE GO DD ESS189

D I S C U S S I O N

I n t h is a r ti c le , I h a v e e x a m i n e d c o m m e n t s m a d e a b o u t t h e G o d d e s s b y ag r o u p o f c o u n t e r c u l t u r a l s p i ri t u al is t s w h o c h a r a c t e r i s t ic a l l y a v o i d s t r o n g o rg a n i -

z a t i o n a l a f f i li a t io n . W h i l e n o t m e m b e r s o f G o d d e s s - w o r s h i p p i n g g r o u p s p e r s e,t h e s e i n d i v i d u a l s o f t e n v i e w e d t h e G o d d e s s a s i m p o r t a n t t o th e i r s p i ri t u a lu n d e r s t a n d i n g . W h e t h e r f e m a l e or m a l e , t h e p e r so n s I i n t e r v i e w e d a p p e a r e d t oa s si g n c e r t a i n q u a l i t i e s t o m a l e o r f e m a l e a s p e c t s o f t h e d i v i n e , a s o p p o s e d t ov i e w i n g t h e d i v i n e a s g e n d e r - n e u t r a l .

L i k e w o m e n m o r e e n m e s h e d i n t h e D i a n i c t r a d it i o n s, t h e w o m e n I i n te r -v i e w e d w e r e f i n d i n g a s en s e o f v a l i d a t i o n a n d e q u a l i t y t h r o u g h t h e G o d d e s sm o v e m e n t . B u t t h e y al so w e re s e e k i n g a " b a l a n c e " b e t w e e n t h e G o d a n d t h eG o d d e s s t o a n e x t e n t t h a t s t ra y s f r o m p u r e l y - D i a n i c p u r s u i ts . T h e m e n I i n t e r -v i e w e d w e r e s e e k i n g a s i m i l a r " b a l a n c e , " b u t s a w t h e G o d d e s s n o t i n t e r m s o fg e n d e r i n e q u a l i ti e s b u t i n te r m s o f n u r t u r i n g a n d a s si s ta n c e . U n l i k e t h e w o m e n Ii n t e r v i e w e d , t h e m e n ( e x c e p t fo r J a c k ) d i d n o t e x p l i c i t l y q u e s t i o n t h e a l le g e dp a t r i a r c h a l b i a se s t h a t a r e s a id t o e x c l u d e t h e G o d d e s s f r o m m a i n l i n e r e li g io n s .

I t w o u l d s e e m t h a t t h e G o d d e s s m o v e m e n t is h a v i n g a t l e as t s o m e i m p a c t o nt h e s p i r i t u a l b e l ie f s a n d i d e n t i t ie s o f p e r s o n s w h o d o n o t e m b r a c e i t t o s u c h a ne x t e n t a s t o b e c o m e m e m b e r s o f a c t u a l g o d d e s s - w o r s h i p p i n g g r o u p s. " C a r r ie r s " o fi t s m e s s a g e w o u l d a p p e a r t o b e s a t u r a t i n g t h e a l t e r n a t i v e s p i r i t u a l a r e n a ,r e s u l t i n g , n o d o u b t , i n s o m e p e o p l e e m b r a c i n g t h i s m e s s a g e t o t a l l y. B u t o t h e rp e o p l e ( s u c h a s t h o s e I i n t e r v i e w e d ) s e e m t o fe e l f re e to i n c o r p o r a t e G o d d e s s

s p i r it u a l it y i n t o t h e i r o v e r r i d i n g s p i r i tu a l f r a m e w o r k , w h e r e b y t h e i n t e n t i o n s o ft h e G o d d e s s m o v e m e n t m i g h t b e s o m e w h a t a l t er e d . F u tu r e s tu d i es t o b e g e n e r -a t e d f ro m t h i s e x p l o r a t o r y a n a ly s is m i g h t i n c lu d e t h e e x t e n t t o w h i c h t h e a t ti -t u d e s o f t h e p e r s o n s I i n t e r v i e w e d c a n b e g e n e r a li z e d to o t h e r s o c i al n e t w o r k s .A l s o , o n e m i g h t e x a m i n e i n g r e a te r d e p t h h o w s u c h c o n c e p t u a l iz a t i o n s o f m a l ea n d f e m a l e r e f l e c t l a rg e r s o c i a l g e n e r a l i z a t i o n s r e g a r d i n g t h e a l l e g e d l y i n s t r u -m e n t a l /e x p r e s si v e r o le s o f m e n a n d w o m e n .

R E F E R E N C E S

Adler, M. 1986.Draw ing dow n the moon: Witches , druids , goddess-worshippers , and other pagans inAmerica today.Boston: B eacon Press.

Allen, P. G. 1992.The sacred hoop: Recovering the feminine in Ame rican I '~ ian t radi tions.Boston:Beacon Press.

Bellah, R. N. 1976. New religious consciousness and the crisis in m odem ity. InThe new religiousconsciousness,edited by C. Y. Glock a nd R. N . Bellah, 333-352 . B erkeley and Los Ang eles:University of Califomia Press.

Christ, C. P. 1987.Laughter of Aphrodite: Reflections on a journey to the Godd ess.San Francisco:

Harper & Row.Donah ue, M. J. 1993. Prevalence and correlates of new age beliefs in six Protestant denom inations.Journal for the Scientif ic S tudy of Religion32:177-184.

b y g u e s t on

S e p t em

b er 1 1

,2

0 1 0


j o ur n

al s . or g

D ownl

o a d e d f r om


10/10

190 SOCIOLCK3YOF RELIGION

Engelsman, J. C. 1987. Beyond the anima: The female self in the ima ge of God.InJung's challengeto contemporary religion,edited by M. Stein and R. L. M oore , 93-106. W ilmette, IL: Ch ironPublications.

Fenn, R. K . 198 0. Secular con straints on religious language.The Annual Review of the Social

Sciences of Reli~on4: 61-83.Griffin, W . 199 5. Th e embodied goddess: Feminist witchcraft a nd female divinitySociology ofReli~on56 : 35-48.

Kelly, A. A . 1 992. A n update on N eo-Pagan witchcraft in America. InPerspectives on the N ewA g e , edited by J. R. Lew is and J. G. Melton, 136-151. Albany: S tate University of New YorkPress.

Luckmann, T. 1967.Th e invisible reli~on.New York: Macm illan.Luhmann, N. 1982.Th e &'fferentiation ofsociety.New York: Colum bia University Press.McGaa, E.1992. Rainbow tribe: Ordinary pe@ le journeying on the red road .San Francisco: Harper.Melton, J. G., J. Clark, and A . A. Kelly.1990. New Age Encyclopedia.Detroit and New York: Gale

Resear~:h Inc.Melton, J. G., and R. L. M oore. 1982.The cult experience: Responding to the new reli~ous pluralism.

Ne w York: Th e Pilgrim Press.Neitz, M J. 1994 . Qu asi-religions and cultural m ovements: Con temporary w itchcraft a s a

churchless religion. InReligion and the Social Order,Volume 4, edited by A, L. Gre il and T.Robbins, 127-149. Greenwich, CN : JAI Press.

Riessman, C. K. 1993. Na rrat ive analysis.Newbury Park, Califomia and London: SagePublications.

Szuchewycz, B.1994 . Evidentiality in ritual discourse: The social construction of religiousmeaning.Language in Society23: 389-410.

Starhawk. 1989 . Th e spiral da nce: A rebirth of the reli,~on of the great Godd ess.New York: Harper &Row.

Stromberg, P. G. 1993.Lang uage an d self-transforma tion: A study o f the Christian conversion narrative.Cambridge: Cambridge Unb)ersity Press.

Stone, D. 1978. Ne w religious consciousness and personal religious experience .Sociological An alysis39: 123-134.

Stub, H. R. 1972.Status com mu nities in mo dero society: Alternatives to class analysis.Hillsdale, IL:The Drydan Press.

b y g u e s t on

S e p t em

b er 1 1

,2

0 1 0


j o ur n

al s . or g

D ownl

o a d e d f r om

Documents

The Red Road 181