918 lines
40 KiB
Plaintext
918 lines
40 KiB
Plaintext
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INTRODUCTION TO THE OLD RELIGION
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LESSON 1
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I. GODDESS RELIGIONS IN THE OLD WORLD
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A. Gravettian-Aurignacian Cultures (25000 BC-15000 BC)
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1. The Upper-Paleolithic period, though most of its sites have been
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found in Europe, is the conjectural foundation of the religion of
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the Goddess as it emerged in the later Neolithic Age of the Near
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East.
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a. There have been numerous studies of Paleolithic cultures,
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explorations of sites occupied by these people, and the apparent
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rites connected with the disposal of their dead.
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b. In these Upper-Paleolithic societies, the concept of the
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creator of all human life may have been formulated by the clan's
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image of women, who were their most ancient primal ancestors.
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(1) It is believed that the mother was regarded as the sole
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parent of children in this culture.
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(2) Ancestor worship appears to have been the basis of sacred
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rituals and ancestry is believed to have been reckoned through
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the matriline.
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(a) The beginnings of Roman religion were based on survivals
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of the Etruscan culture and ancestor worship was the earliest
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form of religion in Rome.
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(b) Even today, the Jewish people determine who is and is not
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a Jew through the matriline.
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2. The most tangible evidence supporting the theory that these
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cultures worshipped a Goddess is the numerous sculptures of women
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found throughout most of Europe and the Near East. Some of these
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sculptures date as far back as 25,000 BC.
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a. These small female figurines, made of stone, bone, and clay,
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most of which are seemingly pregnant, have been found throughout
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the widespread Gravettian-Aurignacian sites in areas as far apart
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as Spain, France, Germany, Austria, and Russia.
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(1) These sites and figurines appear to span a period of at
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least 10,000 years.
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3. Johannes Maringer, in his book 'The Gods of Prehistoric Man'
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says- "It appears highly probable then that the female figurines
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were idols of a Great Mother cult, practiced by the non-nomadic
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Aurignacian mammoth hunters who inhabited the immense Eurasian
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territories that extended from Southern France to Lake Baikal in
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Siberia."
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a. It was from this Lake Baikal area in Siberia that tribes are
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believed to have migrated across a great land bridge to North
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America about this time period, and formed the nucleus of what
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was to become the race of American Indians.
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(1) This tends to support the observation that European
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witchcraft and American Indian shamanism have similar roots.
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B. The Roots of Western Civilization
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1. Western Civilization began in Mesopotamia and the Nile Valley,
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where it traveled into Palestine and Greece.
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a. From Greece civilization traveled to Rome,and as the Roman
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Empire grew it spread to Spain, France, Germany and England.
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2. Mesopotamia ( 3500 BC - 539 BC )
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a. Mesopotamia ("the land between the rivers") is the name used to
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describe the region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, the
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southern area of which is mostly lowlying swampland and marshes.
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(1) The fertile lands of Mesopotamia lie between the desert and
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the mountains. The northern part has regular rainfall while the
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southern part, stretching down to the Arabian Gulf, suffers dry
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scorching summers from May to October.
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(a) In what is now the southern part of Iraq, Sumer existed
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as one of the world's first civilizations.
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b. Between 2800 and 2400 BC the city-states of Sumer were at their
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strongest and wealthiest.
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(1) The Goddess was worshipped under various names which were
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epithets, or characterizing phrases, such as 'Queen of Heaven'
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and 'Lady of the High Places'. The name of the city or town that
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She was the patroness for, was often attached to Her title
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making Her name even more specific.
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(a) An example of this is the temple erected about 3000 BC in
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the city-state of Uruk which was dedicated to the Queen of
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Heaven of Erech.
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(b) This city was made a major power and rival to its sister
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city Ur by Gilgamesh's son.
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c. About 2350 BC an ambitious king, named Sargon, attacked
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Sumer, and made it part of his huge Empire. His capitol of Agade
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gave us the name by which Sargons empire is known- the Akkadian
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Empire.
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(1) The Akkadian Empire was the first successful attempt to
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unite a huge area under the rule of one man. It eventually
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gained supremacy in about 1900 BC and gradually superseded the
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Summerians as the cultural and political leaders of the
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region.
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(a) The Akkadian language of the Babylonians became the
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international language of the Near East, just as French
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would become the language of diplomacy thousands of years
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later.
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(b) The new Babylonian culture incorporated the Sumerian
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religion, and the Sumerian language was adopted as the
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language of the liturgy much as Latin is used as the
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language of liturgy for Roman Catholics.
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(c) The sumerian Goddess, under the names Inanna, Eriskegan
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and Irnini, evolved into the great Babylonian Goddess
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Ishtar.
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d. Approximately 1600 BC Babylon was sacked by an Indo-European
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people known as the Hittites who came from Anatolia, off to the
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northwest.
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(1) During the confusion that ensued, the Kassites seized the
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throne of Babylon and ruled peacefully for 400 years.
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(a) Ishtar's power waned as the Babylonians were influenced
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by the warlike Hittites and Her temples were taken over by
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a male-dominated priesthood, which called the Goddess
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Tiamat and wrote stories of how their god Marduk had killed
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Her in the struggle for control of the region.
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e. In the centuries following 1103 BC the Assyrians rose to
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power and expanded into most of Mesopotamia from their homeland
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which lay between the cities of Asher and Nineveh on the Tigrus
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River.
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(1) In the eighth century, the Assyrians conquered most of
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Syria, Palestine, Phoenicia and had invaded Egypt as far as
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Thebes (Luxor) before the Egyptians drove them back.
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(a) Looking to legitimize their new empire, they 'married'
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their god Asher to Ishtar, whose followers had secretly
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kept Her worship alive.
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(b) The joining of Ashur with Ishtar produced a son named
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Ninurta, and this is the first formally recorded triad of
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Goddess, Consort, and Divine Child in the Near East.
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(2) From 631 to 539 BC much inter-city warfare occurred as
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the Assyrian empire fell apart.
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(a) In 539 BC Nabonius, the last king of Babylonia,
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surrendered to Cyrus II of Persia who was busy building
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the greatest empire ever attempted.
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3. Anatolia
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a. Anatolia, which is also called Asia Minor, is a broad peninsula
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jutting westward from the Asian continent itself. To the north
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lies the Black Sea, to the south the easternmost part of the
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Mediterranean. At the entrance to the Black Sea are the
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Dardanelles and it is here that Asia comes closest to the
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continent of Europe. Not surprisingly, Anatolia has always been
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the main link between the Orient and the Occident.
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b. In Neolithic Anatolia (present day Turkey) the Great Goddess
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was worshiped in the shrines of Catal Huyuk around 6500 BC.
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c. Anatolia was invaded sometime before 2000 BC by the Indo-
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Europeans and a group of them settled in a part of Anatolia known
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as Hatti. The invaders and local people came to be known
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collectively as the Hittites.
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(1) These are the same Hittites who sacked Babylonia in 1600 BC
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and suppressed the worship of Ishtar in favor of their god
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Marduk.
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d. Most of the references to the Goddess in the literature and
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texts of Anatolia alluded to the older Hattian deities despite the
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fact that the only records allowed to survive were written after
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the conquest of Anatolia by the Indo-Europeans.
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(1) One of the most important female deities to survive was the
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Sun Goddess Arinna. After the conquest she was assigned a husband
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who was symbolized as a storm god.
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(a) At the time of the Hittite invasions of other lands, many
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of the people who were Goddess-worshippers may have fled to
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the west. The renowned temple of the Goddess in the city of
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Ephesus was the target of the apostle Paul's zealous
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missionary efforts (Acts 19:27). This temple remained active
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until 380 AD.
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4. Crete
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a. The Aegean Sea is an area of the Mediterranean, lying between
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the mainland of Greece and the western coast of Anatolia. The
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Aegean Sea is dotted with a great number of mountainous islands
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and the largest of these is Crete, which is just about 60 miles
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southeast of Greece.
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(1) Crete was the society that is most repeatedly thought to
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have been matrilineal and possibly matriarchal from Neolithic
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times to the Dorian invasion.
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(a) Reverance of the double headed ax as a symbol of the
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Mother Goddess and a reverence for the sexual vitality of
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bulls were two notable aspects of Crete's early culture.
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(b) Bull leaping is thought to have been the origin of
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Spain's bullfighting, although in Crete the bull was never
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harmed.
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(2) After viewing the artifacts and murals at Knossos, the
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Archaeological Museum at Iraklion and other museums in Crete,
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there is little doubt that the principal sacred being on Crete
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for several millenia was the Goddess and that women acted as Her
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clergy.
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5. Egypt (3100 to 30 BC)
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a. Egypt is a hot, desert land divided by the fertile valley of
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the Nile river. Hardly any rain falls there and the summers are
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scorching hot. Even today, most of Egypt is arid desert.
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(1) The Cultivation, a strip of land on each side of the Nile
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river, is one of the most fertile stretches of land in the world.
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(a) Although the Cultivation is only 12 1/2 miles wide, it
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runs for about 620 miles from Aswan in the south to the broad
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farmlands of the delta where the Nile empties into the
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Mediterranean.
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b. In prehistoric Egypt, the Goddess held sway in Upper Egypt (the
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south) as Nekhebt and She was depicted in the form of a vulture.
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(1) The people of Lower Egypt, including the northern delta
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region, worshipped the Goddess as Ua Zit (Great Serpent) and
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depictions of Her show Her as a cobra.
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c. From about 3000 BC onward the Goddess was said to have existed
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when nothing else had been created.
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(1) She was known as Nut, Net, or Nit which was probably derived
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from Nekhebt.
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(a) According to Egyptian mythology, it was the Goddess who
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first put Ra, the sun god, in the sky.
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(b) Other texts of Egypt tell of the Goddess as Hathor in
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this role as creatrix of existence, explaining that She took
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form as a serpent at the time.
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d. In Egypt the concept of the Goddess always remained vital.
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Eventually the Goddess evolved into a more composite Goddess known
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as Isis.
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(1) Isis (Au Set) incorporated the aspects of both Ua Zit and
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Hathor. Isis was also closely associated with the Goddess as
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Nut, who was mythologically recorded as Her Mother; in paintings
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Isis wears the wings of Nekhebt.
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(a) Isis was also associated with another triad which
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included Her husband, Osiris, and their son Horus.
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(b) Isis' cult was introduced into Rome and the last temple
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of Isis was closed in 394 AD by Theodosios.
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6. Canaan (8000 - 63 BC)
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a. The biblical land of Canaan, the 'land of milk and honey' was
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an area about 90 miles wide running north and south along the
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eastern coast of the Mediterranean.
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(1) In modern times the region includes the states of Israel,
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Jordan, Lebanon, and part of Syria. The area made up of Jordan
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and Israel used to be known as Palestine.
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b. Images of the Goddess, some dating back as far as 7000 BC,
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offer silent testimony to the most ancient worship of the Queen of
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Heaven in the land that is most often remembered today as the
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homeland of Judaism and Christianity.
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(1) In exploring the influence and importance of the worship of
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the Goddess in Canaan in biblical times, we find that as
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Ashtoreth, Asherah, Astarte, Attoret, Anath, or simply as Elat
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or Baalat, she was the principal deity of such great Canaanite
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cities as Tyre, Sidon, Ascalon, Beth Anath, Aphaca, Byblos, and
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Ashtoreth Karnaim.
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c. In Egypt, the Hebrews had known the worship of the Goddess as
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Isis or Hathor. For four generations they had been living in a
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land where women held a very high status and the matrilineal
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descent system continued to function at most periods.
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(1) Judging from the number of Hebrews who emerged from Egypt in
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the Exodus, as compared with the family of the the twelve sons
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who supposedly entered it four generations earlier, it seems
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likely that a great number of those Hebrews known as Israelites
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may actually have been Egyptians, Canaanites, Semitic nomads and
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other Goddess-worshipping peoples who had joined together in
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Egypt.
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d. Archaeological records and artifacts reveal that the religion
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of the Goddess still flourished in many of the cities of Canaan
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even after the Hebrews invaded it and claimed it as their own on
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the authority that their god had given it to them.
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(1) And just to the east, all most at their doorstep was
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Babylon, where the temples of Ishtar were still going strong.
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7. Persia (3000 - 331 BC)
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a. Throughout its early history Iran was often invaded by nomadic
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peoples.
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(1) Some came through the Elbruz mountains east of the Caspian
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Sea.
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(a) Others, like the Medes and Persians, entered Iran through
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the Caucasus mountains in the Northwest.
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b. By the 9th century BC the most powerful group in Iran was the
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Medes, who kept the Persians as their servants.
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(1) In 612 BC the Medes, together with the Babylonians, captured
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Nineveh, Ashur, and Kalhu, which were in the heart of the
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Assyrian empire.
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(a) The Assyrian empire collapsed and its vast territories
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were divided between the Medes and the Babylonians.
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c. About 550 BC the king of the Persians led a revolt against the
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Medes and from that point on the Persians, led by their King Cyrus
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the Great, ruled over Iran.
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(1) Cyrus captured Babylon and gained control of the whole
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former Babylonian empire.
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(a) Virtually all of western Asia was now under Persian rule.
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(2) The nest two kings extended Persian rule to Egypt in the
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south and to the borders of India in the east.
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(a) Egypt revolted later and won its independence for a short
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time, but was forced back into the empire just in time to be
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part of the prize won by Alexander the Great of Macedonia
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when he conquered the Persian empire in 331 BC.
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II. PEOMAGOGIC HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSAL GODDESS RELIGION
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A. Definition of Poemagogic
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1. Term coined by Anton Ehrenzweig
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a. The special function of inducing and symbolizing the ego's
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creativity.
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(1) It has a dreamlike 'slippery' quality.
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(a) One aspect slips into another just like a dream.
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B. Legend of the Universal Goddess
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1. The craft is a religion which has an unbroken tradition that
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dates back to Paleolithic times (approximately 35,000 years).
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a. As the last ice age retreated the tribe of nomadic hunters
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worshipped the Goddess of the Wild Things and Fertility and the
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God of the Hunt.
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(1) Semi-permanent homes were set up in caves carved out by the
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glaciers.
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(a) Shamans and Shamanka conducted rites within hard to
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reach portions of the caves, which were painted with scenes
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of the hunt, magical symbols and the tribes totem animals.
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2. The transition from Hunter-Gatherers to agriculturists was
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reflected in the change of the 'Lady of the Wild Things and
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Fertility' to the 'Barley Mother' and the 'God of the Hunt' to the
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'Lord of the Grain'.
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a. The importance of the phases of the moon and the sun was
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reflected in the rituals that evolved around sowing, reaping, and
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letting out to pasture.
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3. Villages grew into towns and cities and society changed from
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tribal to communal to urban.
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a. Paintings on the plastered walls of shrines depicted the
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Goddess giving birth to the Divine Child - Her son, consort and
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seed.
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(1) The Divine Child was expected to take a special interest in
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the city dwellers, just as His Mother and Father had taken an
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interest in the people who lived away from the cities.
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b. Mathematics, astronomy, poetry, music, medicine, and the
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understanding of the workings of the human mind, developed side
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by side with the lore of the deeper mysteries.
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4. Far to the east, nomadic tribes devoted themselves to the arts
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of war and conquest.
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a. Wave after wave of invasion swept over Europe from the Bronze
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Age onward.
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(1) Warrior gods drove the Goddess' people out from the fertile
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lowlands and the fine temples, into the hills and high
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mountains, where they became known as the Sidhe, the Picts or
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Pixies, and the Fair Folk or the Fairies.
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b. The mythological cycle of Goddess and Consort, Mother and
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Child, which had held sway for 30,000 years was changed to
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conform to the values of the conquering patriarchies.
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(1) In Canaan, Yahweh fought a bloody battle to ensure that his
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followers had "no other gods before me."
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(a) The Goddess was given a masculine name and assigned the
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role of a false god.
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(b) Along with the suppression of the Goddess, women lost
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most of the rights they had previously enjoyed.
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(2) In Greece, the Goddess in Her many aspects, was "married"
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to the new gods resulting in the Olympic Pantheon.
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(a) The Titans, who the Olympians displaced were more in
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touch with the primal aspects of the Goddess.
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(3) The victorious Celts in Gaul and the British Isles, adopted
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many features of the Old Religion and incorporated them into
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the Druidic Mysteries.
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(a) The Faerie, breeding cattle in the stony hills and
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living in turf-covered round huts preserved the Craft.
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(b) They celebrated the eight feasts of the Wheel of the
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Year with wild processions on horseback, singing and
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chanting along the way and lighting ritual bonfires on the
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mountaintops.
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(c) It was said that the invaders often joined in the revels
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and many rural families, along with some royalty, could
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claim to have Faerie blood.
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(d) The College of the Druids and the Poetic Colleges of
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Ireland and Wales were said to have preserved many of the
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old mysteries.
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5. In the late 1400's the Catholic Church attempted to obliterate
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its competitors, and the followers of the Old Religion were forced
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to 'go underground.'
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a. They broke up into small groups called Covens and, isolated
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from each other, formed what would later be known as the Family
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Traditions.
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(1) Inevitably, parts of the Craft were forgotten or lost and
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what survives today is fragmentary.
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6. After nearly five centuries of persecution and terror, came the
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Age of Disbelief.
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a. Memory of the True Craft had faded as non-members who could
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remember how they once had met openly died and those who came
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after never knew of them.
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(1) All that was left were the hideous stereotypes which were
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ludicrous, laughable or just plain tragic.
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7. With the repeal of the last Witchcraft Act in England in 1954,
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the Craft started to re-emerge as an alternative to a world that
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viewed the planet as a resource to be exploited.
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III THE ARCHETYPE OF THE GODDESS
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A. The Craft has always been a religion of poetry, not theology.
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1. The myths, legends, and teachings are recognized as metaphors for
|
||
'That which cannot be told'; the absolute reality our minds can
|
||
never completely express because of the limitations placed on it
|
||
through biology.
|
||
|
||
a. The mysteries of the absolute can never be explained - only
|
||
felt or intuited.
|
||
|
||
b. Symbols and ritual acts are used to trigger unusual states of
|
||
awareness in which insights that go beyond words are revealed.
|
||
|
||
(1) When the phrase 'secrets that cannot be told' is used, it is
|
||
not a matter of oaths taken or the threat of penalties that
|
||
might be imposed.
|
||
|
||
(a) The true meaning is that the inner knowledge literally
|
||
cannot be expressed in words.
|
||
|
||
(b) It can only be conveyed by experience and no one can
|
||
legislate what insight another person may draw from any given
|
||
experience.
|
||
|
||
(c) This is why the Craft is not a spectator religion, where
|
||
you can refuse to put any effort in and gain anything
|
||
meaningful for your own development.
|
||
|
||
(d) This is also why entrenched priesthoods foster the belief
|
||
that non-priests must go through a hierarchy of priests,
|
||
heads of churches, and eventually through chosen prophets and
|
||
sons of the deity in order to receive special attention by
|
||
the deity.
|
||
|
||
B. The primary symbol for 'that which cannot be told' in the Craft is
|
||
the Mother Goddess. She has an infinite number of aspects and
|
||
thousands of names because She is the reality behind many metaphors
|
||
for the creation of the universe.
|
||
|
||
1. Unlike patriarchal systems, the Craft sees the Goddess as giving
|
||
birth to the world rather than creating it out of nothing.
|
||
|
||
a. The fertile Lands were made from Her Flesh, the Waters from Her
|
||
own bodily Fluids, the Mountains from Her Bones, and the Winds
|
||
from Her own Breath.
|
||
|
||
(1) The Goddess does not rule the world, She IS the world and
|
||
since She gave birth to us all, we have the potential to
|
||
reconnect with the spirit of Her in all Her magnificent
|
||
diversity.
|
||
|
||
(2) Religion for us, then is a matter of relinking with the
|
||
divine within and with Her outer manifestations in all the human
|
||
and natural world.
|
||
|
||
(a) One of the basic beliefs that the Craft is founded upon
|
||
is what Stewart Farrar call the 'Theory of Levels', which
|
||
recognizes that reality exists and operates on many planes.
|
||
|
||
(b) A simplified but generally accepted list would be -
|
||
physical, etherical, astral, mental and spiritual.
|
||
|
||
(c) It is recognized that each of these levels has its own
|
||
laws and that these laws, while special to their own levels,
|
||
are compatible with each other and their mutual resonance
|
||
governs the interaction between the levels.
|
||
|
||
(d) The point of this excursion into the esoterica of how the
|
||
universe works, is to point out that we do not separate our
|
||
physical existence from our spiritual existence. In the
|
||
Craft, spirit and flesh are joined together and physical
|
||
aspects of being human such as sex are not considered 'dirty
|
||
' or 'sinful'.
|
||
|
||
C. The importance of the Craft for women, is a direct outgrowth in the
|
||
decline of Goddess religions and the rise of God dominated religions.
|
||
|
||
1. Male images of divinity are characterized in both western and
|
||
eastern religions today, and women are thus deprived of religious
|
||
models and spiritual systems that can speak to female needs and
|
||
experience.
|
||
|
||
a. In the extremes of male dominated religions, women are not
|
||
encouraged to explore their own strengths and realizations.
|
||
|
||
(1) They are taught to submit to male authority, to identify
|
||
masculine perceptions as their spiritual ideals, to deny their
|
||
bodies and sexuality, and to fit their insights into a male
|
||
mold, no matter how ludicrus that may seem.
|
||
|
||
2. The image of the Goddess inspires women to see themselves in a
|
||
very different light.
|
||
|
||
a. As Daughters of the Goddess, they are divine, their bodies are
|
||
sacred, and the changing phases of their lives are holy.
|
||
|
||
(1) Their aggression is healthy, and their anger can be
|
||
purifying.
|
||
|
||
(a) Their power to create and nurture as well as their
|
||
ability to limit and to destroy, when necessary, is seen as
|
||
the very force that sustains all life.
|
||
|
||
(2) Through the Goddess, women can discover their strengths,
|
||
enlighten their minds, own their bodies and celebrate their
|
||
emotions.
|
||
|
||
(a) They can move beyond narrow constricting roles and
|
||
become whole people.
|
||
|
||
3. For women, the Goddess is the symbol of the inmost self and the
|
||
beneficent, nurturing, liberating power within all women.
|
||
|
||
a. The cosmos is modelled on the female body, which is sacred.
|
||
|
||
(1) All phases of life are sacred and age is a blessing, not a
|
||
curse.
|
||
|
||
(a) The Goddess does not limit women to their bodies. She
|
||
awakens their minds and spirits and emotions.
|
||
|
||
(b) Through Her, they can know the power of anger and
|
||
aggression, as well as the power of love.
|
||
|
||
D. The Image of the Goddess has a great deal to offer men as well as
|
||
women.
|
||
|
||
1. Men are also oppressed in a God ruled, patriarchal society.
|
||
|
||
a. Men are encouraged to identify with a model that no human being
|
||
can possibly live up to.
|
||
|
||
(1) Men are expected to be mini-rulers of their own very narrow
|
||
universes.
|
||
|
||
(a) Men are internally split between a spiritual self, that
|
||
is supposed to conquer their baser animal instincts, and
|
||
their emotional selves.
|
||
|
||
(b) They are at war with themselves. In the west, they are
|
||
expected to overcome the tendency to sin, while in the east
|
||
they must suppress the desires of the ego.
|
||
|
||
(c) Needless to say, no man comes away from this type of
|
||
struggle undamaged.
|
||
|
||
2. Every male who is raised by a mother, will from birth carry
|
||
within him a strong feminine imprint.
|
||
|
||
a. This is so, because women give birth to males, nurture them at
|
||
their breast, and in our culture, are primarily responsible for
|
||
their care until they reach adolescence.
|
||
|
||
(1) The symbol of the Goddess allows men to experience and
|
||
integrate the feminine side of their nature without danger of
|
||
losing those feelings which are the touchstone of their
|
||
masculinity.
|
||
|
||
(a) The Goddess becomes: the mother who will never abandon
|
||
her child: refuse to nurture him when he is feeling his most
|
||
vulnerable: tempers her justice with compassion and
|
||
understanding, all these in ways not always possible in human
|
||
women and other men.
|
||
|
||
3. For a man, the Goddess is his own hidden Female self, as well as
|
||
being the Universal Life force.
|
||
|
||
a. She embodies all the qualities society teaches him not to
|
||
recognize in himself.
|
||
|
||
(1) His first experience with Her may therefore be somewhat
|
||
stereotypical, in that She appears as the cosmic lover, the
|
||
gentle nurturer, the eternally desired Other, or the Muse. All
|
||
that he is not.
|
||
|
||
(a) As he becomes more whole and becomes aware of his own
|
||
'female' qualities, She seems to change, to show him a new
|
||
face. Always holding up a mirror, She shows what may seem
|
||
ungraspable to him.
|
||
|
||
(b) He may chase Her forever and She will elude him, but
|
||
through the attempt, he will grow until he too learns to find
|
||
Her within.
|
||
|
||
IV THE ARCHETYPE OF THE HORNED GOD
|
||
|
||
A. The Horned God is born of a Virgin Mother
|
||
|
||
1. He is a model of male power that is free from father-son rivalry
|
||
or 'Oedipal' conflicts.
|
||
|
||
a. He has no father, because He is his own father.
|
||
|
||
(1) As He grows and passes through the changes on the Wheel, He
|
||
remains in relationship with the prime nurturing force of the
|
||
Goddess.
|
||
|
||
(a) His power is drawn directly from the Goddess and He
|
||
participates in life through Her.
|
||
|
||
2. The Horned God represents powerful, positive male qualities that
|
||
derive from deeper sources than the stereotypical violence and
|
||
emotional crippling of men present in our society.
|
||
|
||
a. When a man strives to emulate the God, he is free to be wild
|
||
without being cruel, angry without being violent, sexual without
|
||
being coercive, spiritual without being unsexed, and able to truly
|
||
love.
|
||
|
||
3. For men the God is the image of inner power, and of a potency
|
||
that is more than merely sexual.
|
||
|
||
a. He is the undivided Self, in which mind is not split from the
|
||
body, nor spirit from flesh.
|
||
|
||
(1) United, both can function at the peak of creative and
|
||
emotional power.
|
||
|
||
b. Men are not subservient or relegated to second class spiritual
|
||
citizenship on the Craft.
|
||
|
||
(1) But neither are they automatically elevated to a higher
|
||
status than women, as they are in other religions.
|
||
|
||
(a) Men in the Craft must interact with strong, empowered
|
||
women who do not pretend to be anything less than what they
|
||
are.
|
||
|
||
(b) Many men find this prospect disconcerting at first.
|
||
|
||
4. For women raised in our present culture, the God begins as a
|
||
symbol of all those qualities that have been identified as male, and
|
||
that they, as women, have not been allowed or encouraged to own.
|
||
|
||
a. The symbol of the God, like that of the Goddess, is both
|
||
internal and external.
|
||
|
||
(1) Through meditation and ritual a woman invokes the God and
|
||
creates his image within herself.
|
||
|
||
(a) In this way she connects with those qualities that she
|
||
may lack.
|
||
|
||
(2) As her understanding moves beyond culturally imposed
|
||
limitations her image of the God changes and deepens.
|
||
|
||
(a) He becomes the Creation, which is not simply a replica of
|
||
oneself, but something different and of a different order.
|
||
|
||
(b) True Creation implies separation as the very act of birth
|
||
is a relinquishment or letting go.
|
||
|
||
(c) Through the God, women know this power within themselves,
|
||
and so, like the Goddess, the God can empower women.
|
||
|
||
5. In the Craft, the cosmos is no longer modeled on external male
|
||
control.
|
||
|
||
a. The hierarchy is dissolved and the heavenly chain of command is
|
||
broken.
|
||
|
||
(1) The "divinely revealed" texts are seen as poetry not the
|
||
"word of God."
|
||
|
||
(a) Instead, a man must connect with the Goddess who is
|
||
immanent in the world, in nature, in women, and in his own
|
||
feelings.
|
||
|
||
(b) She is immanent in everything that childhood religions
|
||
taught needed to be overcome, transcended, and conquered, in
|
||
order to be loved by 'God'.
|
||
|
||
b. The very aspects of the Craft that seem threatening also hold
|
||
out to men a new and vibrant spiritual possibility: that of
|
||
wholeness, connection, and freedom.
|
||
|
||
(1) Men of courage find relationships with strong powerful women
|
||
exhilarating and they welcome the chance to know the Female
|
||
within the self.
|
||
|
||
(a) They enjoy the chance to grow beyond their culturally
|
||
imposed limitations and become whole.
|
||
|
||
c. Within Covens, women and men can experience group support and
|
||
the affection of other women and men.
|
||
|
||
(1) They can interact in situations that are not competitive or
|
||
antagonistic.
|
||
|
||
(a) Men in Covens can become true friends with other men,
|
||
without giving up any part of themselves, or subjecting
|
||
themselves to derision or ridicule.
|
||
|
||
V. ETHICS AND VALUES SHARED BY MOST MEMBERS OF THE CRAFT
|
||
|
||
A. The ethics of the Craft are more positive than negative.
|
||
|
||
1. Rather than being exhorted with a plethora of "thou shall nots"
|
||
the Craft is guided by principles more along the lines of "blessed
|
||
be they who...."
|
||
|
||
a. The Craft is a joyous creed; it is also a socially and
|
||
ecologically responsible one. Witches delight in the world and
|
||
their involvement in it on all levels.
|
||
|
||
(1) They enjoy their minds, their psyches, their bodies, their
|
||
senses and sensitivities; and they delight in relating, on all
|
||
these planes, with their fellow creatures and the Earth Herself.
|
||
|
||
2. Wiccans believe in a joyful balance of all human functions.
|
||
|
||
a. This outlook is perfectly expressed in the Charge of the
|
||
Goddess, which is an integral part of most of the rituals of all
|
||
witches.
|
||
|
||
(1) "Let My worship be within the heart that rejoices; for
|
||
behold, all acts of love and pleasure are My rituals, and
|
||
therefore let there be beauty and strength, power and
|
||
compassion, honor and humility, mirth and reverence within you."
|
||
|
||
(a) This provides a model of a balanced ethic which presents
|
||
eight qualities that are positive and not restrictive.
|
||
|
||
(b) Compassion means empathy, not condescension; humility
|
||
means a realistic appraisal of your own stage of development;
|
||
reverence means a sense of wonder.
|
||
|
||
(c) The Wiccan is always conscious that compassion must be
|
||
partnered with power, humility with honor, and reverence with
|
||
mirth.
|
||
|
||
3. Love of life in all its forms, is the basic ethic of the Craft.
|
||
|
||
a. We are bound to honor and respect all living things and to
|
||
serve the Life Force.
|
||
|
||
(1) It has been said that we all serve the Goddess, even if only
|
||
as compost.
|
||
|
||
4. Witchcraft recognizes that life feeds on life.
|
||
|
||
a. We must kill in order to survive, but life is never taken
|
||
needlessly, never squandered or wasted.
|
||
|
||
(1) To ensure the survival of the species, females are not
|
||
hunted as game, for they share the sacred bond of motherhood
|
||
with the Goddess.
|
||
|
||
(a) Serving the Life Force also means working to preserve the
|
||
diversity of natural life, preventing the poisoning of the
|
||
environment and the destruction of species.
|
||
|
||
5. The World is seen as the manifestation of the Goddess
|
||
|
||
a. What happens in the World is important because the Goddess is
|
||
directly affected.
|
||
|
||
(1) While the seasons of the year renew the Goddess, She needs
|
||
the participation of Her creations to keep the cycle going.
|
||
|
||
(a) This is the real function of the Sabbats. They reinforce
|
||
the ties between humankind and the Planet that gives us life.
|
||
|
||
(b) Unlike other gods, that allow humanity to exist at their
|
||
sufferance, the Goddess needs us just as much as we need Her,
|
||
and we are partners in the pageant of Life.
|
||
|
||
6. Justice is seen as an inner sense that each act brings about
|
||
consequences that must be faced responsibly.
|
||
|
||
a. This is based on the belief that all things are interdependent
|
||
and interrelated.
|
||
|
||
(1) Therefore, we are all mutually responsible because an act
|
||
that harms anyone harms us all.
|
||
|
||
(a) This is summed up in the form of a law known as Karma,
|
||
which dictates that all actions bring about changes.
|
||
|
||
(2) There is a saying in the Craft that illustrates the effects
|
||
of Karma known as the 'Threefold Law of Return'
|
||
|
||
(a) 'Whatever is sent out is returned three times over.'
|
||
|
||
(b) It is a sort of amplified 'Golden Rule'
|
||
|
||
7. Honor is a guiding principle of the Craft.
|
||
|
||
a. It is an inner sense of pride and self respect
|
||
|
||
(1) Refusing to do anything which would make you ashamed of
|
||
yourself strengthens your magical will and leads to the self
|
||
respect that comes from setting your own course, guided by your
|
||
own inner sense of right or wrong.
|
||
|
||
(a) This makes you rightfully proud of past accomplishments
|
||
and encourages you to stay the course.
|
||
|
||
b. The Goddess is honored in oneself and in others.
|
||
|
||
(1) Women are respected and valued for all their human
|
||
qualities.
|
||
|
||
(a) The Self, one's individuality and unique way of being, is
|
||
highly valued.
|
||
|
||
(2) Like Nature, the Goddess loves diversity.
|
||
|
||
(a) Oneness is attained not through losing the Self, but
|
||
through realizing the Self's potential.
|
||
|
||
8. Self development and the full realizatin of one's unique yet many
|
||
aspected potential is a moral duty for a witch.
|
||
|
||
a. Life is seen as a gift from the Goddess and it is up to us to
|
||
push the evolution to mankin
|
||
|
||
|
||
(1) If suffering exists, it is not our task to reconcile
|
||
ourselves to it.
|
||
|
||
(a) We must work for change in all ways at hand.
|
||
|
||
b. That which helps this evolution to come about is seen as good
|
||
and desirable while actions that thwart it are to be avoided
|
||
because each of us is a factor in the cosmic evolutionary process.
|
||
|
||
END OF LESSON 1
|
||
|
||
|