A Unitarian Universalist Perspective
Garden Path Coven
Temple of the Feminine Divine
The Feminine Face of Judaism
Veronica's Sacred Theater
The faces of the Feminine Divine are myriad, as are Her many interpretations. To some, She is the feminine aspect of the one God. To others, She is the female polarity of nature which manifests in a multitude of goddesses. To many people around the world, She is the Divine Mother, in forms ranging from the Virgin Mary to Kali.
At a panel discussion on the Feminine Divine held in Bangor, Maine in October 2000, there were representatives from several different spiritual traditions, all there to talk about how the Feminine Divine fits into each of their faiths. The panel discussion was part of the Goddess Festival 2000, a week-long celebration of the Feminine Divine, which included an art exhibit, concerts, performance art, storytelling and workshops.
A Unitarian Universalist Perspective
The first panelist was Rev. Elaine Peresluha, who is the Minister of the Bangor Unitarian Universalist Church. "First of all, I do not represent the beliefs of the Unitarian Universalist church -- I am here speaking only for myself. UU's advocate seeking one's own path or practice -- whatever helps the process of bringing one closer to the divine."
"Years ago, I began exploring feminist traditions, Wicca and Paganism. I was drawn to the UU tradition because of their respect for the feminine, and the balance of male and female that is there as well. The UU tradition honors women and includes the feminine aspects in their services."
Rev. Peresluha's experiences are not unique in Unitarian Universalism. The Sixth Source of UU is "Spiritual teaching of Earth-centered traditions which celebrate the sacred circle of life and instruct us to live in harmony with the rhythms of nature." For some Unitarian Universalists this means following a Humanist, Native American, or other nature-honoring path. Some of these paths include Paganism, and there is even an offshoot of the UU church called CUUPS, or Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans. CUUPS was chartered in 1987, promoting interfaith dialogue between Pagans and those following Judeo-Christian paths. CUUPS also encourages the development of theo/alogical materials based on earth-centered spiritual perspectives.
The second panelist followed a very earth-centered path -- that of Paganism itself. Kitty Tambling is part of the Garden Path Coven near Bangor, Maine. "Our program for initiates includes a survey which is called 'Touching the Earth.' In this survey, we ask if initiates know where their water comes from, where their trash goes, what their personal impact is upon the Earth, things like that."
Garden Path Coven practices British Traditional Witchcraft, a blend of Celtic beliefs and the Gardnerian Tradition, an initiatory tradition based in England. When asked about her tradition, Kitty offered the following, "One of the best books I've read on British Traditional Witchcraft is Roland Hutton's 'Triumph of the Moon,' which talks about how Paganism began in England as an uprising against the mystical traditions of the time."
"In Garden Path Coven, we believe wholeheartedly in the equality of masculine and feminine. We also tend to be very polytheistic in our tradition -- rather than believing there is a God or Goddess, we believe in separate deities, not that they are all aspects of one deity. We seek balance in all things, especially between male and female."
"In our group, we believe the masculine and feminine are equals already. If you want a perfect society, if you want balance, the way to do it is not to step outside of balance, but to just have balance now. If I am in balance, than everything around me will be in balance. I believe that balance is something that exists already, and that we don't need to have a special emphasis on the feminine."
The third panelist, Rev. Kay Gardner, is a Priestess of the Temple of the Feminine Divine F.O.I. (Fellowship of Isis), and the director of "Women with Wings," a musical group that seeks spiritual empowerment for women. She is also known internationally for her pioneering work in the area of healing through sound.
Even though they are both Pagans, Kay's outlook on the balance between masculine and feminine differed considerably from Kitty's point of view. "Our tradition also seeks balance, but in the world today most of the religions are patriarchal. There is an imbalance that needs to be corrected. We feel that the celebration of the Feminine Divine is needed at this time. In order for us all to be whole, we need to take back our spirits, we need to honor the Feminine Divine. In response to this need, many of us began to focus on the Goddess."
"Now when I talk about the Goddess, I'm really talking about the many, many aspects of the Feminine Divine. She was the ancient Great Mother, and she included many different aspects of the Feminine Divine in many different cultures. I believe that when we call upon different the energies or aspects of the Goddess, we help ourselves become strong in this patriarchal society we live in. My dream is to one day be a priestess to the temple of the Divine, not just the Feminine Divine -- but I'm not sure I will see it in this lifetime. Right now we feel we need a separate space for women to become empowered and take back their spirituality."
"As a Pagan, I am part of an Earth religion. The Earth is being neglected, and She is so often seen as a woman. And I feel that as long as women are being raped, the Earth is being raped. And until we learn to love ourselves, we will not be able to love the Earth -- to take of, and nurture Her."
Representing the Judaic perspective were Rabbi Barry Creeder, a Reformist Jew and feminist; and Ann Johnston, Hebrew scholar at Bangor Theological Seminary.
A hush filled the room as Rabbi Creeder walked up to the altar and lit two candles on either side of a sand-colored statue of a woman. He then drew the light toward himself three times. "On Friday nights Jews welcome the Shabbat. Traditionally in each family, the mother lights two or more Shabbat candles. In our family, as Progressive Jews, we all light a candle -- everyone takes part in the celebration. After lighting the candles, symbolic of the sacred light, we bring the light toward us three times. Then we sing a prayer to God in Hebrew. The Shabbat is our rest, and rest for Jews incorporates relaxation, prayer, love and song. "When we usher in the Shabbat, we usher in the feminine presence of God."
To begin her part of the presentation, Ann Johnston passed around a magazine article which dealt with recent findings at Kuntillet Ajrud, an archaeological site in Sinai. One of the discoveries had been a painting of two ibexes nibbling on a sacred tree, with an accompanying inscription that read, "Yahweh of Samaria and his Asherah." Ann elaborated further, "Israel was not always monotheistic. Yahweh once had a consort, Asherah. Israel also borrowed a lot from the surrounding Mediterranean cultures, some of which was incorporated into the Jewish tradition." Archaeologists have recently uncovered Hebrew settlements where female deities such as Asherah and Astarte-Anath were worshipped alongside El and Yahweh for many years, before being eradicated by a male-dominated priesthood.
Rabbi Creeder went up to the altar and picked up the statue. "Ann just mentioned the recent archaelological discoveries in the Sinai. This figurine was created some 2800 years ago, showing a pregnant women in an Egyptian style wig or headdress, and was found in a Phoenician cemetery. The Canaanite feminine deity as represented here dates back more than 4000 years, and this statue or image is what is referred to as an 'Asherah,' or what many people know as Astarte." Rabbi Creeder then held up a second feminine statue, in contrast dark and slender, with a star-like (appendage). "This is another depiction of Astarte. Astarte and Asherah are goddesses that are a part of Jewish tradition."
Ann passed out a list of scripture references from the Torah and Bible. "It is the spirit of God, or the Ruach, which moved across the waters in Genesis 1:2. Ruach is a feminine term for God which is mentioned in Exodus 15:10 and Job 33:4. The Torah is filled with images of the feminine aspects of God. For example, in Genesis 17:1, 28:3, and Exodus 6:2-3, there are references to 'El Chaddai.' El Chaddai is usually translated into 'God Almighty,' but it really means 'God of the Breasts,' a reference to the fertility brought by the life-giving rivers. Another example from Prophets reads, 'Can a mother forget her suckling child, so I will not forget you.' In this passage we see the references to God as a mother who loves Her children. We need to reclaim the feminine tradition of God. We need to understand all-embracing nature of God, which contains both the feminine and masculine."
Rabbi Creeder added, "Jews basically believe in a God who is limitless, imageless and nameless. We use only words to describe God because God is indescribible, a mystery. This mystery cannot be expressed through images or words -- it can only be felt."
The final panelist was Frederica Chapman, founder of Veronica's Sacred Theatre, a women's touring company that celebrates the sacred feminine through performances in sacred spaces around the world. Their premiere production is "Faces in Stone: A Women's Story of God," which expresses the feminine energies through images, dance, and musical compositions by 12th century Christian mystic Hildegaard Von Bingen. "We are eight women, from the ages of 17 to 74. We draw from the riches of woman's past to inspire the soul. As a means of furthering community, we invite women local to our performances to chant in our choir."
Frederica grew up under the Old Man of the Mountain, and experienced the frustration of encountering male-dominated religion. "I tried to study religion, but came first to the great Father God of the Hebrews, Yahweh, in such a force that I could not withstand, so I retreated." Later in life, she studied Carl Jung's psychoanalytic theory, and "began to understand God in a new light; that is, in the way of the wholeness of a thing, like myself." She then moved into a new forms of study -- masks and theatre. "I had learned deeply from listening to nature and hearing spirit there -- in the woods of my childhood in New Hampshire, and in the hills of Scotland. The masks that I developed were the masks of nature. Out west I began 'Faces in the Stone,' an archetypal story of a girl entering womanhood, and I thought, what do I do with this? My prolific dream-life led me to create Veronica's Sacred Theatre."
"Faces in the Stone" uses stone-like masks to represent the three faces of woman: the maiden, mother, and crone. In the story, the young girl must approach each archetype and make her entrance. "The faces in this work are the carved faces of Mary, of angels, and the women saints which have spoken to me from the walls of my life's places of worship. I have needed women's faces. I have needed their perpetual grace to link me to Spirit. The male God in the Stone had neglected to include me."
Veronica's Sacred Theatre has an even more direct connection with the sacred feminine. "Our theatre group receives channeled assistance from Hildegard, Saint Brigid, Mother Mary and Veronica. In Latin, Veronica means 'true image.' To be a veronica is to be the true image of who you really are."
Frederica then gave a demonstration of how she listens to Spirit, and allows herself to become the vessel to which God/dess may come to consciouness, and how that energy is expressed through dance and intonation. Frederica describes the feeling as "a blessing to begin to know the grace flowing through the vessel, and to feel it contiually filling and emptying like the moon."
Conclusion
The role of the feminine within all of us is important in order to achieve balance. Carl Jung's definition of spiritual growth of an individual depends on integration of the feminine (anima) and masculine (animus) components of the psyche. According to Vikki Hanchin, a Pittsburgh area psychotherapist, the problem begins as children. "We start out really connected with our personal mothers, and there's this unconscious oneness with the feminine. Then we start differentiating and separating, and eventually there needs to be a return, a reunion, a reintegration of our separateness and our togetherness." The faces of the Feminine Divine are all around us -- we only have to open our eyes to see them.