The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum

I'm attempting to research goddess/Goddess worship. I want to understand how worship of specific goddesses differs from worship of the Goddess and how it might be the same. I would like to interview some people about their experiences and worship, either with specific goddesses or the Goddess or both.

 

What/who do you mean by "The Goddess" and how is this different from "specific goddesses"?

Hey, is this something that's been approved by staff? Because with where I am and what members of my family do, it could be dangerous for me to give info to someone who hasn't been vetted.

I totally understand that! I hadn't thought to ask staff about permission but I will do so.

I'm not actually looking for personal information. Just descriptions of how you honor who you honor. No real names or places, no personal descriptions.

While, I would love to get to know people personally for my own benefit, as far as the project goes, absolutely no personal information is required. Honestly if it was possible you could write down your experience on a napkin and ding-dong-ditch it at my house for total anonymity

I'm attempting to research goddess/Goddess worship. I want to understand how worship of specific goddesses differs from worship of the Goddess and how it might be the same. I would like to interview some people about their experiences and worship, either with specific goddesses or the Goddess or both.

The interviews could be conducted via email or Skype or whatever method works best for you. If you might be interested in helping with this project please comment below or message me directly.

If you don't want to participate in an interview, but know of a book/article/blog that would provide some insight, please let me know as well

(PS:If this isn't the appropriate forum for this request, I apologize and will gladly remove it.)

Goddess spirituality is a socio-religious movement. It overlaps the neopagan and post-Christian/New Age communities. There are a large number of Pagans who focus on The Goddess, partly as a result of the influence this movement. There are also non-Pagans who think about the Divine in this way, too.

Books you could try on Goddess spirituality:

Carol P. Christ: Rebirth of the Goddess (post-Christian/sociological)
J. Plaskow and C. Christ, ed.: Weaving the Visions: New Patterns in Feminist Spirituality (multicultural mix of essays)
Glenys Livingstone: PaGaian Cosmology: Reinventing Earth-based Goddess Religion (Pagan, focusing on Australia)
Sue Monk Kidd: Dance of the Dissident Daughter: A Woman's Journey from Christian Tradition to the Sacred Feminine
Starhawk: The Spiral Dance: A Rebirth of the Ancient Religion of the Great Goddess (Pagan)
Merlin Stone: When God Was A Woman (anthropological/archaeological)

I haven't read them all, but the Christ and Plaskow books are good, and the rest are on my 'to-read' list. You'll want to be aware that the goddess movement often draws on some dodgy scholarship, though. Be especially wary of Gimbutas.

I assume you've seen the Wikipedia page on the Goddess Movement? http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goddess_movement

For the history of the movement you could also try the excellent chapter on it in Hutton's book 'Triumph of the Moon'.

I would include Merlin Stone among those to read with caution and a good deal of salt, as well.

I'm not in any way disputing the inclusion of When God was a Woman on the list; it's impossible to understand the Goddess/Women's Spirituality Movement without examining their sources of inspiration. But as you note, Nay, those sources of inspiration must be approached with care, and an awareness that they are, at best, mythic history rather than fact.

Sunflower

That's why I said to be careful of influences.

The Pagan movement can be very hypocritical when it comes to the Goddess movement. We, too, academically speaking, have some serious areas of blindness. Pagans seem to love tearing down the Goddess movement's poor scholarship, while doing things like, well, reconstructionism. Which are dodgy on a number of levels but claim to be 'scholarly'... While academics boggle at them, or more likely, laugh.

I would argue that it's literally impossible to understand the Goddess movement without reading some of the influential 'great goddess' writing. Despite what many Pagans like to argue, it is still extremely influential spiritually *and* academically.

I'm attempting to research goddess/Goddess worship. I want to understand how worship of specific goddesses differs from worship of the Goddess and how it might be the same. I would like to interview some people about their experiences and worship, either with specific goddesses or the Goddess or both.

The interviews could be conducted via email or Skype or whatever method works best for you. If you might be interested in helping with this project please comment below or message me directly.

If you don't want to participate in an interview, but know of a book/article/blog that would provide some insight, please let me know as well

(PS:If this isn't the appropriate forum for this request, I apologize and will gladly remove it.)

I'm up for sharing my experiences, scant as they may be. I deleted some of my inbox so you should be able to PM me for my email.

The interviews could be conducted via email or Skype or whatever method works best for you. If you might be interested in helping with this project please comment below or message me directly.

If you don't want to participate in an interview, but know of a book/article/blog that would provide some insight, please let me know as well

 
Thank you to everyone who has offered help so far! I will be looking in to the various sources in the next few days. Thank you especially to those who expressed interest in helping through an interview!

If anyone else has good sources to share, I would love them. And, of course, if anyone else would like to take part in interviews that would be wonderful. I am hoping to interview at least 5-8 more people.

I'm attempting to research goddess/Goddess worship. I want to understand how worship of specific goddesses differs from worship of the Goddess and how it might be the same.

 
It's worth noting that the overlap of people whose religions have a "The Goddess" and people whose religions have goddesses is likely much smaller than you expect, which means your question is more about comparing wholly different religions and their theologies than experiences within the same structure.

If that's what you want to be doing, that's one thing, but if you're expecting people to be able to comment about doing both at some level there aren't all that many who can be helpful.  (And augh, I'm flashing on the horrible flamewars about monism that went around the pagan blogworld a few months ago now.)