Goddess: On the proliferation of goddess imagery in popular culture

Change happens slowly, but when it finally hits, the years of
individual strides and steps culminate in a burst of change. Trouble
is, change doesn’t always take effect in the ways we’d hoped.

When the “goddess movement” was birthed out of feminism in the early
seventies by groups of women passionate about both political and
personal growth, it started with small circles of women determined to
use magic as a tool for change. Leading figures during this decade
included such notables as Zsuzanna Budapest, Shekinah Mountainwater,
and Starhawk. The Wiccan religion, which was first birthed by Gerald
Gardner in the mid-twentieth century, had grown into a viable
alternative religion in both Europe and America. As one of the first
modern Western religions to worship a goddess as well as a god, it was
a logical starting point from which feminists could build their new
faith. Wicca formed the skeletal structure of the new women’s religion,
including seasonal rites and the use of magic, but was altered in ways
that made it truly different. Some continued to include male god
imagery, but a significant variant not only focused solely on the
goddess but made it a women’s mystery religion where only women
attended the rites, only women were taught magic, and seasonal rites
became inseparable from the cycles of a women’s body as she moved from
pre-menstrual maidenhood through her post-menopausal crone years. This
sect came to be known by several monikers, such as Dianic Wicca, Dianic
Witchcraft, and simply “goddess religion.”

One of the primary sacred narratives of Dianic Witchcraft was built
upon the idea that in civilizations past women held higher status than
contemporary society and was only lessened when matriarchy gave way to
patriarchy. Built upon archeological finds of female statuary
interpreted to be goddesses, the idea was birthed first by scholars but
only became the foundation of new religious movements when the idea had
gained a foothold in feminist circles. Many of the scholars (such as
Marija Gimbutas & J.J. Bachofen) who presented these ideas do not
find currency any longer with most academics. This development has
parallels with the larger Wiccan movement, whose own sacred narrative
includes the idea that it has a direct linear connection with
pre-Christian European witch-cults (as proposed by Margaret Murray), an
idea which contemporary academics have long considered unfounded.
However, whether or not the idea of matriarchy is in fact a viable and
factual history is beside the point. The role these ideas play among
contemporary Dianics and Wiccans is as sacred history, a potent
symbolic web upon which ideas for a new worldview and societal change
can blossom and grow. Key factors of this different society for both
groups include empowerment for women and a more symbiotic relationship
with nature.

Witches of either sect understand that there is magic that
happens when symbols become manifest as reality in the form of tangible
objects. First it is only within the realm of the groups that birthed
them – jewelry and adornments with representations of goddesses and
magical symbols, bumper stickers, books on nature religions, etc. –
until the symbols, if not always the idea behind them, seep into a
wider cultural milieu. Items such as those mentioned above move from
esoteric mail order catalogs and small metaphysical shops into the
women’s studies or occult sections of larger bookstores (in the case of
books) or museum gift shops (in the case of deity statuary or jewelry).
Spell candles now find their way into gift shops of every sort. Still,
even these things are perceived by the larger public as fringe items –
possibly even with satanic implications (in the case of pentacles, for
example). A lack of interest may even result in their falling below
their radar at all. Then, arriving with a force that makes it seem
almost sudden, despite the slow trickle over several decades, goddess
symbolism is everywhere. “Good Witches” have become stock characters in
TV dramas from “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” to Aaron Spelling’s
“Charmed.”

In high end beauty catalogs and stores we find Charmed World’s
spell-casting kits that come with items such as “Wash that man out of
your hair” shampoo and conditioner, Eau de Fortune money-drawing
fragrance designed to release your inner tycoon!” and “Temptress”
bubble bath in hot pink containers. The contact page of their website
bears this caveat:

CharmedWorld is not affiliated with any
organized religion. Rather, it is our belief that there is magic within
all of us. We hope that our whimsical products empower people to be
proactive in their lives and, at the same time, have some fun. We would
also like to stress that our products cannot be used to bring harm to
any one, nor to make any one act against their will. Have fun! And,
most of all, have a “charmed” life!

The text above and at various places on their website
suggest Wiccan influence without being explicitly stated. These pink
potions are still in the broomcloset with regard to their inspiration.
Wiccan influence can be seen in the “harm none” ethic voiced above as
well and in the text of one of the spells: “I beseech thee, dear
Goddess, let it be true. So be it!”

Despite their assertion that products cannot be used to “make
anyone act against their will” their descriptions for their spell kits
belie their stated ethics. The Tie the Knot magical spell, for example,
bears this description:

Would your man rather have a root canal
than discuss your “future”? Do weddings make him comatose? Does he
cringe everytime you pass a jewelry store? Help him lose those
ball-and-chain blues, cast this spell to get to the “I do’s.”

Less explicitly witchy and even more mainstream is Jacqua Girls
“Goddess Gathering Kit.” According to their website, Jacqua Girls
products has “distribution to more than 2,000 prestige gift shops,
specialty and department stores in the United States, England, Canada,
Germany, Scandinavia, France, New Zealand, Japan and Hong Kong.”
Package details state:

Get all your goddess girlfriends
together for a night of rituals, and beauty to bring out the best in
your life. Includes for 4 people:

  • Juturna Aromatherapy Spray
  • Isis Jasmine Incense
  • Kali Herbal Foot soak
  • Gaia Clay Mud Mask
  • Aphrodite Jojoba Lotion
  • Wish Boxes
  • Hestia candle
  • Bindis
  • Henna Tattoos
  • Invitations

 

 

Women have been gathering for thousands of years
to share in story-telling, ritual, beauty, and bonding. In this
fast-paced world we seldom take the time to gather in this ancient way.
This kit was created to encourage you to gather with your friends for a
meaningful and memorable time and discover your true goddess potential.
So may it be!

Here again a Wiccan influence can be detected in the phrase “So may it
be” and the names of popular goddesses, but otherwise the kit makes no
mention of spirituality. Instead, the intent is to “discover your true
goddess potential.” As goddess imagery seeps further and further into
popular culture, the word goddess begins to shed its religious
implications and seems to connote beauty with a liberal dash of female
bonding thrown in. Here, we make wishes, not magick. Dark and powerful
Kali is relegated to soothing tired feet.


The Go Goddess
game also doesn’t make any mention of magic or religion (though they do
refer obliquely to spirituality and include “chakra-colored candles”),
but does borrow a phrase from Dianic Witchcraft, paraphrased
prominently on their website: “What does a goddess look like? Look in
the mirror. You are a goddess.” Below this, the creators state that the
Go Goddess game is:


. . .an enriching catalyst to realize our dreams, recreate our lives
and fulfill our unique potential.By bringing women together to share
life’s experiences, Go Goddess! is a great way to connect with friends,
make new ones, and realize the goddess that’s blossoming within each of
us.

There are no right or wrong answers, and no
judgments. Go Goddess! is a concept for living, a spiritual oasis that
bathes you in positive, supportive energies, and inspires you to be the
best you can be – to be the best mate, mother, sister, daughter, lover
and friend. That’s what we all want, isn’t it?

Unlike the Jacqua Girls kit, the Go Goddess game
leans more heavily toward female bonding and empowerment than beauty.
This is pop psychology with a Goddess twist rather than either religion
or cosmetics, but it seems clear that our beloved goddess is destined
to attain pop culture saturation as a synonym for beauty – hairless
beauty.


The most audacious use of goddess imagery is without a doubt the Gillette Venus Razor
for women. The television commercial for this product pans over dozens
of svelte women in white bathing suits kicking their smooth hairless
legs to the pop tune lyric “I’m your Venus.” The close-up of the razor
itself reveals a handle shaped to look like a woman’s body with her
arms raised above her, much like the Nile river goddess. The slogan for
this product, “Reveal the Goddess in You” (which is, by the way,
trademarked) suggests that the word goddess, here, refers to a woman
finally free of all that unwanted body hair.

As much as we want to believe in symbols as archetypes that
shape our consciousness as a species, symbols evolve and meanings
change. The fact of the matter is that once the meaning has changed, it
loses some of its power even for those who embrace it. The use of the
swastika by the Nazis has never regained its luster. An extreme
example, to be sure, but the goals of feminist witches have never been
modest. They seek to change the world for the better, but unfortunately
much of the world does not want to change with them.

 

Document Copyright 2001 Spiritualitea.com & Sandra Mizumoto Posey, Ph.D., author of Cafe Nation: Coffee Folklore, Magick, & Divination
(Santa Monica Press, 2000). This article may be reproduced as long as
no changes, additions or deletions are made to the text. All the
information in this paragraph must be included on the document whenever
it is distributed or reproduced.

 

 

 

A Very Brief History of Witchcraft by Isaac Bonewits

Women DancingI am unusually hesitant in posting this essay, for I have some ten thousand pages or so of notes, xeroxes, earlier essays, etc. on this topic, only a fraction of which I’ve been able to scan in and merge over the last few weeks. But the sudden upsurge of visitors to my website last Halloween made it clear that I need to have something, however incomplete, here for people to read. So consider this a “beta version,” if you will, and forgive me for not making it as “perfect” as my obsessive-compulsive habits usually dictate. This essay will be updated continuously over the next few years. Please note that many of the books referenced in this essay are out of print and hard to find, though Amazon.com will search for them for you and many such books are available in online auctions or from your local bookseller.

Continue reading “A Very Brief History of Witchcraft by Isaac Bonewits”

Introduction to the Sabbats: The Magic of Ancient Celtic Beliefs in a Contemporary Society


Thank you for the days,
Those endless days, those sacred days you gave me.
I’m thinking of the days,
I won’t forget a single day, believe me.
–Ray Davies, the Kinks

The most important thing to understand about the eight Witchcraft
Sabbats is that they are not man-made. By this, I mean that they are
not holidays in the same way that Independence Day is a holiday, i.e. a
calendar anniversary of some date that has a special importance in
history. Indeed, the Sabbats of Witchcraft do not commemorate any
historical event and are, as we shall see, almost antithetical to the
concept of history. Nor are they randomly chosen holidays to observe
some social institution, such as Mother’s Day. No, the eight Sabbats of
Witchcraft were not man-made because they existed long before man was
made. Or woman. Or the dinosaurs. Or life on this planet. Indeed, these
eight holidays might be said to be as old as the Earth itself. They
might not have been called “sabbats” then, but they were there just the
same.

Continue reading “Introduction to the Sabbats: The Magic of Ancient Celtic Beliefs in a Contemporary Society”

Pagan Parenting in a Muggle World

Parenting is hot. Paganism is hot. But to this Pagan mama, it seems that finding a variety of resources to meet the needs of a variety of paths is a bit more difficult than youd think.

Perhaps Gwyneth Paltrow needs to have a come-to-Goddess moment. Maybe Land of Nod should offer My First Cauldron in a variety of peppy colors. But until then, the options for creatively filling your childs world with magick are still being, ahem, crafted.

Spiritualitoys: Free Content for Your Website

 


Pick & Choose Feature Articles

The following articles are available for republication. You are free to copy these articles onto your own
site, print magazine, class hand-out, or newsletter as long as no
changes, additions or deletions are made to the text. All the
information in the box below each article must be included on the
document whenever it is distributed or reproduced.

  • Divining Today
  • How to Find a Spiritual Teacher You Can Trust
  • Goddess tm: On the Proliferation of Goddess Imagery in Popular Culture
  •  


    Dynamically Changing Feature Articles

     Articles
    on each of the eight sabbats in the wheel of the year by Mike Nichols
    will appear on your site automatically at the appropriate time of year.
    Choose either the longer excerpt or the shorter excerpt, each of which
    links to the article in its entirety. 







     

    For the long version, insert the following code into your page:

    <center>
    <!-- Sabbat Articles by Mike Nichols on www.Spiritualitea.com -->
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    Esmerelda’s Spell Advisor

     Put
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    screen shot of esmerelda spell advisor

     Insert the following code into your page:


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    <script language=”javascript” src=”spiritualitoys/esmerelda.js”>
    </script>
    <form name="messageForm">
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    <img src="spiritualitoys/spells.gif" width=190 height=64 alt="Spell Creator" border=0></a></td></tr><tr><td align="left" bgcolor="#999900"><img src="spiritualitoys/left_10x1.gif" width=10 height=27></td><td width=170 valign=top align="center" align=left bgcolor="#999900"><select name="messagePick" OnChange="messageReveal()" width=170>
    <option value="0">What will you conjure?
    <option>Love<option>Protection
    <option>Psychic Development
    <option>Prosperity
    <option>Healing</select></td><td align="right" bgcolor="#999900"><img src="spiritualitoys/right_10x1.gif" width=10 height=27></td></tr><tr><td colspan=3><img name="indDISPLAY" src="spiritualitoys/esmerel.gif" width=190 height=123 alt="our suggestion" border=0 ></td>
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    <img src="spiritualitoys/left_10x1.gif" width=10 height=85></td>
    <td width=170 align="center" bgcolor="#999900"><textarea name="messageField" rows=4 cols=18 wrap=virtual>Select a purpose from the pull-down menu above and I will tell you what you will need here.</textarea></td>
    <td align="right" bgcolor="#999900">
    <img src="spiritualitoys/right_10x1.gif" width=10 height=85></td></tr>
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    Cafe Nation – Your Coffee Fortune-teller

    When
    you wave your cursor over the cup of coffee, steam will magically rise
    from the cup. Concentrate on your question, click on the image, and a
    window containing your fortune will appear. Learn about coffee &
    your future at the same time!
    (image below is a screenshot only)

     screen shot of cafe nation plug in

    Insert the following code into your page:


    <!-- Cafe Nation by www.Spiritualitea.com -->
    <!-- Cafe Nation -->
    <script language="javascript" src="spiritualitoys/cafenation2.js"></script>
    <table width=200 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 border=0 ><tr>
    <td><a href="http://www.spiritualitea.com" target="new">
    <img src="spiritualitoys/cafeon1b.gif" border=0 width=192 height=38 ></a></td></tr><tr>
    <td valign=top >
    <a href="javascript:makeRemote()" onMouseover = "img_act('toc1')" onMouseout = "img_inact('toc1')">
    <IMG NAME = "toc1" src="spiritualitoys/cafeoff2b.gif" border=0 width=192 height=200 ></a></td></tr>
    <tr><td valign=top>
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    <font face=arial,helvetica size=1><a href="http://www.cafenation.net/cafenationplugin.shtml">put cafe nation on your site free!</a>
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    Astro-Love

    Want
    to know if you and you-know-who are compatible? Enter your sign on the
    left, his/hers on the right, and see whether or not you’re on fire or
    merely tepid
    (image below is a screenshot only).

     

     screenshot of astrolove plug in
    Insert the following code into your page: 
    <center>
    <!-- Astro-Love by www.Spiritualitea.com -->
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    Ask Phoenix: Love Spells

    Q: How do I perform a love spell?
    I know the dangers and i still want to try. I honestly feel this person
    I want to put it on and I really are meant to be and I believe this
    person really does care for me but is afraid to show it.

    –Patti

    A: This is probably one of the
    toughest and most common questions a witch will encounter. Witches have
    the power to change so many
    things in their lives — why shouldn’t a witch draw someone special to
    her?

    Continue reading “Ask Phoenix: Love Spells”

    Ask Phoenix: Defining Terms – What is the difference between Old Religion, Eclectic, and Kitchen Wicca?

    Q: Could you elaborate on the
    difference in Old Religion, Eclectic
    and Kitchen Wiccan and the mixes of these? I’m searching through the
    web, but I’d like a comparitive opinion or observation, not my
    uneducated deductions…Thank you.

    — Kimberly

    A: As you probably already know,
    Wicca is a twentieth century religion. It was created out of human
    minds, a mix of ancient practices, turn of the century spiritualism,
    and ceremonialism and has evolved to incorporate environmental and
    feminist beliefs. The more witches you meet, the more different
    traditions you may hear about and they can sound a bit confusing,
    especially when the names don’t appear to reveal much about their
    particular practice.

    Continue reading “Ask Phoenix: Defining Terms – What is the difference between Old Religion, Eclectic, and Kitchen Wicca?”

    Ask Phoenix: How to Become a Witch


    Q: Since I first learned about wicca and magic and all that about
    spiritualism I have been wanted to become a witch. I have made a small
    book of shadows and I perform some small time rituals. But I never had
    any comunication with any real wicca other than reading stuff on the
    net. I only wonder what am I supposed to do to gain power and knowledge
    to become a stronger witch.

    –Lucas

    A: The first thing that any witch
    comes to realize is that practicing Wicca involves transformation of
    the self. The quest for power and knowledge becomes the quest for power
    over one’s actions and knowledge of one’s inner self, both dark and
    light.

    Continue reading “Ask Phoenix: How to Become a Witch”

    Ask Phoenix: Picking Up the Pieces – Surviving after your coven disbands

    Q: I started practicing wicca
    several years ago with a coven that had many
    internal problems. The coven fell apart and I stopped practicing.
    However, lately, I’ve been feeling the need to pick it up again. What I
    am unsure of is; when (ie: which sabbat, moon phase, etc.) should I
    start on… and is it unwise to just try to pick it up again after
    neglecting it for so long? I would really appreciate your help.
    — Bridgid

    A: Working with others is
    probably one of the most rewarding parts of being Wiccan. Losing ties
    to a coven can be devastating and can rock the foundation of your
    beliefs. But it’s possible to bounce back and be a stronger witch for
    the experience.

    Continue reading “Ask Phoenix: Picking Up the Pieces – Surviving after your coven disbands”