The Goddess is the “All of Creation.” She is the Creatress and the Created. She is the life force of all there is. She is one, whole, and complete. Before Her, nothing was. She arose from the Great Void, the source of all potential, giving birth to Herself before anything else had ever been born. She separated the sky and the water, and She danced. In the ecstasy of Her Dance She conceived of all there is.
In every culture, in every part of the world, the Goddess has been revered as the Birth Giver of all Life. From the very beginning of time, in our earliest primitive state, we sought to explain the unexplainable by drawing from what we knew. The female of every species brought forth life; therefore, the Creatrix also had to be Birth Giving Mother and the Great Mother was given Her identity.
She has been loved, feared, respected, honored, and glorified in every way imaginable throughout thousands of years of human development. She has been given a “face” for every conceivable aspect of Her nature. She has taken the form of animals, humans, and elemental energies. She has been given associations with plants, colors, sounds, stones, music, and more. For every aspect and every view, She has a face.
As a goddess woman in modern times, I have chosen to not limit myself to any one culture as I draw upon the energies of Her many faces. I have not limited myself to think She is only One, for to me, She is One and She is Many. From that, I consider myself monotheistic as well as polytheistic. I call to Her in human form from the many goddesses throughout the world. I call on Her from her animal, plant, and mineral kingdoms. I call on Her from the Light and in the Dark. She is what illuminates as well as who lives in the Shadows, for She is All.
To see this in a more simplistic way, I see all of Creation as Goddess. The entire web of life is Goddess, all connected by the threads of Her web. All exist as interconnected threads, never separate. What happens to one, happens to all.
Because I am a part of that web, then I too, am Goddess. As Goddess, I am empowered to create. I am empowered to be all that I can be and for me, that means there are no limits, other than the limits I impose on myself.
I am both a spiritual woman and a scientific one. The scientist in me loves the big bang theory, the string theory and I am incredibly interested in how the world has evolved and continues to evolve. When growing up, the spiritual side of me hungered for a spiritual life that could embrace both sides of my hungry mind. It was not until I began to see “religion” as a process of adopting a metaphor that I was able to create my own spiritual practice, satisfying all of who I am. I was the wild child whose favorite place to sleep was nestled in the arms of an old oak tree and whose best friends were the snakes and lizards found under rocks in my mountain home. Finally, I could account for all the many rocks brought home or the snips of tree branches I called my friends. By adopting this metaphor as my own, I could name the many parts of who I am. Then, when I needed to call out an aspect from within, in a time of need, my own feelings of strength and power where magnified. Such are Her power and beauty to me.
This metaphor says that I am related to all that is; that I am kin to trees, animals, birds, insects, rocks and stones. I am also related to the sun, the stars and the moon. The same energy, the same force is in us all. We are all part of the same Divine Source.
…to be continued…read Part Two here!
Deanne Quarrie. D. Min. is a Priestess of the Goddess. She is the author of six books. She is the founder of the Apple Branch where she teaches courses in Feminist Dianic Witchcraft and Northern European Witchcraft. She has recently opened Iseum Benedictus as a priestess in the Fellowship of Isis. She mentors those who wish to serve others in their communities. She is also an Adjunct Professor at Ocean Seminary College and is the founder of Global Goddess, a worldwide organization open to all women who honor some form of the divine feminine.
Belladonna is a High Priestess in the Apple Branch. She was, for many years, the editor of the Global Goddess Oracle. She is the owner of Belladonna’s Garden offering quality products for the bath!! My thanks to her for providing the substance for this article.
Very nice article. As a male who worships the Goddess, I can relate to what you wrote. Although, as a male, I tend to see things in a slightly different way.
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We are all of Her!
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“It was not until I began to see “religion” as a process of adopting a metaphor that I was able to create my own spiritual practice, satisfying all of who I am.” This is quite a powerful statement and similar to my own experience – thank you for putting that into words. This is a beautiful evocation of your spiritual practice!
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Thank you!
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Carolyn, I was going to put that quote as well, but will tag to your post instead and say “ditto” and tremendous thanks to Deanne for her lovely essay. Blessings to you both!
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thank you! All these lovely comments surely inspire me! Many blessings to all!
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:She has taken the form of animals, humans, and elemental energies. She has been given associations with plants, colors, sounds, stones, music, and more.” I love these images.
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Yes, she is all of these!
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This makes sense to me. Patriarchal religion always felt contrived to me. Finding the goddess was like coming home!
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So true!
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Greatly enjoyed this post, thanks Deanne. Love where you say: “I am kin to trees, animals, birds, insects, rocks and stones.”
I understand Mother Nature as goddess too and love her dearly. I am glad to live in an era when the environment is more respected, loved and truly cared for with great commitment. From my window a gorgeous clear blue sky I see this morning, and with much joy, hooray.
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Yes, I believe when we love Her in this way we naturally strive to care for Her.
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Brava! I’m with you. She is All.
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“As a goddess woman in modern times, I have chosen to not limit myself to any one culture as I draw upon the energies of Her many faces. I have not limited myself to think She is only One, for to me, She is One and She is Many. From that, I consider myself monotheistic as well as polytheistic. I call to Her in human form from the many goddesses throughout the world. I call on Her from her animal, plant, and mineral kingdoms. I call on Her from the Light and in the Dark. She is what illuminates as well as who lives in the Shadows, for She is All.”
Deannie, this paragraph expresses better than I ever could how the goddess lives through me… what interests me the most at 73 is how often I experience her in her animal form. Of course, I am a naturalist, but, for some reason I think it might be more than my love for Nature that causes me to experience her presence as an animall or bird…
I love your writing!
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I will say that when She has messages for me, they mostly come through animals! Even before I know there were such things as spirit guides or spirit animals, I had my hawk. Form childhood, I loved being around her animals, birds and reptiles and found solace in trees.!
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