The Return of the Goddess to Our Human Consciousness by Caryn MacGrandle

Molly Remer of Brigid’s Grove, a fellow contributor here at Feminism and Religion recently wrote on the Mother Well section of the divine feminine app: “I feel like Inanna & Enheduanna are all around in recent months!”

Yes. I do as well.

A year or two ago, I read a book by Lauren Sleeman entitled ‘Behold’.  The premise of the book has remained with me:  a telling of the Goddesses, in particular Lilith, the Great Mother and Crone of the Cosmos, and Hekate, Goddess of the Dark Moon and the Mysteries of Life, who have been silently watching and waiting these past few thousand years to return to our human consciousness. 

It is time, no?  And they enter mine from so many different paths.

The inspiration for Molly’s post is a Girl God book that she contributed to entitled “Inanna’s Descent:  Reclaiming Female Power.”  The book is filled with stories from incredible women, many who are contributors here, such as Annie Finch, Arna Baartz, Carolyn Boyd, DeAnna L’am, Nuit Moore, Patricia Ballentine and many others.

Women for whom the Goddess has been present in their life for decades.  But now She seems to be returning on a larger scale to human consciousness.

I just finished Janet Rudolph’s upcoming book “Desperately Seeking Persephone” a very readable book showing Janet’s curiosity, fortitude and resilience during the challenging travels in her life where she was able to take the many puzzle pieces and put them together to trust that she was never alone in life and always supported by such Spirit as those of Persephone, Inanna, the Norns and Angels among us. 

How many of us have been inspired by the Spirits of the Goddess?

I recall myself having a very challenging personal situation come up, and I took Sekhmet with me.  Different Goddesses call me at different times, and lately, the founding courage, bravery, strength of Sekhmet has been an inspiration.  Sekhmet was known as “the Lady of the Place of the Beginning of Time.”  The great pharaoh Amenhotep of approximately 1391-1353 BC had over 700 impressive large granodiorite statues carved of Sekhmet many of which remain today in museums around the world. 

What power she held to inspire that many statues?  And then she, too, quietly stepped back into the recesses of our human consciousness.

In Janet’s book, both Persephone and Inanna along with the Norns are approachable tea and wine sipping companions helping her navigate the underworld and the mysteries of life. 

How many of us have been similarly motivated, inspired and supported in this way?  More and more as the days pass I would propose. 

More and more as women are reclaiming their Feminine Power and restoring balance to our world.  

But as they return, I also feel as if it is time to reshape and retell these myths.

“The goddess Sekhmet had the head of a lioness.  The Ancient Egyptians worshipped her as the goddess of healing and medicine.  Her name means ‘powerful,’ and Sekhmet was also the goddess of war, who fought and destroyed many enemies of the sun god Ra.  In battle, she entered a fierce rage that could only be calmed by drinking blood.  In one myth, her battle rage almost caused her to wipe out the human race.  Ra fooled her into drinking beer, dyed red to look like blood, to calm her down. 

After a battle, the Egyptians danced and got drunk to calm Sekhmet’s battle rage and return peace to the world.”  From DKFindout

Today we stand at a similar crossroads where greed and dysfunctional patriarchal ways have created and sustained worldwide inequality, poverty and submission. 

But why have such a powerful figure as Sekhmet need to be subdued and tricked by alcohol?  I suggest a retelling of the myths. 

This time I suggest we let matriarchal goddesses inspire us to recognize the ‘nature of the human beast’ and then let us rise above this nature to come together and powerfully rise from the underworld. 

Surely it is time.