Divine Feminine

Using archeological evidence we can conclude that the earliest images of the Divine were feminine. The power of life and the power of nature was represented by the figure of a pregent female. With the rise of early urbanism we begin to see male deities paired with the Goddess, the dying and rising God kings, rescued by marriage to the Goddess and who power was drawn from union with her. New child Gods appear who represent the new forces in people’s lives beyond nature and natural power law, taxation, irrigation, etc. Many images of these divinities are drawn from the new system’s aristocratic elite powerful, aloof, and the holding sovereign power. Myths were introduced which further reinforced the new deities roles, reduced the female Divine’s importance and ensured the primacy of the male, often tying it with a Divine Male Kingship no longer reliant on union with the Feminine.

In contemporary Christianity male monotheism is taken for granted and reinforces the social hierarchy of patriarchy in ways not found when the Goddess, or paired images were prevalent. Women begin to be symbolically represented as a servant-helper class; male monotheism has become the vehicle of psychocultural revolution for the male ruling class. Over time the male monotheistic image softened from one of king to one of a father-parent figure which has a negative side as well, it suggests a permanent parent-child relationship. God becomes a neurotic parent who does not want its offspring to grow. Autonomy and personal responsibility become grave sins. Patriarchal theology uses the image of a divine parent to promote and prolong spiritual infantilism, the act of parenting enculturates us to stereotypic male and female roles. The divine parent reinforces the power of patriarchy, it does not provide freedom from it.