Information AboutGoddess |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT GODDESS | |
| goddesses | |
| conceptions of god | |
| deities by gender | |
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A goddess is a Female Deity , in contrast with a Male deity known as a "''' God '''". Many Culture s have goddesses. Most often these goddesses are part of a Polytheistic system that includes multiple deities. Pantheon s in various cultures can include both goddesses and gods, and in some cases also Intersex deities. In both ancient and modern cultures, the symbolism of gendered deities is open to a wide variety of interpretations. The gender of a prominent deity or deities may indicate cultural tendencies towards Patriarchy or Matriarchy , as well as whether the culture in question leans more towards Monotheism or Polytheism . The primacy of a monotheistic or near-monotheistic goddess is advocated by some modern matriarchists and Pantheists as a female version of, or analogue to, the Abrahamic God ). In some Feminist circles the Abrahamic god is perceived as being rooted in the patriarchal concept of dominance — to the exclusion of feminine concepts Eisler, Riane "The Challice and the Blade". Among Duotheists , the primary deities are one goddess and one god, who are seen as together making up a larger whole that is both the transcendent divine as well as the substance of all creation. ANCIENT NEAR EAST Egypt See Also: Egyptian mythology Mesopotamia See Also: Mesopotamian mythology PROTO-INDO-EUROPEAN RELIGION See Also: Proto-Indo-European religion Dharmic religions Hinduism See Also: Hindu Goddess Hinduism is a complex of various belief systems that sees many gods and goddesses as being representative of and/or emanative from a single source, Brahman , understood either as a formless, infinite, impersonal monad in the Advaita tradition or as a dual God in the form of Lakshmi - Vishnu , Radha - Krishna , Devi - Shiva in Dvaita traditions. Shaktas , worshippers of the Goddess, equate this God with Devi , the mother goddess. Such aspects of One God as male God ( Shaktiman ) and female energy ( Shakti ), working as a pair are often envisioned as male gods and their wives or consorts and provide many analogues between passive male ground and dynamic female energy. For example, and the warrior figures, Durga and Kali . All goddesses in Hinduism are sometimes grouped together as the great goddess, Devi . A further step was taken by the idea of the ''Shaktis''. Their ideology based mainly on Tantra s sees Shakti as the principle of energy through which all divinity functions, thus showing the masculine to be dependent on the feminine. Indeed, in the great shakta scripture known as the Devi Mahatmya , all the goddesses are shown to be aspects of one presiding female force, one in truth and many in expression, giving the world and the cosmos the galvanic energy for motion. It is expressed through both philosophical tracts and metaphor that the potentiality of masculine being is given actuation by the feminine divine. Local deities of different village regions in India were often identified with "mainstream" Hindu deities, a process that has been called "Sanskritization". Others attribute it to the influence of Monism or ''Advaita'' which discounts polytheist or monotheist categorization. While the monist forces have led to a fusion between some of the goddesses (108 names are common for many goddesses), centrifugal forces have also resulted in new goddesses and rituals gaining ascendance among the laity in different parts of Hindu world. Thus, the immensely popular goddess Durga was a pre-Vedic goddess who was later fused with Parvati, a process that can be traced through texts such as Kalika Purana ( 10th Century ), Durgabhaktitarangini ( Vidyapati 15th Century ), Chandimangal ( 16th Century ) etc. Sikhism God or Goddess? The fundamental belief of s refer to God as Father and Mother thus: |
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