The
Goddess in America: the Divine Feminine in Cultural Context, an anthology edited by Trevor Greenfield, Introduction by
Jhenah Telyndru, (Moon Books, 2016) 192 pages, trade paperback 5.5” x 8.5”.
Also available in e-book format.
The Goddess in America looks
at the American Goddess movement, sometimes also called Goddess spirituality
or, more recently, Goddess religion(s), from several different perspectives. The anthology includes discussions of the
influence of Native American thought and practice; influences of religions that
immigrants from three other continents brought with them; “relational” factors
such as feminism, shamanism, Christianity, psychology, and Witchcraft; and ways
the Goddess is viewed at the present time.
In her
introduction, Jhenah Telyndru, founder of the Sisterhood of Avalon ,
which has groups in US, UK, and online, sets the stage for the rest of the book.
Telyndru notes that “those of us who dwell in North America are both blessed
and burdened by the spiritual legacies of the indigenous peoples...the
spiritual traditions of the lands from which our ancestors may have immigrated,
and the call to create new iterations of spirituality….” She takes a look at related
difficulties some American Pagans may be having, and mentions the Statue of
Liberty as a Goddess representation.
The book
has four parts. Parts 1 and 2 each begin with an overall look at the part’s
subject matter, followed by several chapters taking a closer look at some of
the topics of that part. Part 1, “The Native Goddess,” opens with an essay by
Hearth Moon Rising, an American with both European and Native American
ancestry, who currently lives in New York state. In “The influence of
Matriarchal Tribes on the Goddess Movement” she defines and discusses “the
Goddess movement” in general, some terms that are used by those in the movement
including Goddessian, and
matriarchy, and delves into contributions of the Native American cultures as
well as political feminism. She notes that “the Goddess movement is no longer
an American, or even a Western phenomenon. It has spread around the world and
gained a foothold in places, including India, Nigeria and South Korea.” Rising
adds that “matriarchal cultures” are being studied in places outside of the
Americas and criticizes some scholars in academia who deny the evidence that
matriarchy existed and still exists in some cultures. The rest of the chapters
take closer looks at three Nations: Cherokee, discussed by Michele Sauter Warch
(identified as Michele L.Warch in the attribution with her bio at the end of
the chapter), Hopi by Laurie Martin Gardner, and Maya by Heather Lee Marano. (Apparently an editorial decision was
made not to put each author’s name at
the beginning of each chapter or in the running heads which usually appear in books in a distinguishing font at the top of each page and in anthologies
commonly contain the name of the author of each contribution [see for example, Weaving the Visions, Womanspirit Rising].
In The Goddess in America, authors’
names appear only in the table of contents and at the end of each essay, with a short bio. There are 19 contributing
authors. To see names of all topics and contributors go to the book’s page on
Amazon [linked to on its cover above], click on “Look Inside” and click on the Contents link [and yes, I
looked for it on publisher’s website first but couldn’t find it there].
In Part 2,
“The Migrant Goddess,” an introductory chapter is written by Telyndru. She
discusses what she considers “unique challenges” confronting American “Goddess
Worshipers and Pagans” and introduces her four-part “Philosophy of Engagement”
related to multicultural issues and divinities. Concluding, she writes, “One’s
blood or DNA, in my opinion, is less important than how one actively engages
with the culture, tradition, and societal mores of the nations from which one’s
Goddesses arise…. one’s spiritual homeland is found nowhere but within one’s
own heart….” Other chapters in this part focus on Irish, African and Creole, Greek
(especially Cretan and Minoan), and Hebrew Goddesses. In her chapter on Irish
Goddesses, Morgan Daimler explores “whether the Irish Gods travel with the
people who worship them or whether they are…bound to specific places.” Sherrie
Almes, in her essay, “African Goddesses and Creole Voodoo,” gives a clear
distinction among the terms Voodoo, Voudou, and Hoodoo, and among their great variety
of deities. In her chapter about the Goddess Ariadne, Laura Perry first
includes information about her ancestry and journey with other European
goddesses, then writes, “In my lifetime I’ve seen women break many societal
bonds, but we still have a long way to go toward true equality. I’d like to
think Ariadne and her tribe have our backs as we march forward.” In her chapter
on the Hebrew Goddess, Elisheva Nester of AMHA (Primitive Hebrew Assembly USA), gives background on the difference between
monotheistic rabbinic Judaism and the polytheistic “Hebrew earth tradition”
whose roots are pre-rabbinic and probably also pre-biblical. Nester, a native Israeli
who now lives in the United States, focuses on two Goddesses in her essay:
Ashera and the considerably lesser known Rahmay.
Part 3,
“The Relational Goddess,” has chapter headings that all begin with “The Goddess
and the…,” the first chapter ends with the word “Feminist.” In it, Susan Harper
writes, “The question of whether or not a Goddess-centered spirituality is
inherently feminist is a fraught one.” In exploring this, she refers to the
work of a number of Goddess and spiritual feminists, including Carol P. Christ,
Z. Budapest, Starhawk, Anita Diamant, and Ruth Barrett. In the second chapter
of this part, which ends with the word, “Shaman,” Dorothy Abrams focuses on her
own shamanic journeys and tells of her relationship with Spider Woman and
spiritual helpers and messengers. The author of the third chapter, which ends with the word,
“Christianity,” is identified as Byron Ballard in the table of contents and H.
Byron Ballard in the identification at the end that appears with her bio.
Ballard is priestess and founder of Mother Grove Goddess Temple
in Asheville, NC. In this essay, she explores the relationship between her
Goddess Temple and local Christian churches, Christianity and Goddess
spirituality, as well as among Goddesses and Christian saints and other
figures. She writes, “As we experience the escalation of Goddess worship and
its growing cultures— especially in the West— there is a kind of cold comfort
in the preservation of the Divine Feminine through the machinations of
Christianity.” Expanding on the irony, she goes on to conclude:“… we come back
to the notion of the unveiling of the Goddess and how she has been obscured in
the belly of Christianity.” The fourth chapter in this part, written by Tiffany
Lazic, ends with the word, “Psychologist,” and focuses on using Goddess
archetypes as a therapeutic psychological tool. The last chapter in this part
ends with the word, “Witch.” In it, modern Witchcraft in the US is explained
and explored by Laurie Martin-Gardner (name given without hyphenation in table
of contents, with hyphen in the ending identification) as beginning with Gardnerian
Wicca and developing into a myriad of types: “a spectrum” with
reconstructionism at one end and eclecticism at the other end. Their common
threads, Martin-Gardner points out, are Goddess and connections to a great
number of cultures.
Part 4,
“The Contemporary Goddess,” begins with a chapter by Phoenix Love about the
pros and cons of “pop goddesses” and the difference between these humans and
Goddesses who are divinities. Among the women the author classifies as pop
goddesses are Marilyn Monroe, Angelina Jolie, Sharon Stone, Melissa McCarthy,
and Halle Berry. Love goes on to discuss Goddesses or Goddess-like characters in
movies and TV shows as well as books advising women on “how to bring out their
‘inner goddess’.” On the pop trend in general, she comments, “Those who take
what they want from bits of information…without truly understanding what it
means to worship THE Goddess or even A goddess cheapen what is important:
reverence and understanding, respect for the Goddess and what she represents….”
The author of the second chapter of Part 4 is identified as Salem Margot Pierce
in the table of contents but as Margo Wolfe with her bio at the chapter’s end
(according to a personal communication, the latter is the name she now prefers). She
is a member of the Sisters of Avalon. She begins the second chapter in Part 4,
“Rewriting the Goddess,” with the claim, “Americans don’t really have their own
Goddesses.” Wolfe goes on to discuss changes Americans have made in Goddess
figures and practices. The third chapter delves into the practices, rituals,
classes, activism community, and probable future of the well-known Witchcraft
tradition, Reclaiming. It is by written by a Reclaiming Witch,
Irisanya. The fourth chapter of this part, written by Kate Brunner, a member of
the Sisterhood of Avalon, poses a number of questions in exploring the return
of the “wise woman” tradition, which includes her roles as healer, protector, advocate, ritualist, and “conduit
of a community.” In the next chapter, Michele Leigh Warch (name per attribution
with bio at end, but identified in the table of contents as Michele Sauter
Warch both for this chapter and for her essay in part 1) writes about “The Goth Goddess,”
first discussing a number of “dark” Goddesses of various cultures and
traditions and what they have in common. She then discusses the development of
“Goth” in American culture. The last chapter of the book, by Vivienne Moss,
relates the Goddess to “The Role of Women in America Today.” She chooses nine
“ladies to grace this essay” and recommends ways to honor them. I’ll let you
discover who Moss says they are yourself but will reveal the titles she gives them:
Queen of Beauty, Lady Justice, Queen of Adventure, Lady Freedom, Our Lady of
the Sacred Feminine, The Warrior Queen, Our Lady of Song, Earth Warrior, The
First Lady.
In
addition to the author name inconsistencies, an aspect of the book that
disturbed me was the use, though scattered, of male generic language. For
example, in one chapter the terms “man” and “mankind” are used when both male
and female is meant and preferred words for some time have been “people,”
“humans,” “humanity,” “humankind” and other non-gendered terms. In another
chapter, the author begins using the term “Gods,” when it seems she is
referring to both female and male deities. Later in the chapter she switches to
“Goddesses and Gods.” It is not clear to me whether this was an editorial
inconsistency, a compromise between the writer and editor, or an editorial
decision to retain the way that the author wrote a term even if it differed
among authors. Since this inconsistency continues through the book, I’d bet on
the last. (There is a similar inconsistency in whether or not “Pagan” is given
an initial cap.) In any case, I find referring to humanity as “mankind” and
humans as “man,” as well as Goddesses and Gods as “Gods” to be a throwback to
language objected to and rejected by second wave feminists at least 40 years
ago but which now has begun to recur elsewhere as well as in this book. In my
view, such outdated language is part of anti-feminist/anti-woman activities
that “disappear” or erase women and female-ness. And yes, rather an oddity in a
book about Goddess.
My
editorial observations aside, The Goddess
in America is a wide-ranging exploration of American Goddess spirituality that is likely to interest both those new to the subject as well as those who, like me, have been involved in it for decades. It provides
a welcome variety of information and points of view. Many readers, both in
America and elsewhere, will find it a relevant and valuable book.
Labels: Goddess traditions, reviews
