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118-396: Ġgantija ( Maltese pronunciation: [dʒɡanˈtiːja] , "place of giants") is a megalithic temple complex from the Neolithic era ( c.  3600 –2500 BC), on the Mediterranean island of Gozo in Malta . The Ġgantija temples are the earliest of the Megalithic Temples of Malta and are older than the pyramids of Egypt . Their makers erected the two Ġgantija temples during

236-726: A Celtic stone cult. This unproven connection between druids and megaliths has haunted the public imagination ever since. In Belgium, there are the Wéris megaliths at Wéris, a little town situated in the Ardennes . In the Netherlands, megalithic structures can be found in the northeast of the country, mostly in the province of Drenthe . Knowth is a passage grave of the Brú na Bóinne neolithic complex in Ireland, dating from c. 3500–3000 BC. It contains more than

354-752: A circular mound of earth. Sometimes it is also surrounded by an external stone kerb. Prominent examples include the sites of Brú na Bóinne and Carrowmore in Ireland, Maes Howe in Orkney , and Gavrinis in France. The third tomb type is a diverse group known as gallery graves . These are axially arranged chambers placed under elongated mounds. The Irish court tombs , British long barrows , and German Steinkisten belong to this group. Standing stones, or menhirs as they are known in France, are very common throughout Europe, where some 50,000 examples have been noted. Some of these are thought to have an astronomical function as

472-695: A denomination of Judaism, embraced part of the Jewish pagan culture and the rib metaphor is an example of how distant the Jewish religion was from the prehistoric religion—the worship of the Mother Goddess or the Goddess . Many people involved in the Goddess movement regard the Earth as a living Goddess. For some this may be figurative, for others literal. This literal belief is similar to that proposed by Gaia hypothesis , and

590-577: A distillation of a religion found at the beginning of most, if not all, cultures. They regard wise women and midwives as the first Wiccan witches. Dianic Wicca first became visible in the 1970s, alongside the writings of Zsuzsanna Budapest . Her feminist interpretation of witchcraft followed a few decades after the founding of Wicca by Gerald Gardner in the 1940s. Today, there are at least 800,000 individuals who consider themselves Wiccan followers or witches in North America. Gardner and Valiente advocated

708-401: A documentary interview with Bill Moyers , The Power of Myth , written by Joseph Campbell , was also released in the same year as a book created under the direction of the late Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis . The Power of Myth links the image of the Earth or Mother Goddess to symbols of fertility and reproduction. For example, Campbell states that, "There have been systems of religion where

826-564: A duotheistic religion with a theology based on the divine gender polarity of male and female. The idea of witchcraft as the remnants of an old pagan religion was first suggested to a wide readership by Margaret Murray 's books, The Witch-Cult in Western Europe , The God of the Witches (1933) and The Divine King in England . Her works have since been discredited by other scholars but have left

944-490: A female deity of three primary aspects, which has inspired some neopagan worshippers of the Triple Goddess . Heide Göttner-Abendroth , working in the 1970s to mid-1980s, called these cultures "matriarchies", introducing a feminist field of " Modern Matriarchal Studies ". She presented a theory of the transformation of prehistoric cultures in which the local goddess was primary and the male god, if any, derived his power from

1062-593: A feminist legacy upon Wiccan culture. Wicca and Neopaganism , and to some extent the Goddess movement, were influenced by 19th-century occultism , such as the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn , as well as the Romantic movement in which both male and female were valued and honored as sacred, in contrast to and perhaps in reaction to mainstream Christian spirituality, especially if veneration of Mary by most Christians

1180-400: A height of 6 m (19.69 ft). At the entrance sits a large stone block with a recess, which led to the hypothesis that this was a ritual ablution station for purification before worshippers entered the complex. The five apses contain various altars. Researchers have found animal bones on the site that suggest the space was used for animal sacrifice . Residents and travelers knew about

1298-620: A large flat stone supported by three, four, or more standing stones. They were covered by a stone cairn or earth barrow . In Italy, dolmens can be found especially in Sardinia . There are more than 100 dolmen dating to the Neolithic (3500–2700 BC) and the most famous is called Dolmen di Sa Coveccada (near Mores ). During the Bronze Age , the Nuragic civilization built c. 800 Giants' grave ,

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1416-539: A magnified karmic result for one's actions. Some people in the Goddess movement honor the Triple Goddess of Maiden, Mother, and Crone. The Maiden aspect of the Goddess is the archetype of a young woman or a child, representing independence and strength; the Mother aspect is the archetype of a nurturing mature woman; and the Crone aspect is the archetype of an old woman that represents wisdom, change, and transformation. Because

1534-513: A marker or foresight. In some areas, long and complex "alignments" of such stones exist, the largest known example being located at Carnac in Brittany , France. In parts of Britain and Ireland a relatively common type of megalithic construction is the stone circle , of which examples include Stonehenge , Avebury , Ring of Brodgar and Beltany . These, too, display evidence of astronomical alignments, both solar and lunar. Stonehenge, for example,

1652-624: A number of old megaliths. Some of these ancient structures feature engravings, and the area is a World Heritage Site. Megaliths are also found within the Valley of Marvels in the East Hararghe area. In the mid-2nd millennium CE, the megalithic funerary monuments of Madagascar were constructed amid the emergent period of the Merina Kingdom . Some of the megaliths remain utilized by Malagasy -speakers for funerary practices (e.g., ceremony of turning

1770-601: A partnership of the solar (male) and the lunar (female). In Wicca the Moon is the symbol of the Goddess and the Sun is the symbol of the God; and the central liturgical mystery and ritual act is "The Great Rite" or Hieros Gamos, which is a symbolic union of the God and the Goddess, as the primal male and female powers of the cosmos. In alchemy this was known as "the Chymical Wedding " of the Sun and

1888-584: A picture of the site within a year or two prior to the removal of the debris, so he made a record of the site before clearance. After the excavations were conducted in 1827, the ruins fell into decay. The remains were included on the Antiquities List of 1925. The land was held privately until 1933, when the Government expropriated it for public benefit. The Museums Department conducted extensive archaeological work in 1933, 1936, 1949, 1956–57 and 1958–59. Its goal

2006-572: A proto-feminist ideal of priestess authority in service to the Wiccan God and Goddess. Covens in "traditional" Wicca (i.e., those run along the lines described by Gardner and Valiente) had and have pretty much equal leadership both of a priest and of a priestess; but often consider the priestess " prima inter pares " (first among equals) - according to the book A Witches' Bible , by Stewart and Janet Farrar . Doreen Valiente became known in Britain as

2124-517: A range of theological variety similar to that in the broader Neopagan community. Common pluralistic belief means that a self-identified Goddess worshipper could theoretically worship any number of different female deities from various cultures and religions all over the world. Based on its characteristics, the Goddess movement is also referred to as a form of cultural religiosity that is increasingly diverse, geographically widespread, eclectic , and more dynamic in process. The estimated population of

2242-601: A rectangular cist. An oversized capstone is placed over the stone slab burial chamber, giving the appearance of a table-top. These megalithic burials date to the early part of the Mumun pottery period (c. 1500–850 BC) and are distributed, with a few exceptions, north of the Han River . Few northern-style megaliths in North Korea and Manchuria contain grave goods such as Liaoning bronze daggers , prompting some archaeologists to interpret

2360-417: A reversal, asserting these prehistoric cultures were egalitarian, though matrilineal - inherited assets and parentage traced through the maternal line. According to Riane Eisler , cultures in which women and men shared power, and which worshiped female deities, were more peaceful than the patriarchal societies that followed. Ian Hodder 's reinterpretation of Gimbutas and Mellaart 's works disputes

2478-592: A roof. Many portal tombs have been found to contain human remains, but it is debated if their primary function was use as burial sites. The megalithic structures in the northwest of France are believed to be the oldest in Europe based on radiocarbon dating. Though generally known as "dolmens", the term most accepted by archaeologists is "portal tomb". Local names for portal tombs exist in multiple locations, such as anta in Galicia and Portugal, stazzone in Sardinia , hunebed in

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2596-511: A singular female goddess, who is named after the ancient Greek goddess of love, Aphrodite . The relationship between the Goddess Aphrodite and the visible world may be illustrated by that between a mother and her child, and the creation of the world was like a woman giving birth. The church did not continue long after Botkin's death in 1969, some of his followers went on to join new neopagan movements. Associated terms sometimes used within

2714-529: A third of the total number of examples of megalithic art in all Europe, with over 200 decorated stones found during excavations. Nabta Playa at the southwest corner of the western Egyptian desert was once a large lake in the Nubian Desert, located 500 miles south of modern-day Cairo . By the 5th millennium BC, the peoples in Nabta Playa had fashioned an astronomical device that accurately marks

2832-631: A type of chamber tomb , and the term is used to describe the structures built across Atlantic Europe , the Mediterranean, and neighbouring regions, mostly during the Neolithic period, by Neolithic farming communities. They differ from the contemporary long barrows through their structural use of stone. There is a huge variety of megalithic tombs. The free-standing single chamber dolmens and portal dolmens found in Brittany , Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Sweden, Wales , and elsewhere consist of

2950-926: A type of megalithic gallery grave that can be found throughout Sardinia with different structures. The earliest megalithic tombs in Sardinia are the circular graves of the so-called Arzachena culture , also found in Corsica , southern France and eastern Spain. Dolmens are also in Apulia and in Sicily. In this latter region, they are small structures located in Mura Pregne ( Palermo ), Sciacca ( Agrigento ), Monte Bubbonia ( Caltanissetta ), Butera (Caltanissetta), Cava Lazzaro ( Siracusa ), Cava dei Servi ( Ragusa ), Avola (Siracusa), and Argimusco in Montalbano Elicona ( Messina ). Dating to

3068-538: Is a remarkable feat considering the monuments were constructed when the wheel had not yet been introduced and no metal tools were available to the Maltese Islanders. Small, spherical stones have been discovered. They were used as ball bearings for the vehicles that transported the enormous stone blocks used for the temples. The temple, like other megalithic sites in Malta, faces southeast . The southern temple rises to

3186-469: Is evolving consensus on some issues such as: the Goddess in relation to polytheism , monotheism , and pantheism ; and immanence versus transcendence , and other ways to understand the nature of the Goddess. There is also the emerging agreement that the Goddess fulfills the basic functions of empowering women and fostering ethical and harmonious relationships among different peoples as well as between humans, animals, and nature. One question often asked

3304-621: Is famous for its solstice alignment. Examples of stone circles are also found in the rest of Europe. The circle at Lough Gur , near Limerick in Ireland has been dated to the Beaker period, approximately contemporaneous with Stonehenge. The stone circles are assumed to be of later date than the tombs, straddling the Neolithic and the Bronze Ages . Megalithic tombs are aboveground burial chambers, built of large stone slabs (megaliths) laid on edge and covered with earth or other, smaller stones. They are

3422-522: Is in Korea. Archaeologists estimate that there are 15,000 to 100,000 southern megaliths in the Korean Peninsula. Typical estimates hover around the 30,000 mark for the entire peninsula, which in itself constitutes some 40% of all dolmens worldwide (see Dolmen ). Northeast Asian megalithic traditions originated from Gojoseon , which was in modern-day Manchuria and North Korea . This was prominent within

3540-479: Is not considered. Such views are described, for example, in the work of Robert Graves , especially The White Goddess (the origin of the neopagan 'Triple Goddess' concept) and Mammon and the Black Goddess . Wicca was also heavily influenced by the ideas of alchemic symbolism, which emphasized the essential complementary polarity of male and female, and that characterized that basic duality or gender polarity as

3658-402: Is nothing but the love of the mother. Other Goddess ethical beliefs are that one should not harm the interconnected web of life, and that peace and partnership should be the goals, rather than war and domination. According to Goddess theologian Carol P. Christ the following are ethical touchstones: "Nurture life; Walk in love and beauty; Trust the knowledge that comes through the body; Speak

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3776-496: Is often used to describe a single piece of stone, it also can be used to denote one or more rocks hewn in definite shapes for special purposes. It has been used to describe structures built by people from many parts of the world living in many different periods. The most widely known megaliths are not tombs . The most common type of megalithic construction in Europe is the portal tomb —a chamber consisting of upright stones ( orthostats ) with one or more large flat capstones forming

3894-551: Is placed over the interment area and is supported by smaller propping stones. Most of the megalithic burials on the Korean Peninsula are of the southern type. As with northern megaliths, southern examples contain few, if any, artifacts. However, a small number of megalithic burials contain fine red-burnished pottery, bronze daggers, polished groundstone daggers, and greenstone ornaments. Southern megalithic burials are often found in groups, spread out in lines that are parallel with

4012-635: Is properly female. It is in the agricultural world of ancient Mesopotamia , the Egyptian Nile , and in the earlier planting-culture systems that the Goddess is the dominant mythic form. Campbell also argues that the image of the Virgin Mary was derived from the image of Isis and her child Horus: "The antique model for the Madonna , actually, is Isis with Horus at her breast", see Isis#Possible influence on Christianity . According to Joseph Campbell, ...half

4130-557: Is that of Brahmagiri, which was excavated by Wheeler (1975) and helped establish the culture sequence in south Indian prehistory. However, there is another distinct class of megaliths that do not seem to be associated with burials. In South Asia, megaliths of all kinds are noted; these vary from menhirs , rock-cut burial, chamber tomb, dolmens , stone alignment, stone circles and anthropomorphic statue figures. These are broadly classified into two (potentially overlapping) classes (after Moorti, 1994, 2008): Sepulchral (containing remains of

4248-644: Is the body of the goddess and all beings are interconnected in the web of life. Reclaiming Witchcraft is an organization of feminist modern Witchcraft , aiming to combine the Goddess movement with political activism (in the peace and anti-nuclear movements ). "Reclaiming" was founded in 1979, in the context of the Reclaiming Collective (1978–1997), by two Neopagan women of Jewish descent, Starhawk (Miriam Simos) and Diane Baker, in order to explore and develop feminist Neopagan emancipatory rituals. The specific period of its founding can be traced back to

4366-568: Is thus assumed that these structures (which have been characterized as the first known ceremonial architecture) were erected by hunter-gatherers . Göbekli Tepe's oldest structures are about 7,000 years older than the Stonehenge megaliths, although it is doubtful that any of the European megalithic traditions ( see below ) are derived from them. Dolmens and standing stones have been found in large areas in other parts of West Asia starting at

4484-499: Is unclear what these giant anthropomorph statues symbolize. They usually occur in association with megalithic monuments and are located in megalithic burial grounds, and may have been connected with ancestor worship. At a number of sites in southeastern Turkey, ceremonial complexes with large T-shaped megalithic orthostats , dating from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic (PPN, c. 9600–7000 cal BC), have been discovered. At

4602-438: Is whether Goddess adherents believe in one Goddess or many goddesses: Is Goddess spirituality monotheistic or polytheistic? This is not an issue for many of those in the Goddess movement, whose conceptualization of divinity is more all-encompassing. The terms "the Goddess", or "Great Goddess" may appear monotheistic because the singular noun is used. However, these terms are most commonly used as code or shorthand for one or all of

4720-473: The Dorset Cursus ), broad terraces, circular enclosures known as henges , and frequently artificial mounds such as Silbury Hill in England and Monte d'Accoddi in Sardinia (the prehistoric step pyramid). In Europe megaliths are, in general, constructions erected during the Neolithic or late Stone Age and Chalcolithic or Copper Age (4500–1500 BC). The megalithic structures of Malta are believed to be

4838-580: The Greek mythology (based mainly on James Frazer 's The Golden Bough , such as the annual sacrifice of a king that represents a god) were adopted as the basis to describe the goddess' aging and rejuvenation with the seasons. The myth of Demeter and Persephone is one that has often been reinterpreted. A common claim within the Goddess movement is that myths from supposed ancient matriarchal societies were behind key elements in Christianity , particularly in

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4956-580: The Horned God , as a deity of prime importance. The earliest Wiccan publications described the Goddess as a tribal goddess of the witch community, neither omnipotent nor universal. Many forms of Wicca have come to regard the Goddess as a universal deity, more in line with her description in the Charge of the Goddess , a key Wiccan text. In this guise she is the "Queen of Heaven", similar to Egyptian goddess Isis ; she also encompasses and conceives all life, much like

5074-528: The Liao River basin in particular in the early phases. The practice of erecting megalithic burials spread quickly from the Liao River Basin and into the Korean Peninsula, where the structure of megaliths is geographically and chronologically distinct. The earliest megalithic burials are called "northern" or "table-style" because they feature an above-ground burial chamber formed by heavy stone slabs that form

5192-483: The Neolithic , which makes these temples more than 5,500 years old and the world's second oldest existing manmade religious structures after Göbekli Tepe in present-day Turkey . Together with other similar structures, these have been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site , the Megalithic Temples of Malta. The temples are elements of a ceremonial site used in a fertility rite . Researchers have found that

5310-564: The Severn-Cotswold tombs of southwest England and the transepted gallery graves of the Loire region in France share many internal features, although the links between them are not yet fully understood. That they often have antechambers or forecourts is thought to imply a desire on the part of the builders to emphasize a special ritual or physical separation of the dead from the living. Megalithic tombs appear to have been used by communities for

5428-468: The Threefold Law , which states that "what you send (or do), returns three times over". Some traditions believe that this means it will be returned to the sender three times, or in a portion three times in volume, while others say it will instead be returned to the sender on three levels of being—physical, mental, and spiritual. Still others postulate that the number " three " is symbolic, meant to indicate

5546-772: The Turkish border in the north of Syria close to Aleppo , southwards down to Yemen . They can be encountered in Lebanon , Syria, Iran , Israel , Jordan , and Saudi Arabia . The largest concentration can be found in southern Syria and along the Jordan Rift Valley ; these are threatened with destruction. They date from the late Chalcolithic or Early Bronze Age. Megaliths have also been found on Kharg Island and Pirazmian in Iran , at Barda Balka in Iraq . A semicircular arrangement of megaliths

5664-541: The Upper Paleolithic period or 30,000 years ago: the Great Goddess hypothesis . It is said that these theologies were suppressed in the west when Christianity outlawed all pre-Christian religions through a series of edicts by Theodosius I . These ideas gained additional traction during the second-wave feminism movement. In the 1960s and 1970s, feminists who became interested in the history of religion also refer to

5782-698: The "Third Term of the Trinity", in which the Holy Spirit of the classic Christian trinity is recognized as the divine feminine . One of the earliest precursor to the contemporary Goddess movement was the Church of Aphrodite , a religious organization founded and registered in 1938 by male feminist Gleb Botkin , first in West Hempstead, New York and later in Charlottesville, Virginia . The Monotheistic church believes in

5900-514: The 'Mother of the Craft' and contributed extensively to Wicca's written tradition. She is the author of The Witches' Creed, which lays out the basics of Wiccan religious belief and philosophy; including the polarity of the God and the Goddess as the two great "powers of Nature" and the two "mystical pillars" of the religion. One way to characterize the central male-female divine dyad in Wicca is to say that it's

6018-473: The 2000s. Lightweight walkways were installed in the temple in 2011, to protect the floor. A heritage park was developed and opened in 2013. Anthropologist Kathryn Rountree has explored how "Malta’s neolithic temples", including Ġgantija, "have been interpreted, contested and appropriated by different local and foreign interest groups: those working in the tourist industry, intellectuals and Maltese nationalists, hunters, archaeologists, artists, and participants in

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6136-445: The 5th century, though hymns in the early Vedas too speak of a one-Goddess-many-goddesses concept. Another point of discussion is whether the Goddess is immanent, or transcendent, or both, or something else. Starhawk speaks of the Goddess as immanent (infusing all of nature) but sometimes also simultaneously transcendent (existing independently of the material world). Many Goddess authors agree and also describe Goddess as, at one and

6254-744: The Bada, Besoa and Napu valleys. Megaliths in South Asia are dated before 3000 BC, with recent findings dated back to 5000 BC in southern India. Megaliths are found in almost all parts of South Asia. There is also a broad time evolution with the megaliths in central India and the upper Indus valley where the oldest megaliths are found, while those in the east also old shows evidence of continued traditions of living megalithic practices until recently. A large fraction of these are assumed to be associated with burial or post burial rituals, including memorials for those whose remains may or may not be available. The case-example

6372-474: The Crone aspect of the Goddess is understood by some to be destructive at times, some consider it to contain both positive and negative imagery and to present an ethical quandary. The Hindu Goddess Kali , or Kali Ma, is often seen as an example of the Crone aspect. The concept is that the corrective force in a Dark Age must be a righteously directed dark force. Thus, to combat the demons of ignorance, ego, anger, etc.,

6490-506: The Early Bronze Age (2200–1800 BC), the prehistoric Sicilian buildings were covered by a circular mound of earth. In the dolmen of Cava dei Servi, archaeologists found numerous human bone fragments and some splinters of Castelluccian ceramics (Early Bronze Age) which confirmed the burial purpose of the artefact. Examples with outer areas, not used for burial, are also known. The Court Cairns of southwest Scotland and northern Ireland,

6608-544: The Goddess ," which argues in favor of the concept of there having been an ancient religion of a supreme goddess, was presented as the keynote address to an audience of over 500 at the "Great Goddess Re-emerging" conference at the University of California, Santa Cruz ; it was first published in The Great Goddess Issue of Heresies: A Feminist Publication on Art and Politics (1978). Carol P. Christ also co-edited

6726-409: The Goddess alone is worshipped. Some, but not all, participants in the Goddess movement self-identify as Wiccans or 'witches'. Other participants of the Goddess movement call themselves goddessians while others identify as the more generic "pagans". Some Wiccans, especially Dianics , attempt to trace the historical origins of their beliefs to Neolithic pre-Christian cultures, seeing Wiccanism as

6844-527: The Goddess as the two "mystical pillars." In this emphasis on the feminine as the equal and complementary polar opposite of the masculine, Wicca echoes not only Kabbalistic sources but also the polarity of yin and yang—feminine and masculine—in Taoism. The Dianic view is that separatism, in a world where gender roles were once strictly defined, is sometimes considered dangerous because it challenges what they see as patriarchal assumptions of Western culture. There are, however, Wiccan groups that do not subscribe to

6962-435: The Goddess figure, the Great Goddess, the mother earth- what happened to that? Joseph Campbell : Well that was associated primarily with agriculture and the agricultural societies. It has to do with the earth. The human woman gives birth just as the earth gives birth to the plants...so woman magic and earth magic are the same. They are related. And the personification of the energy that gives birth to forms and nourishes forms

7080-428: The Goddess movement has no specific code of behavior, there are commonly held tenets and concepts within the movement that form a basis for ethical behavior. Those participants in Goddess spirituality who define themselves as Wiccan , usually follow what is known as the Wiccan Rede : " 'An it harm none, do what ye will", (" an " being an archaic English word understood to mean "if", or "as long as"). Many also believe in

7198-452: The Goddess-name Gaia is sometimes used as a synonym for the Earth. For the Goddess-movement practitioners, Gaia personifies the entire earthly ecosystem and is the means to achieve harmonic symbiosis or the wholeness and balance within the natural worlds and physical environment. Many of those in the Goddess movement become involved in ecofeminism , and are concerned with environmental and ecological issues. Goddess-movement adherents claim

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7316-587: The Greek goddess Gaia . Much like Isis, she is held to be the summation of all other goddesses, who represent her different names and aspects across the different cultures. The Goddess is often portrayed with strong lunar symbolism, drawing on various deities such as Diana , Hecate , and Isis , and is often depicted as the Maiden, Mother, and Crone triad popularized by Robert Graves (see Triple Goddess below). Many depictions of her also draw strongly on Celtic goddesses. Some Wiccans believe there are many goddesses, and in some forms of Wicca, notably Dianic Wicca ,

7434-570: The Malian Lakes Region, there are megaliths of an anthropomorphic nature (e.g., face, navel, scarifications ) that date between 600 CE and 700 CE. Between 1350 BCE and 1500/1600 CE, Senegambian megaliths (e.g., tumuli ) were constructed for the purpose of ancestral reverence . In the northwestern region of the Central African Republic , there are megaliths that were created for various purposes (e.g., burial, ritual performances). Between late 3rd millennium BCE and mid-2nd millennium CE, megaliths (e.g., monuments, cairn burials) were constructed in

7552-420: The Mediterranean sea. The word was first used in 1849 by the British antiquarian Algernon Herbert in reference to Stonehenge and derives from the Ancient Greek words " mega " for great and " lithos " for stone. Most extant megaliths were erected between the Neolithic period (although earlier Mesolithic examples are known) through the Chalcolithic period and into the Bronze Age . While "megalith"

7670-407: The Moon. In a parallel vein, traditional Wicca also draws heavily upon the Western Hermetic Tradition and its roots in the Kabbalistic Tree of Life ; where the twin pillars of masculine and feminine divine forces are joined by a Middle Pillar that encompasses and transcends both male and female. These "twin pillars" as they are shown in tarot decks are analogous to Valiente's depiction of the God and

7788-404: The Netherlands, Hünengrab in Germany, dysse in Denmark, and cromlech in Wales . It is assumed that most portal tombs were originally covered by earthen mounds. The second-most-common tomb type is the passage grave . It normally consists of a square, circular, or cruciform chamber with a slabbed or corbelled roof, accessed by a long, straight passageway, with the whole structure covered by

7906-465: The beliefs that "matriarchies fostering goddess worship influenced the attitudes of early Christians toward Mary" and that "the Catholic Church was originally matriarchal with Mary Magdalene , not Peter , as its head." The Goddess movement views devotion to female Christian figures such as the female saints as a continuation of ancient Goddess worship. Goddess Spirituality characteristically shows diversity: no central body defines its dogma. Yet there

8024-608: The burials as the graves of chiefs or preeminent individuals. However, whether a result of grave-robbery or intentional mortuary behaviour, most northern megaliths contain no grave goods. Southern-style megalithic burials are distributed in the southern Korean Peninsula . It is thought that most of them date to the latter part of the Early Mumun or to the Middle Mumun Period. Southern-style megaliths are typically smaller in scale than northern megaliths. The interment area of southern megaliths has an underground burial chamber made of earth or lined with thin stone slabs. A massive capstone

8142-545: The civil action during the 1970s' Diablo Canyon protest , which opposed the construction of a nuclear plant. Today, the organization focuses on progressive social, political, environmental, and economic activism. Reclaiming integrates magic rituals and instruction to its political activism. For instance, followers performed the spiral dances during its protest meetings against the World Trade Organization and other agencies of globalization . The Reclaiming also encourages its members to seek knowledge and enlightenment outside of

8260-476: The classic feminist religion anthologies Weaving the Visions: New Patterns in Feminist Spirituality (1989) and Womanspirit Rising (1979/1989); the latter included her essay "Why Women Need the Goddess." From 1974 to 1984, WomanSpirit , a journal edited in Oregon by Jean and Ruth Mountaingrove , published articles, poetry, and rituals by women, exploring ideas and feelings about female deity. The journal The Beltane Papers , which started publication at about

8378-420: The darker aspect manifests. Later on, even her fierce image softens in the love of her devotees. Her duality is easily reconciled with the monism of Hinduism, which claims to understand the fundamental unity of truth as being impersonal and stratified in an ego-knotted existence (such as the human condition), and thus to the evil or unrighteous she is destruction personified and to the loving and moral devotee she

8496-823: The dead) in present-day. Megalithic burials are found in Northeast and Southeast Asia. They are found mainly in the Korean Peninsula . They are also found in the Liaoning , Shandong , and Zhejiang in China, the East Coast of Taiwan , Kyūshū and Shikoku in Japan, Đồng Nai Province in Vietnam and South Asia . Some living megalithic traditions are found on the island of Sumba and Nias in Indonesia . The greatest concentration of megalithic burials

8614-479: The dead), or memorial stones where mortal remains along with funerary objects are placed; and Non-sepulchral including large patterned placement of stones over a wide area. The 'non-sepulchral' type is associated with astronomy and cosmology in South Asia and in other parts of the world (Menon and Vahia, 2010). In the context of prehistoric anthropomorphic figures in India, (Rao 1988/1999, Upinder Singh 2008) note that it

8732-511: The direction of streams. Megalithic cemeteries contain burials that are linked together by low stone platforms made from large river cobbles. Broken red-burnished pottery and charred wood found on these platforms has led archaeologists to hypothesize that these platform were sometimes used for ceremonies and rituals. The capstones of many southern megaliths have 'cup-marks' carvings. A small number of capstones have human and dagger representations. These megaliths are distinguished from other types by

8850-574: The early part of the Late Mumun. An example is found near modern Changwon at Deokcheon-ni, where a small cemetery contained a capstone burial (No. 1) with a massive, rectangularly shaped, stone and earthen platform. Archaeologists were not able to recover the entire feature, but the low platform was at least 56×18 m in size. The Indonesian archipelago is the host of Austronesian and Melanesians megalith cultures both past and present. Living megalith cultures can be found on Nias , an isolated island off

8968-956: The existence of "matriarchal" or " matrifocal " cultures, as do some other archaeologists and historians in this field. However, mythologist Joseph Campbell compared the importance of Gimbutas' output to the historical importance of the Rosetta Stone in deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphs . Marija Gimbutas, often dubbed "Grandmother of the Goddess Movement" in the 1990s, continues to be cited by many feminist writers, including Max Dashu . Many other scholars, including Joan Marler and Marguerite Rigoglioso, support her work. Still, Gimbutas' theories had been widely criticized as mistaken in their dating, archaeological context, and typologies . Some archaeologists consider her goddess hypothesis implausible, others dismissing her work as pseudo-scholarship. Wicca regards "the Goddess", along with her consort

9086-499: The existence of the temple for a long time. In the late 18th century, before any excavations were carried out, Jean-Pierre Houël drew a plan based on that knowledge, which has been found to be highly accurate. In 1827 Col. John Otto Bayer, the Lieutenant Governor of Gozo, had the site cleared of debris. The soil and remains were lost without having been properly examined. German artist Charles Frederick de Brocktorff had painted

9204-411: The following: to refer to certain types of prehistoric goddesses; to encompass all goddesses (a form of henotheism ); to refer to a modern metaphoric concept of female deity; to describe a form of energy, or a process. The concept of a singular divine being with many expressions is not a new development in thought: it has been a major theme in India for many centuries, at the very least as far back as

9322-402: The global Goddess movement ." Reportedly, some Goddess tours refer to the two temples at Ġgantija "as the Mother & Daughter Temple." Megalith A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a prehistoric structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. There are over 35,000 structures or arrangements in Europe alone, located widely from Sweden to

9440-467: The goddess. In what she terms the "Downfall", which occurred at varying times throughout a multitude of cultures, the gods overcame and subjugated the goddesses. Göttner-Abendroth's terminology is idiosyncratic . The term " matriarchy " to describe these cultures has been rejected by many Goddess-movement scholars, especially those in North America, because it implies female domination as the reverse of male domination in patriarchy. These scholars deny such

9558-476: The hierarchical scheme giving humans dominion over the Earth (and nature) has led to lack of respect and concern for the Earth, and thus to what scientists identify as environmental crises, such as global warming . Rather than having dominion over the Earth, Goddess-movement theorists see humans living as part of the Earth environment, and also refer to Earth as "Mother". Here, humans are considered on equal level with non-human inhabitants since all must be accorded

9676-570: The largest concentration of dolmen in West Asia. In Saudi Arabia, only very few dolmen have been identified so far in the Hejaz . They seem, however, to re-emerge in Yemen in small numbers, and thus could indicate a continuous tradition related to those of Somalia and Ethiopia . The standing stone has a very ancient tradition in West Asia, dating back from Mesopotamian times. Although not always 'megalithic' in

9794-625: The long-term deposition of the remains of their dead, and some seem to have undergone alteration and enlargement. The organization and effort required to erect these large stones suggest that the societies concerned placed great emphasis on the proper treatment of their dead. The ritual significance of the tombs is supported by the presence of pre-historic art carved into the stones at some sites. Hearths and deposits of pottery and animal bone found by archaeologists around some tombs also implies that some form of burial feast or sacrificial rites took place there. Further examples of megalithic tombs include

9912-534: The male-female dualism of the divine. For instance, there is the case of the Budapest Dianics. Although these retained many Wiccan rituals and symbols, they only used female imagery and created a creation myth that eliminated the need for the male. While Wiccans also accept male members, the Dianics called themselves a "wimmin's religion" and, thus, rejected males from their ranks. First broadcast on PBS in 1988 as

10030-624: The most famous of these sites, Göbekli Tepe , parts of the oldest level (III) have been C14-dated as far back as to the mid-10th millennium BC (cal). On this level, 20 great stone circles (up to 20 meters in diameter) with standing stones up to 7 meters high have been identified. At least 5 of these circles have so far (as of 2019) been excavated. Many of the standing stones are richly ornamented with carved reliefs of "[b]ears, boars, snakes, foxes, wildcats, aurochs, gazelle, quadruped reptiles, birds, spiders, insects, quadrupeds, scorpions" and other animals; in addition, some of

10148-542: The most megaliths in Ethiopia. In 2nd millennium BCE, Namoratunga (Monolith Circles) megaliths were constructed as burials the eastern Turkana region of northwestern Kenya . Namoratunga , a group of megaliths dated 300 BC, was used by Cushitic -speaking people as an alignment with star systems tuned to a lunar calendar of 354 days. This site was excavated by B. N. Lynch and L. H. Robins of Michigan State University . Additionally, Tiya in central Ethiopia has

10266-569: The mother is the prime parent, the source... We talk of Mother Earth. And in Egypt you have the Mother Heavens, the Goddess Nut , who is represented as the whole heavenly sphere". Campbell continues by stating that the correlation between fertility and the Goddess found its roots in agriculture: Bill Moyers : But what happened along the way to this reverence that in primitive societies was directed to

10384-877: The movement include the following: Capitalization of terms such as "Goddess" and "Goddesses" usually vary with author or with the style guides of publications or publishers. Within the Goddess community, members generally consider it proper to capitalize the word "Goddess", but not necessary when generic references are made, as in the word "goddesses". Participants in the Goddess movement often invoke ancient religion and mythology. Some skeptics argue that these have been reconstructed from ancient sources and others are modern inventions. Indeed, these myths are not interpreted literally, but rather figuratively or metaphorically as reflecting ancient understandings and worldviews. For instance, creation myths are not seen as conflicting with scientific understanding but rather as being poetic, metaphoric statements that are compatible with, for example,

10502-531: The movement is only in the U.S. 500,000 and in the U.K. 120,000. In the 19th century, some first-wave feminists such as Matilda Joslyn Gage and Elizabeth Cady Stanton published their ideas describing a female deity, whilst anthropologists such as Johann Jakob Bachofen examined the ideas of prehistoric matriarchal Goddess cultures in the Mediterranean region. There are also post-traditional Goddess feminists who claim that female theologies are more ancient, having emerged in and around Prehistoric Europe during

10620-451: The numerous figurines and statues found on the site are associated with that cult. According to local Gozitan folklore , a giantess who ate nothing but fava beans and honey bore a child from a man of the common people. With the child hanging from her shoulder, she built these temples and used them as places of worship. The Ġgantija temples stand at the edge of the Xagħra plateau, facing toward

10738-435: The ocean, appear to have been abandoned early. Megalithic building then shifted to constructing networks of artificial islands on the coast that supported a multitude of common, royal and religious structures. Dating of the structures is difficult but the complex at Nan Madol on Pohnpei was probably inhabited as early as c. 800, probably as artificial islands, with the more elaborate buildings and religious structures added to

10856-456: The oldest in Europe. Perhaps the most famous megalithic structure is Stonehenge in England. In Sardinia, in addition to dolmens, menhirs and circular graves there are also more than 8000 megalithic structures made by a Nuragic civilisation, called Nuraghe : buildings similar to towers (sometimes with really complex structures) made using only rocks. They are often near giant's grave or the other megalithic monuments. The French Comte de Caylus

10974-484: The other hand, is equally concerned with valuing the environment, including its human and non-human inhabitants. This attitude towards the environment is reflected in the way the movement view the concepts of femaleness, the deity , and politics . In comparison with the traditional theology where God is placed at the top of the hierarchical system, ruling over man and nature, the movement maintains that humanity and divinity must not be distinguished from nature or that earth

11092-449: The people in the world think that the metaphors of their religious traditions, for example, are facts. And the other half contends that they are not facts at all. As a result we have people who consider themselves believers because they accept metaphors as facts, and we have others who classify themselves as atheists because they think religious metaphors are lies. One of these metaphors is Eve . Campbell argues that Christianity, originally

11210-405: The plaster that once covered the irregular wall still clinging between the blocks. The temples are built in the typical clover-leaf shape, with inner-facing blocks marking the shape. The space between the walls was then filled in with rubble. A series of semi-circular apses is connected with a central passage. Archaeologists believe that the apses were originally covered by roofing. The effort

11328-510: The presence of a burial shaft, sometimes up to 4 m in depth, which is lined with large cobbles. A large capstone is placed over the burial shaft without propping stones. Capstone-style megaliths are the most monumental type in the Korean Peninsula , and they are primarily distributed near or on the south coast of Korea. It seems that most of these burials date to the latter part of the Middle Mumun (c. 700–550 BC), and they may have been built into

11446-416: The process viewpoint. The theological variations that characterize the Goddess movement can also be classified into two: the views that describe the Goddess as a metaphor and those that consider the Goddess as a deity. The former emerged from among Jewish and Christian adherents and maintains that the Goddess serves as the means of talking about, imagining, or relating to the divine and this is demonstrated in

11564-562: The push to recover the feminine face of God based on scriptural and historical sources. On the other hand, the theology that the Goddess is a deity, with importantly and unchangeably female persona, emerged out of the feminists who came from polytheistic faiths such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Native American , and traditional African religions . The goddesses in this theology are rarely understood as metaphors or images since they have distinct individual features and that worshippers can interact with their suprahuman personages or symbols. Although

11682-697: The regions (e.g., Eastern Adamawa , Oubanguian Ridge, Chad/Congo watershed ) in Central African Republic and Cameroon, throughout various periods (e.g., Balimbé: 2000 BCE – 1000 BCE; Early Gbabiri: 950 BCE – 200 BCE; Late Gbabiri: 200 BCE – 500 CE; Bouboun: 500 CE – 1600 CE), for various purposes (e.g., ritual practices, territorial marking). In the Ethiopian Highlands of Harar , the earliest construction of megaliths occurred. From this region and its megalith-building tradition (e.g., dolmens, tumuli with burial chambers organized in cemeteries),

11800-593: The sacred megalith sites. The fact that the beliefs are alive is a reason that most excavations have been stopped at the sites. Megalithic structures in Micronesia reach their most developed form on the islands of Pohnpei and Kosrae in the Eastern Caroline Islands. On these two islands there was extensive use of prismatic basalt columns to build upland building complexes such as those at Salapwuk on Pohnpei and Menka on Kosrae. These building sites, remote from

11918-638: The same moral and religious consideration, respect, and reverence. Some such as Monica Sjöö cite that this focus on the environment is one of the aspects that distinguishes the goddess movement with the New Age movement. The former is sometimes mistaken as a subcategory of the latter due to the way the goddess movement draw from many resources that are New Age in character, including esoterica , mystery traditions , magic , astrology , divinatory techniques , and shamanism . Both are also concerned with valuing one's self as inherently sacred. The goddess movement, on

12036-799: The same time, continued until mid-2011. The Goddess movement has found voice in various films and self-published media, such as the Women and Spirituality trilogy made by Donna Read for the National Film Board of Canada . Maria de Naglowska , a Russian émigré in France, established and led a short-living occult, sexual magical and Satanic society known as the Brotherhood of the Golden Arrow ( French : Confrerie de la Flèche d'Or ) in Paris from 1932 to 1935. Naglowska's occult teaching centered on what she called

12154-555: The same time, immanently pantheistic and panentheistic . The former means that Goddess flows into and through each individual aspect of nature—each tree, blade of grass, human, animal, planet; the latter means that all exist within the Goddess. Starhawk also speaks of the Goddess as both a psychological symbol and "manifest reality. She exists and we create Her" (italics hers). Carol P. Christ (2003), describes what she sees as similarities between Goddess theology and process theology , and suggests that Goddess theologians adopt more of

12272-534: The site from 1000 to 1400 AD. Goddess movement The Goddess movement is a widespread non-centralized trend in modern Paganism , and it therefore has no centralized tenets of belief. Beliefs and practices vary widely among Goddess worshippers, from the name and the number of goddesses worshipped to the specific rituals and rites that are used. Some, such as Dianic Wicca , exclusively worship female deities, but others do not. Belief systems range from monotheistic to polytheistic to pantheistic , and encompass

12390-453: The south-east. This megalithic monument encompasses two temples and an incomplete third, of which only the facade was partially built before being abandoned. Like Mnajdra South , it faces the equinox sunrise, built side by side and enclosed within a boundary wall. The southerly one is the larger and older one, dating back to approximately 3600 BC. It is also better preserved. The plan of the temple incorporates five large apses , with traces of

12508-656: The stalled cairn at Midhowe in Orkney and the passage grave at Bryn Celli Ddu on Anglesey . There are also extensive grave sites with up to 60 megaliths at Louisenlund and Gryet on the Danish island of Bornholm . Despite its name, the Stone Tomb in Ukraine was not a tomb but rather a sanctuary. In association with the megalithic constructions across Europe, there are often large earthworks of various designs—ditches and banks (like

12626-718: The stones are carved in low profile with stylized human features (arms, hands, loincloths, but no heads ). On the younger level (II) rectangular structures with smaller megaliths have been excavated. In the surrounding area, several village sites incorporating elements similar to those of Göbekli Tepe have been identified. Four of these have Göbekli Tepe's characteristic T-shaped standing stones, though only one of them, Nevalı Çori , has so far been excavated. At Göbekli Tepe itself, no traces of habitation have so far been found, nor any trace of agriculture or cultivated plants, though bones of wild animals and traces of wild edible plants, along with many grinding stones, have been unearthed. It

12744-735: The subsequent traditions in other areas of Ethiopia likely developed. In the late 1st millennium BCE, the urban civilization of Axum developed a megalithic stelae -building tradition, which commemorated Axumite royalty and elites, that persisted until the Christian period of Axum . In the Sidamo Province, the megalithic monoliths of the stelae-building cultural tradition were utilized as tombstones in cemeteries (e.g., Arussi, Konso, Sedene, Tiya, Tuto Felo), and have engraved anthropomorphic features (e.g., swords, masks), phallic form, and some of that served as markers of territory. Sidamo Province has

12862-878: The summer solstice . Findings indicate that the region was occupied only seasonally, likely only in the summer when the local lake filled with water for grazing cattle . There are other megalithic stone circles in the southwestern desert. At Nabta Playa , located in Egypt and broader region of the Eastern Sahara , there is a megalithic cultural complex (e.g., sacrificed cow burial site, solar calendar , altar ) that dates between 4000 BCE and 2000 BCE. Likely part of Copper Age and Bronze Age cultural traditions of megalith-building , megaliths (e.g., dolmens ) were constructed in Mediterranean North Africa. In Cross-River State , Nigeria, there are megalithic monoliths of an anthropomorphic nature. At Tondidarou , in

12980-611: The theory of evolution, modern cosmology , and physics. Mythological sources of the Goddess movement are often considered modern reconstructions of ancient myths that predated a " patriarchal period," the Great Goddess hypothesis , influenced by the Kurgan hypothesis , and therefore very little would have been written about them. Aside from the reflection of ancient understanding of these, there are adherents who also turn to contemporary scholarship and literature such as Robert Graves ' The White Goddess . Some of this work's interpretation of

13098-939: The tribes of Israel. The tradition of venerating standing stones continued in Nabatean times. Related phenomena, such as cupholes, rock-cut tombs and circles, also occur in West Asia. Megaliths occur in many parts of Melanesia , mainly in Milne Bay Province , Fiji and Vanuatu . Few excavations have been made and little is known about the structures. The megalith tomb Otuyam at Kiriwina has been dated to be approximately 2,000 years old which indicates that megaliths are an old custom in Melanesia. However very few megaliths have been dated. The constructions have been used for different rituals. For example, tombs, sacrifices and rituals of fecundity. Dance sites exist next to some megaliths. In some places in Melanesia rituals are continued to be held at

13216-607: The true sense, they occur throughout the area and can reach 5 metres or more in some cases (such as at Ader in Jordan). This phenomenon can also be traced through many passages from the Old Testament , such as those related to Jacob , the grandson of Abraham , who poured oil over a stone that he erected after his famous dream in which angels climbed to heaven (Genesis 28:10–22). Jacob is also described as putting up stones at other occasions, whereas Moses erected twelve pillars symbolizing

13334-511: The truth about conflict, pain, and suffering; Take only what you need; Think about the consequences of your actions for seven generations; Approach the taking of life with great restraint; Practice great generosity; Repair the web." The Goddess movement draws some of its inspiration from the work of archaeologists such as Marija Gimbutas , whose interpretation of artifacts excavated from " Old Europe " points to societies of Neolithic Europe that were "matristic" or "goddess-centered" worshipping

13452-1052: The western coast of North Sumatra , the Batak people in the interior of North Sumatra, on Flores and Sumba island in East Nusa Tenggara and also Toraja people from the interior of South Sulawesi . These megalith cultures remained preserved, isolated and undisturbed well into the late 19th century. Several megalith sites and structures are also found across Indonesia. Menhirs, dolmens, stone tables, and ancestral stone statues were discovered in various sites in Java , Sumatra , Sulawesi , Lesser Sunda Islands , and New Guinea . The Cipari megalith site also in West Java displays monoliths, stone terraces, and sarcophagi. Lore Lindu National Park in Central Sulawesi houses ancient megalith relics such as ancestral stone statues, mostly located in

13570-617: The work of Helen Diner (1965), whose book Mothers and Amazons: An Outline of Female Empires was first published in German in 1932; Mary Esther Harding (1935), the first significant Jungian psychoanalyst in the United States; Elizabeth Gould Davis (1971); and Merlin Stone (1976). Since the 1970s, Goddess Spirituality has emerged as a recognizable international cultural movement. In 1978 Carol P. Christ 's widely reprinted essay " Why Women Need

13688-607: Was found in Israel at Atlit Yam , a site that is now under the sea. It is a very early example, dating from the 7th millennium BC . The most concentrated occurrence of dolmens in particular is in a large area on both sides of the Jordan Rift Valley , with greater predominance on the eastern side. They occur first and foremost on the Golan Heights , the Hauran , and in Jordan, which probably has

13806-671: Was the first to describe the Carnac stones . Pierre Jean-Baptiste Legrand d'Aussy introduced the terms menhir and dolmen , both taken from the Breton language , into antiquarian terminology. He mistakenly interpreted megaliths as Gallic tombs. In Britain, the antiquarians Aubrey and Stukeley conducted early research into megaliths. In 1805, Jacques Cambry published a book called Monuments celtiques, ou recherches sur le culte des Pierres, précédées d'une notice sur les Celtes et sur les Druides, et suivies d'Etymologie celtiques , where he proposed

13924-478: Was to clear, preserve and research the ruins and their surroundings. The Ġgantija temples were listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1980. In 1992, the Committee decided to expand the listing to include five other megalithic temples located across the islands of Malta and Gozo. The Ġgantija listing was renamed "the Megalithic Temples of Malta". The temple and the surrounding areas were restored or rehabilitated in

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