Finding the Goddess Hidden in Plain Sight (TGF 2021-2022 Theme of the Year)
The Goddess Foundation
Theme of the Year (2021-2022)
Finding the Goddess Hidden in Plain Sight:
The Goddess(es) of the Abrahamic Religions
The Goddess Foundation is excited to launch its first theme of the year: an opportunity to dive deep into a chosen topic. Moving forward themes will be selected by the community (via a poll). This year, since TGF is still in its nascent stages - taking baby steps into existence, if you will - the theme has been selected by moi, Dr. Courtney Kleftis, founder of this organization.
Why did I choose this particular topic, you may ask?
For a number of reasons (well... 3, since 3 is very much a number associated with the Goddess…):
To avoid the danger of cultural appropriation, I am drawing on mythical lore of goddesses and/or the divine feminine hidden within the more esoteric strains of the three (3 again!!!) Abrahamic religions which dominate the globe - especially in the West. My focus will be on the two I know more about - Judaism and Christianity. Since I am currently less knowledgeable about Islam, even its more esoteric side (i.e.: Rumi and Sufism), I will not discuss the Goddess in Islam at any great length.
To provide an antidote to the often-damaging messages conveyed by the dominant Abrahamic religions in the West where the vast majority of us are brought up in either a Jewish or Christian background (especially in the U.S.). Even for those who were brought up in non-church-going families like myself, we’ve all been steeped in Judeo-Christian norms and conventions since our childhood. These ideals (i.e.: stemming from the Adam-Eve-serpent/Lilith drama from Genesis) permeate the foundations of even our outwardly secular culture in spite of its claim to being separate from religion. We can see this - the dark/shadow aspect of it - manifesting in the heteropatriarchy among other things...
Part of my intent with the thematic focus of the year is to reclaim and rehabilitate the Judeo-Christian traditions’ shadow aspects (see #2 above) and all. While these long-established religions have MANY faults, the more esoteric - less mainstream, public-facing, and dogmatic - strains of both offer much wisdom rooted in the long-silenced teachings of the Goddess/divine feminine. We just need to dig beneath the surface/below the top of the iceberg of Judaism and Christianity in order to find the gold and the Goddess (sometimes envisioned as a dragon-serpent like the Sumerian Tiamat - biblical Tehom) at their centers. :)
So...Where shall we begin? (In honor of the Goddess pentacle model - see my Who is the Goddess? page), I have broken down this year’s theme into the following 5 sub-categories:
Shattering the pernicious virgin-whore dichotomy and proposing a new Holy Trinity: the Virgin Mary, Mary Magdalene, the Black Madonna (with hints of Isis)...The THE TRIPLE GODDESS of Christianity, if you will...The sacred number 3 brings to mind the 3 fates (Moirai) of the Hellenic religion(s) as well as the mysterious, witch goddess: the triple-headed/faced Hekate. (For a deeply moving scene from a contemporary TV series featuring a Hekatean invocation, see here).
Sub-categories #2-5 (TBA in a later blog post).
If you are so eager to dive into this material that you cannot wait for phases/sub-categories 1 of 5 (see above) - as an impatient individual myself, I 100% understand - I’ve linked to a handful of videos and reading suggestions below:
Mary Magdalene scholarship and fiction (a small sampling):
Mary Magdalene (22-days of the Magdalene)
“All About Mary Magdalene” playlist (from Journey to the Goddess TV)
Mary Magdalene playlist (from the TGF Youtube channel)
Cynthia Bourgeault’s The Meaning of Mary Magdalene (Shambhala 2010) & Meggan Watterson’s Mary Magdalene Revealed (Hay House 2019)
Elizabeth Cunningham’s imaginative and playfully irreverent Maeve Chronicles (a 4-part series about the Magdalene as a Celtic priestess and devotee of Isis)
Black Madonna resources (video and book(s)):
Black Madonna playlist (from the TGF Youtube channel)
DeaMadre a Black Madonna resource website
Order of the Black Madonna (modern Black Madonna temple)
Dr. Lucia Birnbaum’s seminal text on the Black Madonna (pub. 2000) & China Galland’s Longing for Darkness (pub. 2007), a Black Madonna memoir and pilgrimage tale
Virgin Mary resources (video and book(s)):
Virgin Mary playlist (from the TGF Youtube channel)
Mother Mary Mystery Teachings (offered by Dr. Marguerite Rigoglioso of Seven Sisters Mystery School)
Books about the Virgin: Charlene Spretnak’s Missing Mary (Palgrave MacMillan 2016) & Dr. Marguerite Rigoglioso’s The Mystery Tradition of Miraculous Conception (Inner Traditions 2021)