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Debra Rae
Goddesses "R" Us Old Product, New Package - Part I
©2007
Debra Rae
Goddess Worship: Its Historical Threads (“Living Goddess” Cults)
Every
culture throughout the course of recorded history has glommed on to some sort of
goddess figure—Venus and Isis (fertility goddesses) and Morrigan (goddess of
war), to name but three. The most prolific goddess worshippers are spawned out
of Hinduism and the beliefs of indigenous peoples, but even early Christian
sects purportedly venerated the Virgin Mary as a goddess; moreover, contemporary
mystics are petitioning the Pope to include Mary in the godhead.
Whereas
some worship "God the Mother" as supreme and sole Deity, followers of
Hinduism honor a plethora of goddesses. Practitioners can be conservative (in
support of male dominance, state control, and colonialism); or radical, as acted
out by bra-burning, perpetually offended militant feminists best characterized
by their mantra, “I am woman; hear me roar!”
Throughout
the centuries “living” goddess cults have venerated their fellows as
deities. In ancient
Since
the mid-19th century, goddess worship in Western society has developed into a
distinct culture. Rather than worship some distant deity, devotees often prefer
terms as “spirituality” or “veneration” over goddess “worship.” That
being the case, “living goddess” cult followings have not escaped the West.
Indeed,
Goddess Worship: Its Bogus Wisdom (A-Traditional Primordial Wisdom)
For
its successes in gaining needed social, political and economic equality for
women, today’s Women’s Movement has been broadly acclaimed since World War
II—in many respects, for good reason. Trouble is extremists rev up their
message a notch by advancing the nefarious notion of female
superiority—sometimes to the point of deification.
Take,
for example, Caroline Myss, Ph.D. So compelling is her message in the field of
energy medicine and human consciousness and potential that, for one entire year
(2003), Oprah Winfrey gave Caroline her own television program with the Oxygen
network, targeted to women. A former consultant to our Defense Department and
1984 Democratic vice presidential candidate, Barbara Marx Hubbard applauds such
women of vision who, in turn, honor a-traditional “primordial wisdom” as a
resource of the spirit in their ascension process—whatever that means.
Arcane?
You bet. Their feminist philosophy is decidedly esoteric, the Greek root for
which means “private” or “confidential.” You see, goddess wisdom (or
spirituality, as the case may be) is exclusive truth reserved for an enlightened
“inner circle” of initiates. Their claim to wisdom mirrors the mystery
religions of ancient
Both
Carolyn and Barbara join faculty at the
That
women are worthy I’ll not debate; moreover, for apparent reason, their
intuitive prowess is legendary. Nevertheless, earth’s first lady, Eve, learned
the hard way that dabbling with God’s exclusive knowledge of good and evil
rendered no service to her relationship with Him, her family and humanity at
large.
While
a good woman is godly, even godlike by design, she is not a goddess, nor will
she ever be one. Still, godly women are forces to be reckoned with—even worthy
of praise (Proverbs 31:30)—but never to the point of usurping God’s glory.
Goddess Worship: Its New Age Expression (Earned Egoic Advancement)
Coveting
divinity was and is the Achilles heel of Lucifer, chief of fallen angels. For
envying the exalted status of humans, all the while craving for himself God's
exclusive right to omnipotence, Lucifer was cast down from Heaven. In search of
mystical union with a personal deity, Lucifer’s 21st century protégées
follow suit.
To
discover the goddess within, a woman first must achieve elevated "cosmic
consciousness"; and yoga is presumed to accomplish that purpose dandily.
Its promise of yoking with the divine spirit of the universe has become all the
rage—so much so that tens of thousands of copies have been circulated of a
video tutorial created by Marsha Wenig of
Many
rush to their local bookstores to snatch up Yoga
Baby and I Can’t Believe It’s Yoga for Kids, two among many trendy
publications of this ilk. Mother-daughter yoga may well ensure bonding—but not
filially. The goal of yoga is samadhi, or
occult enlightenment, in giving way to one’s true divine nature. This is
accomplished by controlling vital energy (prana)
in the act of breathing. Some may be surprised to learn that virtually all
standard yoga texts link psychic powers and other occult abilities with yoga
practice.
All
too often gullible women in search of “egoic advancement” gobble up
self-help literature that a fallen world has to offer, but then manipulating
cosmic energies simply doesn't cut it!
Better
to take to heart the sobering upshot of Lucifer’s folly than to pursue an
elusive dream of so-called earned egoic advancement otherwise known as achieving
Christhood.
For
good reason the Bible warns us to "let God be true, and [let] every man [or
woman who makes claims to the contrary] [be exposed as] a liar" (Ro. 3:4).
Goddess Worship: Its Sexual Expression (Tantra and the Great Rite)
The
term “sexual revolution” is not new, but was coined by anarchist
Freudian scholar Wilhelm
Reich. In the 1920s and 1930s, Otto Gross and he developed a “sociology of
sex” further expounded upon by renowned, but controversial anthropologist Margaret
Mead, author of Coming of Age in Samoa
(1928). By the way, this is the same Margaret Mead who was keynote speaker at a
UN Spiritual Summit Conference in which the UN’s resident guru led a diverse
group in Eastern meditation.
Historian
David Allyn
characterized it as a time of "coming-out" when, in the 1960s, Eastern
mysticism linked with
Add to this list “tantric sex,” the concept for which was featured not long ago on an Oprah show I happened onto. Simply put, tantric sex is meditative lovemaking through which partners learn to channel potent orgasmic energies. The idea is to raise one’s level of consciousness from the plane of doing to the place of being. Tantra teaches a woman to transform the act of sex into a sacrament, merging the dual nature of sexuality into ecstatic union. Once having harmonized internal masculine and feminine polarities, one allegedly realizes the blissful nature of “the Self” (capital “S” intended).
Oprah enthusiasts would do well to consider the dark side of this so-called sacrament of love. In “Christian” America alone, Wiccans number an astonishing quarter-of-a-million; and a necessary part of their Third-Degree elevation ritual, the Great Rite celebrates “sacred marriage” through sex (not necessarily with one’s “significant other”). Wiccan sex partners invoke specific gods and goddesses into one another’s bodies—the dynamic polarity for which is reminiscent of Tantra.
True,
we’ve come a long way, baby, since 1962
when Helen
Gurley Brown published Sex
and the Single Girl and, then,
went on to transform Cosmopolitan magazine into a life manual for
young career women. But, in many ways, women are none the better for it.
Realizing one’s “blissful Self” is sullied by an ever-increasing
smorgasbord of STDs, half of which are incurable. Add to that spiritual
darkness; and we have a formula for disaster—physically, culturally, and
spiritually.
Sigmond
Freud (1865-1939) was an Austrian physician who pioneered study of the
subconscious and unconscious mind. He developed psychoanalysis and formulated
concepts of the pleasure-seeking id,
the “conscious self” ego, and the
conscience, or superego. A confessed
atheist at war with religious mores, Freud nonetheless worshipped the
god/goddess of sexuality. Furthermore, he used cocaine and championed
hypnotism—both consistent with “altered consciousness” heralded by New Age
feminists.
While
much of Freud’s research is widely discredited, no one can dispute its
cultural (even spiritual) impact; indeed, his work laid the foundation for a
groundbreaking study called Human
Sexual Response (Masters
and Johnson, 1966),
which unveiled the nature and scope of sex practices engaged in by young
Americans at the time.
Earlier
on, in the late 1940s
and early 1950s,
zoologist Alfred
C. Kinsey published two similarly scandalous surveys of modern sexual
behavior. In Kinsey, Sex and Fraud,
co-author Judith Reisman exposes Kinsey’s illegal sexual experimentation on
virtually hundreds of babies and children (for example, Table 34 tallies infant
orgasms). Even so, Kinseyan sexology remains the learning base for sex education
in
In fact, the propagandist arm of the Kinsey Institute (Indiana University), Sex Instruction/ Information Education Committee in the United States (SIECUS) fundamentally shapes that curriculum; furthermore, SIECUS receives funding from (gulp!) the Playboy Foundation, no doubt influenced by Freud, Kinsey, Masters and Johnson, and modern goddess veneration, if not worship. The latter is epitomized in “playmates” of Hugh Heffner’s making. For decades, generously-endowed models have posed nude in Playboy magazine centerfolds only to be ogled by male worshippers in awe of their meticulously airbrushed curves.
Debra Rae is an author and educator who has traveled extensively throughout the United States and abroad. Having authored two books—the ABCs of Globalism and ABCs of Cultural-Isms (the latter highlighted at the 55th Annual CBA International Convention, 2004)—Debra contributing columnist for News With Views. Debra has been a speaker on numerous radio shows aired across the nation, the Western Hemisphere, Russia, and the Middle East. This past year, she co-launched and now co-hosts WOMANTalk, a special edition of Changing Worldviews TALK Radio, for which she writes weekly commentaries.
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