A New Era of the Goddess?

Are we entering a new Era of the Goddess?

If so, what would that mean?

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The most fully developed intellectual system relating to the Divine Feminine is to be found in the works of ancient Greece. The Hellenes developed a wonderful system of myth which both hid and revealed the mysterious nature of the gods and goddesses. The stories are so compelling that they have been passed down through the generations, at first orally and then in writing, deeply influencing the civilisations from India in the East to the Americas in the West.

In this first post about the about the Divine Feminine, we will consider the map left by some of the greatest minds in human history.

If a new era is dawning, and the turmoil we are going through at the moment suggest that it may be, then do we expect that we will see a goddess on television, or bump into one on a lonely hillside or shopping mall?

To expect a physical manifestation is to entirely misunderstand the form of the Goddess.

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A Map

To understand the nature of gods and goddesses it is helpful to see them through one of the distinct cultures that celebrated their presence. The myths of Egypt,  Greece and the stories of the Norse gods, all provide a powerful insight into this mystery. In this article, and the ones to follow, we will focus on the Hellenic Pantheon because it is the easiest one to grasp with the powers of the modern mind.
Our map will have several levels. We will start from where we find ourselves, in the world.

This zone, or arena of reality is rightly called the Mundane World.

It is the ordinary world that we experience through our senses. It is what most people refer to as ‘reality’. Indeed, for the current scientific viewpoint, what can be contacted by the senses and estimated by the enquiring mind, and then modelled by the mathematician, is all that can be called ‘real’.
But the ancients were quite clear that this sensible realm, on planet Earth, was to some degree illusory. Most readers of this article will be familiar with Plato’s myth of the cave. And if they are not it is as well to read it here to understand what follows. For Plato suggested that what we take as real, is merely the movement of shadows, cast by firelight on the walls of the cave.
So, to Plato, our Mundane World is a realm of illusion or fantasy, or if you like, a dream. Of course, for those living in the dream, it is entirely real and real in its consequences.

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Below this Mundane World is the Underworld. In the Hellenic system of old this was the realm ruled by Hades. This was the dwelling place of those who had died, a space for the shades

Orpheus and Eurydice with Hades and Persephone

The ancients also spoke of a realm above the Mundane World which they called the Super Mundane. By this, they meant the realm entirely above the Mundane. To them, this was a place of perfection. Here, nothing impure could enter in. In truth, it could be said that here Souls walked with the Gods.

If this was all there was to the map, then to achieve Ascension or spiritual realisation, an individual would merely have to find the boundary between the Mundane and the Super Mundane, and pass through. But the masters of ancient lore knew that such a step could not be taken in one go. For to make this journey was to walk in the footsteps of the heroes. These footsteps and adventures (or labours) took place in a further realm that was neither mundane or super mundane. It lay in-between.

The Ancients referred to this as the Liberated Order or the Azonic Realm or World.

In this in-between world the heroes encountered their trials, dealing with the supernatural, the monsters, the labyrinths, the demons and parleying with the gods. Here is where Hercules slays the Nemean Lion. Here Odysseus encounters Circe and Calypso. Here Jason meets and marries Medea. It is here that the ordinary is always extra-ordinary. Sirens wail from rocks; princesses clothe shipwrecked mariners; and the Goddess Athena meets the weary hero, face-to-face, at the conclusion of his journey

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Graphic representation of the Worlds or Spheres of Reality

This Liberated order is ‘free’ because there are no zones. It is endless and zoneless. It is pathless. It is without boundaries. It is the place where both hells and heavens can be found. This world is where the astral and the etheric hold sway. It is full of vitality for it has much to do with the forces of Nature. Here are to be found ‘spirits’ but these entities are not in themselves, spiritual.

In the wonderful book Orpheus by G.R.S. Mead, the great Hermetist, he includes a map on page 59 that presents the Orphic Theogony. This shows the ruling principles for the Mundane World (which he calls the Cosmic Order), and Liberated Order of Gods and the Super-Cosmic order.

Diagram from Mead, Orpheus, used for educational purposes only

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This diagram (above) can reveal many potent and important truths concerning the gods and goddesses. Perhaps the important point to note here, is that a goddess like Aphrodite (Venus) is found both in the Cosmic order of the Mundane World and in the Liberated Order. Zeus (Jupiter or Jove) is found in all three Worlds. There are many meanings to this, but what is important to grasp is that the gods have a different function within each of these worlds. This will become clearer in later posts when we consider the individual goddesses.

It is worth noting that Persephone (Proserpine) is to be found in the Super-mundane world (along with Athena (Minerva) and Artemis (Diana). Yet, as we shall find, she is also ruler, for half of the year, of the Underworld, and sits next to her husband, Hades

Proserpine or Persephone (Rossetti - used for educational purposes only)

The Sensible World

In the diagram from Mead shown above, he uses the term 'Sensible World' for the three realms. This can also be called 'The Creation'. It may also be termed, the Objective Realm. It is full of the Divine (for that is true of every flower, bird, beast and human). But it is not the Divine Herself or Himself. For the Divine is One, Eternal and Absolute and this sensible realm is made of parts that are separated from each other.

The goddesses are 'in' the sensible realm but they are not 'of' the sensible realm.

It is helpful to consider this realm from a twofold point of view. On the one had there is the Cosmos (which means perfect order in ancient Greek). On the other hand there is Man (women and men). While the Cosmos is always perfect, being the Ideal Expression of the Divine Mind, the same cannot be said for men and women, who are demonstrable not perfect.

The beauty of the situation is that the Cosmos is the realm in which mankind can become perfect through fulfilling its purpose. Coming into right relationship with the Divine Feminine (the goddesses) is part of this process of perfecting.

At the level of the Mundane World, the gods and goddesses can valuable be seen as the Divine principles from which the Cosmos is constructed. They are the Divine Essence of the Zodiac, its formative power, its essential nature, its life and its perfect laws.

Ancient version of Yin Yang motif on a commemorative silver coin (shown for educational purposes only)

In an early version of the Taoist symbol the female and male (yin and yang) were represented as tiger and dragon respectively, indicating the power of the female aspect of reality.

Of course, the Divine Feminine and female deities never left the world. Reality would collapse instantly if they did so. There could be no life. But the respectful honouring of the feminine has been largely absent since the rise of Christian, Islamic and other patriarchal systems of thought over the last two thousand years or more.

In the posts to follow this one we will investigate the part played by the Divine Feminine as represented by the goddesses. In so doing we will deepen our understanding of the Divine Principles they represent.

A representation of the goddesses as principles and aspects of the Great Mother. Who first developed this image is not knows (to this author) and it is offered in gratitude and for educational purposes only.

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We will consider each of the goddesses in turn, including one important deity not mentioned above, without whom nothing could be, namely Hestia (Vesta or Maat). Much is revealed when considering the stories of their birth and parentage as well as their key activities, children and symbols.