Funnily, the world's historians, theologians and anthropologists don't seem to be in that much disagreement that God started out as a woman. A Goddess, technically; a mother of all creation, who appears in various cultures as one of a pantheon or as sole creator, giving birth to the world and all its creatures. Sometimes she's pictured as the divine mother of a holy son, but she's still the head honcho.
Many of us grew up on the Narnia books. In The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, the Goddess takes the form of the White Witch, who must be vanquished by the true believers and by the crucifixion of Aslan in order to bring freedom to Narnia. C.S. Lewis was quite clear that the White Witch represented the old Goddess religion. The gentle, pious Oxford don knew that the snake in the Eden myth represented the Goddess, and once wrote that humans naturally associate "matriarchy" with "insects".
A few years later, we were ready for the
Lord of the Rings, the sweeping, enchanting saga written by Lewis's best bud, J.R.R. Tolkien. In it we see the older, Elven culture, which valued harmony with the earth, give way to violence and chaos which only more chaos can resolve. While the Goddess gets much better treatment --Galadriel is no White Witch--- she isn't able to solve the world's problems, and a new age is ushered in in which she, Elrond, and all the other beings, male and female, that eschew violence (including the now-enlightened, Christ-like Frodo) must pass away to make way for a glorious Fourth Age.
(Oh, and the swords have names, for heaven's sake.)
The desire to find out more about the ancient and continuing World Myth was first awakened in me by a talk given by Michael Dementieff, the president of the Bering Sea Fishermen's Association, 8 or 9 years ago at the Alaska Bilingual/Multicultural Education and Equity Conference. Mr. Dementieff, an Aleut, introduced me to the idea that the world is coming to the end of a cycle, or Age, in which men have achieved total domination over women. You might call this Age our entire recorded history--- or just a tiny proportion of the lifespan, to date, of homo sapiens.
(Buncha New Age crap, I thought at the time, but have been reading up on it since.)
The characteristics of the "male" cycle are violence and an adversarial, "conquest" attitude toward our fellow human beings and toward nature. The strong dominate the weak. Violence begets more violence. Swords, missiles, and military might are prized. Success means becoming the controller of a substantial and unnecessary amount of wealth. Leadership means the ability to get other people to do what you want.
The characteristics of the "female" cycle are a striving (often unsuccessful, admittedly) toward harmony with our fellow human beings and with nature. Violence is a problem to be solved. The earth is to be cherished rather than conquered. The same goes for people weaker than us, including children. Leadership means the ability to bring out the best in other people.
I hasten to add that the female cycle is not a time of female dominance over men. In The Chalice and the Blade, Riane Eisler coins the term "gylany" and uses it instead of "matriarchy", as the latter suggests a dominance relationship analogous to patriarchy. Under gylany, both men and women value life, cooperation, and peace.
By contrast, the male-dominated cycle is indeed male-dominated, with females relegated to supporting roles or, in more liberal phases, allowed to be just as bad as men (think Condi Rice, Maggie Thatcher). In less liberal phases, females are exterminated (think witch trials, Saudi Arabian family "executions").
Many of the world's mythoi--- or versions of the World Myth--- seem to agree that we are at the end and beginning of an age. Mr. Dementieff, Ms. Eisler, and others believe that the ending age is one of male dominance and the beginning age is one of male-female balance. I hope that they are right. I feel that we are poised on the edge of a precipice where the choices are between achieving balance and achieving total annihilation.
Lately it's been looking more like the latter, but I'd like to believe I'm wrong about that. It's hard for me to believe in God the Father, because like most people I know, I had real issues with my dad. It's a lot easier to look at the image of the Virgin Mary and see the survival of the ancient Goddess, Mother and world creator.
Thank you and good night.