Hi again. Any thoughts on 'Mother God'? I gather a mistranslation may be responsible for this now being 'Mother of God'... and I'd welcome any intelligent non-religious theories about how the idea of a feminine principle emerged, as well as religious ones. Many thanks in advance, Euphrosene
euphrosene, Here are the only feminine principles you need to know: 1) Women weren't meant to be heard 2) Women were the fall of man. Here is the supporting scripture: 1 Tim 2:12-15 12 And I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence. 13 For Adam was formed first, then Eve. 14 And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression.
all religious belief stems from the earth mother, the shamen of the villages were women, women have the power over life, it's just, men like to think there in control, dont they. the only think men have any real control over is there hand when they take a pee. a little joke, (newly married couple on their wedding night), the guy takes of his trousers/pants and says to his wife "put those on" she does and he says " that the last time you wear the trousers/pant in this relationship. she in turn takes of her knickers/panties and says "put those on" he replies " i'll never get into them", and she says " until you change your attitude, you never will" god is to blame not women, do go away with the rubbish.
mustafhakofi: That is very inaccurate. Shamans have rarely been women throughout history. The only ones I can think of are the miko of Shintoism and the Delphic Oracle. Women do not have the "power over life". They are barren without seed. And the Earth Mother was always paired with the Sky-Father.
Hi there nds - I've only just got in and have to get up again at 5am, so this is a brief note to say I will answer this later when I've stopped laughing and when I get my brain in gear. Ciao for now (from a woman!) Euphrosene
I dont think so, male shamans dressed like women as the were following the traditions of there female forebearers, http://www.suppressedhistories.net/articles/womanshaman.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Himiko http://www.amazon.de/Entering-Circle-Siberian-Discovered-Psychiatrist/dp/0062514172 and yet a man consists of male and female chromosomes, but a women is wholely female, a male needs female to even be a male.
Mustafhakofi: A book purporting to have contact with the spirit realm = hardly to be trusted. It isn't a scholarly work. Similarly, I've spoken about Japanese miko in my first response. I freely admitted there is a tradition of Japanese female shamans. This is found even in the brilliant Kurosawa film, "Rashomon". You will also note, however, the high instance of male priests in Shintoism. Regarding the first website, iti s quite correct to point out many women focused shamans. But as I pointed out, this is hardly the only type, and men abound in most Eurasian and African societies: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shamanism#Gender_and_sexuality We must also speak of the priesthood of the Indo-European peoples. Druids were male, Brahmins were male, Magi were male, male priests (but female witches) were common amongst the Germanic peoples, the Pontifex Maximus of Rome was male... There were significant amounts of prietesses in all these cultures, but to reduce shamanistic and shamanistic offshoots to "a female majority" is absurd. It speaks, at best, of only the practices of the American Indians in many regards, but not of many Eurasians and Africans. And a man gets what it is to be a man wholly from his father, and his father's father, and his father's father, unto the dawn of time. Women are bereft of this "gift of flesh".
I was wondering what was with him and that stupid bible passage...Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Those passages are not hard to understand given the ultra patriarchial nature of the ancient hebrews at the time the OT was written. When the feminine equation was taken out of the concept of the divine,that's when the world started to become more polarized.
But in many cultures she was primary. Women dominated the relgious life in some cultures adn women have certainly been shamans and healers and sources of magic and wisdom in many cultures. They were considered to have power over life. They were not 'barren without seed'. To be barren means incapable of bearing life. It is not in man's body that life is nurtured into the world. This does not mean men are bad or even secondary but in the process of bring a child into the world they have a smaller role or at one step remove. Remember too that this discussion is taking place in a world dominated by monotheisms that blame women for the world's problems and relegate them to secondary roles. It is amazing how fast men demand balance from matricentral religions. A demand that was kept silent for so long when the balance was the other way. It wasn't even noticed by most men.
Ideas of the feminine principle emerged from recognition of the female. Connections were noted between the fertile earth and the fertile woman.
GrantyWanty: Actually, not really. There has never been a mother-Goddess only cult. Inevitably, the Earth is paired with the Sky. Women mostly shared this role with male priests, usually in a subordinate system. Babylonian paganism reduced priestesses to temple prostitutes, for instance, whereas the priests presided over the sacrifices and the like. The shamans of some American Indians did have a pronounced slant to female shamans, but also had medicine men and others. Barren land is that which has no growth. A womb cannot produce a child without the influence of a man's seed. Similarly, a man requires suitable soil. Certainly, they do not nurture the child as it grows in the womb. However, to begin the process has always been important. The best mystical analogy is that of Shiva and Shakti. Sadly, yes. The prior polytheistic and animistic religions were superior. Also the Eastern ones such as Buddhism and the like. Dualism seems to be the superior religious conception.
