The Divine: She/Her/Hers—Global Goddess Traditions

A special issue of Religions (ISSN 2077-1444).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 May 2023) | Viewed by 13337

Special Issue Editors

Department of Religion and Philosophy, Berry College, Mount Berry, GA 30149, USA
Interests: Goddess Tantra; yoga; religion and ecology; world religions; method & theory
Humanities Department, Marshall University, Huntington, WV 25755, USA
Interests: Goddess Tantra; yoga; classical & ancient Near Eastern Goddess traditions & mysteries; method & theory

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We invite you to contribute to what we hope will be a groundbreaking volume on global goddess cultures. True to the spirit of the religious studies tradition in which we are both trained, we envision the papers in this volume as combining breadth in perspective with depth of understanding. We aspire for methodological and theoretical diversity grounded in critical thought that is neither reductionistic nor blinded by faith. Who and what is a ‘goddess’? The answers to this question take one down a deep, fertile cosmic rabbit hole. This call is an invitation to join us in that hole.

The Scope:

This Special Issue of Religions will focus on Goddess cultures and traditions in a global and comparative context. One goal of this Special Issue is to unify diverse voices across the study of goddesses. Medieval goddess traditions still flourish in contemporary life around the globe; revival traditions among Neo-Pagans and other new religious movements have resurrected ancient goddesses for their own visions of religious life; Feminists, Environmentalists, and other social activists reflect on the planet as a mother and other gendered and social implications of the Divine as Female—where it is present or when and why it is conspicuously absent—and these conversations are not always in dialogue. 

Human societies have produced influential and long-lasting goddess traditions in which significant powers of nature, cosmos, and society are ultimately conceived as female: they are mothers, queens, daughters, lovers, virgins, hags, nurses, stepmothers (sometimes joyous or others malignant). One might wish that this might directly lead to a harmonious balance of social roles between women and men or to a kind of empowerment for human maidens, mothers, lovers, or crones. It is decidedly complex, and responding to these questions raises issues of gender, sexuality, identity, age, and social class.

It might be that sometimes these female divinities directly improve the lives of their daughters and sons in unmistakably empowering ways. However, there are other times where the gatekeepers for these awesome divinities are male priesthoods or divine royalty, or in modern settings they can be just another marketing strategy or media trope. Whatever the case: nuanced and symbolically rich representations of the Divine Feminine or not have always reflected directly into Her mortal children’s lives. Whether reflections, distortions, or caricatures, these representations merit scholarly contemplation directly of their femaleness. They are goddesses and their sexuality and gender are deeply embedded in their symbols and meanings.

The Perspective

From Homer’s Muse, from the descent of grace that kindles Śakti within the human body of practitioners of yoga, to the sacred sexual arts of religious or ritual consorts and concubines, to oracles possessed by spirits or deities, or even Caribbean conceptions of the Holy Spirit, goddess power finds its way into the world, it gets into people, it lives, it flows. It is the sap in trees and the mysterious force and source of vibrant life in the cosmos.

We are looking for scholars to engage with the embodied and manifest power of goddess traditions and cultures. These powers might be found in the refined philosophy and poetics of Sanskrit Śākta Tantrikas or other longstanding traditions of goddesses, demigoddesses, and saints (such as Mary, Amaterasu, Guanyin, or women gurus, mediums, and priestesses). They might be manifest in the traditions of contemporary activists for clean water found around the world (led by Native American women—or other indigenous leaders who possess very clear ideas about how exactly the planet Earth (its forests, its waters) is our mother, or, alternatively, in the cross-cultural traditions of medicine goddesses who watch over the health of children, the fertility of women and men, and the deities and spirits who threaten that health as well. Study and reflection on any goddess traditions are welcome, and the unifying theme is the ways in which these traditions are manifest and engaged in the lived lives of their practitioners.

Prof. Dr. Jeffrey S. Lidke
Prof. Dr. Jeffrey Clark Ruff
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Religions is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • goddess
  • Devi
  • Earth Mother
  • ecofeminism
  • women’s empowerment
  • Sakti
  • yoga
  • sacred sexual arts
  • feminism
  • Neo Paganism
  • Amaterasu
  • Guan Yin
  • Virgin Mary

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

10 pages, 799 KiB  
Article
An Exploration of the Evolution of the Loong Mother Belief System in Lingnan: Formation and Transformation
by Yan He and Rongqiao Wu
Religions 2023, 14(9), 1103; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14091103 - 25 Aug 2023
Viewed by 624
Abstract
The rise of a patriarchal society has led to a prevalent perception of male superiority over women, which is reflected in the gender-based disparities within the deity system of China. However, in contrast to the situation in the Central Plains, the Lingnan region [...] Read more.
The rise of a patriarchal society has led to a prevalent perception of male superiority over women, which is reflected in the gender-based disparities within the deity system of China. However, in contrast to the situation in the Central Plains, the Lingnan region assigns a significant social status to women, as evidenced by the active worship of female deities. Among them, the Loong Mother stands out as a highly revered goddess in Lingnan’s mythology. This paper investigates the evolution of the Loong Mother’s deification from a mortal woman, and explores the varying religious principles of Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism, as well as their influence on the veneration of female deities in Lingnan. Additionally, this paper analyzes the Loong Mother’s portrayal within civil society. Despite undergoing continuous transformation to cater to diverse religious traditions and societal needs, the goddess’s actions and functions ultimately reflect her creation and shaping by the community. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Divine: She/Her/Hers—Global Goddess Traditions)
11 pages, 827 KiB  
Article
Women Become Immortal through the Use of Procreation Ability: A Study on the Fertility Concept of Female Alchemy
by Yongfeng Huang and Qiongke Geng
Religions 2023, 14(6), 727; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14060727 - 31 May 2023
Viewed by 1644
Abstract
The tradition of female alchemy is established in the view that the female body, like the Earth, is the form of a living goddess and endowed with the fertile energy to nurture all life. This fertile energy is concentrated and reflected in women’s [...] Read more.
The tradition of female alchemy is established in the view that the female body, like the Earth, is the form of a living goddess and endowed with the fertile energy to nurture all life. This fertile energy is concentrated and reflected in women’s menstruation. Because of this energy, women can cultivate themselves as immortals through meditation and self-effort. At this level, the goddess and women share the same power. Therefore, every woman possesses this inner power; indeed, every woman is a goddess. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Divine: She/Her/Hers—Global Goddess Traditions)
32 pages, 1349 KiB  
Article
Embodying Devī: Śākta Narratives of Healing and Transformation
by Sophie-Anne Perkins
Religions 2022, 13(12), 1149; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13121149 - 25 Nov 2022
Viewed by 1784
Abstract
This article explores how twelve practitioners of a contemporary Western Śākta community relate to Devī, experience Her presence in their lives, embody Her through the practice of deity yoga, and find their manner of relating to self, others, and the world transformed by [...] Read more.
This article explores how twelve practitioners of a contemporary Western Śākta community relate to Devī, experience Her presence in their lives, embody Her through the practice of deity yoga, and find their manner of relating to self, others, and the world transformed by it. The narratives were obtained via semi-structured interviews and thus increase the ethnographic data in the field of tantric studies. Altogether, these testimonies suggest that deity yoga and its metaphysical framework, when interpreted through both a theistic and non-theistic lens, may enable a decrease in self-conscious emotions and negative affective reactivity, and an increase in positive affect and self-confidence or trust, as well as empathic or affiliative changes. The latter may result in changes in motivation or goals that are prosocial in nature and enable desirable changes in one’s interpersonal relationships and interactions. Additionally, it may potentially decrease the severity of the impact that neuroticism, mental disorders, substance use disorders, and negative affect can have on an individual’s life, or even assist in eliminating their presence, over time. Finally, it may effectively help some in navigating and overcoming grief or accepting the inevitability of death. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Divine: She/Her/Hers—Global Goddess Traditions)
13 pages, 1626 KiB  
Article
Disease, Demon, and the Deity: Case of Corona Mātā and Coronāsur in India
by Megha Yadav
Religions 2022, 13(11), 1011; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13111011 - 26 Oct 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2098
Abstract
As India faced multiple waves of the pandemic, religious responses arose to accommodate and make sense of the situation. In the face of uncertainty, disease and death, people turn not just towards the medical sciences but also religion. The emergence of a new [...] Read more.
As India faced multiple waves of the pandemic, religious responses arose to accommodate and make sense of the situation. In the face of uncertainty, disease and death, people turn not just towards the medical sciences but also religion. The emergence of a new Hindu goddess, Corona Mātā/Coronavirus Mardhinī encapsulates people’s fear, faith, and devotion. Although the goddess is new, the tradition of disease goddesses is ancient. The Indian Subcontinent has a long history of mother goddesses who have been protecting their devotees from diseases such as smallpox, fever, plague, etc. This paper attempts to examine the emergence of Corona Mātā in the historical context of these ‘protective mothers’. On one hand, historically, these goddesses have emerged as a result of interaction between Brahmanical religion and regional practices. On the other hand, these disease-centred goddesses can also be seen as the result of fear and faith. This paper will analyse the location of Corona Mātā in the ever-evolving pantheon of Hindu deities in the context of a 21st-century pandemic. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Divine: She/Her/Hers—Global Goddess Traditions)
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38 pages, 3033 KiB  
Article
The Young Goddess Who Dances through the Ordinariness of Life―A Study on the Tantric Traditions of Kerala
by Maciej Karasinski-Sroka and G. Sudev Krishna Sharman
Religions 2022, 13(7), 667; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13070667 - 21 Jul 2022
Viewed by 4000
Abstract
Drawing on both ethnographic and literary sources, this paper indicates that initiations into the mantra of Bālā are essential rites of passage for various Tantric communities. We focus on two previously unstudied texts: Bālāviṃśati stotra (“Twenty Verses on the Bālā Goddess”), a popular [...] Read more.
Drawing on both ethnographic and literary sources, this paper indicates that initiations into the mantra of Bālā are essential rites of passage for various Tantric communities. We focus on two previously unstudied texts: Bālāviṃśati stotra (“Twenty Verses on the Bālā Goddess”), a popular eulogy sung on festive occasions in Keralan temples, and Bālādīkṣāpaddhati (“A Treatise on Initiation into the Bālā Mantra”), a short treatise explaining the rules of initiation into the Bālā cult of Kerala. The article contextualizes the texts by providing commentaries of practitioners and interpretations of Keralan gurus who initiate their adepts into Śrīvidyā. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Divine: She/Her/Hers—Global Goddess Traditions)
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