THE
ARCANE
ARCHIVE

a cache of usenet and other text files pertaining
to occult, mystical, and spiritual subjects.


TOP | RELIGION

Astarte

To: alt.fan.kali.astarte.inanna,alt.pagan,alt.religion.wicca,alt.mythology,talk.religion.misc,alt.religion.all-worlds
From: rrosen@falcon.cc.ukans.edu (Goddess in Training)
Subject: Re: Astarte
Date: 4 May 96 19:32:26 CDT

Catherine Deville (cdeville@ix.netcom.com) wrote:
: brightshad@aol.com (Brightshad) wrote:

: >I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed your response to the extremely
: >confused bunch of stuff on Astarte in the original message. 

: who are you replying to here?  you reply in public but you do not
: state to whom this was directed.

She was replying to me--I got this post in private email as well as 
seeing it here in usenet.

: >Your statement about the Great Goddess being a modern invention is
: >one too many Neo-Pagans don't want to hear. They have  allowed the
: >prevailing monotheism of this culture to infect their ability to respond
: >to the multiplicity of Nature.

: excuse me, but _who_ stated that the Great Goddess was a modern
: invention.  there are scholastic authorities which disagree with you.
: (and yes, i am neo-pagan, but many of them are not).  i realize that
: this is currently a controversy, but it is far from being decided.  i
: conclude, however, from your statement, that you disregard the
: research of Joseph Campbell, Merlin Stone and Gimbutas among others
: and accept the old prevailing patriarical viewpoint? 

Campbell is interesting, albeit biased and a bit sexist. He's more 
interesting, though, for his interpretations of myths than for 
scholarship into the origins of myths. Stone is even shakier in terms of 
scholarship. I haven't read Gimbutas yet, so I will refrain from comment. 
Also, it's false to assume that just because one rejects extreme 
revisionist theories that one accepts the old prevailing "patriarchal" 
viewpoint. My personal belief is that the truth lies somewhere in the middle.

: it is demonstrated, even in your own post, that cultures tended to
: absorb the attributes of the gods of existing tribes.  why is it
: controversial to believe that this happened in the case of the Great
: Goddess myth?  

Yes, cultures absorb aspects of other cultures and deities are often 
borrowed between cultures (c.f., Astarte, Inanna, Ishtar), but there has 
been no proof of the Great Goddess, merely one very important goddess 
being worshiped by various countries that had contact with each other. 
The existence of the Queen of Heaven in one area (mainly Mesopotamia but 
also in Egypt--Astarte was referred to as Ashtar by the Egyptians, according 
to _the Hebrew Goddess_ by Patai, so I can see how you would think Ishtar 
for the Egyptian form of the name--as well as other Ancient Middle Eastern 
countries) does not imply that she was "the Great Goddess" or that her 
worship existed in any other areas.
--'--,-{@  --,--'-{@  --'--,-{@                                             
Renee Rosen                   		      
rrosen@falcon.cc.ukans.edu              "Was I a witch?
Goddess in Training                            In the dark days, I heard 
Astrud and Astarte on irc      		                      voices . . ."
LadyGodiva on the DivWeb                            	--Art Bears
http://lark.cc.ukans.edu/~rrosen     
        
          Email me for information on jap-l, the Jewish Pagan list
        or check out http://www.necronomi.com/m/jap-l/ for more info!
					       @}-,--'--  @}-'--,--  @}-,--'--

The Arcane Archive is copyright by the authors cited.
Send comments to the Arcane Archivist: tyaginator@arcane-archive.org.

Did you like what you read here? Find it useful?
Then please click on the Paypal Secure Server logo and make a small
donation to the site maintainer for the creation and upkeep of this site.

The ARCANE ARCHIVE is a large domain,
organized into a number of sub-directories,
each dealing with a different branch of
religion, mysticism, occultism, or esoteric knowledge.
Here are the major ARCANE ARCHIVE directories you can visit:
interdisciplinary: geometry, natural proportion, ratio, archaeoastronomy
mysticism: enlightenment, self-realization, trance, meditation, consciousness
occultism: divination, hermeticism, amulets, sigils, magick, witchcraft, spells
religion: buddhism, christianity, hinduism, islam, judaism, taoism, wicca, voodoo
societies and fraternal orders: freemasonry, golden dawn, rosicrucians, etc.

SEARCH THE ARCANE ARCHIVE

There are thousands of web pages at the ARCANE ARCHIVE. You can use ATOMZ.COM
to search for a single word (like witchcraft, hoodoo, pagan, or magic) or an
exact phrase (like Kwan Yin, golden ratio, or book of shadows):

Search For:
Match:  Any word All words Exact phrase

OTHER ESOTERIC AND OCCULT SITES OF INTEREST

Southern Spirits: 19th and 20th century accounts of hoodoo, including slave narratives & interviews
Hoodoo in Theory and Practice by cat yronwode: an introduction to African-American rootwork
Lucky W Amulet Archive by cat yronwode: an online museum of worldwide talismans and charms
Sacred Sex: essays and articles on tantra yoga, neo-tantra, karezza, sex magic, and sex worship
Sacred Landscape: essays and articles on archaeoastronomy, sacred architecture, and sacred geometry
Lucky Mojo Forum: practitioners answer queries on conjure; sponsored by the Lucky Mojo Curio Co.
Herb Magic: illustrated descriptions of magic herbs with free spells, recipes, and an ordering option
Association of Independent Readers and Rootworkers: ethical diviners and hoodoo spell-casters
Freemasonry for Women by cat yronwode: a history of mixed-gender Freemasonic lodges
Missionary Independent Spiritual Church: spirit-led, inter-faith, the Smallest Church in the World
Satan Service Org: an archive presenting the theory, practice, and history of Satanism and Satanists
Gospel of Satan: the story of Jesus and the angels, from the perspective of the God of this World
Lucky Mojo Usenet FAQ Archive: FAQs and REFs for occult and magical usenet newsgroups
Candles and Curios: essays and articles on traditional African American conjure and folk magic
Aleister Crowley Text Archive: a multitude of texts by an early 20th century ceremonial occultist
Spiritual Spells: lessons in folk magic and spell casting from an eclectic Wiccan perspective
The Mystic Tea Room: divination by reading tea-leaves, with a museum of antique fortune telling cups
Yronwode Institution for the Preservation and Popularization of Indigenous Ethnomagicology
Yronwode Home: personal pages of catherine yronwode and nagasiva yronwode, magical archivists
Lucky Mojo Magic Spells Archives: love spells, money spells, luck spells, protection spells, etc.
      Free Love Spell Archive: love spells, attraction spells, sex magick, romance spells, and lust spells
      Free Money Spell Archive: money spells, prosperity spells, and wealth spells for job and business
      Free Protection Spell Archive: protection spells against witchcraft, jinxes, hexes, and the evil eye
      Free Gambling Luck Spell Archive: lucky gambling spells for the lottery, casinos, and races