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Gods vs Goddesses

To: alt.magick.tantra
From: catherine yronwode 
Subject: Re: Gods vs Goddesses
Date: Sat, 05 Dec 1998 17:08:27 -0800

NameOfMe wrote:
> 
> gooroo wrote:
> 
> > Isn't it weird that calling yourself a Tantric God has a different
> > connotation (other than the obvious gender difference) to calling 
> > yourself a Tantric Goddess? The term "Goddess" seems to be more down 
> > to Earth, realistic and reachable than the term "God", and a lot 
> > less arrogant. Apart from the valid male/female energetic gender 
> > difference explanation, I think that this is due to feminism's head 
> > start.

I don't agree with this: to a woman such as myself, there seems little
difference. I find it arrogant (but harmlessly so) to call oneself
either a god or a goddess. I happily accept, however, the appellation
"goddess" when it has been applied to me, and i in turn have applied the
appellation "god" to several of my male partners, both in play (calling
one ex-partner "The Insect God" when he wore some funny-looking
insectoid welders' goggles) and in ecstatic revelation (as with the man
i love). 

> Goddess tends to evoke imagery of grace and beauty. 

To you. To me, the images evoked are ambiguous -- bloody Kali, for
instance is not all that graceful or beautiful in a conventional sense,
although to those who love her, she is delightful. Likewise, while you
may not find the term "god" evocative of grace and beauty, i find it
equally ambiguous -- Zeus is not graceful or beautiful, Lord Siva is. 

> Due to the popularity of Christianity and similar religions, the word 
> god is associated with omnipotence.

I think not -- for you, maybe, but not for me. 

> The only popularly known religion with goddesses is that of the Greeks 
> and Romans, 

"The only popularly known religion" with female deities is some ancient
Mediterranean religion???? What about contemporary India? You are
unfamiliar with world religions and somehow you received a passing
knowledge of ancient religions of the Mediterranean -- but we are not
all as you. Look to ancient Sumer, ancient Egypt, and above all, to
present day India, where MILLIONS of people -- right now! are
worshipping the goddesses Kali, Durga, Parvati, Sati, Radha, Lakshmi,
and so forth. Check out Japan's contemporary forms of Kami-worship, in
which there are both gods and goddesses -- and the leader of them all is
the Sun-goddess.

> and none of their goddesses were omnipotent. 

Study some more religions: in Japan, the creatrix Sun-goddess Amaterasu
is as close to omnipotent as JHVH is to the Jews. 

> Perhaps we should just use the terms male tantrika and female tantrika 
> to avoid any connotations brought by the proselytizing religions (or 
> rather religion; mostly just Christianity) which surround us in our 
> everyday lives.

Well, i agree with you here. I think there is something both meaningless
and smug among those who claim be gods or goddesses in usenet, outside
the context of a ritual or sacred practice of some sort. It is as if
they seek to affirm their sense of power, but cannot do so without
taking on the role of a deity, even when they are not actually being
worshipped. 

This is not unique to alt.magick.tantra, of course. People take on a
variety of pompous names and screen-identities in usenet to express
their desire to establish and/or re-formulate their identities. Some
seem to regard the internet as a forum for role-playing games ("You have
entered the domain of the Cosmic Mage-Muffin -- Journey onward at your
own risk, O Hapless Wanderer!") and other see it as a venue for the
creation of a guruistic cult ("Swami Machonanda is is a Master of the
Occult Tantric Precepts of Inner Body Working"). But, as with any other
public marketplace of ideas, the key words must always be "caveat
emptor."     

catherine yronwode, bride of Siva  :-)

Sacred Sex: http://www.luckymojo.com/sacredsex.html

check out news:alt.lucky.w for discussions on folk magic and luck

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