Do Pagans worship the Goddess?

[Honza]

A simple and straightforward question. I know very little about Paganism. Do they worship the Goddess, and if so what *type* of Goddess?

[norseman]

"Pagan" is a catch-all word for a wide variety of beliefs, life-styles, etc. So, likewise, a wide variety of deities.
Personally, I look towards Mother Earth, Gaia, the Great Mother, etc - all synonyms for [possibly] the most ancient deity of all. A fertility deity whose figurines can be found, wide-spread, all over Europe and beyond and dating from the last Ice-Age. The same votive figures have also been dredged from the bottom of the North Sea which flooded about 6000 BC.

Wicca [which is pagan] looks towards either the Triple Goddess [a moon goddess modelling the three phases of the moon] or The Lord and The Lady [the male and female spirits of Nature].
The Lord is shown as a horned being, found in cave paintings dating back to the Neolithic.

I dare say others will add to your list, Honza.

[Honza]

Thanks Norse.

[WhiteWarrior]

Originally Posted by norseman

"Pagan" is a catch-all word for a wide variety of beliefs, life-styles, etc. So, likewise, a wide variety of deities.
Personally, I look towards Mother Earth, Gaia, the Great Mother, etc - all synonyms for [possibly] the most ancient deity of all. A fertility deity whose figurines can be found, wide-spread, all over Europe and beyond and dating from the last Ice-Age. The same votive figures have also been dredged from the bottom of the North Sea which flooded about 6000 BC.

Wicca [which is pagan] looks towards either the Triple Goddess [a moon goddess modelling the three phases of the moon] or The Lord and The Lady [the male and female spirits of Nature].
The Lord is shown as a horned being, found in cave paintings dating back to the Neolithic.

I dare say others will add to your list, Honza.

Norseman, I would like to hear more about Mother Earth as you know her. Perhaps in a dedicated thread? I work for her but it seems I know little about her full nature.

"The" Goddess? As in some unified, archetypal goddess? No, Neopagans do not necessarily worship "The" Goddess. I certainly don't. I can't say I worship any goddesses. Or gods. I don't make a habit of forcing sex-assignment when something doesn't have genitals, and nothing that I put as a focus of worship has genitals. I'll confess it bothers me how many Neopagans do slap sex or gender onto everything. It's an anthropocentric way of understanding deities and is not necessary in order to work with them and can even cause misunderstandings about nature and the universe. Focusing on the sex of things when dealing with mammals makes lots of sense, but when you get much outside the animal kingdom, the whole male-female thing falls apart very quickly.

[Honza]

Femininity and Masculinity go beyond sex in my opinion. They are qualities and forces of nature. A being can be feminine or masculine whether they have genitals or not.

Originally Posted by Honza

A simple and straightforward question. I know very little about Paganism. Do they worship the Goddess, and if so what *type* of Goddess?

Neo-paganism is a term to describe various forms of modern religions that are either reconstructed from, or inspired by pre-Christian religious customs and attitudes. As such, it's not a monolith of any kind and has vastly different philosophies, worldviews and customs falling under it's usage.

So, you'll have neo-pagans who are monotheistic, polytheistic, henotheistic, pantheistic, panentheistic, atheistic and nearly anything else.

The term "The Goddess" is rather popular with many neo-Wiccans and generic neo-pagans and is based upon the idea of a goddess who is singular, in the vain of a monotheistic deity, and is supreme, or rules alongside a male counterpart. The concept is popular in some strands of Wicca because at the time of it's formation, there were hypotheses about matriarchal pagan societies that were displaced by Christianity. The idea is almost universally rejected.

To reiterate, there is so real paganism, only paganisms. Some worship many goddesses and gods, others a supreme goddess, etc.

I, personally, worship quite a few goddesses and gods.

Originally Posted by Honza

Femininity and Masculinity go beyond sex in my opinion. They are qualities and forces of nature. A being can be feminine or masculine whether they have genitals or not.

Oh, definitely! Gender has little to do with sex because it's a social construct, not biological reality. I choose not to work with the construct, however, because it strikes me as inherently sexist. >_<; But this is neither here nor there, I suppose.

[Honza]

Originally Posted by Animus27

Neo-paganism is a term to describe various forms of modern religions that are either reconstructed from, or inspired by pre-Christian religious customs and attitudes. As such, it's not a monolith of any kind and has vastly different philosophies, worldviews and customs falling under it's usage.

So, you'll have neo-pagans who are monotheistic, polytheistic, henotheistic, pantheistic, panentheistic, atheistic and nearly anything else.

The term "The Goddess" is rather popular with many neo-Wiccans and generic neo-pagans and is based upon the idea of a goddess who is singular, in the vain of a monotheistic deity, and is supreme, or rules alongside a male counterpart. The concept is popular in some strands of Wicca because at the time of it's formation, there were hypotheses about matriarchal pagan societies that were displaced by Christianity. The idea is almost universally rejected.

To reiterate, there is so real paganism, only paganisms. Some worship many goddesses and gods, others a supreme goddess, etc.

I, personally, worship quite a few goddesses and gods.

Very helpful answer, thanks Animus.

Originally Posted by Quintessence

"The" Goddess? As in some unified, archetypal goddess? No, Neopagans do not necessarily worship "The" Goddess. I certainly don't. I can't say I worship any goddesses. Or gods. I don't make a habit of forcing sex-assignment when something doesn't have genitals, and nothing that I put as a focus of worship has genitals. I'll confess it bothers me how many Neopagans do slap sex or gender onto everything. It's an anthropocentric way of understanding deities and is not necessary in order to work with them and can even cause misunderstandings about nature and the universe. Focusing on the sex of things when dealing with mammals makes lots of sense, but when you get much outside the animal kingdom, the whole male-female thing falls apart very quickly.

Excellent post Quintessence.

I can think in male and female terms as far as deitites or spirits, but do not think of them as human like and all powerful over everything else. Someone told me once that spirituality took a turn for the worst when humans began to re-make such into their own image and then gave these human like deities dominion over all.