What If God is a Woman?

By: Michelle Shafer
Submitted: 06/30/2008

My Dear Sisters, I have come to inspire you with my words. Inflame your hearts with images of empowerment. I only hope I am worthy to be of service to your souls. If you've heard this story before, then bring it to another sister for me, and I thank you with all my heart. If these thoughts are new to you, then allow yourself to open your mind and heart to a new way way of being.

When I was just a girl, the woman scholars whispered me that some 25,000 years ago, God was worshipped as female. Before the appearance of male gods and the first vestiges of war, only 6000 years ago, there was the Goddess.

Through the disciplines of Art, Archeology and Anthropology, there is evidence of the beginnings of mathematics as women kept track of their menstrual cycles by carving the first numerics into rock. We created agriculture and language to communicate with and feed our children. We created textiles and weaving to keep our babies warm. And, most importantly, in those 25,000 pre-historic years, there was no war, which designates that we are, in fact, an inherently peaceful species.

How do they know, I wondered? These women scholars, the brilliant feminist minds that spanned four decades of my life with rich studies in women's spirituality. The writings of Mary Daly shocked me as I struggled through the pages of historic female genocide. Merlin Stone's research on the history of goddess-worship and the concept of a female-centered community left me with my mouth hanging open wide and hungry for more evidence. Norma Goodrich's accounts of the world-wide presence of goddess worship in every culture convinced me that my own Catholic upbringing was nothing more than the goddess hidden beneath the skirts of Mary. Excavations, cave drawings, Sanskrit tablets, stone carvings, altars with wheat and grain. Whole civilizations where women ruled. It was real!

My mind was changed forever.

She is full, pregnant, multi-breasted, and her carved countenance is excavated from the earth of every continent. Her ancient stone altars are found in painted caves, scattered with grain. She has atleast a thousand names; Astarte, Demeter, Isis, Persephone, Athena, Anu, Shakti, Aphrodite, Artemis, Asherah, Brigit, Circe, Cybele, Hecate, Gaia, Diana, Dhurga, Ereshkigal, Hera, Habondia, Inanna, Ishtar, Izanami, Kali, Kore, Persephone, Kwan-Yin, Lakshmi, Mahamaya, Macha, Mahadevi, Mary, Miru, Morganna, Mot, Nut, Neith, Nin-Ti, no-Uzume, Pele, Persephone, Sanjana, Shekhina, Siduri, Skookums, Walutahanga, Wedjat, Grandmother Spiderwoman, Yemonja, Zarya, Tara, Tonantzin, and YOU!, to name a few.

Yes, it's hard to believe, isn't it. If you've never read words like these before. If you were raised to believe that god is male, and you are female, then you can never, ever be god, or be male or be as good as god - you will always be second best. You will always walk behind. You will always listen, and never speak. You will always follow, and never lead. Your eyes will always be cast downward in subservience, because god is male and you are not, and maybe even your mother told you so.

Light some white candles, throw a little white sage and althea leaves into the incense burner, inhale deeply, and just for a moment, believe that god is female, just like you. She has breasts and a womb, just like you. She bleeds, just like you do, and she has hormonal swings and private summers, just like you do. Imagine her face looking into yours. What does she look like to your eyes? What does her voice sound like to your ears? What does her touch feel like when she takes your hand in hers?

Imagine that you are a little girl again, and she is holding you on her lap, teaching you how powerful and beautiful you are, patting your hair and rocking you in her warm loving arms, and whispering all the gifts and talents she has blessed you with into your little ears. Imagine you are making plans for your life with her, and she is showing you in her eyes what you can become. Let it change you from the inside out, and imagine her often, for you are Goddess!

We are virgins, mothers, and crones. We are daughters of the universe. We created energy. We spin, we weave, we love and bring light and life. We dance, sing and celebrate ourselves as the creatrixes of a better world.

And how will we create this world? We will imagine exactly what we want: A world filled with peace, where everyone has enough, and love and unity permeates every molecule of existence.

We will work our magic, and charge that thought with our emotions and desire and birth it into reality.

We will weave it into being, together, as women of old, as Goddess... and this time, this time - we will keep it!

May the Goddess bless you and keep you safe in her arms always.

with love and light,
Michelle