Unmasking Goddess Interview

Susy, an evangelical Christian, has begun to post the multi-part interview of me at her blog, Unmasking the Goddess. Head on over and give it a read. So far I am pleased with the presentation and feel it reads really well - honestly portraying my story and my experiences.

I regret that we weren't able to get into more Goddess-y stuff, but I also understand the point of the interview was to get to the core of why I chose Goddess religion in the first place. Hopefully I have made my points as well as I can in a non-offensive manner to other Goddess worshippers. I tried to speak for myself only.

If anyone would like to get a diallogue started on the contents of the interview or any of my opinions I would welcome the opportunity. Please use the comments form below to speak your mind.

Unmasking Goddess and Me Part 1

I have been invited to have a conversation with Susy of Unmasking the Goddess about my personal "faith journey" and my experiences with the Goddess. The entire conversation should eventually be compiled and posted to her blog. Below is the first part of the dialogue - or what began as a dialogue. It has ended up more like an interview, but that format seems less confusing for readers to follow.

Susy: Thanks for inviting me to start. I guess I'd like to begin just knowing more about you and your "faith journey," as we call it in the church. Can you share your spiritual story? What is your background? Where and when did you start on your current spiritual path? What drew you to your current beliefs and practices? And where do you hope to go with it in the future?

Grian: Firstly, this is a great question and a great place to start - at what I guess would be considered the beginning.

I was raised by a single mother and for the first years of my life we lived with my grandfather. My spiritual story begins with him.

My grandfather was a devout Christian and every night as I lay in bed I heard him talking to God in the next room. He would literally kneel at his bedside and pray out loud in a dialogue with God. From this practice of my grandfather’s I learned about unabashed faith. He was never ashamed that the other people in our house could hear him praying, he only knew that it was important to connect with God in prayer. I consider this one of the most important spiritual lessons of my life.

My mother was not a church-goer. Though my grandmother had made sure I was baptized Methodist, my mother had always told me that we didn’t need to go to church to believe in God. I think she always felt there was a lot of hypocrisy going on within the walls of churches. She grew to believe this through personal experiences, but she has never really told me the details of those experiences. My mother would later realize that her beliefs were best described as Agnostic. I believe this is an accurate label since she always taught me that there was a God (something bigger than me that created the universe) but we were not a specific denomination in any way.

When I was a child I always had a strong belief in God. I prayed very often in my head throughout the day and before sleep as a regular practice. Though my faith was strong, I was also always afraid that I was doing something wrong that would get me sent to Hell. I was often terrified of the Devil and the whole idea of damnation.

As a teenager I began having recurring dreams about Jesus. They were good dreams and I would describe them as almost casual. Jesus and I would be walking down the streets of my small hometown and he would be dressed in jeans, a white t-shirt, and a pair of sandals. I still remember it very clearly. He would put his arm around my shoulders and say “Now, don’t tell anyone I’m Jesus. I’m here for you right now and I want to give you my full attention.” Then we would just talk about whatever I needed to talk about. Jesus would listen like a great friend and then walk me home.

I was 17 years old when the Goddess came into my life. I had always been intrigued by things of a spiritual or otherworldly nature and I believed there was so much more to know that my spiritual upbringing had not given me. So when a friend introduced me to the concept of Wicca, I began soaking up all the knowledge I could get my hands on. I didn’t consider myself Wiccan – and still don’t – but I wanted to learn all that I could about the ideas surrounding it.

At first, it was almost all about the idea of magic and the unknown. It was exciting and I suddenly felt like I was beginning to connect with something bigger – with the pieces I had always sensed were missing. Basically, I learned that I too could be a mystic; that I could connect with God on a personal level without the need for an intermediary such as a pastor or priest. I realize now that my grandfather and my mother were pivotal in helping me realize this.

When I was 19 I moved to Germany to live with my new husband who was in the military. Yes, I was married very young, but I believe this also helped me come to my spirituality more quickly than most. Instead of dating and being absorbed in the search for love throughout early adulthood, I was able to find comfort in my relationship so that my own interests could be explored.

My interest in Wicca had continued through this time, though I had become tired of the idea of spells and such. I felt it was just a little too silly for me. I can hear all the Wiccans being upset with me about that one, so I promise to make my position on that more clear at another time.

Anyway, I was searching for something more. I knew of the Goddess and had learned about her various aspects and faces through mythology, but I had yet to connect with her on that deeper spiritual level. Then one day, while walking in the woods behind our apartment building, I felt her there with me. As I bent down to admire the wild Lily of the Valley, I suddenly felt that I was not alone and never had been – that I was connected to all things and all things were one. Within nature I began to see the Goddess everywhere and in seeing her I began to truly see myself.

I hope I have answered your questions. I could continue on about why I choose Goddess religion and how I came to be who I am spiritually today for many more pages. But my story covers 13 years of education and discovery, so perhaps those things can be touched on in a later post.

God/dess: Genders

Yet more comments that I posted over at Unmasking the Goddess. These in response to this post right here. I just can't seem to help myself.

"I believe God got it right in Eden when he put a Woman and Man in charge, together. That, I believe, should be our goal, neither elevating nor denigrating one sex over the other."

And Goddess worshippers believe this as well. Separation is not an idea that is embraced. Instead, there is an idea of Oneness that we believe the Goddess embodies. She is both male and female.

The idea of engendering God is something people do to connect with something that is basically hard to comprehend. The concept of God is huge. The human brain is not even capable of grasping the idea of infinite space, let alone the vast concept of God.

I think everyone has pictured God with human qualities before. Though we may believe God is a being beyond gender - or a being that contains both sexes - we do not imagine God as a hermaphrodite or as an androgynous or asexual being.

The ideas behind masculine and feminine represent metaphors that people can relate to and connect with. And, in my opinion, as long as one is reaching to understand the true nature of divinity what should it matter what tools are used to relate to that deity? You see, I believe your God is the same being as my Goddess. We just invision them differently. I believe there is only one being seen by the people of the world in many different ways.

And these comments were in response to this post on feminism being a dirty word.

Given the supplied definition of feminism, shouldn't everyone be a feminist? It's a shame there even needs to be a word for this since it should simply be natural for women to be seen as equal to men.

In Goddess communities I have struggled with the idea of feminism. I have always felt that I didn't want something that seemed so wholly politically motivated to describe my spiritual beliefs. Instead, I believe the Goddess teaches us about Oneness that overcomes gender.

Earth as Goddess: Comments

Yes, I am back and I know it's been forever. I could go on and tell you the stories of my life over the past few months, but I suppose I would rather keep those details private. Let's just say my focus needed to be on my personal life and my family. I think a person should know when to move focus between aspects of their life, and the Goddess led me where I needed to be at that time. So... to jump right in I have some comments about a post I just read over at Unmasking the Goddess.

First go ahead and read the post entitled The Earth as Goddess. It's an older one from September, but I've been out of the loop for a while and I'm catching up. :)

My comments:

If I may be so bold, I would like to explain something. Most Pagans (capital P like Christians) believe that there is no separation between nature and the Goddess (capital G like God). Just as you may admire a beautiful sunset and see the glory of God, Pagans see the Goddess in all things - very especially nature. The personification of the earth or nature is simply a form of myth and metaphor and not to be taken literally. It would be silly to think that all Pagans believe the earth is genuinely a human woman with god-like powers named Gaia. Gaia is a Greek myth once used to explain creation and the workings of our planet. Gaia, in fact, was the Greek word for earth. So, lets bring this down to Gaia for goodness sake, and avoid sensationalizing a serious religious topic.

Sincere Blessings, Grian

Do you agree or disagree? Let's discuss and debate this topic and get some opinons flying about the internet.

Unmasking the Goddess Blog?

I found this blog the other day - "Unmasking the Goddess" - about a Christian woman (Susy Flory) who is set to, as the title suggests, "unmask" the Goddess. I am sure this means she plans to somehow disprove the existence of ancient Goddess societies and discredit the entire religion.

For some reason I'm a glutton for punishment because I am gradually reading every single one of Susy's posts. My idealist brain is already processing an elaborate plan to defend Mama from this very passive-aggressive attack and better the world at the same time.

Quick! Someone get the restraints. And bring some chocolate. And a bottle of Pinot Grigio. The big bottle. Oh, and maybe some caramel sundaes.

Oh, who am I kidding? I'll probably just end up bitching about my aggravation here. Who knows, maybe this woman's work might even spark a good topic for debate. Or just annoy the crap out of me.

*currently chanting "frankie says relax" as my personal mantra*

UPDATE: Read Susy's story The Goddess Unmasked to get her blog contents in a nut shell - a large, rotten nut shell full of manure. Sorry... letting my annoyance show again. Back to my mantra.Frankie says relax...