Where’d She Start?

 

October 9, 2021

There is a difference of opinion between the academic and the popular conceptions of the term Mother Goddess. The popular view—mainly driven by the Goddess Movement—holds that primitive societies were initially matriarchal, worshipping a sovereign, nurturing, motherly Earth goddess. This perspective is rooted in nineteenth-century ideas of unilineal evolution developed by Johann Jakob Bachofen.

According to the academic view, however, both Bachofen’s theories and modern goddess-centered narratives are more reflective of contemporary worldviews projected onto ancient myths, rather than true attempts to understand the mentality of those times. Often, these projections are accompanied by a longing for a lost civilization from a bygone era—one imagined as just, peaceful, and wise. However, it is highly unlikely that such a civilization ever existed.

For a time, some feminist authors claimed that these peaceful, matriarchal agrarian societies were exterminated or subjugated by nomadic, patriarchal warrior tribes. A major contribution to this narrative came from archaeologist Marija Gimbutas. Yet, even within feminist archaeology, her vision has become increasingly controversial.

Since the 1960s, especially within popular culture, the supposed worship of a mother goddess has been tied to the social position of women in prehistoric societies. This connection turned the debate into a political one. According to the Goddess Movement, contemporary male-dominated society should return to the egalitarian matriarchy of earlier times—a claim supposedly supported by numerous figurines discovered at archaeological sites.

However, in academic circles, this idea of a prehistoric matriarchy is viewed with skepticism. Firstly, the worship of a mother goddess does not necessarily imply that women ruled society. Secondly, the figurines may simply represent ordinary women or goddesses, and it remains unclear whether a singular “mother goddess” ever truly existed.

List of Mother Goddesses

Asherah	Atabey
Cybele	Doumu
Gaia	Guanyin
Heavenly Mother (Mormonism)	Hecate
Hou Tu	Izanami
Jagdamba	Maia
Mahte	Mat Zemlya
Nammu	Pachamama
Prajnaparamita
Queen Mother of the West	Queen of Heaven (antiquity)

The female energy is crucial to the balance and awareness of the collective, as well as to the growth and transcendence of the individual. Recovering the sacred feminine is essential for both women and men. Its absence is a serious issue for men, as the repression of feminine aspects reduces emotional depth and can lead to discontent, loneliness, and a sense of meaninglessness.

For women, the loss of connection with the feminine also poses deep challenges, affecting their natural way of being and their search for identity.

1. The idea of the Mother Goddess—also known as the Great Mother or Great Goddess—has long captured the imaginations of modern scholars across various fields. The image familiar to us today originated in the writings of Johann Jakob Bachofen. In 1861, Bachofen published Das Mutterrecht, in which he theorized that human society evolved from hetaerism (characterized by unrestricted sexual relations), to matriarchy (where women ruled society), and finally to patriarchy, considered the most advanced stage.

Bachofen believed that religious practice followed a similar progression—from belief in a mother goddess to the more developed belief in a father god. He associated belief in a maternal deity with an early, primitive stage of human development, writing: “Wherever we encounter matriarchy, it is bound up with the mystery of the chthonian religion, whether it invokes Demeter or is embodied by an equivalent goddess” (Bachofen, 88). He viewed matriarchal social structures as derived from maternal mystery religions (88–9).

As we see with Bachofen, modern theories of the Mother Goddess have been deeply shaped by cultural assumptions about gender. Lynn Roller notes that “many discussions of the Mother Goddess rely on modern projections of what she ought to be, rather than on ancient evidence defining what she was” (Roller, 9).

William Ramsay, a late nineteenth-century archaeologist and the first to demonstrate that the principal deity of Phrygia was a mother goddess, also drew heavily on Bachofen’s ideas (Roller, 12). Ramsay described matriarchal pre-Phrygian society using stereotypically feminine characteristics—“receptive and passive, not self-assertive and active” (12)—which he believed explained why it was conquered by masculine, warlike Phrygians and their male gods.

These portrayals are inseparable from a romantic glorification of “the female element in human life” (12), but they closely resemble modern stereotypes rather than authentic cultural attributes of ancient societies. Thus, Bachofen’s call to overcome contemporary bias in order to understand ancient societies takes on an ironic twist: his own theories—and those of Ramsay and others—are shaped by the very cultural prejudices he warned against.

Many of these ideas about the Mother Goddess derive from the Judeo-Christian image of the loving, nurturing mother—submissive to her husband and closely bonded with her children (Roller, 9). — Smith (2007)

2. At one time, scholars commonly labeled all female figurines found at archaeological sites as representations of a "Mother Goddess." This practice was based partly on the widespread belief that fertility goddess worship was central to agricultural societies around the world. It was also influenced by interpretations shaped by later-day Hinduism, in which goddess worship plays an important role.

However, scholars now recognize the stylistic and technical differences among assemblages of female figurines. They also acknowledge that not all ancient goddesses were associated with maternity, nor did they necessarily belong to a unified goddess cult.

In light of these insights, the term Mother Goddess is increasingly being replaced with the more neutral and descriptive phrase: female figurines with likely cultic significance. This change does not deny that some figurines may have had religious or votive purposes. It remains possible that certain figures were worshipped or used as offerings in domestic rituals. But not all female figurines necessarily served such functions. Their meaning and use must be inferred not just from their form, but also from the archaeological context in which they were found. — Singh (2008), p. 130