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Theagony - An Essay on the Goddess
When I speak of The Goddess without using a name, I speak of She the Dust of Whose Feet Are the Hosts of Heaven, Mater Universalis, if you like. One for whom the ancients had no name. I do not speak of a generic Goddess of whom Athene, Yemaya, Brighid, and Kali are all aspects. Please… I would neither insult Them nor my own intelligence by buying into something as post-modern and monotheistic as that. For me, The Goddess is She Who is the Source of All, and the Big Bang was Her giving birth to the entire universe. We are all Her children. Stars, galaxies, flowers, humans, and all the deities are Her children. She began All, and Athene and Kali and Yemaya, etc, are as much Her daughters as I am. They are Goddesses in Their own rights, numinous and powerful. They are all individuals with Their own influences and loyalties and interests, and They are decidedly not the same being.
I say that the ancients had no name for Her because the stars are usually described by the ancients as being some mark of the Gods’ favor for this or that, or they are a pathway or some other entity under the control of the Gods. The ancients, without the benefit of telescopes and other modern astronomical equipment could not see the full grandeur and majesty of Her and hence had no clue of Her existence. The closest anyone comes are the Egyptians and the goddess Nut who is the sky arching over the Earth. But She is more than just our little piece of the sky; She is galaxies billions of light years away as much as She is the stardust in our own neighborhood of the solar system. So there is no ancient name to attach to Her, thus I am stuck with simply calling Her “The Goddess”. She is infinite, but not unknowable, indeed, She loves to constantly challenge us by revealing Herself to us and making us think. She loves all Her children impartially and gives us all the free will to make our way and discover and create and love without let or hindrance. Does She mourn when one of Her children passes? Yes but with a deep love that knows that She cannot constantly be protecting any child lest She hold all of them back. She is not cold, nor distant nor aloof, rather She is compassionate and loving by letting each child grow in the direction it must and showing no favorites. Thus we are each totally responsible for our own actions. She will not punish us for screwing up. Her other children might if we get on their nerves and do something stupid, just like all siblings do. I don’t think many will like me saying that, but it seems like many people do not like the idea of having to be so totally responsible for their own choices. They cannot grasp the nettle and take their share of responsibility for a divine birthright that gives them that kind of freedom and the responsibility that goes with it. I can and I will. And when that day comes when I have a better name for Her than simply The Goddess (for I don’t like Mater Universalis as anything more than a descriptor) I will lovingly look into the infinitude of the sky and call out to Her as Her child. I look forward to that day.
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