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September 23, 2001 |
Walker's Restoring the Goddessreviewed by Sue Sefscik |
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"Women can do much when they become determined to act." This is just one of the many wonderful statements that can be found in Barbara G. Walker's newest book, Restoring the Goddess. I especially found amusing the sub-title: "Equal Rites for Modern Women." I love the play on words! For those who do not recognize her name, Ms. Walker is a highly respected and successful author of many Goddess-related books, including The Woman's Dictionary of Symbols and Sacred Objects as well as The Skeptical Feminist. Part of the attraction of Goddess religion for me is its inherent link with feminism as well as with ecology and animal rights. Walker defines the word "thealogy" to mean "knowledge of Goddess"; she states that this encompasses "a woman's knowledge of self, knowledge of nature, knowledge of the life force in all things..." This thealogy forms the basis of her book; it is an alternative to the traditional patriarchal stories of christianity. Walker explains that Goddess "incorporates the scientific understanding of the universe, recognizes the purely symbolic nature of religious concepts, and celebrates the innate and singular power of the female to create and bear life." Thealogy honors the reverence of giving life, that found in Everywoman, Goddess. (For the sake of continuity, I will capitalize "Goddess" in this review, although many women have found that annoying. I will also capitalize "God"; equal rites after all! What is extremely fascinating to me, even as I write this review, is my spell-checker insists that I capitalize "christian." When I do not, it underlines the word in red, to remind me it "must" be a capital. Indeed, our christian ways have entered the realm of the high tech age and invaded my own feminist computer!) Walker critiques the Judeo-Christian myths. Beginning with "human" pre-history, Walker traces widespread worship of the Mother and continues with the early church's abolishing and erasing any references thereto. Goddess celebrates women's unique power to give life, which is similar to Mother Earth's fertility. Throughout the book, Walker shows the mostly christian-based readers how Goddess religion is much, much older than christianity. She hypothesizes that the creation story in Genesis is not an original biblical "God" molding figures out of clay, but "borrowed" from the first birth-giver, being our Great Mother, who gave birth to the world. Many ancient peoples considered themselves true brothers and sisters to the animals, plants and each other due to their connected-ness with creation. Walker states: "The Mother concept is more unifying than that of the Father." Indeed, in many pre-historic (meaning "pre writing") cultures, mothers were the force that held the family unit together. Archeologists have found many Goddess/fertility statutes in ancient sites. Walker writes that if Goddess beliefs were to become more widely held, a link with Mother Nature would bring us all closer to the Earth itself, closer to environmental causes, preservation of our Mother Earth. If the Mother were brought back to the Universal Consciousness, humans would realize the value of saving each and every endangered mammal, fish, bird, tree, flower. Goddess states that we are all One, we are inextricably linked. Whatever action one takes, it effects another. "We are family." Feminism is a kernel of women re-seizing the power that was taken away from them with the advent of christianity. From that seed, women can take back the power that man usurped from them, which made them second class citizens. Through the years of "civilized" (read "written") history, women have been subrogated through many means; for example, the custom of women taking the husband's family name when getting married, thereby relinquishing one of her first "rights," her own birth name! Walker states that Goddess images have produced more tolerant, peaceful, kind and caring societies than the God image. How many wars have been fought in "God's name?" Holy wars, the Crusades, even World Wars have been fought to save people from "the devil" and to bring them to "God" (whoever "he" may be!) The men decide to send women's children out to war; men continue to manipulate women. Men insist on controlling women's bodies; look at the abortion protestors. Many are men; what do THEY know about having a baby? These are the same men who want to cut back on welfare; yes, have that baby, but the god-society will not provide for it. Many of these same people support the death penalty, a woman's child gone wrong. In Chapter 9, Walker explains in great detail about the christian rituals and how christianity usurped many more ancient and therefore, "pagan" traditions. The most important christian holiday, Christmas, was not really recognized by the organized christian church until at least the seventh century. There was no tradition of Jesus' birth in the Holy Land. In Rome, the midwinter solstice was designated the Birthday of the Unconquered Sun (son). The festival originally had been instituted in honor of Baal or Adomis. The original church fathers were strongly opposed to this holiday; however, the general population thoroughly enjoyed the holiday during the gloomy winter months and eventually, organized christianity was forced to accept it. In recent years, the commercialization of Christmas has helped it to become a very popular institution in christianity. The recognition of Mary, the MOTHER of Jesus, also incorporated a great many Goddess-related traditions, which the early christian church desperately needed in order to bring more people into its fold. Goddess religion accepts women's bodies for what they are. Goddess celebrates each individual woman and her uniqueness. Goddess can be found in each of us; we should be proud of being able to give life. The animal kingdom recognizes this instinctively; males do not help with the upbringing of most creatures; animals recognize the female's unique role. Goddess celebrates women's sexuality; until society tells us to stop being ashamed of our bodies, our sexuality, our Goddess-given power, we will not have equal rights. Even as I read Walker's book, I viewed many advertisements on television, very sexist, making fun of women, being stupid and second class citizens. It is deeply ingrained in our society and lives. It is so much easier to "go with the flow" than to make waves. Women must work together towards equal pay, equal access to birth control, equal rights/rites of all kinds. Walker feels that Goddess religions never oppressed men the way patriarchal religions have oppressed women. It is necessary for "God" to have power over; doesn't matter over what, who, when. . . just POWER. Goddess lives in harmony with all living creatures; we do not have dominion over other life forms. I recall as a young girl, I was forced to attend church. I never understood WHY I had to bow down to a god that held nothing for me. He wouldn't even let me attend to him; I couldn't approach the altar. I had to wear a hat to show respect, while the men did not. Why was I so much inferior to men? I could give life; men can only take it violently away. Why were there no women priests? And in my strict Russian Orthodox church, the women could not even VOTE in the supposedly "democratic" meetings that were held once a year. I recall as a teenager a great discussion, some of it in Russian, about widows. It was pointed out they, at least, should vote since they paid monetary dues on their own. And, besides, they had been married to a god-fearing man. Single women did not get to vote; married women were represented by their husbands, and HE got to vote! Western/Christian society has many double standards; when a man is "ambitious", a woman is "pushy." When a man is "lusty", a woman is "loose." A man is a "Don Juan," and a woman is a "whore." Do you see the negative connotations in the descriptions for women? I only have one complaint in an otherwise well-written and well-researched book. Walker uses excerpts from other women, grassroots comments on the topic of each of her chapters. The personalization is wonderful; she shows that Everywoman has thought about what Walker proposes in her chapters. For example, in the chapter discussing organizing Goddess religions, Everywoman discusses the pros and cons. The only problem is that Walker does not identify these women. I would like to know who made which comments; first name only would be fine; or Goddess-taken names. But because no identification is given, it's difficult to tell if three women made these comments or 300. "Women can do much when they become determined to act." With the kernel of feminism started, I am optimistic than we can move ahead and catch up. I would hope that this book makes changes, no matter how small. We must start somewhere and move onward. Goddess can empower us as a group; we can work together to make changes. But it's going to be difficult; men do not want to give up their power; they've had it for too long; many feel it is a "god given right." Slowly, slowly, those changes MUST take place if we are to have an Earth to give to our children's children's children.
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