The Rise of the Fourfold Goddess Construct among Western Goddess Women and Feminist Witches
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/pome.37570Keywords:
Paganism, Goddess Feminism, Fourfold GoddessAbstract
Most contemporary writers and groups who practice forms Goddess Spirituality and Wiccan-based Paganism relate to the Divine Feminine in the form of a Threefold Goddess (Maiden, Mother, Crone)—a concept popularized during the mid-twentieth century by writers such as Robert Graves (1895–1985). This article examines the recent rise of a Fourfold Goddess concept among certain Goddess women and proponents of feminist Witchcraft. It surveys the proliferation of this view, with an emphasis on its embryonic emergence among the 1970s-1980s British matriarchal and Pagan milieus, and discusses the ways in which the concept is used by various groups and individuals (each with their own unique construct of the four aspects of the Goddess) in challenging patriarchy in general, and the perceived reduction of the Goddess (and woman) by the male gaze in particular.
References
Ardinger, Barbara. Practicing the Presence of the Goddess: Everyday Rituals to Transform Your World. Novato, Calif.: New World library, 2000.
Ardinger, Barbara. "We Need to Claim the Queen." Sage Woman 74 (2008): 6-9.
Ardinger, Barbara. A Woman's Book of Rituals & Celebrations. San Rafael, Calif.: New World Library, 1992 [1990].
Barrett, Ruth. Women's Rites, Women's Mysteries: Intuitive Ritual Creation. Woodbury, Minn.: Llewellyn, 2007 [2004].
Budapest, Z. The Feminist Book of Lights & Shadows. Los Angeles: Luna Publications, 1976.
Budapest, Z. The Holy Book of Women's Mysteries, Part 1. Los Angeles: Susan B. Anthony Coven No. 1, 1979.
Budapest, Z. The Holy Book of Women's Mysteries. Oakland: Wingbow Press, 1989 [1980].
Clifton, Chas S. Her Hidden Children: The Rise of Wicca and Paganism in America. Lanham, Md.: AltaMira, 2006.
Coleman, Kristy S. Re-riting Woman: Dianic Wicca and the Feminine Divine. Lanham, Md.: AltaMira Press, 2009.
Davis, Elizabeth, and Carol Leonard. The Women's Wheel of Life: Thirteen Archetypes of Woman at Her Fullest Power. New York: Viking Arkana, 1996.
Eller, Cynthia. Living in the Lap of the Goddess: The Feminist Spirituality Movement in America. Boston: Beacon Press, 1993.
Feraro, Shai. "'God Giving Birth'-Connecting British Wicca with Radical Feminism and Goddess Spirituality during the 1970s-1980s: A Case Study of Monica Sjöö." The Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies 15, nos. 1-2 (2013): 31-60. https://doi.org/10.1558/pome.v15i1-2.31.
Feraro, Shai. "The Politics of the Goddess: Radical/Cultural Feminist Influences of Starhawk's Feminist Witchcraft." In Female Leaders in New Religious Movements, edited by Inga Bårdsen Tøllefsen and Christian Giudice, 229-48. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-61527-1_12.
Freer Jean. "The Dianic Craft." The Pipes of PAN 26 (Spring 1987): 9-11.
Freer, Jean. "Divergent Paths: Recognising Patriarchal Magic, Jean's Reply to Beth." Arachne 5 (1986): 28-34.
Freer, Jean. "How to Recognise Patriarchal Magic." Arachne 2 (1985): 10-14.
Green, Marian. A Witch Alone: Thirteen Moons to Master Natural Magic. London: Aquarian Press, 1991.
Griffin, Wendy. "Webs of Women: Feminist Spiritualities." In Witchcraft and Magic: Contemporary North America, edited by Helen A. Berger, 55-83. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2005. https://doi.org/10.9783/9780812201253.55.
Henes, Donna. The Queen of Myself: Stepping into Sovereignty in Middlelife. Brooklyn: Monarch Press, 2005.
Hutton, Ronald. The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999.
Is-Foel, Cath. "Diverging from Patriarchy: A Letter in Support of Jean Freer." Arachne 6 (1987): 31-32.
Jade. To Know: A Guide to women's Magic and Spirituality. Oak Park, Ill.: Delphi Press, 1991.
King, Ursula. Women and Spirituality: Voices of Protest and Promise. Houndmills: Macmillan, 1989.
Komatsu, Kayoko. "An Empirical Study of Matriarchy Groups in Contemporary Britain and their Relationship to New Religious Movements." MA thesis, University of Leeds, 1986.
Melton, J. Gordon, and Isotta Poggi. Magic, Witchcraft, and Paganism in America: A Bibliography. New York: Garland Publishing, 1992.
Neilson, Beth L. "A Response to 'How to Recognise Patriarchal Magic.'" Arachne 3 (1985): 25-28.
Paxson, Diana L. "Marion Zimmer Bradley and The Mists of 'Avalon.'" Arthuriana 9, no. 1 (1999): 110-26. https://doi.org/10.1353/art.1999.0030.
Pike, Sarah M. Earthly Bodies, Magical Selves: Contemporary Pagans and the Search for Community. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001. https://www.degruyter.com/california/view/title/555120.
Pizza, Murphy. Paganistan: Contemporary Pagan Community in Minnesota's Twin Cities. Farnham: Ashgate, 2014.
Rountree, Kathryn. Embracing the Witch and the Goddess: Feminist Ritual-Makers in New Zealand. London: Routledge, 2004. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203633885.
Roy, Margaret. "Power of the Dark Goddess." In Politics of Matriarchy, edited by Matriarchy Study Group, 32--33. London: Matriarchy Study Group, 1979. https://doi.org/10.2307/1395001.
Sadovsky, Sonja. The Priestess and the Pen: Marion Zimmer Bradley, Dion Fortune & Diana Paxson's Influence on Modern Paganism. Woodbury, Minn.: Llewellyn, 2014.
Salomonsen, Jone. Enchanted Feminism: The Reclaiming Witches of San Francisco. London: Routledge, 2002.
Starhawk, The Spiral Dance. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1979. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203160282.
