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Pagan Earth Worship Suppresses the Masculine
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by Mary Jo Anderson

Frenzied male worshippers of Dionysus, adorned as women, tortured and cannibalized a Roman general in the second century A.D. The ritual celebrations in honor of the ancient goddess, Artemis, featured both actual and symbolic castrations of male worshippers. Yet neo-pagan apologists often attempt to make a case for a gentle, feminine, nature-centered religion as opposed to the “violent” patriarchal domination of the Judeo–Christian tradition.

The overwhelming spirituality of neo-paganism is feminine. The rise of wicca, witches, priestesses and self proclaimed sorceresses underscore the growing female/goddess worship that is understood as earth-centered. It is perhaps no coincidence that the feminist movement and the rise of an earth-centered neo-paganism are parallel movements, each drawing strength from the other. A review of more than a hundred volumes on paganism or feminism indicates that the correlation is systemic rather than sporadic. Feminists’ rage against “androcentric” deities, hence the prevalence in feminist literature of goddess or earth worship.

The feminist political revolt against “patriarchy” has brought cultural, legal, educational and religious changes. The same rebellious spirit drives the “re-imaging” of the Judeo-Christian worldview. The new spirituality is not simply an elevation of goddesses and witches, but a casting down of the male. Lesbians in particular foster “mainstream” goddess worship in neo-pagan gatherings. The deification of the feminine and the radical rejection of the Father image as God is a predictable feature of lesbianism.

Bookstore shelves boast scores of titles that attempt to feminize God. Samples include, Divine Feminine: The Biblical Imagery of God As Female, Feminist Spirituality and the Feminine Divine, Womanspirit Rising: A Feminist Reader in Religion, and Holy Book of Women's Mysteries. The rituals of goddess worship are replete with feminine fertility imagery and circles, the symbol of the female.

Political correctness adds to the assault on the male. A typical cultural re-structuring includes the demand that text books (even for grade schools) be amended to substitute gender neutral terms for the masculine pronouns and words that have “man” as the signifier of the species, as in human or chairman.

The fiction is that a feminine worldview—one where gender is neutral and spirituality is earth (goddess) based-- is a peaceful return to Eden before the Fall. From the dawn of time, through the glory of Christendom and the post -Christian technological age, we have arrived now at a neo- pagan moment where once again we fall to the serpent's promise—“Ye shall be as gods!”

It is not Eden on the horizon but virulent anti-Christian, anti –male paganism that threatens to submerge our society in legal barbarism. A nation’s laws mirror the worldview of its people. The Judeo-Christian worldview points mankind toward his higher nature, beyond this world to a communion with the Eternal Father. Paganism, conversely, fears the all-powerful Father/Creator, and so it elevates the self as god. Essentially, paganism is an infantile narcissism where each person is subject only to his or her own inner god/goddess. The narcissist worships instincts—the instinct for pleasure, for power. Thus, paganism always includes some form of debauchery and violence.

A brief reflection finds a parallel in the rise of homosexuality and the neo-pagan feminism that characterizes this odd pocket in human history. [[ The rejection of the father is an identification with the Mother. Male homosexuals often are the victims of faulty gender identity. They are unable to identify with a male role model (father) at a critical juncture in early childhood: when there is no readily discernible, reliable and approachable male, the child fears separation from the mother (typically at age two) and identifies instead with Mother. ]]

The earth mother, (Gaia, goddess) always associated with matter, is presented in the literature as non-dogmatic, a flowing spirituality that is “warm and enveloping;” an acceptance of the “natural child” who roams the earth with abandon—no rules, no restraints. The child remains within Gaia-- her womb, the earth. All is one, one is all. Here the lines of gender are blurred. There is no separation of mankind from earth (child from mother) a perfect pantheistic wholeness where the distant and powerful Father in Heaven is not acknowledged. Here the feminine traits of intuition, emotion and feeling are never balanced with the masculine traits of reason and rule, dogma and discipline. Pagan Earth Mother does not encourage the child to mature, instead she shields the child from the authoritarian Father (God/ Spirit) and indulges her “natural child” who is free to seek gratification of every desire. An evil “tolerance” of debased behavior is redefined as the virtue of tolerance. The resulting infantilism degenerates into violence as easily and quickly as toddlers in the midst of tantrums or adolescent bullies on a playground –a Lord of the Flies scenario. Earth Mother/ Goddess stunts her children in order to keep them near; in effect, she buys their allegiance with the promise of unfettered libidinous self-worship.

God the Father, however, calls His children beyond infantile indulgences on this passing earth, to a mature and disciplined focus on eternity. The work of spiritual maturation calls for a separation from all that is not worthy of eternity—this might be seen as a form of spiritual separation anxiety, leaving behind childhood (earthly life) and acquiring the habits of adulthood (eternity).

Mary Jo Anderson is a contributing reporter to WorldNetDaily and a contributing editor to many Catholic publications, including Crisis magazine. She is a regular guest and contributing writer to Living His Life Abundantly® International, Inc.

© MJ Anderson