Great Goddess is the concept of an almighty goddess or mother goddess, or a matriarchal religion. Apart from various specific figures called this from various cultures, the Great Goddess hypothesis, is a postulated fertility goddess supposed to have been worshipped in the Neolithic era across most of Eurasia at least. Scholarly belief in this hypothesis has reduced in recent decades,[1] though theological belief in a Great Goddess is common in the Goddess movement.

Specific examples include:

  • Great Goddess, also known as the Triple Goddess or Diana, an important feminine deity of the Neopagan religion of Wicca
  • Great Goddess, referring to the ancient Anatolian goddess Cybele; also associated with Rhea (mother of the gods) and Gaia (mother of the Titans)
  • Great Goddess, anglicized form of the Roman Magna Dea
  • Great Goddess, anglicized form of the Sanskrit Mahadevi, the Shakti sum of all goddesses
  • Magu (deity), a deity in Chinese and Korean myth
  • Great Goddess of Teotihuacan, an ancient Mesoamerican deity


See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ Hutton 2022, chapter 2

References

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  • Hutton, Ronald (2022). Queens of the Wild: Pagan Goddesses in Christian Europe: An Investigation. Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300261011.