The Goddess Myth: Tracing the history of a feminist fabrication

Philip G. Davis

Goddess spirituality has made a remarkable entry into the religious and cultural life of the English-speaking world. At first encounter, its basic message seems preposterous: thousands of years ago, human beings lived in a female-centred utopia which ought to be taken as our guide today into a glorious New Age tomorrow. Yet this story, unheard until just a few decades ago, has rapidly achieved the sort of respectable status and social influence which most new religious movements never so much as contemplate.

The Story of the Goddess

The story of the Goddess has been told so often in recent times that it now often passes without comment. First surfacing amongst Gerald Gardner's Wiccans in the 1950s, it was later espoused by university professors, artists, writers, and even clergy who have never been within sight of a coven. But is the story true?

Philip G Davis is Professor arid Chairman of Religious Studies at the University of Prince Edward Island, Canada. He is the author of Goddess Unmasked: the Rise of Neopagan Feminist Spirituality.

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