İnanç Dosyası 4 | Cult Of The Mother Goddess

Cult Of The Mother Goddess: There is no culture which does not use the symbol of motherhood among the images illustrating its deities. It represents fertility, creativity, sexual intercourse, birth and growth. It reflects the whole of nature's fecundity and revitalisation. 

In some cultures the creation of the world is identified with the female element and the womb. The concept of an origin dates back to the earliest societies and endures up to our own. In many cultures this idea is related to the commencement of menstruation in woman, bringing her into contact with the flux of the vast female energies of the universe. In a number of African cultures, the rites of menstruation are related to the fertile cycle of the harvest and that of the moon. From the ancient Celts to the peoples of Asia and Mesoamerica, the act of giving birth was regarded as a symbol of renewal and of creation itself. Phrygian Cybele, Ishtar-Astarte-Astoret of the Phoenicians, Militta of the Assyrians and Babylonians, Egypt's Isis, and to some extent the Greeks' Aphrodite, the Romans' Venus, Freya of the Teutons, Eve, the prophet Joseph's mother Rachel, Jesus' mother Mary and Imam Huseyn's mother Fatima can all be taken as part of this concept. In certain sects of Tantrism, virgins are revered as the Mother Goddess incarnate. 

Mother Goddesses are usually one half of a divine couple. Cybele, the great Mother Goddess of all the peoples who have passed through Anatolia in the course of its long history is believed to have created her own lover, Cronus, and also the sixth deity, Phallus. Rhea of Crete, Artemis of Greece and Anaitis of the Armenians are all the Magna Mater. The rustic to whom Cybele gave her heart was known as Attis to the Phrygians, Adonis to the Greeks, Tammuz to the Sumerians and Telepinu to the Hittites. In Hinduism, the male energy, Shiva, is activated by the female force, Shakti. In Taoism, the female element yin is considered to be the all-pervasive way of the universe. Yin qualities of the earthly plane are regarded as being infused by yang (masculine) influences derived from the heavens, such as the fall of rain. 

The masculinity and femininity of the gods have changed according to their pursuance of a matriarchal or patriarchal social organisation. The chief deities of the matriarchy are female, while those of the patriarchy are male.

Artemis Ephesian, a copy of the cult statue known as Artemis the Beautiful of the Hadrian Era, (117-138 C.E.) with her rows of swellings assumed to be either breasts or more probably, bulls’ testicles. Turkey – Selcuk, Ephesus Museum.