Editing Goddess movement (section)

== Use of mythological materials ==
Participants in the Goddess movement often invoke ancient religion and mythology. Some skeptics argue that these have been reconstructed from ancient sources and others are modern inventions.<ref>{{cite news |first=Charlotte |last=Allen |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2001/01/the-scholars-and-the-goddess/5910/ |title=The Scholars and the Goddess: Historically speaking, the 'ancient' rituals of the Goddess movement are almost certainly bunk |work=[[The Atlantic Monthly]] |date=January 1, 2001 |access-date=March 7, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120709104916/http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2001/01/the-scholars-and-the-goddess/5910/ |archive-date=July 9, 2012 |url-status=live }}</ref> Indeed, these myths are not interpreted literally,{{citation needed|date=July 2022}} but rather figuratively or metaphorically as reflecting ancient understandings and worldviews. For instance, [[creation myth]]s are not seen as conflicting with scientific understanding but rather as being poetic, metaphoric statements that are compatible with, for example, the theory of evolution, modern [[cosmology]], and physics.<ref name=Starhawk1999>{{cite book |last=Starhawk |title=The Spiral Dance: A Rebirth of the Ancient Religion of the Goddess |publisher=Harper |date=1999 |orig-year=1979 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XGzxpDzbqG8C |isbn=978-0-0621-2522-4 |access-date=2015-10-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160109063144/https://books.google.com/books?id=XGzxpDzbqG8C |archive-date=2016-01-09 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=Budapest1980>{{cite book |last=Budapest |first=Zsuzsanna |title=The Holy Book of Women's Mysteries, Part II |publisher=Susan B. Anthony Books |date=1980 |isbn=978-0-9370-8103-7}}</ref> Mythological sources of the Goddess movement are often considered modern reconstructions of ancient myths that predated a "[[Patriarchy|patriarchal]] period," the [[Great Goddess hypothesis]], influenced by the [[Kurgan hypothesis]], and therefore very little would have been written about them.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|title=Robert Graves and the Classical Tradition|last=Gibson|first=A.G.G.|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2015|isbn=9780198738053|location=Oxford|pages=179}}</ref> Aside from the reflection of ancient understanding of these, there are adherents who also turn to contemporary scholarship and literature such as [[Robert Graves]]' ''[[The White Goddess]]''. Some of this work's interpretation of the [[Greek mythology]] (based mainly on [[James Frazer]]'s ''[[The Golden Bough]],'' such as the annual sacrifice of a king that represents a god) were adopted as the basis to describe the goddess' aging and rejuvenation with the seasons.<ref name=":1" /> The myth of [[Demeter]] and [[Persephone]] is one that has often been reinterpreted.<ref>{{cite book |last=Christ |first=Carol P. |title=The Laughter of Aphrodite: Reflections on a Journey to the Goddess |publisher=Harper & Row |date=1987 |url=https://archive.org/details/laughterofaphrod00chri |url-access=registration |page=[https://archive.org/details/laughterofaphrod00chri/page/109 109] |isbn=978-0-0625-0146-2 |access-date=2015-10-30 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Spretnak |first=Charlene |title=Lost Goddesses of Ancient Greece: A Collection of Pre-Hellenic Myths |publisher=Beacon |date=1978 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FFU-80jbkH4C&pg=PA106 |pages=106–107 |isbn=978-0-8070-1343-4 |access-date=2015-10-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160109063144/https://books.google.com/books?id=FFU-80jbkH4C&pg=PA106 |archive-date=2016-01-09 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=Pollack1997>{{cite book |last=Pollack |first=Rachel |title=The Body of the Goddess: Sacred Wisdom in Myth, Landscape and Culture |publisher=Element |date=1997 |isbn=978-1-8523-0871-1}}</ref>

A common claim within the Goddess movement is that myths from supposed ancient matriarchal societies were behind key elements in [[Christianity]], particularly in the beliefs that "matriarchies fostering goddess worship influenced the attitudes of early Christians toward Mary" and that "the Catholic Church was originally matriarchal with [[Mary Magdalene]], not [[Saint Peter|Peter]], as its head."<ref>{{Cite book|title=What Every Catholic Should Know About Mary|last=McNally|first=Terrence|publisher=Xlibris Corporation|year=2009|isbn=9781441510525|pages=174}}</ref> The Goddess movement views devotion to female Christian figures such as the female [[saint]]s as a continuation of ancient Goddess worship.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Bloomsbury Companion to New Religious Movements|last1=Chryssides|first1=George|last2=Zeller|first2=Benjamin|publisher=Bloomsbury Academic|year=2014|isbn=9781441190055|location=London|pages=261}}</ref>