In the beginning of time, women ruled the world. Goddesses were worshiped and viewed as the creators of all life. But, today these once holy images are lost, and two speakers Tuesday at the Women’s Resource Center hoped to raise awareness of these ancient goddesses.
“By the time you’re getting written literature the goddesses have already been turned into something dangerous,” said former University of Utah Professor Emily Smith.
“A lot of the symbols of the Goddess became demonized. If you couldn’t demonize it, you took it over,” Smith continued.
Many symbols of evil and demonic beings started as symbols of a female-ruled society. The snake in ancient societies represented fertility and renewal, however, in Christian society it represents that which would lure a woman away from God, from the story of Eve.
“Bulls and stags were originally Goddess symbols, not males,” Smith said.
Smith also suggests the Virgin Mary as a Goddess symbol, as she is the mother of the Judeo Christian God.
“Madonna is also the Goddess…they couldn’t get rid of her so they just made her the mother of God,” Smith said.
They told the story of a “wild man” raised in the woods by animals. A temple prostitute, working on behalf of the Goddess herself, taught the man the necessities of living in a civilized society.
“All that information comes from a woman. Her job first and foremost is to represent fertility,” Smith said.
Jessica Wolfinger, the second speaker and a U social work student, also pointed out the myth of “Pandora’s Box.” Pandora is told never to open a certain box. But she does and she lets out all the pain and disease into the world, and has to reach far into the bottom of the box for hope.
While the myth of Pandora is now used as a warning to all those who would disobey authority, Pandora literally means “all gifts.”
“All the bad things that can happen if you break the rules…but that is how you gain knowledge,” Smith said.
The large crowd in attendance also heard about the ability of goddesses to carry over into much of everyday female life.
“Archetypes are in our subconscious,” Wolfinger said.
She highlighted the various personality types different goddesses represent: mother, caretaker, huntress or protector.
When describing the Goddess Hera, who is constantly cheated on by her husband, Zeus, the king of the gods, she makes a modern day comparison.
“I often think of her in terms of Hillary Clinton…she stuck with him for the power,” Wolfinger said.
These images have been broken down into the vision of the Virgin Mary and that many stronger characteristics are “beaten out of” younger women, both speakers agreed.
“People want you to act more ladylike,” Wolfinger said.
The women began their study of goddesses in different ways.
Wolfinger took a class from Smith and read Cassandra, a novel based on a minor character’s story in The Odyssey.
“I read that and was sort of blown away,” Wolfinger said.
Smith, on the other hand attributes her passion to a confusing time in her life.
“I went through a sort of spiritual crisis and I needed something that spoke to me,” Smith said. “Mythology can be a great source of comfort in one’s life.”
