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goddess

Also known as diva

thumb|upright=1.3|Queen Nefertari being led by [[Isis, the ancient Egyptian mother goddess of magic]]

AI overview

A goddess is a female deity or divine being worshipped in religions and mythologies around the world. Goddesses matter because they have played central roles in how different cultures understand the sacred, explain natural phenomena, and express their values and beliefs about the world.

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Image: William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905) - Dawn (1881).jpg

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Commons category: Goddesses

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~30 min read

Article

41 sections

Contents

Etymology
Historical polytheism
Ancient Near East
Mesopotamia
Ancient Africa (Egypt)
Canaan
Anatolia
Pre-Islamic Arabia
Indo-European traditions
Indian
Iranian
Greco-Roman
Celtic
Germanic
Pre-Columbian America
Aztec
Maya
Inca
Native North America
Folk religion and animism
African religions
Chinese folk religion
Shinto
Indian religions
Hinduism
Buddhism
Abrahamic religions
Judaism
Christianity
Apotheosis of Mary
Veneration of Mary
Latter Day Saint movement
Neopaganism
Wicca
Feminism
Goddess movement
Sacred feminine
Metaphorical use
See also
References
Further reading

thumb|upright=1.3|Queen Nefertari being led by [[Isis, the ancient Egyptian mother goddess of magic]]

A goddess is a female deity. In some faiths, a sacred female figure holds a central place in religious prayer and worship. For example, Shaktism (one of the three major Hindu sects), holds that the ultimate deity, the source of all reality, is Supreme Goddess (Mahaiia) and in some forms of Tantric Shaivism, the pair of Shiva and Shakti are the ultimate principle (with the goddess representing the active, creative power of God). Meanwhile, in Vajrayana Buddhism, ultimate reality is often seen as being composed of two principles depicted as two deities in union (yab yum, "father-mother") symbolising the non-duality of the two principles of perfect wisdom (female) and skillful compassion (male). A single figure in a monotheistic faith that is female may be identified simply as god because of no need to differentiate by gender or with a diminutive. An experiment to determine the effect of psychedelics on subjects composed of leaders from diverse religious groups revealed a general experience that the divine which the subjects encountered was feminine.