Question by Daniel Dawning: Male Pagans, have you ever gone to a public ritual that was completely Goddess oriented and were uncomfortable?
and Female Pagans, have you ever been to a public ritual dedicated completely to a male deity where you were uncomfortable?
Best answer:
Answer by Taco hut.
[]D [] /\/\ []D
your avatar turns me on….
What do you think? Answer below!
Hmm. Ive never seen a pagan ritual before, but I am sure it would be interesting to study and learn about it.
Awesome way to convert dude!!
This sounds a whole lot better than the hell fire and brimstone promotions.
yes, i went to one and was uncomfortable simply because the faith is not about separate worship based on gender. nature has balance and as we strive to pull balance out of nature ourselves i like to have an equilibrium when i worship
Skyclad I was
In the wood and trembling
Before the Mother Earth
And Father Moon
In the wood and trembling.
Come all ye naked to this rite, Merry Meet, enjoy the night!
I am female, and it was very important to us to have completely female Goddess rituals. I don’t know, but I would hope it would be helpful for men also, as ALL of us live in a society dominated by a patriarchal religion. It’s like straightening a bent wire, you have to bend it in the opposite direction for a bit before you can get it straight again. Follow?
I know sometimes women can be very very angry about sexism and take it out on the wrong guys or in the wrong way (not truly communicating)
I have never been to a Pagan ritual dedicated completely to a male deity that I recall. If I had, I wasn’t uncomfortable.
But years of Christian churches dedicated to a male deity have made me more than uncomfortable!!!! Women have good reason to promote the Goddess.
Yes, I used to be a J.W. Was to plenty of public meetings at the kingdom hall. They are dedicated to the male deity Jehovah. Of course being around those pompous @sses made me uncomfortable.
I am a female Pagan who has been to a “balanced” public ritual which was all about the Goddess and made uncomfortable.
I have, no it doesn’t bother me. I have even written Goddess oriented rituals. Men don’t last very long in our belief system, if they have a problem working with and understanding Goddess energy.
No I have not.
In my opinion, the Goddess is the original deity of mankind,
and all people are children of the Goddess. Men and women
originally worshipped Her together, in harmony, and I feel
that’s the way things ought to be in the modern revival.
I do think it’s a shame some feminist Goddess groups are for
women only. That’s not historically correct, and it also makes
them look very sexist and unenlightened… and sets back the
Goddess movement, in general.
Our Goddess temple is different. We are open to people of all
genders, orientations, and gender-identities. We believe that
the Goddess is the only deity that exists, although She has
been known by many names, and we honor them all. We feel
male gods are false and descend from war-gods which were
created to manipulate people and justify acts of violence by a
ruling elite… the current Abrahamic religions being excellent
examples.
My Wiccan friends sometimes speak about a “balance” of
genders between their deities, but I’m afraid I don’t see the
logic of it.
I feel that Wicca would be great if it didn’t have a male god,
or to put it another way, Dianic Wicca (Goddess only) would
be fine if it welcomed men as members and treated people
of all sexes equally. As it is, I see both as fundamentally
flawed, because of that particular issue.
So to answer your question, I feel uncomfortable with any
Goddess group that doesn’t welcome men… and totally
reject any worship of male war-gods.
To those that don’t agree with me (I know it’s a very
controversial topic), I hope you will respect my right
to express my opinion, in answering this question (as
I also respect yours) and not take any undue offense.
Blessings,
Jean
As a male I have attended rituals which were totally devoted to the Goddess and I never once had an uncomfortable feeling at all. Goddess is very much a part of my belief system and as such it is nice to be able to devote some time to JUST her. It is also nice to be able to devote some time to JUST God as well. MOst of the time, I enjoy giving time to both at the same time, but I can certainly see the need for devotion to one or the other on certain occasions.
Brightest Blessings,
Raji the Green Witch
Yes, I found it to be very uncomfortable. I have only been to two of these and will not attend another. As a Wiccan, balance is very important. I also found that many of the Wiccan women were uncomfortable as well. I don’t think a ritual that is solely dedicated to either the God or the Goddess is suited for a mixed circle.
I have led Men’s Mysteries and not allowed women to attend because of the focus on the God only. Some things are just not suited for the opposite sex.
Edit: After thinking about what it was that made me uncomfortable, I must say, it was the contempt the leaders of those rituals had for my male spirituality. It wasn’t enough for them to simply take joy in the Devine Feminine, they had to to tear down the validity of any type of male energy. They had to bash men while men were standing in their circle.