{"id":1774,"date":"2015-10-21T09:38:44","date_gmt":"2015-10-21T17:38:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/betweentheshadows\/?p=1774"},"modified":"2018-03-07T10:00:17","modified_gmt":"2018-03-07T18:00:17","slug":"the-star-goddess","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/betweentheshadows\/2015\/10\/the-star-goddess\/","title":{"rendered":"The Star Goddess"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"The Star Goddess\" by Sable Aradia (photo manipulation of public domain images). Copyright (c) 2015. All rights reserved.<\/a>
\u201cThe Star Goddess\u201d by Sable Aradia (photo manipulation of public domain images). Copyright (c) 2015. All rights reserved.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>
\n

Listen to the words of the Star Goddess: the dusts of Whose feet are the hosts of heaven, Whose body encircles the Universe:<\/em><\/p>\n

I Who am the beauty of the green earth,\u00a0and the white moon among the stars,\u00a0and the mystery of the waters,\u00a0and the desire of the heart of man, call unto thy soul, arise, and come unto Me.<\/em><\/p>\n

For I am the soul of Nature Who gives life to the Universe. \u00a0From Me all things proceed, and unto Me all things must return; and before My face, beloved of gods and of men, let thine innermost divine self be enfolded in the rapture of the infinite.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0Doreen Valiente, \u201cThe Charge of the Goddess\u201d<\/p>\n

*****<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

O Circle of Stars, whereof our father is but the younger brother,<\/em><\/p>\n

Marvel beyond imagination, soul of infinite space,<\/em><\/p>\n

Before whom time is bewildered and understanding dark,<\/em><\/p>\n

Not unto thee may we obtain unless thine image be love.<\/em><\/p>\n

Therefore by seed and root, by stem and bud, by leaf and flower and fruit, do we invoke thee,<\/em><\/p>\n

O Queen of Space, O Dew of Light, continuous one of the heavens,<\/em><\/p>\n

Let it ever be thus, that men speak not of thee as one, but as none;<\/em><\/p>\n

And let them not speak of thee at all, for thou art continuous.<\/em><\/p>\n

For thou art the point of the circle that we adore, the fount of life without which we would not be.<\/em><\/p>\n

And in this way are erected the Holy Twin Pillars,<\/em><\/p>\n

In beauty and strength were they erected, to the wonder and glory of all men.<\/em><\/p>\n

Janet & Stewart Farrar, \u201cThe Witches\u2019 Way\u201d<\/p>\n

\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Whenever a Pagan takes on the subject of Deity and speculates on its nature, she dares a great deal. \u00a0Any conclusion she comes to is guaranteed to challenge someone else\u2019s conclusions. \u00a0There will be arguments. \u00a0So let\u2019s assume, then, that I take on this challenge understanding that these are my own speculations. \u00a0It is my contention that human beings simply cannot comprehend the fullness of the concept of the Divine, even though we each contain a part of it; and that any<\/em> conclusion we come to will be incorrect because it simply cannot be fully accurate. \u00a0Nevertheless, I believe it is a worthy pursuit to try.<\/p>\n

There are many Pagan traditions that speak of the Star Goddess. \u00a0The Feri tradition calls Her this, or the Blue Goddess, and She is the primordial Creatrix from which all other deities, all other beings, originate. \u00a0Many Vanatru speak of the Star Mother, who is the Goddess of the gods, so to speak.\u00a0But it is primarily of the Wiccan Goddess that I write because that is the one that I know.<\/p>\n

\"\"
The Stele of Revealing by Hergestellt von jahd via A.M.A. ca. 1990 (public domain image). Source: Wikimedia Commons.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Origins<\/h2>\n

The Book of the Law<\/h3>\n

The Star Goddess as we understand Her in modern Paganism appears to originate\u00a0primarily from\u00a0Nuit<\/a>, the Goddess of Thelema envisioned and channeled by Aleister Crowley\u2019s wife Rose Edith Kelly (who is, in my opinion, unfairly and perhaps misogynisticly ignored by modern occult historians,) who is the one who actually performed the channeling that Crowley transcribed to create the Book of the Law.<\/p>\n

The couple were touring the newly-opened Egyptian Museum,\u00a0and through a vision from Horus Rose was driven to find an image of Him. \u00a0The one they found was a funerary tablet created for\u00a0Ankh-af-na-khonsu, a 26th dynasty Theban priest (a replica of which is depicted on the right.) \u00a0At the time it also bore the catalogue number 666, which has particular religious significance in Thelema. \u00a0It is perhaps also significant that it was recovered from the mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut<\/a>, the infamous female Pharoah of Egypt. \u00a0The tablet shows the Egyptian sky-goddess Nut arching over an enthroned, syncretized version of Ra and Horus called Re-Harakhty \u201cRe-Horus of the Two Horizons,\u201d who is speaking to the priest. \u00a0They called it the Stele of Revealing<\/a>, and they saw it as depicting the three deities of Thelema; Nuit <\/a>(the Star Goddess,) Hadit <\/a>(the Priest) and Ra-Hoor-Khuit<\/a> (Re-Horus of the Two Horizons). \u00a0They arranged to have a reproduction of the Stele made for themselves.<\/p>\n

This image sparked a vision which Kelly then channeled and Crowley transcribed. \u00a0That vision became the Book of the Law<\/a>; which, one could argue, spawned the theology of most forms of modern Wicca and Paganism. \u00a0Some quotes regarding Nuit from the Book of the Law which may look somewhat familiar:<\/p>\n

Invoke me under my stars! Love is the law, love under will.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

I love you! I yearn to you! Pale or purple, veiled or voluptuous, I who am all pleasure and purple, and drunkenness of the innermost sense, desire you. \u00a0<\/em>Put on the wings, and arouse the coiled splendour within you: come unto me!<\/em><\/p>\n

I give unimaginable joys on earth: certainty, not faith, while in life, upon death; peace unutterable, rest, ecstasy; nor do I demand aught in sacrifice.<\/span><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Aradia, Gospel of the Witches<\/h3>\n

Charles Leland published Aradia in 1899, which he claimed was a direct transcription of the words of an Italian strega, referred to as \u201cMaddalena;\u201d\u00a0in which Diana, the Moon Goddess, seduces Her brother Lucifer, the Sun God, to create their daughter Aradia<\/a>; who is sent to earth to teach witchcraft to the masses and liberate the oppressed. \u00a0Modern historians doubt its accuracy, but it seems clear that he based his work in some element of folk tradition, and many of the more poetic words of the text later found their way into the most familiar of Wiccan invocations. \u00a0Diana, in this text, is not seen as simply a Moon Goddess; but also a goddess of night, magick, the stars, nature and animals. \u00a0Some quotes you may recognize:<\/p>\n

When I shall have departed from this world, whenever ye have need of anything, once in the month, and when the moon is full, ye shall assemble in some desert place, or in a forest all together join, to adore the potent spirit of your queen, my mother, great Diana.<\/em><\/p>\n

She who fain would learn all sorcery yet has not won its deepest secrets, them my mother will teach her, in truth all things as yet unknown.<\/em><\/p>\n

And ye shall all be freed from slavery, and so ye shall be free in everything, and as a sign that ye are truly free, ye shall be naked in your rites, both men and women also: this shall last until the last of your oppressors shall be dead . . .<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

. . . all shall sit down to the supper, all naked, men and women, and the feast over, they shall dance, sing, make music, and then love in the darkness, with all the lights extinguished; for it is the Spirit of Diana who extinguishes them, and so they will dance and make music in her praise.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The White Goddess<\/h3>\n

Robert Graves\u2019 creative examination of poetic myth also influenced the concept\u00a0of the Star Goddess. \u00a0He proposed the idea of a White Goddess<\/a>, represented by phases of the moon, who lay behind the diverse goddesses of European cultures. \u00a0Modern folklorists challenge this idea\u00a0\u2014 I am myself inclined to believe that ideas influence other ideas like spreading viruses \u2014\u00a0but \u201ccommon thread\u201d deity theories were popular\u00a0among anthropologists in 1948, when his book<\/a> was originally published. \u00a0It may have been partially inspired by Sir James Frazer\u2019s 1922 publication The Golden Bough<\/a>, which proposed a similar idea for sacrificial male deities; and these, in turn, were likely influenced by the Victorian understanding of Hindu deities, in which all gods are aspects of the One, the Brahman. \u00a0This idea of a single deity with many names, in the form of a goddess of\u00a0\u201cbirth, love and death,\u201d\u00a0and a god that lives, dies, and is reborn, is a foundational concept in the syncretic Wiccan religion and its derivatives.<\/p>\n

The Wiccan Charge of the Goddess<\/a> clearly has its origins in Charles Leland\u2019s Aradia, Gospel of the Witches<\/a>; and also in the Book of the Law<\/a>, with some curlicues from The White Goddess<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"'Night"<\/a>
\u2018Night\u201d by Edward Robert Hughes. Public domain image.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Interpretations<\/h2>\n

Crowley interpreted Nuit as representative of the vast Mystery of the Cosmos. \u00a0She is \u00a0\u201cOur Lady of the Stars,\u201d and \u201cLady of the Starry Heaven;\u201d and\u00a0the \u201cQueen of Infinite Space,\u201d or, colloquially, the \u201cQueen of Heaven<\/a>\u201c, a title borne by the Creatrices and Great Mothers of many pantheons. \u00a0As Wikipedia<\/a> aptly put it:<\/p>\n

Nuit represents the infinitely-expanded circle whose circumference is unmeasurable and whose center is everywhere (whereas Hadit is the infinitely small point within the core of every single thing). According to Thelemic doctrine, it is the interaction between these two cosmic principles that creates the manifested universe similar to the\u00a0<\/span>gnostic<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>syzygy<\/a>.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It\u2019s probably hard for a modern reader to appreciate the revolutionary, transgressive nature of this cosmic vision. \u00a0The binary universe, up to that point, had been conceived by metaphysicians as \u201cgood\u201d and \u201cevil,\u201d and the material was seen as \u201cevil\u201d while the spiritual (and non-material) was seen as \u201cgood.\u201d \u00a0Even the Gnostics, whose work obviously strongly influenced Kelly and Crowley, conceived of the physical universe as being the misguided manifestation of the feminine force of creation Aeon<\/a> Sophia, who dared to create without masculine guidance, and thus formed the illusory, malevolent\u00a0Demiurge<\/a>. \u00a0Starhawk called this \u201cthe culture of estrangement\u201d<\/a> in her book Dreaming the Dark<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Kelly\u2019s vision, and Crowley\u2019s interpretation, does not conceive of divisions between physical and spiritual. \u00a0To them, the spiritual is imminent and intrinsic in the physical and we are seeking evolution, not transcendence. \u00a0The gods are manifest in this<\/em> world. \u00a0Crowley sought to make (0r restore) the physical to the status of the sacred, and so he often used language that remains transgressive today, giving deity status to the Whore of Babylon\u00a0(given the name Babalon <\/a>in Thelema) as the Great Mother (which I\u2019ll be covering in another article) and equating Lucifer to Prometheus. \u00a0Crowley often described himself as \u201cthe Great Beast,\u201d which is often taken as being Satanic. \u00a0In a way, it is. \u00a0It comes from the Book of Revelation, where the Whore of Babylon rides in \u201con the back of a Great Beast.\u201d \u00a0In this he meant that he was the priest of the Great Mother. \u00a0And in many ways, like him or hate him, he was right.<\/p>\n

I would not go so far as to say that the Thelemic Nuit is precisely the same as the Star Goddess of Wicca (or the Blue Goddess of Feri or the Star Mother of the modern Vanatruar,) any more than She is the same as the Kemetic Goddess Nut. \u00a0However, there are significant\u00a0overlaps, and much of what They are came from Her, and so understanding Her helps us to understand Them. \u00a0Origins are important in that they\u00a0influence our\u00a0present\u00a0understanding. \u00a0Whether or not the idea of a \u201csource Goddess\u201d existed prior to Robert Graves, certainly the idea exists now; commonly phrased in Paganism as \u201call goddesses are one Goddess.\u201d<\/p>\n

More modern writers, such as Joseph Campbell and Starhawk, have chosen to interpret the Great Goddess as more of an archetypical concept in the Jungian sense; though I doubt that Crowley, Gardner, Valiente or the Farrars would agree! \u00a0Nor, I imagine, would the Andersons of the Feri tradition.<\/p>\n

Aspects<\/h2>\n

Queen of Heaven<\/h3>\n

Listen to the words of the Star Goddess:\u00a0<\/em>the dusts of Whose feet are the hosts of heaven, Whose body encircles the Universe<\/em> . . .<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cThe Charge of the Goddess\u201d<\/p>\n

Since I am Infinite Space, and the Infinite Stars thereof, do ye also thus.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Book of the Law\u201d<\/p>\n

O Circle of Stars, whereof our father is but the younger brother, m<\/em>arvel beyond imagination, soul of infinite space, b<\/em>efore whom time is bewildered and understanding dark, n<\/em>ot unto thee may we obtain unless thine image be love.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Witches\u2019 Way\u201d<\/p>\n

For he is ever a sun, and she a moon. But to him is the winged secret flame, and to her the stooping starlight.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cThe Book of the Law\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Apothecary<\/a>
Apothecary by Sable Aradia. Copyright (c) 2015. All rights reserved.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Queen of Heaven<\/a>\u00a0is a title given to the primary female goddess of a pantheon; the one who is usually either the Royal Consort of the King of the Pantheon, or occasionally the Queen in Her own right. \u00a0The Queen of Heaven is also the primary Creatrix of the pantheon, and sometimes the Mother of the cultural Hero-God. \u00a0She is usually also a sky goddess. \u00a0Queens of Heaven include\u00a0Isis<\/a>,\u00a0Inanna<\/a>,\u00a0Anat<\/a>,\u00a0Astarte<\/a>,\u00a0Hera<\/a>,\u00a0Juno<\/a>,\u00a0Frigga<\/a>,\u00a0Mary Theotokos<\/a>, and possibly\u00a0Asherah<\/a>; and many of these goddesses are named in the Charge of the Goddess as the names\u00a0that the Great Mother has been called.<\/p>\n

It seems clear by the last quote, and through other references throughout the text, that Kelly and Crowley were also influenced by\u00a0Aradia, Gospel of the Witches<\/a>. \u00a0And if they weren\u2019t, Gerald Gardner certainly was, as his earliest versions of the Charge<\/a> of the Goddess included lines stolen directly from Aradia, as well as lines stolen directly from the Book of the Law<\/em>; though the Charge was later refined by the talented Doreen Valiente.<\/p>\n

It is by virtue of these influences, and by virtue of the phrase \u201cthe dusts of whose feet are the hosts of heaven, whose body encircles the universe,\u201d that I interpret the Star Goddess and the Great Creatrix as being one and the same; though there are many Witches and Wiccans who will disagree. But in either case, the Star Goddess is, at least in part, a syncretic Queen of Heaven for the \u201cWiccan pantheon.\u201d<\/p>\n

Goddess of the Cosmos<\/h3>\n

Then the priest answered & said unto the Queen of Space, kissing her lovely brows, and the dew of her light bathing his whole body in a sweet-smelling perfume of sweat: O Nuit, continuous one of Heaven, let it be ever thus; that men speak not of Thee as One but as None; and let them speak not of thee at all, since thou art continuous!<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Book of the Law\u201d<\/p>\n

For I am the soul of Nature Who gives life to the Universe. \u00a0From Me all things proceed, and unto Me all things must return.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Charge of the Goddess\u201d<\/p>\n

And in this way are erected the Holy Twin Pillars, i<\/em>n beauty and strength were they erected, to the wonder and glory of all men.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Witches\u2019 Way\u201d<\/p>\n

Since I am Infinite Space, and the Infinite Stars thereof, do ye also thus.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Book of the Law\u201d<\/p>\n

She changes everything She touches, and everything She touches changes.<\/em><\/p>\n

Starhawk<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"
\u201cTree of Life\u201d by Rodrigotebani (public domain image).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Star Goddess\u00a0represents the vastness of the cosmos.\u00a0 She represents all of time and space and all that strikes us with wonder as we look deep into the night sky and contemplate the unknowable. \u00a0In this, She is also the goddess of eternity and the cycles of time. \u00a0This aspect of Hers\u00a0is connected to (and conflated\u00a0with) the Moon Goddess, Whose silver wheel turns the cycles of the tides and the seasons, sometimes known as \u201cThe Silver Wheel,\u201d through which She might be connected to Diana<\/a>, Artemis<\/a>, Aradia<\/a>, and Arianrhod<\/a>. \u00a0The God ever remains Himself; but the Goddess changes and transforms. \u00a0Living in awareness of Her ways and cycles are what Starhawk was talking about when she wrote\u00a0The Spiral Dance<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Another clue to identifying the Star Goddess\u00a0as the Goddess of the Cosmos comes in the invocation from The Witches\u2019 Way<\/em>. \u00a0We have all heard the line from the Charge: \u201cTherefore, let there be beauty and strength, power and compassion, honour and humility, mirth and reverence within you.\u201d \u00a0What many modern Witches don\u2019t know is that Beauty and Strength are a reference to the Kabbalistic Tree of Life<\/a>, which the Farrars point out by calling them \u201cthe Twin Pillars.\u201d \u00a0The \u201cpillar\u201d on the left of the Tree of Life is known as the Pillar of Severity, which contains the Sephiroth Gevurah<\/em> \u201cStrength\u201d (the second one down); while the Middle Pillar contains the Sephiroth Tiferet<\/em> \u201cBeauty.\u201d \u00a0Looking around the Sephiroth you will also find Chesed<\/em> \u201cloving kindness (compassion)\u201d in the \u201cpillar\u201d on the right, which is known as the Pillar of Mercy. \u00a0You\u2019ll see the white and black of the Twin Pillars displayed on numerous cards in the Major Arcana, with the subject in between them, representing the balance.<\/p>\n

It is my opinion that in this aspect, the Star Goddess is a distinctly\u00a0modern goddess. \u00a0In a way She is the goddess of relativity.\u00a0 She is the goddess of the immensity<\/em>, as Brendan Myers would put it<\/a>; as contrasted to the Horned God, who is the god of the singularity. \u00a0All time and space exists within Her, and therefore, She is both ending and beginning; or as another god once said, \u201cI am the Alpha and the Omega.\u201d<\/p>\n

In this sense She is also the Great Destroyer, the all-devouring Dark Mother who eats Her children, the keeper of the Cauldron that is both womb and tomb. \u00a0So in this She might be connected to Cerridwen<\/a>, Hecate<\/a>, the Morrighan<\/a>, and Kali<\/a>. \u00a0When I was Drawing Her Down once She said, \u201cI am the stars; and the spaces between the stars.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a result, She cannot help but be a little removed. \u00a0The Star Goddess waxes and wanes with the moon, but never dies because She is the cosmos\u00a0Herself. \u00a0In the meantime, the Horned God, Her consort, slums it with us mortals, and is, in a way, all that is embodied and physical. \u00a0He lives and dies each year; knows pain and pleasure; knows how to play and how to grow old. \u00a0On the other hand, the Goddess is all that is everlasting but changing and shifting constantly into new forms; including the human soul. \u00a0So She is the one who watches over us between incarnations. \u00a0The God dies and is reborn; the Goddess kills and gives rebirth.<\/p>\n

Goddess of Mystery<\/h3>\n

I Who am the beauty of the green earth,\u00a0and the white moon among the stars,\u00a0and the mystery of the waters,\u00a0and the desire of the heart of man, call unto thy soul, arise, and come unto Me.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Charge of the Goddess\u201d<\/p>\n

O Nuit, continuous one of Heaven, let it be ever thus; that men speak not of Thee as One but as None; and let them speak not of thee at all, since thou art continuous!<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Book of the Law\u201d<\/p>\n

I am the stars; and the spaces between the stars<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u2014 The Star Goddess as Hecate, speaking through me during my third degree elevation<\/p>\n

Beloved of gods and men; let thine innermost self be enfolded in the rapture of the infinite.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Charge of the Goddess\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

As the Goddess of the Immensity, the Star Goddess is also a goddess of Mystery. \u00a0She represents all that is unknowable and occult. \u00a0This is hardly surprising; the goddesses Who are associated with magick are often associated with mystery. \u00a0Often They are also seers and intuitives; which is is reinforced by ties to the Moon Goddess. \u00a0The Star Goddess is, therefore, also a goddess of intuition, visions, mysteries, and the ethereal and metaphysical. When you gaze into the stars or the ocean with unencumbered wonder, there you find Her gazing back into you; or, perhaps, tempting you with a wink. \u00a0And as Nietzsche points out<\/a>, sometimes that gaze can be rather dark and cold. \u00a0She loves crocuses, cockroaches and crocodiles with equal fervour (thank you, S.M. Sterling<\/a>.) \u00a0She loves us, yes; but no more nor less than She loves all of Her creations. \u00a0When confronted by Her, we are overwhelmed by awe and wonder; and that awe encompasses both fear and love.<\/p>\n

\"Nuit<\/a>
Nuit (Public domain image).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Goddess of\u00a0Joy<\/h3>\n

. . . and, the feast over, they shall dance, sing, make music, and then love in the darkness . . .<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cAradia, Gospel of the Witches\u201d<\/p>\n

I give unimaginable joys on earth: certainty, not faith, while in life, upon death; peace unutterable, rest, ecstasy; nor do I demand aught in sacrifice.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Book of the Law\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

In all of our most sacred verses of the Star Goddess, from the Charge and its \u201cparents,\u201d She is mentioned in conjunction with the things that make us happy. \u00a0Creation, through Her, is seen not as a lesson, but as a celebration, and we are told again and again that we will find Her at the greatest moments of human joy. \u00a0We are also told that She is present within human life, and mystical enlightenment of the Star Goddess is obtained not by standing outside of the world, but by\u00a0fully embracing it.<\/p>\n

Goddess of\u00a0Love and Desire<\/h3>\n

For I am divided for love\u2019s sake, for the chance of union.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Book of the Law\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0Let My worship be in the heart that rejoices; for behold, all acts of love and pleasure are My rituals.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Charge of the Goddess\u201d<\/p>\n

Then when the dance is wildest, all the lamps shall be extinguished and we\u2019ll freely love!<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cAradia, Gospel of the Witches\u201d<\/p>\n

For thou art the point of the circle that we adore, the fount of life without which we would not be.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Witches\u2019 Way\u201d<\/p>\n

I love you! I yearn to you! Pale or purple, veiled or voluptuous, I who am all pleasure and purple, and drunkenness of the innermost sense, desire you. Put on the wings, and arouse the coiled splendour within you: come unto me!<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Book of the Law\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The Star Goddess is\u00a0the embodiment of creation and of the life-force. \u00a0Since sex is how the force of creation manifests itself in the human psyche; and love is how the force of life manifests itself in the human psyche, She is also the goddess of love, lust and desire. \u00a0The Farrars, in their writings, refer to the \u201cpoint of the circle that we adore,\u201d which comes from the British Traditional third degree initiation ritual, in which \u201cwoman is the altar,\u201d and \u201cthe point of the circle that we adore\u201d is the vagina of the priestess, representing the womb and tomb of all Creation. \u00a0She is a lusty, passionate being who is engaged with the world, though She is also separate from it. \u00a0She can be found in the immensity of human connection; from the beauty of friendship to the wholeness of love to the ecstasy of orgasm. \u00a0This aspect is Crowley\u2019s Babalon<\/a>, who is also sometimes associated with Lilith<\/a>, as well as Astarte<\/a>, Inanna<\/a>, and Ishtar <\/a>of the Babylonian pantheon.<\/p>\n

The Star Goddess\u2019 Children<\/h3>\n

She who fain would learn all sorcery yet has not won its deepest secrets, them my mother will teach her, in truth all things as yet unknown.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cAradia, Gospel of the Witches\u201d<\/p>\n

As above, so below. \u00a0As the universe, so the soul. \u00a0As without, so within.<\/em><\/p>\n

Margot Adler, \u201cDrawing Down the Moon\u201d<\/p>\n

One must still have chaos within oneself to be able to give birth to a dancing star.<\/em><\/p>\n

Nietzsche<\/p>\n

We come spinning out of nothingness, scattering stars like dust.<\/em><\/p>\n

Rumi<\/p>\n

Every man and every woman is a star.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Book of the Law\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Perhaps the most significant Wiccan theological concept is that of the Star Goddess\u2019 children, and\u00a0I find I\u2019m having difficulty articulating my thoughts on this. \u00a0We are the children of the Star Goddess, as so beautifully expressed\u00a0in the Book of the Law<\/em>. \u00a0I believe this idea comes from Orientalized mysticism as interpreted by the occultists of the time. We are all part of the Goddess in the same way that we are all thought to be part of the Brahman; but in the same way, all of us make up all of that which\u00a0is the Goddess. \u00a0That means that we share a small measure of the powers of Creation that the Star Goddess embodies; which is what we call \u201cmagick.\u201d \u00a0Perhaps more importantly, we are, in part, divine as well as mortal; and therefore, Paganism embraces the original religious concept of humanism<\/a>, which \u201cemphasizes the value and agency of human beings.\u201d<\/p>\n

Looking to the Future, and the Past, in the Spirit of the Silver Wheel<\/h2>\n

Loving the vast and beautiful Star Goddess is not currently fashionable in the Pagan community. \u00a0In general there is a trend towards individualism and separatism, in which the Star Goddess is poorly received because She is seen as a modern concept, born of Jungian archetypes, modern psychology, and Orientalism. \u00a0The \u00a0sources and origins of Myth and theology are the proper study of Scholars and are often of great interest to \u201camateurs\u201d like me, but in the end religion is found in the experience of the believer. \u00a0In one sense the Star Goddess is a new way that we humans perceive the Divine, in another She is the Goddess who has always been with us. \u00a0Indeed, She has been with us since the beginning, and She is that which is attained at the end of desire.<\/p>\n

\n

Like\u00a0Between the Shadows\u00a0on Facebook<\/a>\u00a0and never miss a post!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Listen to the words of the Star Goddess: the dusts of Whose feet are the hosts of heaven, Whose body encircles the 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