Goddesses
I personally wouldn't look for "Goddesses" under Fantasy as an overall term. To me Gods and Goddesses are more like something we are "allowed" to believe in. Most fantasmic creatures, spirits, deamons and so on, are usually seen as exiting and pretty fragments of our imagination, something we needn't be afraid of, for we think we know that they are only reduced to the words on
the page of a book - which they aren't, for they are very real to the eye of our imagination. So let us say that Goddesses are high spirts, mighty beings we are to look up to. Yes, let us even see them as humans with no fault in any form whatsoever.
This is when Goddesses begin to fit into Fantasy, as every other creature finds its source in our imagination, so does the Goddess (or God). A different way of viewing her existance as opposed to the way we treat that of the Unicorn (for example), has automatically given us the right to "legalize" her being for our thought - I am obviously speaking on behalf of cultures of the past, who gave their Gods and Goddesses the images of immortal "super-humans".
I would like to specify this page on the female form of devine human, for the simple reason that history has done much wrong to the sacred feminine and I want to rectify her meaning and strength. As I have already mentioned on behalf of the Witch, there was a time when the male dominated church contorted the image of the female, managing to turn the Goddess or essence of femininity into a dirty something that should be feared and oppressed. So religion as we know it today gained ever more power over early thoughts and rituals that praised and loved the woman for her mystical ability to create life. The discovery of more of these fertile cycles in all areas of nature only increased her power and made her invinsible and indispensable to the human race. As you can guess the Goddess posed an immense threat to the ever more powerful church. Praising and worshiping anything that was not suggested by the church was seen as blasphemy and devil worship. Human reproduction and child bearing were put under a grotesque light. Also disgusted by Eve's supposed sin of tempting Adam with the forbidden fruit, people began to turn away from the Goddess, murdering her idea and meaning in the process. Female life was no longer thought of as valuble enough to remain godly or devine.
A few artists were brave enough to try to resurrect the Goddess in times when the church violently persued anyone who showed the remotest inclination of doing so. A good example is Botticelli (1444-1510) whose famous paintings "The Birth of Venus" and "Primavera" clearly and passionately declare the artists love for Mythology and especially for the Goddess, please note that this took place in times of the holy Inquisition. Fortunately for Botticelli he was able to keep these strong feelings camouflaged by other paintings suggesting him to be a devoutly religious man. "Primavera" shows the realm of the Goddess of love, Venus, in which love and beauty shine out from all the involved characters including the physical presence of Spring, the Goddess, Flora, with her abundance of flowers.
This web site, text and images are copyright © 2004 Oriana Fenwick and
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