Goddess Worship 35,000 BCE saw the emergence of the Cro-Magnon people, the first recognizable humans. Within a few thousand years, worship of the Great Goddess or Great Mother developed. For these people, deity was female. The importance of fertility in crops, in domesticated animals, in wild animals and in the tribe itself were of paramount importance to their survival. Thus, the Female life-giving principle was considered divine and a great mystery. This "old European" culture lasted for tens of thousands of years in what is now Europe. They generally lived in peace. Males and females were treated equally. Their society was matrilineal; children took their mothers' names. Life was based on lunar (not solar) calendar; time was experienced as a repetitive cycle, not linearly as we think of it. The Old Religion of the Goddess was not purely based on a one god basis. They had more gods and goddesses but they "all were one". So every god that existed was a part of The Goddess. To make it more useful smaller gods and goddesses were 'invented'. A few thousand years BCE, the Indo-Europeans invaded Europe from the east. They brought with them some of the "refinements" of modern civilization: the horse, war, belief in male Gods, exploitation of nature, knowledge of the male role in procreation, etc. Goddess worship was gradually combined with worship of male Gods to produce a variety of Pagan religions, among the Greeks, Romans, Celts, etc. Goddess Worship and other religions In the south of Europe, the Near East and in Northern Africa, Judaism, Christianity and eventually Islam evolved. The Pagan religions were suppressed and the female principle was gradually driven out of religion. Women reduced to a level inferior to men. The God, King, Priest and Father replaced the Goddess, Queen, Priestess and Mother. A woman was not allowed to testify in Jewish courts. Women were not allowed to speak in Christian churches. The positions of authority in the Christian church were limited to men. And even today women are surpressed based on the Holy Book (whether that is the Thora, the Bible or the Quran). A feminine presence was added to Christianity by the Council of Ephesus in 431 CE when the Virgin Mary was named Theotokos (Mother of God). But her role was heavily restricted and included none of the fertility component present in Pagan religions. An obvious attempt of the Christian leaders to win believers from the Old Religion by addopting aspects of that religion. Especially Christianity has a lot of Paganism in itself. A low point in the fortunes of women was reached during the Renaissance, when hundreds of thousands of suspected female witches were exterminated by burning and hanging. celtic index