Kathryn Rountree: Transforming Goddesses: Neo-Pagan ... · Projects of Revival and Reinvention”...
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Freie Universität Berlin New Antiquities: Transformations of the Past in the New Age and Beyond 26 & 27 June 2014 Kathryn Rountree: Transforming Goddesses: Neo-Pagan Projects of Revival and Reinvention This paper examines various ways in which deities from the ancient religions of the Mediterranean region have been appropriated, re-interpreted, transformed and invented for contemporary religious and political purposes by modern Pagans and followers of Goddess Spirituality. The impulses for such transformations come both from within contemporary Mediterranean societies and from far away. In Greece there has been a fresh growth of interest in the heritage of ancient Greece, with Pagan groups, philosophical societies, Spartan schools, “Hellenist” magazines and performances of classical theatre flourishing in the last two decades. Greek Neo- Pagans have rejected the Orthodox Church followed by the majority of Greeks and established the Return of the Hellenes Movement, intent upon reviving the worship of the twelve Olympian gods and fostering religious freedom. This has been attributed to a nationalistic urge in the face of ever-increasing foreign travel, globalization, international integration and economic pressure. Maltese neo-Pagans differ from revival or reconstructionist groups such as those in Greece, instead combining Wicca – a religious movement originating in Britain in the 20 th -century – with the eclectic veneration of deities from various pantheons, mostly from the Mediterranean, along with an invented Maltese earth Goddess and sea God. Meanwhile, in Italy, Neo-Pagans do not worship only the well-known Roman deities of Diana, Minerva, Vesta and Venus; they are recovering local deities, mythologies and traditions little known outside those regions. Finally, followers of the global Goddess Spirituality movement, which originated in the United States and spread to many parts of the world during the last decades of the twentieth century, including New Zealand, have taken delight in reviving particularly the Greek goddesses to serve as diverse, sacred, powerful and empowering symbols of womanhood as part of a feminist project. From its non-Mediterranean (and non-European) source, the Goddess Spirituality movement spread back into Europe, taking different forms as it was re- indigenized, for example, in Catholic Spain, Portugal and Italy. This paper explores such Neo-Pagan transformations of ancient religions for contemporary purposes in contemporary societies. Keywords: Feminism, Goddess-worship, Greece, Italy, Neo-Paganism, North America 1
Transcript of Kathryn Rountree: Transforming Goddesses: Neo-Pagan ... · Projects of Revival and Reinvention”...
Freie Universität BerlinNew Antiquities: Transformations of the Past in the New Age and Beyond
26 & 27 June 2014
Kathryn Rountree:Transforming Goddesses: Neo-Pagan Projects of Revival and
Reinvention
This paper examines various ways in which deities from the ancient religions ofthe Mediterranean region have been appropriated, re-interpreted, transformed andinvented for contemporary religious and political purposes by modern Pagans andfollowers of Goddess Spirituality. The impulses for such transformations come bothfrom within contemporary Mediterranean societies and from far away. In Greecethere has been a fresh growth of interest in the heritage of ancient Greece, withPagan groups, philosophical societies, Spartan schools, “Hellenist” magazines andperformances of classical theatre flourishing in the last two decades. Greek Neo-Pagans have rejected the Orthodox Church followed by the majority of Greeks andestablished the Return of the Hellenes Movement, intent upon reviving the worship ofthe twelve Olympian gods and fostering religious freedom. This has been attributedto a nationalistic urge in the face of ever-increasing foreign travel, globalization,international integration and economic pressure. Maltese neo-Pagans differ fromrevival or reconstructionist groups such as those in Greece, instead combiningWicca – a religious movement originating in Britain in the 20th-century – with theeclectic veneration of deities from various pantheons, mostly from the Mediterranean,along with an invented Maltese earth Goddess and sea God. Meanwhile, in Italy,Neo-Pagans do not worship only the well-known Roman deities of Diana, Minerva,Vesta and Venus; they are recovering local deities, mythologies and traditions littleknown outside those regions. Finally, followers of the global Goddess Spiritualitymovement, which originated in the United States and spread to many parts ofthe world during the last decades of the twentieth century, including New Zealand,have taken delight in reviving particularly the Greek goddesses to serve as diverse,sacred, powerful and empowering symbols of womanhood as part of a feministproject. From its non-Mediterranean (and non-European) source, the GoddessSpirituality movement spread back into Europe, taking different forms as it was re-indigenized, for example, in Catholic Spain, Portugal and Italy. This paper exploressuch Neo-Pagan transformations of ancient religions for contemporary purposes incontemporary societies.
Keywords:Feminism, Goddess-worship, Greece, Italy, Neo-Paganism, North America
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Freie Universität BerlinNew Antiquities: Transformations of the Past in the New Age and Beyond
26 & 27 June 2014
Index:
Archaeology:
• Caroline Tully (U. Melbourne): “The artifice of Daedalus: Modern Minoicaas Religious Focus in Contemporary Paganism”
• Helga Vogel (FU Berlin): “‘The Goddess is alive!’ – Goddess Feminismand Archaeology: the Case of Çatal Höyük”
back to top
2
Freie Universität BerlinNew Antiquities: Transformations of the Past in the New Age and Beyond
26 & 27 June 2014
Index:
Balkans:
• Nemanja Radulovic (U. Belgrade): “The Role of Gnosticism in Neo-Bogomilism”
back to top
3
Freie Universität BerlinNew Antiquities: Transformations of the Past in the New Age and Beyond
26 & 27 June 2014
Index:
Christianity:
• Anne Kreps (Yale-NUS College, Singapore): “The Essenes in SouthernOregon”
• Nemanja Radulovic (U. Belgrade): “The Role of Gnosticism in Neo-Bogomilism”
• Franz Winter (U. Vienna): “The Use of Ancient Gnostic Texts in ModernEsoteric Movements: the Case of Samael Aun Weor”
back to top
4
Freie Universität BerlinNew Antiquities: Transformations of the Past in the New Age and Beyond
26 & 27 June 2014
Index:
Essenes:
• Anne Kreps (Yale-NUS College, Singapore): “The Essenes in SouthernOregon”
back to top
5
Freie Universität BerlinNew Antiquities: Transformations of the Past in the New Age and Beyond
26 & 27 June 2014
Index:
Feminism:
• Lily A. Bonga (Crete): “Mother-Goddess Misconceptions”
• Meret Fehlmann (U. Zürich): “Ancient Goddesses for Modern Times orNew Goddesses from Ancient Times?”
• Kathryn Rountree (U. Tasmania): “Transforming Goddesses: Neo-PaganProjects of Revival and Reinvention”
• Caroline Tully (U. Melbourne): “The artifice of Daedalus: Modern Minoicaas Religious Focus in Contemporary Paganism”
• Helga Vogel (FU Berlin): “‘The Goddess is alive!’ – Goddess Feminismand Archaeology: the Case of Çatal Höyük”
back to top
6
Freie Universität BerlinNew Antiquities: Transformations of the Past in the New Age and Beyond
26 & 27 June 2014
Index:
Germany:
• Helga Vogel (FU Berlin): “‘The Goddess is alive!’ – Goddess Feminismand Archaeology: the Case of Çatal Höyük”
back to top
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Freie Universität BerlinNew Antiquities: Transformations of the Past in the New Age and Beyond
26 & 27 June 2014
Index:
Goddess-worship:
• Lily A. Bonga (Crete): “Mother-Goddess Misconceptions”
• Meret Fehlmann (U. Zürich): “Ancient Goddesses for Modern Times orNew Goddesses from Ancient Times?”
• Kathryn Rountree (U. Tasmania): “Transforming Goddesses: Neo-PaganProjects of Revival and Reinvention”
• Caroline Tully (U. Melbourne): “The artifice of Daedalus: Modern Minoicaas Religious Focus in Contemporary Paganism”
• Helga Vogel (FU Berlin): “‘The Goddess is alive!’ – Goddess Feminismand Archaeology: the Case of Çatal Höyük”
back to top
8
Freie Universität BerlinNew Antiquities: Transformations of the Past in the New Age and Beyond
26 & 27 June 2014
Index:
Greece:
• Meret Fehlmann (U. Zürich): “Ancient Goddesses for Modern Times orNew Goddesses from Ancient Times?”
• Kathryn Rountree (U. Tasmania): “Transforming Goddesses: Neo-PaganProjects of Revival and Reinvention”
• Caroline Tully (U. Melbourne): “The artifice of Daedalus: Modern Minoicaas Religious Focus in Contemporary Paganism”
back to top
9
Freie Universität BerlinNew Antiquities: Transformations of the Past in the New Age and Beyond
26 & 27 June 2014
Index:
Italy:
• Kathryn Rountree (U. Tasmania): “Transforming Goddesses: Neo-PaganProjects of Revival and Reinvention”
back to top
10
Freie Universität BerlinNew Antiquities: Transformations of the Past in the New Age and Beyond
26 & 27 June 2014
Index:
Latin America:
• Franz Winter (U. Vienna): “The Use of Ancient Gnostic Texts in ModernEsoteric Movements: the Case of Samael Aun Weor”
back to top
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Freie Universität BerlinNew Antiquities: Transformations of the Past in the New Age and Beyond
26 & 27 June 2014
Index:
Literature:
• Meret Fehlmann (U. Zürich): “Ancient Goddesses for Modern Times orNew Goddesses from Ancient Times?”
back to top
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Freie Universität BerlinNew Antiquities: Transformations of the Past in the New Age and Beyond
26 & 27 June 2014
Index:
Music:
• Linda Simonis (Ruhr-U., Bochum): “Neo-Gnosticism in ContemporaryPopular Music: Current 93 and Nox Aurea”
back to top
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Freie Universität BerlinNew Antiquities: Transformations of the Past in the New Age and Beyond
26 & 27 June 2014
Index:
Neo-Gnosticism:
• Matthew Dillon (Rice U., Houston): “Unearthed Rituals, Recollected The-ologies, Mnemohistory and the Role of Scholarship in Contemporary‘Gnosticism(s)’”
• Nemanja Radulovic (U. Belgrade): “The Role of Gnosticism in Neo-Bogomilism”
• Linda Simonis (Ruhr-U., Bochum): “Neo-Gnosticism in ContemporaryPopular Music: Current 93 and Nox Aurea”
• Franz Winter (U. Vienna): “The Use of Ancient Gnostic Texts in ModernEsoteric Movements: the Case of Samael Aun Weor”
back to top
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Freie Universität BerlinNew Antiquities: Transformations of the Past in the New Age and Beyond
26 & 27 June 2014
Index:
Neo-Paganism:
• Ethan Doyle White (U. College London): “The Revived Cult of Antinous”
• Hubert Mohr (U. Basel): “Online Temples – a New Cultic Form of Neo-Ancient Cyberpaganism”
• Nemanja Radulovic (U. Belgrade): “The Role of Gnosticism in Neo-Bogomilism”
• Kathryn Rountree (U. Tasmania): “Transforming Goddesses: Neo-PaganProjects of Revival and Reinvention”
• Caroline Tully (U. Melbourne): “The artifice of Daedalus: Modern Minoicaas Religious Focus in Contemporary Paganism”
back to top
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Freie Universität BerlinNew Antiquities: Transformations of the Past in the New Age and Beyond
26 & 27 June 2014
Index:
New Age Religion:
• Anne Kreps (Yale-NUS College, Singapore): “The Essenes in SouthernOregon”
back to top
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Freie Universität BerlinNew Antiquities: Transformations of the Past in the New Age and Beyond
26 & 27 June 2014
Index:
New Media:
• Matthew Dillon (Rice U., Houston): “Unearthed Rituals, Recollected The-ologies, Mnemohistory and the Role of Scholarship in Contemporary‘Gnosticism(s)’”
• Ethan Doyle White (U. College London): “The Revived Cult of Antinous”
• Hubert Mohr (U. Basel): “Online Temples – a New Cultic Form of Neo-Ancient Cyberpaganism”
back to top
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Freie Universität BerlinNew Antiquities: Transformations of the Past in the New Age and Beyond
26 & 27 June 2014
Index:
North America:
• Anne Kreps (Yale-NUS College, Singapore): “The Essenes in SouthernOregon”
• Kathryn Rountree (U. Tasmania): “Transforming Goddesses: Neo-PaganProjects of Revival and Reinvention”
back to top
18
Freie Universität BerlinNew Antiquities: Transformations of the Past in the New Age and Beyond
26 & 27 June 2014
Index:
Occultism:
• Nicholas Marshall (Århus U.): “Robes and Gowns: the Relationship be-tween Scholarship and the Occult in the 20th Century”
• Pavel Nosachev (NRU./St. Tikhon’s, Moscow): “The Dazzling Darkness ofPaganism: the Theme of Antiquity in the works of Evgeniy Golovin”
• Franz Winter (U. Vienna): “The Use of Ancient Gnostic Texts in ModernEsoteric Movements: the Case of Samael Aun Weor”
back to top
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Freie Universität BerlinNew Antiquities: Transformations of the Past in the New Age and Beyond
26 & 27 June 2014
Index:
Popular Culture:
• Meret Fehlmann (U. Zürich): “Ancient Goddesses for Modern Times orNew Goddesses from Ancient Times?”
• Linda Simonis (Ruhr-U., Bochum): “Neo-Gnosticism in ContemporaryPopular Music: Current 93 and Nox Aurea”
back to top
20
Freie Universität BerlinNew Antiquities: Transformations of the Past in the New Age and Beyond
26 & 27 June 2014
Index:
Queer Culture:
• Ethan Doyle White (U. College London): “The Revived Cult of Antinous”
back to top
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Freie Universität BerlinNew Antiquities: Transformations of the Past in the New Age and Beyond
26 & 27 June 2014
Index:
Reception of Scholarship:
• Matthew Dillon (Rice U., Houston): “Unearthed Rituals, Recollected The-ologies, Mnemohistory and the Role of Scholarship in Contemporary‘Gnosticism(s)’”
• Nicholas Marshall (Århus U.): “Robes and Gowns: the Relationship be-tween Scholarship and the Occult in the 20th Century”
back to top
22
Freie Universität BerlinNew Antiquities: Transformations of the Past in the New Age and Beyond
26 & 27 June 2014
Index:
Russia:
• Pavel Nosachev (NRU./St. Tikhon’s, Moscow): “The Dazzling Darkness ofPaganism: the Theme of Antiquity in the works of Evgeniy Golovin”
back to top
23
Freie Universität BerlinNew Antiquities: Transformations of the Past in the New Age and Beyond
26 & 27 June 2014
Index:
Traditionalism:
• Pavel Nosachev (NRU./St. Tikhon’s, Moscow): “The Dazzling Darkness ofPaganism: the Theme of Antiquity in the works of Evgeniy Golovin”
back to top
24
Freie Universität BerlinNew Antiquities: Transformations of the Past in the New Age and Beyond
26 & 27 June 2014
Index:
Turkey:
• Helga Vogel (FU Berlin): “‘The Goddess is alive!’ – Goddess Feminismand Archaeology: the Case of Çatal Höyük”
back to top
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