P a t r i c i a
M o n a g h a n


The Goddess Path
Syllabus

8 Week Course
Sept 3 - Oct 28

Following the goddess path means claiming the power and strength of the feminine. That does not mean only maternal love and ecstatic passion, but also intellectual excitement and creative flow. Both men and women benefit from exploring the many aspects of the Divine Feminine. This class focuses on study of individual goddesses from world culture. While honoring the original myths and rituals of those goddesses, we also seek for new understandings for our personal lives. Each week’s work involves readings, discussion, and individual journeying.

Week One
Who is the goddess? Overview of goddess religion, past and present; immanent and transcendent goddesses; the three-fold (and more) the goddess; the question of god and the male divine.

Week Two
Gaia: goddess of abundance; influence of the Greek pantheon; “mother nature” and our relationship to her; abundance in personal life.

Week Three
Amaterasu: goddess of clarity; Japanese/Shinto philosophy; sun and moon goddesses; mirror images; reflection and reflectiveness.

Week Four
Inanna: goddess of inner strength; the Bablylonian/Sumerian goddesses; the myth of descent; giving way to gain power.

Week Five
Isis: goddess of restorative love; the great myths of Egypt; relations of goddess and god; finding wholeness in self and others.

Week Six
Brigid: goddess of survival; the Irish goddesses; wheel of the year in goddess religions; initiation and its meaning; ritualizing change.

Week Seven
Kali: goddess of freedom; the Hindu pantheon; goddess as power/shakti; the challenge of mortality; embracing the “dark goddesses.”

Week Eight
Maenads: women of ecstasy; women’s religion, then and now; enthusiasm, joy and transcendence; next steps in your journey.

 


 

 "Our lives are lived in story. When the stories offered us are limited, our lives are limited as well. Few have the courage, drive and imagination to invent life-narratives drastically different from those they've been told are possible. And unfortunately, some self-invented narratives are really just reversals of the limiting stereotype; thus a sensual woman, where only virginity is honored, can believe herself marred or even evil. Heroic myths, by comparison, offer positive life narratives, inspirations for living in power and strength."

- from Goddesses and Heroines

© 2004-7 deepleaf productions inc