Extracts from THE POLITICS OF FEMINIST SPIRITUALITY edited by Charlene Spretnak. Anchor Books, New York.

Though it required many millennia to suppress the Goddess religion and its social customs, this ancient religion was eventually designated as “pagan”, and its remaining vestiges were obliterated by early Christian emperors, medieval inquisitors, and witch burnings.

Feminist concepts of spirituality are not regarded as an end in itself but as a means of gaining and giving strength and understanding that will help us to confront the many tangible and material issues of the blatant inequities of society.

Goddess spirituality has grown from our consciousness-raising process; IT HAS GROWN FROM US.

Some of the most urgent issues confronting contemporary women all over the planet are those concerning economic survival. Abortion, clitoridectomy, infibulation, divorce, attitudes towards “illegitimacy, “ lesbian rights, social pressure to marry and have children, physical and psychological violence, attitudes towards women’s bodies, and the stereotypes of woman as follower rather than leader and as sexual and reproductive being rather than as total human being.