The Body of the Goddess: Women’s Trans-national and Cross-religion Eco-Spiritual Activism

Abstract A counter-tendency to the virtualization of social relations and the deepening of the separation between body, mind and spirit may be represented by the re-birth of Goddesses’ worship, which calls for a re-embodiment of women’s spirituality and feminist politics. This work starts from representations of the body of the Goddess – in different ages and parts of the world – in their relation with the four elements. Through the iconological analysis of female divinities we realize that each of them also represents specific aspects of womanhood. An exploratory research on the contemporary religious experience of the Goddess indicates the existence of a phenomenon of Internet-activism, where women from different cultures, ethnicities and beliefs systems discuss their spiritual issues in a trans-national and inter-religious way. A diffused spirituality, free from institutional and patriarchal control, can be seen as a form of resistance to dogmas and codes that are often perceived as oppressive and far from responding to contemporary needs. Today women as gender are able to confront patriarchal dominance also on the religious terrain, and feminist theology can be seen as a process of overcoming dualities, hierarchies, oppositions – as a leading force toward social and political change in the direction of the common good. A shift of emphasis from God the father to God the mother, from masculine to feminine values, may affect also institutional religions, by empowering women activism around peace, social justice and ecology.