As we arrived, we enjoyed snacks and conversations while wandering about the tables that hold a beautiful array of Goddess statues and fascinating books on Goddesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sue\nSavion directed our attention to all the figurines of Goddesses on the tables\nand described each one. One of the most interesting and beautiful was the\nGoddess Gaia \u201cthe Creatrix,\u201d whose belly was the earth and her whole body was\netched with plants and animals (symbolizing the complexity of all Creation) \u2013 the\ncloser you looked the more you could see. Thanks to Sue and Terra for bringing\nall these beautiful Goddess figurines for us to enjoy!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With a slide show and lots of details, Sue began with an overview of goddesses around the world and through the ages, going back all the way to Paleolithic times with slightly different renditions of the primitive mother-goddess found, amazingly, in several different far-flung areas of the world. Shrines and statues, some with no heads, many with no feet, connected to mammoth hunters and other societies from 6,000 BC at Catal Huyuk in eastern Turkey, the second oldest city after Jericho, where there was a statue of a Goddess giving birth. Also found was a horn as a calendar, with some of the earliest known symbols on the horn marking a calendar based on a woman\u2019s 28 day cycle. There was the Bird Goddess Trypillian in the Ukraine and Sheela Na Gig from ancient England and numerous other European countries. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
At\nthis point, while Sue changed the slideshow grouping for the rest of the\npresentation, Anitha got up and danced an interpretive Indian dance wearing a\nbeautiful yellow traditional costume. So graceful and beautiful with both\nmovements and facial expressions contributing to the story she was telling. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sue\nthen moved on to Hindu and Buddhist goddesses: Lakshmi (good luck, prosperity),\nKali (the most terrifying of Goddesses, Goddess of Death) who was a consort of\nLord Shiva; Durga, Ambika, (a Jain\nfertility goddess from India), Tara, (Tibbetan Buddhism Goddesses \u2013 there are\n21 of these, including White Tara [compassion, long life, healing], Green Tara,\nBlack Tara [power], Red Tara, Blue Tara [transmutation of anger]. There are\nalso living goddesses including Sai Maa Lakshmi Devi (divine). <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\nnext part of the program was about Kwan Yin (Quan Yin, or Guan Yin), the\nChinese Goddess of Mercy, with variations in Korea, Japan and Malaysia, also\nknown for compassion, unconditional love, the mother of all Buddhas. As far\nback as 400 AD she appeared in literature with many arms, many hands, and heads\n\u2013 sometimes with an eye in each hand. This simple prayer was often said: \u201cI\ntake refuge in the Peace of Quan Yin.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sue\nthen touched on some Goddesses that sounded more familiar: Holda, the Teutonic Earth\nGoddess; the Statue of Liberty (modeled after Ishtar), the Goddess of\nImmigrants; Artemis, Aphrodite; Athena (daughter of Zeus); the Goddess Nike;\nFlora, the Goddess of Flowers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
All\nin all it was an entertaining and informative couple of hours!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
We began with an overview of goddesses around the world and through the ages, going back all the way to Paleolithic times<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[21,22],"class_list":["post-7198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-programs","tag-buddhism","tag-hinduism",""],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7198","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7198"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7198\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8574,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7198\/revisions\/8574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}