The Dethroning of the Goddess & the Rise of Western Dualism

Born of the Paleolithic era and the rise of human consciousness, the earth goddess is actually the template to which all male sky gods were born. Initially, dualism wasn't a part of humanities psyche, and death was viewed as part of the greater cycle of life, where everything flowed from the feminine, which was venerated above all else for its intrinsic life-giving properties. Within such a worldview everything was seen as intimately connected, essential and, above all, sacred (ex: the death of an animal was seen as necessary for to sustain the life of the hunter and his tribe, and therefore intrinsically “respected” as part of an interconnected, sacred “web of life” – one must die so another will live).

As humankind inevitably learned the art of agriculture - enabling food surplus and the feeding of armies - humanity's own hubris and/or spiritual narcissism created male sky gods, which were seen as separate from and above the sacredness of the earth. It was within this new mythology that the male sky god was venerated and the earth goddess began to fall from favor and was inevitably dethroned.

A mythological characteristic from the Bronze Age forward, a male sky god was seen dividing the earth from the heavens, typically by mutilating an earth goddess’s body in the process (the Babylonian myth of Marduk and Tiamat is a good example of this). The end result was a marked shift in humanities perception, where mankind no longer began to see itself as an intrinsic part of a greater and sacred connection to all things, but as separate and alone in a world of great suffering (the suffering which inevitably came with the wars of conquests that the agricultural revolution enabled). This paradigm shift inevitably allowed xenophobia and the FEAR of death to slowly creep into the consciousness of humanity. The sacred realm (heaven) was no longer seen as PART of earth, but a separate “place” above and removed. Humanity itself was similarly viewed as something “other,” “outside” and “apart” from the earth itself. As a consequence of this, our species began to no longer view the earth as an interconnected web of life, but as something that could be “conquered” and used as “man” saw fit, divinely sanctioned by male sky gods.

"For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible; all things were created by him and for him." - Colossians 1:16-17

Something to keep in mind: the violence and ruthlessness of humanity only arose within the last 10,000 years, through a response to changing cultural dynamics of the time. It’s unfortunate that the majority of the population continues to view our species through the distorted lens of the sin hypothesis (e.g.: the belief that humanity is wretched and evil and can only redeem itself in the eyes of a god which looks down upon us from heaven). This small worldview is simply not true. We’ve merely inherited an antiquated belief system from our rightfully fearful ancestors early as 8,000 B.C, who were merely doing the best they could with the circumstances that fate had dealt to them. Prior to this time, our race was known more for it’s collective connection and inherent compassion then for its ruthlessness, greed and individualism.


Consequently, a 'witch' was initially a derogatory term that followers of these male sky gods would call goddess worshipers to delegitimize them and have others (typically males) ignorantly fear them.  And don't even get me started on the Inquisition!