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HAN MARIE STIEKEMA

ORIGINS

For more than tens of thousands of years the Cosmic Mother was worshipped by all

She was perceived as Great Dark (Night), the Womb, the Waters (Ocean), The Cosmic Egg...

Later She got an anthropomorphic image: Kybele, Isis, Inanna, Ishtar, Asherah...

Later She "delegated" some "functions" to Her Daughters (Goddesses) and Sons (Gods)...

Eventually She ("Tiamat") lost Her Power, and was destroyed by the patriarchal God Marduk

Ever since She became demonized, pictured like a evil dragon or monster..

Every religion degrades the previous Deities into Demons e.g. Guardians..

Unfortunately, this also happened to the Cosmic Mother

Examples are "Demons", Kirtimukha's and Kala's (Mahakala's!).

So, that's how we meet Her in temples, churches, sacred places, sanctuaries...

Pay Her respect with the eyes of compassion through looking beyond Her ugliness

Deep down Her Beauty is immeasurable!

COMMENT

In later ages patriarchy re-introduced the Goddess, knowing that the people would otherwise revolt

In Hinduism the Primordial Mother was turned into a "integrated" Deity. She became the consort (shakti) of Shiva (instead of Shiva being Her Son/Lover!), in Buddhism Kuan Yin replaced WuShenglaoMu and in Christianity the Virgin Mary became the substitute of the ancient Magna Mater

Through its multi-facetted character only Hinduism preserved memories of pre-Vedic times, though, like Lajja Gauri, Aditi, Durga, Kali and....Meenakshi

CANAAN
Asherah/Astarte/Anat

In order to have a full overview of the work,
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Han Marie Stiekema's website.
Please, click HOME and proceed from there.

COSMIC MOTHER
East/West
Twelve Religions
Green Men & Wise Women
India
China
Java
Dayak

INDIA

PRIMORDIAL MOTHER

KALA-KIRTIMUKHA

(PROTO)SHIVA

SHAKTISM

INDIAN TEMPLES

MEENAKSHI TEMPLE

MOTHER'S HERO'S

HER DAUGHTERS

MOTHER INDIA

TAMIL CULTURE

SACRED GROVES

BACK TO THE ORIGIN

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Last revising: 02/22/15