the metaphor of goddess. I don't believe that one has to be an "essentialist" in order to find this metaphor "useful". Many of us feel the need to re-value much of human experience that has been relegated for the most part to the female side. One doesn't have to believe that "all women are born nurturers" in order to find 1) nurturing greatly undervalued in our society; 2) nurturing as fundamental to life 3) nurturing as meriting a much more central place in our view of what being human is about; 4) the image or metaphor of a Goddess with breasts as "useful" in this regard. It is true that both men and women can be nurturing, and we need to move towards a more equal distribution of nurturing. But it seems unneccesary to deny the leading role that women can play in this cultural re-evaluation -- regardless of whether our experience is due to social structures, innate essence, or a combination of both. Since images of deities tend to function as symbolic means of representing prevaling cultural values, changing those images can be a powerful way of effecting change on prevailing belief systems. (This view finds support in the strong reaction of the prevailing power structures to these changes.) Some of us may be concerned that "Goddess" imagery enshrines passive, all-giving, constricting images of women. We may be relieved to learn that images of fierce and wrathful goddessess exist as well! P.S. --I'm putting the word "useful" in quotes because I do not want to "reduce" people's beliefs to utilitarian, intellectual purposes, and I mean no disrespect in my analysis. To me, exploring spirituality as a metaphor is a way of both honoring its power in our lives and accepting that whatever words and images we use to describe our direct connection with mystery are "maps" instead of "truth"; and as such, ultimately relative and incomplete, while carrying great political weight and consequence.
