However, some scholars warn us not to take the matriarchal myth as history. "The evidence available to us regarding gender relations in prehistory is sketchy and ambiguous, and always subject to the interpretation of biased individuals," Cynthia Eller writes in The Myth of Matriarchal Prehistory: Why An Invented Past Won't Give Women A Future. "But even with these limitations, what evidence we do have from prehistory cannot support the weight laid upon by it by the matriarchal thesis."It is really important to have a sense of sacred imagery that reflects our own embodiment. The images that we've inherited historically from most of the world's religious traditions have been very masculine.
In other words, matriarchy's implausibility doesn't render it useless. After all, most of western religious tradition rests heavily on myth–making. According to Eller, Anne, and Imel, women who respond strongly to the matriarchal myth do so, in part, because it promotes a sense of their own divinity, of their god–given goodness. It instills self–confidence and reminds them of their right to fight against their oppression. Stories of ancient societies peacefully ruled by matriarchs, they argue, inspire present–day women to name and resist patriarchy. Myths matter. By upholding their own myth–making, marginalized communities can reclaim their stolen pasts.But Dr. Arora also reminded me about the need to critique essentialism when reclaiming feminine images of the divine. "A lot of the scholarship coming out the women's spirituality movement and the second–wave was overly essentialist," she says. "We need multiplicity."To all women who in the world who were unaware of their own heritage
You are descendant from a long line of sacred females
who have been respected and honored for thousands of years
Remember and make it so.
As supposed goddesses, women are narrowly valued for the nurturing capacities seeded in their wombs. Goddess worship reinforces stereotypes of women as caregivers, women as inherently empathetic, women as loving pacifists. It's also tainted with trans–misogynistic tones of the second–wave, conflating feminine power with cis–woman biology.Read More: The Hoodwitch Helps Women Tap Into Their Inner Goddess
These questions led Costa to focus her studies on religious traditions that include transgender deities. She tells me, "I've studied the Yoruba tradition, which includes such a power pantheon of gods and goddesses. They're believed to have come from the androgynous [god] Nana Buluku," she says. "There's other indigenous cultures, like the Hopi and the Iroquois, that encourage people who identify as trans to take on the role of a sacred teacher. [People who are transgender] are seen as a conduit to the greater divine because they are blessed with the ability to experience all forms of gender."If you know a trans person—especially if they are gender fluid or gender fuckers, someone who is neither male or female, but something else—it forces your mind to break outside of these gender categories. And there's a divinity in that.
Costa added that she believes in a sacredness that doesn't just embrace androgyny, but inspires a different way of being. "If you know a trans person—especially if they are gender fluid or gender fuckers, someone who is neither male or female, but something else—it forces your mind to break outside of these gender categories. And there's a divinity in that."Dr. Arora also speculates that "there is something ineffable and mysterious in this universal force that is beyond gender or sex." If there is some spiritual dimension, they—we—would dance fluidly between genders, our power stemming from our omnipotent capacity to be more than one at the same time. Perhaps by loosening gender's grip on our souls, we might find salvation—or, at the very least, some relief.Read More: When Riot Grrrls Meet Goddess Warriors