Customer Reviews

Women & Spirituality: Goddess Remembered [VHS]

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

This video offers a touching look at the Goddess as She has been worshipped since ancient times into the present. It is a must see for anyone who wants to know what Goddess worship is about from an objective perspective. Perhaps one of the best parts of this video is that some of the great teachers in modern Paganism are interviewed (ex: Starhawk).

This film was so moving... that it leaves me at a loss for words. The male reviewer before me dismissed the entire film (gave it 1 star) due to the fact that it couldn't be scientifically proven (in writing) what words people used to refer to anything. Words are not needed to draw conclusions about these pre-historic societies... the spectacular artwork left behind says it all. 30,000 years ago people had less words and no written language... so they used their intuition, heart, right brain, and commmunicated through, art, the body, nature... This film is filled with beautiful music and imagry. We can see from all the archaeologists' discoveries that back then women held a much more significant and valued place in society, unlike today. This video is so fabulous. I highly recommend it! It's time to revisit The Goddess.

The haunting music of Loreena McKinnet adds to the mystical nature of this well produced video on Goddess worship and women's spirituality. Lots of symbolism of the divine female makes the video visually inspiring. Various ancient, Goddess worshiping cultures are examined and applied to today's patriarchal worldview. There is a treat; Starhawk is one of the circle of modern women discussing how the Goddess has changed, shaped, and enhanced their lives. Anthropological, mythical, and inspiring, this is wonderful video for the modern woman.

I owned this video years ago until I loaned it to a friend. I have been trying to find it on DVS but to no avail. This film was very enlightening and pretty much confirmed what I already believed. What prehistoric people called the Goddess is not important to me. Many believe she was called Earth Mother and that name is as good as any other for me. The important point is this: from the stand point of pure reason, if there is an all powerful being that created life, this being would have to be a woman. But let's look at it from a different level. The idea that woman can come from one of man's ribs in my opinion leaves a lot of questions to be answered. On the other hand to say we (the human race) came from woman makes sense. Mother earth supplies us with all we need to survive, yet we taken natural resources that belong to all of us, synthesized them, and sell us what we already own for high profit. Women give birth and at one time they were revered for this life giving act. When my wife and I had our son, we had a midwife. We chose a midwife because we didn't want to have our baby delivered, my wife delivered the baby and the midwife caught the baby. This film is a must see for anyone interested in a different take on spirituality than the outdated, modern, and commercialized spirituality of today. Spirituality is free to everyone who wants it and no one has a monopoly on God.

You can get this through the National Film Board of Canada on DVD. Well worth it in either version.

The presentation of a once, long ago, honored role of women in society appears accurate although there is controversy with the facts in the documentary. I felt a soul connection to the information presented and proud to be a female. After watching this film I have involved myself in proactive roles with world matters of women's rights and children safety. I recommend this for young women, as well as crones, to bring a consciousness about the power of women in society.

The plausibility level of this beautifully produced video is revealed by one of its earliest statement: (roughly) "For thirty thousand years a goddess was worshipped, who was universally known as 'The Great Mother'." How can it be known what people called anything, thirty thousand years before the invention of writing? I have no argument with spirituality or the benefits people derive from it, but the "Goddess Movement," as typified by this video, relies on guesses and assumptions that are not borne out by any real data that we have about prehistory. This is not, to my mind, a good basis for anyone's spirituality. Richard S. Ellis, Professor of Near Eastern Archeology, Bryn Mawr College.