Goddess Remembered

The term itself is modern, arising from the title of a 1989 Canadian documentary, "Goddess Remembered," which explored the Goddess movement. Its roots lie in the scholarly work of Marija Gimbutas and Merlin Stone, who proposed the existence of widespread Goddess worship in Old European cultures prior to patriarchal dominance.

Goddess Remembered is a 1989 Canadian documentary on the Goddess movement and feminist theories surrounding Goddess worship in Old European culture according to Marija Gimbutas, and Merlin Stone's 1976 book When God Was a Woman. The main theme of the film, composed by Loreena McKennitt, was released as the track "Ancient Pines" on her 1989 album Parallel Dreams. Goddess Remembered is the first film in the National Film Board of Canada's Women and Spirituality series, followed by The Burning Times...

The phrase "Goddess Remembered" acts as a potent incantation, a call to reclaim a forgotten lineage of divine feminine power that once structured human societies and cosmologies. It echoes Mircea Eliade's observations on the cyclical nature of myth and ritual, where the rediscovery of ancient patterns can revitalize the present. The documentary that bears this name, and the scholarship it drew upon, particularly Marija Gimbutas's work on Old European cultures, sought to unearth evidence of widespread matriarchal societies where the divine was primarily conceived through feminine archetypes. This is not simply a matter of historical reconstruction, but a profound reorientation of the sacred. As Carl Jung explored, the archetypal feminine is a vital component of the psyche, and its suppression in patriarchal societies leads to imbalance. The rediscovery of the Goddess, therefore, becomes a process of psychological integration, a healing of the collective soul. It invites us to consider the primordial creative forces, the earth-centered wisdom, and the cyclical rhythms of life that were once central to human understanding. The "Goddess Remembered" speaks to a deep, almost instinctual yearning for a more holistic and inclusive vision of the divine, one that honors the generative and nurturing aspects of existence as equally potent as the assertive and ordering principles. It challenges us to look beyond the anthropomorphic deities of later traditions and to find the sacred in the very fabric of being, in the soil, the moon, the waters, and the enduring strength of the feminine principle. This remembrance is a vital step toward a more balanced and conscious existence.