The Sacred She: How the Church Silenced the Divine Feminine

From Worshipped to Wicked

Long before the Christian Trinity dominated the spiritual narrative, cultures existed in which the divine was also imagined as female—cyclical, life-giving, and creative. Goddesses such as Inanna, Isis, Brigid, or Artemis embodied power over birth, sexuality, wisdom, and nature. However, with the spread of Christianity, changes occurred: patriarchy entered the religious stage, and history was rewritten. Many of these female deities were assimilated, their original meaning diminished, or depicted negatively.

The Misogynistic Remodeling of Spirituality

Let’s be frank: the patriarchally dominated Christian institution had a long-standing problem with women (and to some degree still seems to). The founding myth teaches that a woman (Eve) caused the Fall, and the only path to salvation lies in obedience, virginity, or motherhood—never in power.

Church Fathers such as Tertullian, Augustine, and Thomas Aquinas made this particularly clear:

• Tertullian called women the “gateway of the devil.”

• Augustine taught that female sexuality was the root of original sin.

• Thomas Aquinas claimed that women were “defective men.”

It is no wonder that women were excluded from the priesthood, kept out of decision-making processes, and conditioned to look up to a male God, male priests, and a male savior.

Between Faith and Institution: An Omnist Perspective

From an omnistic perspective, I see no inherent contradiction with Christian faith. Many values—such as compassion, justice, or the Ten Commandments—are universal and present in many spiritual traditions.

However, problems arise when religion becomes rigidly institutionalized. Unfortunately, this remains the case today, as the structure of the Roman Catholic Church historically continues to follow patriarchal patterns. This is especially evident in the unequal treatment of women:

• Women are still not permitted to become priests or bishops.

• Pope John Paul II reaffirmed this in Ordinatio Sacerdotalis (1994), and both the Catechism and Canon Law (Canon 1024) state that “only baptized men can be ordained.”

• Women are often confined to roles of obedience, virginity, or motherhood, while active positions of power remain reserved for men.

The critique is not directed at believers but at institutional structures that restrict spiritual leadership and the representation of the divine feminine. The goal is to create space for justice, equality, and co-creation in spiritual practice.

From Goddess to Saint and the Demonization of the Female

The divine feminine was also transformed throughout Church history. One strategy was to turn popular goddesses into saints. This was a clever strategy by the Church: beloved goddesses were made saints to avoid alienating the pagans being converted. Worship remained, but the original power and autonomy of the female figures were curtailed.

• Brigid, the Irish goddess of fire, poetry, and fertility, became St. Brigid, a nun with miraculous abilities but without her original magical dimension.

• Isis, the Egyptian goddess of magic and motherhood, provided imagery for the Virgin Mary, now characterized by humility and obedience.

• Diana/Artemis, protectresses of women and nature, were often depicted in negative legends or fairy tales, diminishing their original protective and autonomous roles.

These transformations meant that female figures were no longer recognized in their original power but were “domesticated” or reduced to moral virtues.

Demonization of the Female

Goddesses or female figures who could not be transformed into saints were often depicted negatively or fully demonized:

• Lilith, originally a symbol of autonomy and erotic power, was later described as a dangerous demon.

• Hecate, guardian of transitions and rituals, was associated with witchcraft and dangerous powers.

• Asherah, the Canaanite mother goddess, largely disappeared from texts or was portrayed as problematic.

These changes were not accidental but part of systematic processes that devalued female spiritual roles and enabled control over religious practices and beliefs.

The Witch as the Last Representative of Female Power

During the Inquisition and witch hunts, women who possessed traditional knowledge—midwives, herbalists, or seers—were particularly targeted. Many of these women had expertise in medicinal plants, childbirth, and ritual practices passed down through generations.

But it wasn’t just “wise women” who were suspected. Women with economic or social independence—widows, unmarried women, or landowners—were especially vulnerable. Their relative autonomy made them dangerous to patriarchal structures because they were not easily controlled.

The witch hunts had multiple dimensions: religious-political, to control spiritual practices; economic, to bring land, wealth, and resources under male or church control; and social, to push women into dependent roles. The persecutions not only punished individual women but also suppressed knowledge, influence, and independence, severely restricting the societal and spiritual presence of the divine feminine.

Reclamiming the divine female

Today, centuries after the persecution and marginalization of the feminine, the divine feminine is being reclaimed—not as nostalgic memory but as a living archetype of wholeness and self-empowerment.

In many modern spiritual movements, the intuitive wisdom, cyclical nature, and creative power of the feminine are being restored. The aim is to recognize women and people of all genders as active co-creators of their spiritual practice and to overcome the patriarchal limitations of traditional structures.

The Urban Mystic stands at this intersection—where ancient traditions meet contemporary spirituality, and where reflection, reverence, and conscious self-empowerment go hand in hand. The reclamation of the divine feminine is a call to consciously reconnect with this power and to open spaces for equality, diversity, and spiritual creativity.

-----------------------------

Sources and Further Reading:

• Eller, Cynthia. The Myth of Matriarchal Prehistory. Beacon Press, 2000.

• Ruether, Rosemary Radford. Gaia & God: An Ecofeminist Theology of Earth Healing. HarperOne, 1992.

• Christ, Carol P. Rebirth of the Goddess: Finding Meaning in Feminist Spirituality. Routledge, 1997.

• Stone, Merlin. When God Was a Woman. Harcourt, 1976.

• Pagels, Elaine. The Gnostic Gospels. Random House, 1979.

• Spretnak, Charlene. Lost Goddesses of Early Greece. Beacon Press, 1978.

• Budge, E.A. Wallis. The Gods of the Egyptians. Dover Publications, 1969.

• Genesis 3 (Eve), Isaiah 14 (Lucifer), Deuteronomy 16:21 (Asherah poles).

• Malleus Maleficarum (1487), Heinrich Kramer.