The cult of the Mother Goddess existed almost everywhere before the patriarchy. This is a universal phenomenon, common from the Pyrenees to Siberia. The worship of the Mother Goddess dates back to the Paleolithic era (about 2.6 million years ago to the 10th millennium BC), that is, by modern standards, to the most ancient times. The Paleolithic era is about 99% of the time of the existence of humankind. During the Neolithic period, the image of the Mother Goddess was also popular. The cult of the Goddess has existed for much longer than all the patriarchal religions combined.

The mother woman had the image of a creator, an absolute mighty force that gives life, without which the existence of humankind is impossible. The cult of the Mother Goddess is so strong that, according to some scholars, it finds its echoes in patriarchal religions (Queen of Heaven, Mother of God) (1).

Often the Mother Goddess not only gave life, but also took it away. The mother goddess did not have a spouse equal to herself; she could give birth to him, take him as her husband and kill him. The masculine is always subordinate to the feminine. Even if the Goddess-mother creates a son, then he is just a derivative of the mother, her creation, which he himself can never create.
The mother goddess in various mythologies (Armenian, African, Ancient Greek, Ancient Arabic, Ancient Egyptian, Zoroastrian, Hindu, Celtic, Gaulish, Caucasian, American, Roman, Slavic, Turkic, Sumerian-Akkadian, Elamite, etc.) is practically universal, which gives the possibility of suggesting that the cult appeared in different places on its own.

The cult of the Mother Goddess was not limited to the ability of a woman to literally create new lives. The image of the Goddess included creation, control and absorption. Everything began in the mother and ended in her. The cult of the Goddess was not divided into spiritual and physical, as is the case in patriarchal religions built on dualism. In patriarchal religions, there is a body and there is a spirit, there is good and there is evil. The cult of the Goddess is all-encompassing. The mother creates everything that exists, she takes it away, a woman not only creates people physically, and she creates everything that is connected with life.
Therefore, the creation of new lives is not limited to pregnancy and childbirth. This is a broader concept. Create a man, build a dwelling, sew clothes, catch game, make a fire, cook food, build irrigation systems, create cities, arts, medicine, writing, life, maintain being ...
The mother goddess is a more powerful being than the patriarchal god is. Mother is not only birth and being, but sickness and death, god in patriarchy has its own antagonist - the devil, with whom they shared functions. The devil takes upon himself, relatively speaking, everything “bad” and “dark”, and God takes everything “bright” and “good”. Patriarchal religions are much more limited, flat and primitive.

The cult of the Mother Goddess emerged and flourished in matriarchal, gynocentric societies virtually all over the planet. With the advent of patriarchy, an impulsive and bloody god, who appropriated some of the functions of the Mother Goddess, replaced the female deity.
god in the patriarchal religion made absolute the ability to create, which previously belonged to the Mother Goddess on the mythical and physical levels. god creates earth, sky, water, universe, humanity. This fact clearly shows us what patriarchy really is. The term itself contains a meaning: the power of the "fathers". Men have taken over women's power. At the mythological and religious level, this was reflected in the cult of the gods, god and various "saints". Religion most clearly reflects the process of establishing male power.

In a sense, patriarchal religions are flat male mirroring of the matriarchal cult of the Mother Goddess. If earlier, a man belonged to a woman both on the physical and on the mythical, cultural, spiritual level, now, in patriarchal cults, a woman belongs to a man and was even created by a male god. In matriarchy, a man belonged to a woman ontologically, based on the natural order, but in patriarchy everything is turned inside out and artificially adjusted to suit men.

The patriarchal religion has two main functions: to dehumanize women to the level of domestic animals and to justify male violence.
Therefore, men did not invent God out of nowhere. They took as a basis for a long time existing in matriarchal societies and remade for themselves, turning over along the way.
For men, religion plays another role: God is the highest "beginning" that leads, dictates, justifies. God comes in visions, dictates through male prophets, and determines the future, commands. This suggests the need for men not just to justify their actions, but also to be bossed around. If earlier a man carried out the will of a woman, then in the patriarchy the man remained “naked”, he needs patronage, authority. Now there is no mother who guides and protects, comforts and gives her will. The man consciously rebelled against his mother because of his envy and is now tormented by want. It is likely that a man, fulfilling the “will of God”, which, of course, he invents himself, not only relieves himself of responsibility for his actions, but also provides himself with the missing link that he has lost: female natural power. A man needs power over him, because he himself has no subjectivity. The essence of a man is not to lead, but to follow. He cannot control himself (among other things, can a being that can control itself bring as much evil as men do?). In patriarchal religions, all men are subordinates. In the real world, men can only distribute power through dominance-submission hierarchies. Men do not know any other form of organization and this defines them. Patriarchal sexual practices are also inconceivable without a hierarchy; moreover, the hierarchy is exciting. It is sexy for men.
Therefore, the cult of the Mother Goddess is a ubiquitous phenomenon, reflecting the power of women over the world. This cult is built on the unity of all that exists, on respect for life, on the absence of fear of death, on peace, spirituality in the highest sense of the word. The gods in patriarchy are gods, senselessly and angrily wandering around the planet, bringing flood, death, chaos, genocide, femicide, and the murder of babies. god is a utterly simplified, primitive and shameful something invented by men for their own dirty needs. The image of the patriarchal god reflects the insides of men, what is the "artist" - such is the "picture".

Author: Shveia K
Translator: f.sumasbrodskiy


Links:
1.Gorshunova O. V. Female deity in the system of religious and ideological ideas of the peoples of Central Asia. M.: IEA RAN, 2007. - S. 380.