Good afternoon. My name is Miss Deena Ashworth and I found your site yesterday. I realized very quickly that my years of searching for God were at an end, that the reason I had such a hard time finding God was because God is Mother God, not father and I had been searching in all the wrong places. :) I have some questions about shrines. I would like to create an alter to Dea in my home, but even though I've read your articles, and they were very helpful, I'm basically unsure how to find the right statue for a representation of Dea or even where to start. The religious organization I was part of for many years absolutely forbade images in worship, so I don't even have a basic idea of how to properly worship Dea. Any information you can provide would be much appreciated. Sincerely,
Miss Ashworth The "iconoclast" controversy (opposition to images representing Deity) is an old one and one that seems to have arisen mainly in the Abrahamic religions. Why is this? One reason is that perhaps a "Father God" seen as Sole Deity is, even for believers, a little too awkward and unnatural to depict graphically. Christianity depicts Mary, Jesus and saints, but very rarely "God the Father", while atheists (almost exclusively a product of Western Christian culture) regularly seize on "an old man with a beard in the sky" as a means of ridiculing believers. They rely on their hearers will perceive the inherent absurdity of the image. On the other hand, the Image of Our Mother God is not absurd. It is natural and right and even in patriarchal cultures, people have again and again gravitated back to Her Image. For this reason we do recommend an Image-oriented worship, provided that is meaningful to you. It is not in any way obligatory to use Images, but most of us find them helpful. Take some time to find which images - Mary, Kwan Yin, Mahalakshmi etc. - are most meaningful to you. Each is a form in which Our Mother has appeared to Her children. As to how to go about worshiping, there are really no rules. We are not a Church or an organization. Many devotees recite the Great Hymn to Mahalakshmi daily, or say some or all of the Daily Offices (both found in the Gospel). The most important advice of all is to talk with Our Mother about it. Ask Her what is the right way for you to serve Her. The answer may come in many ways. It may come in a sudden illumination, or most likely it will slowly grow within you.