Using the Dark Goddess Archetypes for Personal & Social Transformation

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What Are the Dark Goddesses?

Before the advent of patriarchy and male-supremacist cultural hegemony, the “divine” feminine was represented by a host of multi-faceted, complex, and powerful goddesses as part of various pantheons. The ideas of “Good vs Evil” and “Heaven vs Hell,” etc., were not strictly developed, so the gods and goddesses of the pantheons mirror the complexity and ambiguity of the human psyche.

“Dark” goddesses are the divine feminine archetypes that represent qualities now considered taboo for women and the feminine to express or represent. Examples are the Celtic Morrigan, who represents death (and other things), the Hindu Kali, who represents destruction (among other things), and the Greek Hekate, who represents witchcraft and primordial power. These are just a few examples. These goddesses can also have “contradictory” meanings, such as Persephone, who is the goddess of the underworld and also goddess of flowers.

With the consolidation of the male supremacist power, the feminine came to be defined as only the aspects that are subject to and desired by the masculine. Thus, the feminine came to be defined as weak, passive…