Marian devotion—the veneration of Mary— is believed to have been kindled by pre-existing pagan myths and goddess worship. As Christianity spread, newly converted Christians inevitably assimilated pre-existing local cults. Among the prominent religious practices of the pre-Abrahamic world was the widespread worship of the great Mother Goddess, embodied in a multitude of female deities.

While some feminist thinkers see Mary as a tamed version of the once powerful mother goddesses, others interpret her veneration as a revival of ancient Goddess worship, and the Church’s resistance to Mary’s worship as a recognition of the enduring power of the Goddess.

Pre-historic Goddess imagery survives in Christian iconography: the pregnant Mother Goddess survives in the pregnant Mary, the young Goddess or Maiden is still worshiped in the aspect of Mary as the Holy Virgin. And the figure of the Mother-Goddess holding her divine child continues to be prominently portrayed as the Christian Madonna and Child. Mythologist Joseph Campbell argues that the image of the Virgin Mary was derived from the image of Isis holding her child Horus.

One of Mary’s titles, Queen of Heaven, was for centuries before used as an epithet for ancient mother goddesses—Isis, Astarte, Ishtar, Nut and Ashtoreth.

Similar to pre-Christian pagan goddesses such as Diana, Astarte, and Artemis, Mary is often symbolized by the moon. In fact, ‘the Moon’ is one of Mary's names, and she is often depicted standing atop a crescent moon.

A major similarity between Mary and ancient mother goddesses is her virginity. In pre-Christian earth-based religions, a woman’s virginity was synonymous with autonomy and power. ‘Virgin’ meant not married, not belonging to a man—a woman who was ‘one-in-herself’. The very word derives from a Latin root meaning strength, and was later applied to men: ‘virile’. Ishtar, Diana, Astarte, Athena, Isis were all called “virgin”, which did not refer to sexual chastity, but sexual independence.

Many prominent cultural heroes of the past, both mythical and historic, were said to be born of virgin mothers: Marduk, Gilgamesh, Buddha, Osiris, Dionysus, Genghis Khan, Jesus—they were all affirmed as sons of the Great Mother, and deriving their power from Her. When the Hebrews used the word, and in the original Aramaic, it meant ‘maiden’ or ‘young woman’, with no connotations to sexual chastity. But later Christian translations distorted the meaning into ‘sexually pure, chaste, never touched’. From an animist perspective, Mary’s virginity and the virgin birth can be interpreted as symbols of her autonomy, signaling her direct relationship to the divine, unmediated through any male.

The Virgin of Guadalupe—the apparition of Mary revered in Mexico—assimilates indigenous nature-based imagery that carry layers of meaning for indigenous people. The Virgin of Guadalupe is believed to have been derived from the Aztec fertility and earth goddess Tonantzin (Nahuatl for “our sacred mother”). For some, the Virgin of Guadalupe was a tool used by the Spanish and the Catholic Church to further their project of religious conversion, colonization and genocide. For others, she was a symbol of Indigenous resistance and continuity of Indigenous beliefs in the face of brutal colonization.

Within Marian devotion, Mary is celebrated for her involvement in human affairs and her relatability as an ordinary woman concerned with domestic matters. She was the great and powerful Queen of Heaven as well as the approachable Everywoman, attentive to the daily needs of ordinary people, much like prehistoric pagan goddesses. Women turn to Mary during childbirth, just like her mother goddess predecessors.

Mary’s concern was to champion the poor, the outcast, the oppressed, the ill and the marginalized. Today, in various anti-oppression movements, Mary is invoked as: woman of the poor, unwed mother, widowed mother, political refugee, seeker of sanctuary, mother of the homeless, mother of the nonviolent, model of courage, patience, perseverance and peace.

Mary’s core place in the natural processes of procreation, her connection to social engagement, her identification with nature imagery, and her status as a spiritual mother, embed her within a relational, social and ecological consciousness. Through an animist lens, Mary embodies reverence for nature and the Mother. Within Marian devotion, the self is always relational: no one, not even God, appears without recognizing the bond to the Mother.

Marian devotion has preserved a feminine presence and recognition of feminine power within a predominantly male-dominated structure. The infinite compassion, devotional love and spiritual power of the ancient Mother Goddess survives within Mary. Although Goddess-worshipping cultures have been suppressed and replaced by Abrahamic religions oriented towards a singular male deity, the lingering power of Mother Mary stands as a testament to the enduring presence of the Goddess and the importance of the Mother. In a world that has forgotten its reverence to the Feminine, the Mother and Earth, how can we embrace Mother Mary as a loving guide, helping us to remember our way back?

Sources: 

•Mary and the Feminist Movement, by Sidney Callahan
•Mother of God or Domesticated Goddess? Mary In Feminist Theology, by Manfred Hauke
•The Chalice and the Blade, by Riane Eisler
•The Great Cosmic Mother: Rediscovering the Religion of the Earth, by Monica Sjöö & Barbara Mor
•Mary: Feminist Perspectives, by Tina Beattie
•The Virgin Mary: A Liberator for Women, by Egan Rachel