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metre long landscape sculpture planned
for Northumberland in England.
The Judeo-Christian ethos does not see woman as savior. If a woman participates in some kind of saviorship, it is through her natural role as providing the progeny for the potential savior. Eve didn't save paradise, and Mary begat Jesus to right the wrong that Eve wrought. Three thousand years passed, before Eve's destructive action could be expiated.
Many ancient cultures gave equal, if not superior, roles to women as saviors. They called them goddesses. Yet ancient mythology is full of goddesses whose wrath and destruction is mightier than some of their male counterparts. Perhaps we are shocked to learn of goddesses killing their own children to act revenge. This is what Medea did. But then there is Cybil, the Great Mother (of gods and men). Yet her ardent following are castrated men; men who can only participate in the destruction of the world, being unable to procreate – an analogy to the impotent (and destructive) role of Cybele on her throne.
This modern world is obsessed with the goddess.“Find the goddess in you,” “Reconnect with your goddess,” “Become a goddess” are frequent lures for impressionable women, young and old. Society has given up in the power of man, the saviorship of man. Rather than follow our God, we would prefer to conjure up our goddesses.
It seems to me that such is the phenomenon of Sarah Palin. Perhaps we are nearing the apex of our goddess culture. Perhaps Sarah is that apex.
In pervious generations, women leaders were not chosen for their roles as saviors. Elizabeth I was following the strict royal lineage of her country. Catherine the Great of Russia was married to a prospective Tsar, and naturally wore the crown at her husband’s death, despite palace coups and rumors of murder (there’s that destruction in the background again). Margaret Thatcher went through rigorous election processes to qualify as Prime Minister.
The eulogy that follows Palin from the conservative court, and eventually I predict from many liberals also, is unrestrained and unruly. Men and women are letting all inhibitions drop when it comes to adulating their Sarah.
What do they want from her? The fierce nurturing of a Cybele? The possessive strength of an Artemis? The stifling wisdom of Athena? People are hungry for the return of the goddess.
Woman, goddess or not, seems more a destroyer than a savior when put in the position of unrestrained leadership. This is what her followers seem willing to give Sarah. But they should read the signs, readily available, before they make a permanent commitment to her. She brought streams of controversy with her quick entry into the political scene. This doesn’t sit well with the future of her leadership.