Bit of a tangent this... but maybe of interest to some...

I can't speak for FourWinds; but i tend to use the word "god" a lot. However it does *not* imply 'maleness' or anthropomorphise in any way.

'God' is gender-independent (it's a shame that the big monotheistic religions have co-opted the word and put a fluffy white beard on it). But i think it's too powerful and too resonant a word to leave in the hands of the 'God The Father' posse.

When you use 'Goddess', however, you're immediately ascribing gender. It's unavoidable. And 'God The Mother' seems just as foolish to me as 'God The Father'.

There are many different paths by which you can trace the origins of the word 'God'. The Anglo-Saxon word 'God' is predated by the German 'Gott'. This in turn (according to one theory; though there are others) has it's roots in the Persian word 'Khoda' which contains the two meanings: "to shine / give light" and "to implore".

Khoda is a gender-independent word, and the Anglo-Saxon translation that best renders it's meaning is: 'The Divine'. However, 'God' is it's etymological descendent, and - as i said earlier - should really be reclaimed from those monotheistic fanatics.

Ok.

"God" .. the one with a capital g. He's very much a male-world god isn't he. He really doesn't offer much to women, but that is to be expected in a patriarchal society (I'm not condoning it, you understand, just stating facts).

As a knee-jerk reaction to this *very* dominant male god, with the advent of women's lib and PCness, the interest in this alledged universal 'Mother Goddess' came about and grew widly.

It became unPC to think anything other than that "He" was preceded by "She". I personally think this is bollocks. I do believe that "He" was probably preceded by lots of "she"s, however. Each one with very similar traits, but each one a separate god. And yes I use 'god' as a multigender/genderless deity type thing.

The term "The Goddess" conjours up images of The Golden Bough and The White Goddess etc. Great reads, but mustn't be taken to heart.

It's difficult to know if Sheelas were a "put down to women". If they are Christian in origin then they most certainly were meant that way.

My ture beliefs about Sheelas can be summed up thus:

If (and it's still a BIG if) they are pagan then they are far more likely to represent a 'spirit' than a god.