when god was a woman

The concept of "When God Was a Woman" refers primarily to the idea that in prehistoric and early historic times, many cultures revered a female deity or Great Goddess as the supreme creator. This worship of a female divine figure existed from around the Neolithic period (approximately 7000 BC) and possibly as far back as the Upper Paleolithic Age (around 25,000 BC). The book "When God Was a Woman" by Merlin Stone, published in 1976, explores this history extensively. Stone documents how ancient societies revered female deities as creators, healers, and wise leaders, and how later patriarchal religions, including the Hebrew-Christian tradition, systematically suppressed these earlier female-centered beliefs. The narrative around the male God in monotheistic religions replaced the earlier Goddess-centric worship, often accompanied by the marginalization of women in society. This shift from Goddess worship to male deity worship corresponds historically to the rise of Indo-European patriarchal cultures and the introduction of male-dominated religions such as those of the Hebrews around 1800-1550 BC. This period marks significant religious and cultural changes, including reinterpretations of creation myths and suppression of women's religious roles. In summary, "When God Was a Woman" relates to a time in ancient human history—thousands of years ago—when the divine was often envisaged as female, a tradition that was later displaced by male-centric religions and myths.