OF CAVERNS AND GODDESSES

Writer, scriptwriter and researcher Celeste Allegrea Adams was not a caver. She traveled around the world, exploring ancient and modern mythic traditions and ritual. Her passion for adventure and for understanding the mythology and spirituality of people in all cultures led to lengthy travels and pilgrimages to sacred sites around the world.

She passed away in 2009, but not before leaving a historical discussion that enlightens us on the relation existing between caves and certain goddesses. In her piece Cave Dwellers,The Magic of Living in the Earth, she explains:

"Before there were temples, religious rites were conducted in caves. In Sikkim, the gods and earth spirits were established in the Four Great Caves, oriented to the cardinal points. The Hindu Mother of Caverns was one of the oldest emanations of Kali, a matrikadevi (Mother Goddess) named Kurukulla. Her Phrygian descendant Cybele, the Great Mother of the gods who was brought to Rome in the second century BCE, was called 'Cavern-dweller' and was worshiped in natural or artificial caves. Her sacred subterranean chambers were the womb-shrines."

"The Sanskrit word for a temple meant 'womb.' The Sumerian word for the Underworld, the sacred cave, and the womb was matu, from the universal root word for 'mother.' To the Pygmies of Africa, the same word meant the great cavern that stood for the 'Mother of God.' To Simon Magus, Paradise was defined as 'the Mother's Womb.' "

Submitted by Carole Devillers

Picture link:
http://www.whirledwydeweb.com/iwf/celesteadams.jpg

Source:
http://www.spiritofmaat.com/archive/apr2/trogs.htm