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UIS to present discussion of goddess beliefs and cultures

September 13, 2005

SPRINGFIELD – Scholar Caron Cadle will present a slide show and discussion of “Goddess: A New (Old) Vision” at 7 p.m. Wednesday, September 21, in conference room H, located in the lower level of the Public Affairs Center at the University of Illinois at Springfield. The event is a presentation of Women’s Studies and the Women’s Center at UIS and is free and open to the public.

A life-long scholar of goddess religions and goddess-centered cultures, Cadle has traveled widely to various goddess sites around the world and is a sought-after speaker on the topic.

She explains, “Goddess-centered belief and thought dates back at least 30,000 years; male-monotheism is less than 7,000 years old. Goddess images across millennia indicate the breadth and complexity of thealogy, including its concepts of death and rebirth, its understanding of the phases of life and their significance, and the breadth of roles played by women in cultures that celebrated, rather than segregated by, gender.” Thealogy, literally “the study of the goddess” (from the Greek thea, “goddess” + logos, “study”), is sometimes defined as “reflection on the divine in feminine and feminist terms.”

Cadle will also discuss the persistence of goddess belief and imagery, and their timely resurgence in the present day. She will illustrate her discussion with slides of goddess images and a question-and-answer session will follow the presentation.

Cadle holds an A.B. in Germanic languages and literatures from Princeton University, where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum laude. She also holds an M.B.A. in marketing and finance from the University of California at Berkeley.

For more information, contact Lynn Otterson, director of the UIS Women’s Center, by phone at 206-7173 or by e-mail at lotte1@uis.edu.