The Cult of Magna Mater, the Great Mother, is probably the oldest religion of all. The earliest stone-age sculptures depict the mother- goddess, and an idol found in Catal Hüyük, 6000 years old, depict her in the form she later became worshipped as Cybele in Phrygia, as a seated woman flanked by two leopards.The worship evolved through the millennia, but the goddess remained a symbol of the powerful female forces in the universe. Manydifferent interpretations appeared, and various cults have interacted and mixed ideas.Not much is known about her worship in ancient times, but in her incarnation as Cybele in ancient Phrygia she started the cult which would later evolve into the cult of Magna Mater in Rome.
As a small
child she was put out into the wilderness to die, but instead of
killing her the panthers and lions nurtured her, and she grew up into
an intelligent, beautiful and headstrong woman.
It is not impossible
that she was a child mage who was later deified. She invented pipes and
drums, and also magickal medicines which she used to heal sick children
and creatures on the Phrygian countryside. She became friend of not
only the animals and people, but also the satyrs and other supernatural
beings. She fell in love with prince Attis, but their love-story was
tragic; The intenselove of the divine Cybele was too much for the
mortal prince, and he went mad, castrated himself and died. Cybele,
driven mad by grief, roamed around to sound of pipes and drums seeking
her lost love.
The links between this
story and the cult of Inanna/Ishtar/Asherah are quite obvious, and both
cults influenced each other heavily. Attis was identified with Dumuzi
and Tammuz, other dead and resurrected gods. The cults were widespread,
and Ezekiel mentions the female worship of Tammuz in his lamentation
over the spread of paganism in Jerusalem (Ezekiel 8:14).
Around 200 BC the holy
black rock of the goddess was moved from the Phrygian city of Pessinos,
which had been the previous centre of her worship. Rome became the new
centre, and her cult grew. The romans identified Cybele with the Greek
Rhea, and called her Magna Mater, the Great Mother. The priests ofth......
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