Various forms of Paganism, New Age, goddess, Wiccan, etc. religions (“spiritualities”) are examples of non-patriarchal movements.

These movements have also existed in history and are even among the earliest forms of known religion. Thousands of Venus figurines depicting plump females with huge bellies and breasts have been discovered across Europe and date to 20,000 years ago. Many of these are found in caves, which are believed to represent the female’s womb and therefore a fertility religion.

Today, many of these movements emerge and grow because they appeal to women who feel alienated from the religion they were brought up in. I know of two major academic scholars who took the non-patriarchal approach.

Carol Christ founded the Goddess movement (Goddess/Great Goddess/Goddess theology, etc.) after she had a sexual encounter in the temple of Aphrodite while on a visit to an academic conference in Greece. Karen McCarthy Brown studied a Voodoo priestess from a feminist perspective and eventually converted to the religion.

These women argue that their religious experience and lived reality are diminished under patriarchal factors of exclusion (all male religious authorities and leaders, gendered language in sacred texts and discourses, the legitimation of subordination and dehumanization of women in these traditions, etc.). Some female theologians in the area of evangelical feminism will remain in the tradition and attempt to revise it internally. Others like Christ find the tradition beyond salvaging and will leave.

Usually, these non-patriarchal religions are underscored by subjectivity and no centralized control. This enables a diversity of interpretations. In Christ’s religion, one can view the Goddess as an actual ontological Being, a symbol of women’s liberation, a celebration of female spirituality, etc.

In eco-paganisms, the natural environment including animals is often considered divine or has divine properties, which renders nature sacred. Some obscure religions based on fantasy fiction emphasize the female experience. Snape Wives have sexual experiences with Professor Snape from Harry Potter.