About the Study

Olivia standing in front of the Roman Forum, Rome 2019

Welcome to Tea with Athena!

This blog is here to document the progress of my PhD research, to share new ideas, and to ask questions.

Thesis Title: The historical revival and contemporary innovation of ancient Mediterranean and Egyptian goddesses cults in 21st century Goddess Spirituality in the UK and USA.

Supervision: This study is supervised by Professors Ronald Hutton and Genevieve Lively at the University of Bristol.

 

Sponsorship: I am exceptionally fortunate and grateful to have been part-funded by the Keil Scholarship award.

The Study: I am researching how adherents of Goddess Spirituality in the UK and US are interacting with the history and archaeology of the ancient Mediterranean and Egypt in the 21st Century. I am exploring how Goddess devotees re-interpret ancient goddesses according to feminist receptions, polytheistic revival, and psycho-spiritual empowerment. With this, I am identifying the extent to which features of ancient goddess cults are revived, or innovated, alongside new forms of religio-spiritual practice, comparing ancient cults to modern GS revivals. I am focusing on the revival of the goddesses Aphrodite, Aset-Isis, and Sekhmet as case studies, though other goddesses feature throughout. This thesis seeks to evaluate the relationship between Goddess devotees, scholars, and heritage professionals, identifying shared interests and areas of tension. Through this, I aim to advocate ways of fostering mutually beneficial dialogues moving forward.

This thesis focuses specifically on UK-US Goddess Spirituality in the 21st century, although there is considerable overlap with international, and intergenerational GS sources and communities. My research includes Goddess devotees of all and no genders, and makes a conscious effort to amplify voices beyond the majority demographic.