Goddess

A goddess is a female deity. In some faiths, a sacred female figure holds a central place in religious prayer and worship. For example, Shaktism, holds that the ultimate deity, the source of all reality, is Supreme Goddess (Mahaiia) and in some forms of Tantric Shaivism, the pair of Shiva and Shakti are the ultimate principle. Meanwhile, in Vajrayana Buddhism, ultimate reality is often seen as being composed of two principles depicted as two deities in union symbolising the non-duality of the two principles of perfect wisdom (female) and skillful compassion (male). A single figure in a monotheistic faith that is female may be identified simply as god because of no need to differentiate by gender or with a diminutive. An experiment to determine the effect of psychedelics on subjects composed of leaders from diverse religious groups revealed a general experience that the divine which the subjects encountered was feminine.