I listen to a really good podcast The Dark Side of Fey. The most recent episode was a thought-provoking one on Experiencing Deity. The discussion itself was fascinating, and an issue that I have struggled with myself, it triggered some thoughts on recent issues concerning experience and archaeological sites.
My field work is located very close to the famous site of Catalhoyuk. This site is now the pilgrimage location of many different goddess groups due to some scholarship from the 60's that suggested that the Neolithic community living at Catalhoyuk were goddess-worshippers. While this interpretation is no longer accepted in the archaeological community (many of the images are now believed to be bears rather than women), the pilgrims continue to come and are an integral part of the experience of visiting Catalhoyuk.
To these women, and indeed any pilgrim of any religion, the act of travelling to some particular location brings them closer to the divine and allows them a truer experience. I find this difficult to reconcile. On the one hand, I am a pantheist and believe that all things are divine, therefore no one location will provide a "better" or "truer" experience than another. On the other hand, I truly believe that you gain a better understanding for having visited a site, and have submitted many grant applications for a research trip through the Middle East based on this very belief.
Does location matter?
It seems as if I'm a hypocrite, because I would say that it didn't matter for spiritual reasons, but for academic reasons it does. But, my spiritual beliefs center around the understanding that divinity is everything and that there should be no separation. How does that work??!
Having this contradiction handed to me means that I need to reevaluate my assumptions, and I think it is very true that different experiences are available in different locations. You see/feel/smell/taste/etc different and therefore travelling is very valuable (thank goodness!), but I can't justify prioritising one experience, or one person's experience over another. All are perfectly valid and valuable, and should contribute a person's understanding of the world.
This means that the women who travel to Catalhoyuk to experience the lives of the "goddess-worshippers" will gain something from their trip, but also means that they should not think that it is the only place they can connect.
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