Earth religion

Earth religion is a term used mostly in the context of neopaganism.

Earth-centered religion or nature worship is a system of religion based on the veneration of natural phenomena. It covers any religion that worships the earth, nature, or fertility gods and goddesses, such as the various forms of goddess worship or matriarchal religion. Some find a connection between earth-worship and the Gaia hypothesis. Earth religions are also formulated to allow one to utilize the knowledge of preserving the earth.

According to Marija Gimbutas, pre-Indo-European societies lived in small-scale, family-based communities that practiced matrilineal succession and goddess-centered religion where creation comes from the woman. She is the Divine Mother who can give life and take it away. In Irish mythology she is Danu, in Slavic mythology she is Mat Zemlya, and in other cultures she is Pachamama, Ninsun, Terra Mater, Nüwa, Matres or Shakti.

In the late 1800s, James Weir wrote an article describing the beginnings and aspects of early religious feeling. According to Boyer, early man was forced to locate food and shelter in order to survive, while constantly being directed by his instincts and senses. Because man's existence depended on nature, men began to form their religion and beliefs on and around nature itself. It is evident that man's first religion would have had to develop from the material world, he argues, because man relied heavily on his senses and what he could see, touch, and feel. In this sense, the worship of nature formed, allowing man to further depend on nature for survival.

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