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A goddess is a female deity. Often deities are part of a polytheistic system that includes several deities in a pantheon. Common associations of goddesses are the Earth, the Mother, Love, and the household, reflecting historical gender roles.

The primacy of a monotheistic or near-monotheistic “Great Goddess” is advocated by some modern matriarchists as a female version of, preceding, or analogue to, the Abrahamic God associated with the historical rise of monotheism in the Mediterranean Axis Age.

Some currents of Neopaganism, in particular Wicca, have a ditheistic concept of a single goddess and a single god, who in hierosgamos represent a united whole. Polytheistic reconstructionists focus on reconstructing polytheistic religions, including the various goddesses and figures associated with indigenous cultures.

Some religions have living Goddesses to this day, for example the practice of worshipping the goddess Kumari Devi a pre-pubescent girl as a source of supreme power has been an integral part of both Hinduism and Buddhism. In Nepal the Kumari Devi lives in the building known as the Kumari Ghar, right beside Kathmandu’s Durbar Square.

The Goddess of the South Seas or Nyai Lara Kidul, also called the Queen of the Spirits, dwells in the ocean to the south of Java and each year the Sultan of Yoga spends a night with her to maintain ties between Queen Lara Kidul and the great royal family of Mataram. The deep spiritual significance of the union of Queen Lara Kidul and the king of Mataram can be witnessed during the Labuhan ceremony, still celebrated annually at the water’s edge. The ceremony, which takes place after the birthday of the Sultan of Yogyakarta, is in honor of Queen Lara Kidul, and seeks her continued blessing on the sultan, his court, and his people. Offerings are brought from the sultan’s palace to Parangsumo, on the southern coast facing the Indian Ocean. The offerings include money, petals and female garments such as a shawl and a length of batik. There are also offerings of the sultan’s hair and fingernail clippings.