Finding the Goddess in the Shadows: Unveiling Her Essence in Afghanistan

Abstract

Afghanistan as a nation has a deep spiritual culture that has been influenced by many rich and varied traditions, including but not limited to Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, and Islam. It is a great irony that today, the name of Afghanistan is mainly linked to the Taliban and its oppression of women. Much has been written diving deep into Afghanistan’s past history and analyzing the suffering of the women, but there is no literature that looks at Afghan women’s rights from a depth psychology perspective. The goal of this dissertation is to get a deeper understanding of women’s rights in Afghanistan through a depth psychological lens. Mythology forms history and as a result forms culture. Therefore, it is important to explore what mythological goddesses have governed Afghanistan. This dissertation employs an alchemical hermeneutic design and organic inquiry to explore how religion, culture, and male wounding play out within the context of confining Afghan women, and allows for a new narrative of Afghan women and Afghan culture to be told from a depth psychological perspective. The narrative will reveal the presence of goddess energy as a healing component in the everyday life of Afghans.