FEMININE SACRALITY. Attributing gender to manifestations of sacred power in the world is a long-standing human practice. Such manifestations generally are said to be "feminine" when they function in ways analogous to women's most common modes of physiological or cultural activity. Hence that which contains, as in a womb, is often considered feminine, particularly if the containment can be perceived as gestation (e.g., the gestation of seeds in the earth). That which nurtures by providing food and shelter or spiritual sustenance, as a mother offers milk and refuge to her child, may also be considered feminine. That which changes may be feminine, especially if it changes periodically, as a woman's body changes through its monthly cycle, swells in pregnancy, or replaces childhood smoothness with the fullness of maturity and later with the flaccidity of old age. Similarly, that which works changes on materials outside itself...