Goddess Bhudevi, bronze - The consort of Lord Vishnu. She personifies the Earth.

To worship the Goddess is to honor the Earth and all the creatures. In the Vedic literature mother, Earth is personified as the Goddess Bhumi or Prithvi. She is the abundant mother who showers her mercy on her children.

The Earth was not created by God to be partitioned into artificial geographic regions, over which men will then foolishly war with one another. Rather, she is a living being, a mother, a woman, a Goddess, whom we are to love, respect and nurture - as she so patiently nurtures us. In the Hindu tradition, Mother Earth even has a name: Bhu-Devi.

The female aspect of the Creator has been excluded by a world that has focused exclusively on the male dominated religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Such respect for the feminine has not been as readily visible in the history of the Western world, unfortunately.