In goddess spirituality, the cycles of nature are worshipped and celebrated, winter, spring, summer and autumn. There are viewed as symbols for birth, growth, fading and death. Attributes traditionally viewed as feminine (like intuition and nurturing) are revered. It is hard to define the goddess religion, but there is a rich history associated with it.

"A lot of this occurred in rural centers," explains University of Denver a art Historian M.E. Warlick. "In agrarian societies, they think of the earth as the mother and typically the earth is a goddess." Eventually, the goddess-based religions were displaced by warrior gods like Zeus and Yahweh. Some scholars suggest that goddess worshippers went underground, and that the religion survive in secret.

One of those religions, was the Basque religion where women were priestesses and have a say in society and government institutions. Women at the moment of their wedding, were given a piece of bread and a candle. Those objects were to be used by her, to pray when one of the members of the household or etxeherri dies. All this was stipulated before or at the moment of the wedding. Women were in charge of opening a window in the house to let the soul go when somebody dies. Women in many cases inherited the land, the home (etxeherri), a plot in the cementery and a sit in the church. Women were given the key of the church's money box, and it could be passed only to another woman. Women also had a voice in the courts and trials, even before the Middle Ages when men had total control of this kind of affairs in Europe. This power the Basque women had, was a threat for many, and the role of the female as a religious guide in old ceremonies was changed by the Inquisition into a frightening idealization of a malefic witch.