Another goddess...
another full moon.
From Debra She Who Seeks...
A three dimensional sculpture made by Sacred Source (India) and painted silver by Debra, photo by Debra.
The Burney Relief now in the British Museum.
Sacred Source sells their sculpture as bare clay titled Lillith.
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"Archaeologists agree that agriculture was originally developed by women, along with pottery, weaving, and Neolithic religion, which most likely centred around ritual dance. Women have long been the keepers of both horticultural knowledge and ritual dance, which are connected in multiple ways. On a practical level, flat round threshing grounds make ideal floors for circular dance, while metaphorically, the threshing floor represents the generous womb of Mother Earth, and of human mothers by extension.
The dance circle itself serves as a vessel of symbolic rebirth, as it recreates the womb or lap or embrace of the Great Mother, and offers abundant unconditional love to all those who join the dance. The connection to Mother Earth is reiterated over and over in the dance songs, as well as in the dance steps: the most common dance pattern traces the motif of the Tree of Life, which has been a key symbol of the Mother Goddess since ancient times. I believe this is because visible patterns of veins in the human placenta branch out from the ‘trunk’ of the umbilical cord into a tree shape, which midwives around the world independently name the Tree of Life. In this way, the Tree symbolises the life-giving sustenance of the Divine Mother which we receive when we dance.
Circle dance traditions survive best today in southern and eastern Europe – the same area where egalitarian matriarchal civilisations flourished for thousands of years. This region, named Old Europe by archaeologist and archaeomythologist Marija Gimbutas, was the cradle of sophisticated societies which honoured the Goddess, celebrated nature, made beautiful art, shared resources, and lived in partnership. These peaceful egalitarian matriarchies formed the foundation of human culture from approximately 7000-4000 BCE, and longer in some places, for instance until 1450 BCE in Crete."
-Laura Shannon, excerpt from her paper, "Women’s Ritual Dances to Heal Somatic Trauma" - featured in Spells for Survivors: Returning to the Holy Her
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I'm interested in history...ancient history...as it depicts a time when civilizations existed with completely different foundational aspects to those of today.
The goddesses might not just be mythological stories; they were in all probability central to the lives of culture as Gimbutas posits. Her work is based on findings in archaeological sites where no defensive structures were found. No community dikes or defensive walls. No weapons. A culture where peace was expected, lived in daily lives, where neighbors weren't a threat.
When I learned of the ancient systems of these cultures in the 1990s, it changed my entire sense of feminism. Goddesses were central to civilization at one time, before patriarchy took over. So I started reclaiming the divine feminine in my life.
This easily melded with the need for our world to address the issues of climate change. Our survival as a civilization depends upon removing reliance upon fossil fuels. This is the big picture. In 200 or 500 years, it's highly unlikely that plastics will still be around, nor cars and trucks and planes running on fossil fuels. (Whether or not humanity is stil around is another philosophical question)
Then think forward as far as we think back to the ancient times. Ha! What will remain from our poor culture when it's buried beneath the soils?
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Please let me know what you're thinking. I'm mostly over on the other blog these days...Life in Durango.