The original conception of the goddess is that of Mother Earth

[Guest guest]

>

> Nicole beautifully framed her thoughts with these words: " We have

> the unique privilege to live two lives in one, one material, one

> spiritual, let's enjoy it fully. " i would want to copy it and

> say " We have the priceless privilege to live with two Divine

> Mothers, one physically without, one spiritually within, let's

> enjoy it fully. " By that i mean no disrespect to our own mothers

> and Mother Earth. The Divine Feminine is indeed raising us humans

> in all Her forms - let's enjoy them fully!

>

 

Primordial Goddess

(Mythic)

 

What we know about prehistoric goddess traditions comes to us from

archaeological record and remnants of oral traditions, such as

the " Old Woman " of the Aboriginals in Australia. The original

conception of the goddess is that of Mother Earth, the sacred female

force responsible for the creation of the earth and all its flora and

fauna. The goddess was the universal soul, who accepted plant,

animal, and human matter in death in order to create new life from

the remains. Original depictions of the Primordial Goddess are

symbolic and date back to the Paleolithic era (Lower Paleolithic

2,500,000 B.C. to 120,000 B.C.; Middle Paleolithic, from 300,000 to

30,000 B.C.; and Upper Paleolithic 30,000 to 10,000 B.C.). Many

images represent the vulva, often with a seed or an eye. Depicting a

seed was a way to link the female body with the reproductive

capabilities of nature. Believed by many scholars to have been part

of early goddess worship traditions, some have theorized that these

images could be linked to early matrilinear or even gynocratic

practices in which women, particularly mothers, were responsible for

governing the community.

 

Worship of the Primordial Goddess flourished during the Upper

Paleolithic era, and many scholars believe that during this period,

the female body was used to explain the phenomena that prehistoric

people observed in nature. The goddess, as the divine creator, was

mirrored in each woman's body; she was linked to the changing

seasons, the behaviors of the animals that early people hunted, and

the various observable cosmological patterns. The cycles of nature

were reflected in the cycles of the female body, such as

menstruation, pregnancy, birth, and lactation. Stylized images of the

female body have been found on cave floors, most of them emphasizing

only one body part, such as the breasts, genitals, or buttocks; this

anatomical emphasis may have linked the feature's biological function

with other observable processes in nature, such as animal

reproduction, the growth and flowering of plants, or the cycles of

the moon.

 

Beginning in the late Paleolithic period and continuing throughout

the Neolithic era (around 10,000 B.C.), a major transition took place

in which people began to live in organized communities, to

domesticate animals, and to farm. With the end of nomadic life came a

dramatic shift in ideology. Although the Primordial Goddess was the

original model, as later goddess traditions developed, she was given

different roles according to the beliefs and spiritual needs of the

people who worshipped her. The tradition of the Mother Earth Goddess

can be seen reflected in many different conceptions of the divine

feminine including the Greek mother goddess, Gaea, the original

inspiration for the Primordial Goddess place setting. Regardless of

the many forms she takes that are celebrated globally, all goddess

traditions owe something to the early worship of and appreciation for

the Primordial Goddess.

 

Primordial Goddess (Mythic)

www.brooklynmuseum.org/

 

Translations, Editions, and Secondary Sources

 

Ann, Martha, and Dorothy Myers Imel. Goddesses in World Mythology.

Oxford, UK and New York: Oxford University Press, 1993

 

Eisler, Riane. The Chalice and the Blade: Our History, Our Future.

1987; reprint ed. New York: HarperCollins, 1995.

 

Gadon, Elinor W. The Once and Future Goddess: A Symbol for Our Time.

San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1989.

 

Gimbutas, Marija. The Goddess and Gods of Old Europe: Myths and Cult

Images. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1982.

 

Husain, Shahrukh. The Goddess: Power, Sexuality, and the Feminine

Divine. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2003.

 

Leeming, David Adams. Goddess: Myths of the Female Divine. Oxford, UK

and New York: Oxford University Press, 1994.

 

Ruether, Rosemary Radford. Goddesses and the Divine Feminine: A

Western Religious History. Berkeley: University of California Press,

2005.

 

Sjoo, Monica. The Great Cosmic Mother: Rediscovering the Religion of

the Earth. 1987; 2nd ed., San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1991.

 

Sprout, Barbara, ed. Primal Myths: Creation Myths Around the World.

1979; reprint ed., San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1991.

 

Stone, Merlin. When God Was a Woman. San Diego: Harvest Books, 1978.