Such a good point about the Venuses not looking pregnant! It's always puzzled me how Neolithic people could also be that size given their diets...and maybe that's the point? A kind of beauty ideal of abundance and plenty? I wonder if this was at all relates to their idea of fullness, satiation, and absence of hunger.
Elsewhere someone I know who has worked caring for the elderly said she believes these are elder women's bodies. "The softening, the sagging, this is a beautiful, post menopause, matriarch's body," she wrote. I love this idea.
OK, so I have had this idea and maybe someone has already done it, but I'm always wondering, why the hell aren't archeologists doing shamanic journeying to gather more information about prehistoric sites? And, because you wouldn't want to taint the unconscious of new archeologists (or really, whoever wanted to dive in to this practice) your shamanic experience would of course be an initiation after which you could read the accounts of all the journeys others had taken. They would have to be secret, for a specified or unspecified amount of time, because of the aforementioned possible tainting of the unconscious. But it's quite possible there could be overlap and really interesting information uncovered. I am saying this to you now because I too spend an inordinate amount of time thinking about prehistoric life and awareness. I even had a ceramic artist make me a copy of the Dreaming Goddess of Malta which is of course on my dream altar. Of course I'm realizing now that maybe this has already been done, but because it has to be secret nobody knows about it. Maybe I should go on my own journey and see what comes up. Will report back. Will not use AI, sorry.
Hi Stephanie — I LOVE this idea. I haven’t read of any archaeologists doing this. My gut tells me that it would be too risky on the professional level — that the field isn’t there yet, and so individual archaeologists are probably loath to risk their careers/reputations on something like this. However, I have read some academic archaeoacoustic studies that sound like they became a little shamanic in practice, even if that wasn’t the intent. Sometimes the academics sound pretty stirred up and expanded by the end of the paper. Which makes sense, since the experiments involved standing in caves and testing resonance.
Also wanted to draw your attention to the work of my friend @Gabriela Gutierrez, an independent scholar and shamanic practitioner who uses ritual states in her work. She’s currently researching women’s wisdom traditions, particularly prehistoric bee cults. Think you’d enjoy her work!
Thanks for the recommendation. Perhaps someday we will all get on board with the possibilities available to a collectively expanded consciousness...I'm going to just keep doing what I'm doing--and writing and painting about it-- in the meantime!
I very much hope you do! Would love to see what comes of these experiments. By the way, I listened to the Martha Beck conversation — really remarkable. Thank you for recommending x
Virginian Woolf a huge winner. The other ones didn't have any juice or soul for me. As for the fertility goddesses, I have just been reading a good and surprising book on evangelical christianity and the abolition movement, An Emancipation of the Mind, by Matthew Stewart. I have learned that mid nineteenth century slavery was almost entirely within the US and not from the Africa trade and was conducted by breeding women and selling their children for market, which highly lucrative. The most valuable capital was the woman's womb. Same old same old.
My teacher for shamanism and spirituality, Jan Birchfield of Antara in Taos, is a senior disciple of Sri Amritananda Mayi, q.v. Amma (not to be confused with the many other women gurus so nicknamed) is a manifestation of Kali, but I am told she holds the view that this aspect of the divine mother is too much for Americans now because their mother wound is so deep and unaddressed. Nonetheless the images of Kali from her ashram move me deeply and sustain parts of my practice.
Thank you so much for sharing, Cleo. Absolutely fascinated by this and by the rich depth and spread of your investigations. I hope we’ll have more conversations to come.
In the middle of writing a new novel. One of the main characters discovers as a young woman, who is 'infertile' though future policy, she still changes from child to parent. She still is the chalice, the soil, the body, the earth no matter what. An insight, an awareness, that will have a huge impact on the story's unfolding. Beautiful to see a similar thought, and imagery, here....
Your posts are always insightful and make me think about things differently. I don’t have anything to offer on the figurines. From a male point of view of course there is a fascination with the female form and it’s difference to the male form, the rational scientific approach describes and does not really understand in a holistic sense. Perhaps the mystery is necessary. Certainly the human body has many mysteries to reveal, something I have discovered with my cancer experience last year. Blessings.
Thanks so much for reading. I think you're right -- some element of mystery is definitely necessary. But I think our culture has lost its ability not only to sit with mystery but also to recognize it in the first place. It's become an unknown unknown.
Such a good point about the Venuses not looking pregnant! It's always puzzled me how Neolithic people could also be that size given their diets...and maybe that's the point? A kind of beauty ideal of abundance and plenty? I wonder if this was at all relates to their idea of fullness, satiation, and absence of hunger.
Elsewhere someone I know who has worked caring for the elderly said she believes these are elder women's bodies. "The softening, the sagging, this is a beautiful, post menopause, matriarch's body," she wrote. I love this idea.
Oh, I love that theory!
I've read that, too. They were the wisdom keepers.
OK, so I have had this idea and maybe someone has already done it, but I'm always wondering, why the hell aren't archeologists doing shamanic journeying to gather more information about prehistoric sites? And, because you wouldn't want to taint the unconscious of new archeologists (or really, whoever wanted to dive in to this practice) your shamanic experience would of course be an initiation after which you could read the accounts of all the journeys others had taken. They would have to be secret, for a specified or unspecified amount of time, because of the aforementioned possible tainting of the unconscious. But it's quite possible there could be overlap and really interesting information uncovered. I am saying this to you now because I too spend an inordinate amount of time thinking about prehistoric life and awareness. I even had a ceramic artist make me a copy of the Dreaming Goddess of Malta which is of course on my dream altar. Of course I'm realizing now that maybe this has already been done, but because it has to be secret nobody knows about it. Maybe I should go on my own journey and see what comes up. Will report back. Will not use AI, sorry.
Hi Stephanie — I LOVE this idea. I haven’t read of any archaeologists doing this. My gut tells me that it would be too risky on the professional level — that the field isn’t there yet, and so individual archaeologists are probably loath to risk their careers/reputations on something like this. However, I have read some academic archaeoacoustic studies that sound like they became a little shamanic in practice, even if that wasn’t the intent. Sometimes the academics sound pretty stirred up and expanded by the end of the paper. Which makes sense, since the experiments involved standing in caves and testing resonance.
Also wanted to draw your attention to the work of my friend @Gabriela Gutierrez, an independent scholar and shamanic practitioner who uses ritual states in her work. She’s currently researching women’s wisdom traditions, particularly prehistoric bee cults. Think you’d enjoy her work!
Thanks for the recommendation. Perhaps someday we will all get on board with the possibilities available to a collectively expanded consciousness...I'm going to just keep doing what I'm doing--and writing and painting about it-- in the meantime!
I very much hope you do! Would love to see what comes of these experiments. By the way, I listened to the Martha Beck conversation — really remarkable. Thank you for recommending x
Virginian Woolf a huge winner. The other ones didn't have any juice or soul for me. As for the fertility goddesses, I have just been reading a good and surprising book on evangelical christianity and the abolition movement, An Emancipation of the Mind, by Matthew Stewart. I have learned that mid nineteenth century slavery was almost entirely within the US and not from the Africa trade and was conducted by breeding women and selling their children for market, which highly lucrative. The most valuable capital was the woman's womb. Same old same old.
Thank you for this, Cleo. That is fascinating and terrible and rings tragically true. It sounds like a great book.
Would love to know if you have any alternatives to my chosen more-than-fertility goddesses here!
My teacher for shamanism and spirituality, Jan Birchfield of Antara in Taos, is a senior disciple of Sri Amritananda Mayi, q.v. Amma (not to be confused with the many other women gurus so nicknamed) is a manifestation of Kali, but I am told she holds the view that this aspect of the divine mother is too much for Americans now because their mother wound is so deep and unaddressed. Nonetheless the images of Kali from her ashram move me deeply and sustain parts of my practice.
Mata AmritanandaMayi Devi, True form as kali
https://images.app.goo.gl/3NCyFQr48jv3hsBp6
Thank you so much for sharing, Cleo. Absolutely fascinated by this and by the rich depth and spread of your investigations. I hope we’ll have more conversations to come.
In the middle of writing a new novel. One of the main characters discovers as a young woman, who is 'infertile' though future policy, she still changes from child to parent. She still is the chalice, the soil, the body, the earth no matter what. An insight, an awareness, that will have a huge impact on the story's unfolding. Beautiful to see a similar thought, and imagery, here....
Sounds like a powerful character; I'm always glad to see that kind of ancestordom represented. Thank you for sharing!
Your posts are always insightful and make me think about things differently. I don’t have anything to offer on the figurines. From a male point of view of course there is a fascination with the female form and it’s difference to the male form, the rational scientific approach describes and does not really understand in a holistic sense. Perhaps the mystery is necessary. Certainly the human body has many mysteries to reveal, something I have discovered with my cancer experience last year. Blessings.
Thanks so much for reading. I think you're right -- some element of mystery is definitely necessary. But I think our culture has lost its ability not only to sit with mystery but also to recognize it in the first place. It's become an unknown unknown.