Link between Sacred Feminine and Civilization?

I talked in the last post about a possible link between the strength of the cultural concept of the Sacred Feminine and the fertility of the land. I also made mention of a book that I'm currently reading called "The Sacred Prostitute: Eternal Aspect of the Feminine" by Nancy Qualls-Corbett.

While I'm only about a 1/4 of the way into it, I have to admit that I'm a bit disheartened. She's pulled out some decent examples of the role of the Sacred Feminine in ancient cultures which have been lost to us through time and the villianization of the Feminine. Specifically, as you can guess from the title of the book, she's looking at the role that the prayer-through-sexuallity priestesses carried.

What has me rather disheartened is that so far there is zero mention of the role that the Goddesses played in bringing civilization to humanity. For example, Inana-Ishtar is the goddess credited with that role, but she was also associated with love, fertility and passion. The author focuses exclusively on her on-going roles and basically gives a nod to the whole "BRINGER OF CIVILIZATION" role. She brings up the Epic of Gilgamesh in which the wise king Gilgamesh has the wild-man Enkidu sleep with a sacred priestess and after laying with her for 7 days he is transformed from wild man into human, capable of thinking and acting like a man now instead of an animal. That the author utterly whiffs on this as an example of the civilizing power of the Sacred Feminine had me grinding my teeth.

She also overlooks the role of Athena, which is very nicely covered in Elizabeth Wayland Barber's book "Women's Work: the First 20,000 Years". Barber talks about the symbolic power struggle between Poseidon and Athena for the patronage of Athens. Originally, Athena was the patroness of weaving -- the very first of the technologies which allowed humanity to begin taming and controlling his environment for his own use. The myth of Arachne illustrates Athena as the weaver, not to mention highlights the Dark Feminine response to being bested in a contest where pride is at stake. Anyway, the people of the city asked both Athena and Poseidon for a gift to demonstrate why they would be the better choice for the city. Athena's gift was an olive tree, and Poseidon sent them a large wave. The olive tree blocked the wave and saved the city, ensuring that Athena became the patroness of the city.  Here is the quote from the book relevant to my point here:

Pg 242: "... Athena is the beneficent deity that protects humans and makes them prosper, pushing back the untamed forces of nature represented by Poseidon. More exactly, she represents everything that human skill and know-how can accomplish; she is a goddess of "civilization" itself."

Indeed, even the olive tree is a manifestation of humanity's ingenuity and ability to take what was wild and make into something useful -- the domestication of fruit trees. Alas, no mention of this myth is found within Qualls-Corbett's references because she's focusing on the role of sex.

There is one reference I recall reading but cannot place, which Qualls-Corbett has overlooked. In parts of ancient Greece, when men returned from long campaigns, they were considered to be unfit to enter the city. By going to war, they had reverted to their uncivilized, animalistic selves -- it's why they succeeded! But in order to be allowed back into the city, they first had to have sex with the priestesses, which would restore them to their Manhood, what we today would phrase as "return them to their Humanity".

I would argue that the role of the Sacred Prostitute, or Hierodule (priestess whose duty includes sexual functions), is a manifestion of a woman's civilizing influence on men as well as a manifestation of her procreative powers.

Alas, somewhere along the way this vision got horribly perverted. Myths such as Pandora's Box ('box' being a very old euphamism for female genitalia) as well quips by Pythagoras such as "There is a good principle which created order, light, and man, and an evil principle which created chaos, darkness, and woman." It's no secret in the least that the later Atheneans were not too fond of women in general. This sentiment is echoed throughout much of the later middle east and is carried into Europe by the Christians, until eventually women are the very embodiment of the evil temptress sent to seduce men and thus prevent him from attaining spiritual perfection. This idea is the foundation behind the Church barring women from any leadership roles, a stance which continues to this day but was hardly part of the founding principles. There are examples of females bishops in the early church, a fact which was attempted to be struck from the record until recent digs unearthered the murals depicting them and their stories.

Despite all of this, women still remain a civilizing influence on men. All you have to do is walk into a long-term bachelor's house and listen to a woman's typical response to what she finds. It's women who insist on manners and proper behavior, though men definitely have their own code of ethics when they deal with each other. It's women who traditionally tend the house, and the house and household is the heart of civilization. The Vestal Virgins may not have included sex in their duties, but as priestesses of Vesta -- "Vesta represents the sacred heart or hearth of the home, the central fire which supplies heat and on which food is cooked. Nourishment and warmth, home and the center are Hers" -- they were the epitome of the Feminine which is indeed the center of the home and the source of warmth (love, children, caretaking, nourishment). This to me is the epitome of the Sacred Feminine, the true Majesty of the Feminine.

This is the role that I said I wanted to take up, even though I didn't have the language. Indeed, finding that language has been the purpose of this blog! What is truly amazing to me is that, after I left my job of 7 years, people who knew me came to my husband who still works there, asking why I left. He replies simply that I stopped working so that I could focus on taking care of him. He brags that he now gets 3 home-cooked meals a day and so far has lost 16 pounds in 3 months. He loves coming home to no worries in terms of household stuff because I've been able to do it. As a result, now we have time to spend together without me worrying about all the things I haven't had time to do. He reports to me that several women have replied to his stories with a wistfull "I'd do that too, if I could" and so far my actions have inspired three different men to have a talk with their wives about them working in the home, at least of those who've gone back and talked again with my husband.

The more I look around and see the Feminine manifested in her Glory, the more I realize how immensely powerful she truly is -- quietly powerful. There's no need for chest-beating or demands for recognition as to her contributions. She KNOWS exactly how majestic and magnificent She is. It's us mortal women who've been listening to several thousand years of blame and anger and villanization by men who themselves have never even glimpsed her Light Side that require the recognition etc. Instead, we've focused on the Dark Side of the Feminine for millenia. It's time to shift our focus! I can't change history, but I can set some examples for going forward. I'm certainly far from perfect and therefore can never really manifest the fullness and majesty of the Sacred Feminine, but I damn sure can try. I'm really really hoping at least one reader of this blog is inspired to try the same, in her own unique way.

-- Lioness (in training)

Correlation between Strength of Cultural Feminine and Land Fertility

Last year I read a book called "The Triple Goddess: An Exploration of the Archetypal Feminine" by Adam McLean. Now I'm reading a book called "The Sacred Prostitute: Eternal Aspect of the Feminine" by Nancy Qualls-Corbett. The combination of these books along with this blog and the books by Alison Armstrong as well as archetypal discussions had by Caroline Myss on her Sacred Contracts radio show has me thinking about the subject of Femininity, Masculinity, Patriarchy and Matriarchy through multiple different filters.

Within Qualls-Corbett's introduction, she's talking about the passing out of active consciousness of one aspect of the Divine Feminine which occurred at the same time as the rise of patriarchy as a social system. Now I'm relatively familiar with the rise of civilization in the middle east and its progression through the systems. Since Qualls-Corbett is specifically lamenting that this aspect of the Divine Feminine is absent from modern Western culture, I know to bring the roots of that culture into the picture: Christianity and pagan Europe.

Christianity, as one of the Abrahamaic religions, is pretty firmly patriarchal. Despite this, the Divine Feminine remained a powerful figure in the form of the Virgin Mary, and to a lesser extent in the Lover Mary -- whether you want to argue Mary Magdelene was a literal or idealogical lover of Jesus is still hotly debated, but in either manifestation she is the Lover. My question upon seeing this was: Why? To my limited knowlege, neither of the other Abrahamaic religions has a positive Divine Feminine to speak of. Why the difference? Why did Christianity, which became entrenched in temperate Europe, retain a Divine Feminine while the other convert-seeking religion, which became entrenched in largely arid climates, not have one?

It suddenly struck me: Land of Origin.

When Christianity moved from arid climes into more temperate ones, and the people converted from their polytheistic systems into it, they refused to allow the Divine Feminine to fall into obscurity. A sort of mini-cult around the Virgin Mary developed, and no matter what the early Church tried, this adherence and reverence remained staunch. So they gave up and just went with it, even further elevating this impossible Virgin Mother ideal far beyond the emulative reach of mere mortal women -- and then they villified the Lover into a reformed Prostitute, making her likewise one not to be actively emulated. But Europe and the people there were steeped in the fertility of the land. The Mother Earth was everywhere, and she cannot be stopped -- controlled and channelled, but short of poisoning the land the earth all around the Europeans was immensely fertile.

Compare this image with the arid climates, in which the fertility of the earth is less abundant, less in-your-face. Oases and river valleys are the centers of life, but surrounding this is harsh and unforgiveable land. There is little softness in the desert -- it is hard and cruel, prickly and unwelcoming. It then is not a huge stretch to imagine the Protector Masculine swinging into action to corral, contain, cultivate and protect what precious little active fertile land is present from others who would seek the same -- a haram of land, adopted by and emulated within the society. Women then are precious resources, to be tucked away and hidden lest they be stolen away.

I live in Southern California now, having grown up on the East Coast. What a contrast! If you haven't experienced it, this approach may not make sense but having seen both, I can now easily see the correlation between what the land is doing and how it manifests in stories and the native cultural psyche.

So here it is in a nutshell: I would posit that there is a correlation between the strength of the Cultural Feminine and the level of Land Fertility -- more fertility means a stronger feminine, less fertility means a weaker feminine identity. It's certainly an idea I've never seen anywhere else before, and it might actually make for a very interesting Masters dissertation.

In our modern way of life, we don't even bother to pay attention to when the sun rises and sets anymore, and even fewer have any realistic awareness of the native fertility of the land on which they live. For the average person, food is derived from grocery stores, not gardens or farms. The Solstices are just dates on a calendar. I could see, given this, that our connection to both the Divine Feminine and the Divine Masculine is currently rather compromised. If this is the case, where might this lead us as a people? Is it a positive or negative thing? Is reconnecting with the Divine Manifestations part of the process of reclaiming and celebrating my own individual femininity?

-- Lioness (in training)