Venus of willendorf

[Michael Grove]

Once upon a time, many moons ago, before the first cities arose, people lived in harmony with nature. Women were honored and loved, for they carried the great mystery: the ability to give birth and create life.

They honored their menstrual cycles by burying their moontime blood under a sacred fruit tree.

The tree was known as the tree of life.

They drank the wine from the fruit of the tree in ceremonies to honor the divine. The wine was given to kings, for it associated these men with the power of creation, and gave these honored protectors the blessings of The Goddess.

This is the truth behind the story of

The Holy Grail.

It is the basis of all communion ceremonies, the original creation story, and the deepest hidden secret under the Dome of The Rock in Jeruslem, A Muslim Holy site that was once a Temple of The Goddess. Some men quested for power and control... They did not want to share power or status with the priestesses. The Muslims drew their swords and stormed the temple, while the Hebrews developed a new creation myth: one that put the man in the role of life bringer. The story was of a man, who gave birth to a woman!

How silly you say? No One would ever believe that! The story was of Adam, giving birth to Eve from his rib. It was not the first such story. They took the idea from the tale of how Buddha was born from his mothers rib.

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The story prevailed, not because it made sense, but because the tellers were men of conquest and power. They used fear to terrorize the young and indoctrinate them into their cult. Patiarchies are like that. They use fear, and war as their weapons of assimilation. In the dark ages, they burned over a million women at the stake, not because they were witches, but because they were respected herbal healers who still worshiped the Olde way.

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The Goddess religions have been all but wiped out, and the patriarchies now rule. Why? Because the followers of Earth Based Spirituality do not engage in war or propoganda. We have no need to grow our church or witness to potential converts. We have no holy books to defend or protect. Mother Earth speaks her truths, whether we exist or not. That's why you have never heard of "The Pagan Wars." We live, we die,
we diminish, with no monuments to mark our passing. We flow with the current of the universe, knowing that nature will continue to speak our truths, long after we are gone.

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NATURE is our religion, and the eternal cycle our holy book.

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Today, we see war condoned in the name of the patriarchal gods of Allah, Jesus and Jehova. The divine is not understood by these people as part of a circular pattern emulating nature, but it is now a linear theology of One shot...either up to heaven or down to hell.

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And the king suffers.

And the land lies in ruin.

Until the day when The Holy Grail is found, once again.

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First Posted by Kelly Bell on August 22, 2006 at 10:00

• 
• Kelley Bell
• Gaia Child

TIME to consider the negotiating MINDSET of the likes of 

Good "Queen" Ethelfleda and that of our Commonwealth's

very own Queen Elizabeth II - as an important component

of the meshwork-solution to the problems which we face.

Access: Public

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about 1 month later

Michael said

Follow the not dissimilarly shaped PRISM book-mark - and take the trail to my nature photo album

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about 1 month later

Michael said

or maybe a read of this - will make a connection

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5 months later

Nishtha said

Beautifully written Michael!
Thank you for your efficient and effective eloquence…. ;-)
N.

Leave Your Wise and Insightful Comment

[Michael Grove]

A 14-year-old Texan stirred a considerable amount of controversy last week with a quippy 

sign protesting the state’s sweeping new abortion restrictions. Tuesday Cain’s message, written

on brilliant pink poster board, read: “Jesus isn’t a dick, so keep him out of my vagina.”

Soon after, an image of Tuesday and her advice to Texas lawmakers started making the rounds

on Twitter, and reproductive rights opponents (and jerks on social media) wasted no time in

losing their damn minds over it.

On Monday, Tuesday’s father, Billy, came to his daughter’s defense, writing for the Guardian that

he was proud of Tuesday’s willingness to stand up for her convictions — and her basic human

rights — by coming out to protest the law (with some serious flair)

[Michael Grove]

The human race almost certainly originated in East Africa, where our australopithecine

ancestors are known to have lived at least 6 million years ago. The genus Homo made its

first appearance around 2 million years ago and not long afterwards, groups of hominids started

to fan out from their African homeland in search of new food sources. These early migrants

from the species Homo erectus are thought to have reached Southeast Asia via the Near East,

and they may have penetrated southern Europe. A second wave of migration began about

800,000 years ago. As the early humans adapted to their new homes and to the various

environmental and climatic conditions that they found, different sub-species and races 

developed, among them Java Man, Peking Man and, in Europe Homo heidelbergensis and

the Neanderthal race. Meanwhile, in Africa, a new type of human evolved - one that would

eventually spread across the globe and supplant others. Homo sapiens sapiens, the modern

human race, dates back to about 100,000 years ago and around 40,000 years ago the species

reached central Europe and had arrived in Australia.

The Americas were the last continent to be populated

- by settlers crossing from Asia by way of the Bering

land bridge. The very success of Homo sapiens

sapiens in displacing all of its rivals is due to y[our]

species' greater mental capacity and, in particular, its

complex language skills. Human culture took a giant

step forward in the latter part of the Old Stone Age,

from about 40,000 to 10,000 years ago.

It was during this time when humans were

beginning to shape the environment which they

lived in and as they did so they began to feel the

need to express themselves through art. Art seems

to have been an exclusive preserve of y[our] species.

The number of works they produced increased

dramatically in the course of the last Ice Age as

y[our] ancestors spread around the world. The rock

drawings and engravings they created still have a

very powerful impact today, as do the small human

and animal figurines that the first sculptors carved

out of mammoth ivory. This carved limestone figure

gets its name from where it was found, near the

village of Willendorf in Austria. It stands just 11cm (4.3in) tall.

[Michael Grove]

I thought your post was very well written and really interesting. I have taken many art history classes and the Venus of Willendorf is one of the most influential sculptures to date. Since then, depicting women in art has evolved dramatically but remained a key theme over time. It is funny to think that such a small and simple artifact can have such a huge importance in history and be so highly revered when it looks as though a five year old could make it with play-doh. But I think it ultimately reflects the evolution of the human brain and the way it works as various cultures progress and develop. The people of the Paleolithic cultures value fertility in a woman above all, but hundreds of years later, let’s say English people of the Middle Ages nobility, value obedience and wealth in addition to fertility. As cultural values transform, the impact they have an artistic themes and elements shifts as well.
By examining the lineage of the “Venus” figures, you can see this notion take shape, from Venus of Willendorf to Venus de Milo to Venus of Urbino.

What is also interesting as you refer back to often, is the concept of symbolism. Almost every archaeological discovery has an attached symbolic meaning of some sort. Who is to say what hair symbolizes? Can it not just be a simple depiction?Personally, I think that using symbolism is an important tool for archaeologists to help piece together bits of information to form a whole picture and further develop their understanding of a culture that we have little connection to.

http://anthropology.msu.edu/anp264-ss13/2013/03/28/venus-of-willend...

[Michael Grove]

http://fendersen.holeinthewallhosting.com/Venus.htm