[pf] The Chalice and the Blade

by Jill Taylor Bussiere

21 December 2000 14:54 UTC

My sister and I are reading _The Chalice and the Blade_ by Riane Eisler.
Ms. Eisler is a scholar who has studied archaelogical and historical
studies/evidence of early agricultural societies.

I have always been fascinated with hunting/gathering societies, and with all
ancient societies, and with the human trend toward agriculture, and what
that has meant for humans and the earth.

There is a theory that agriculture itself dictates hierarcy and inequality,
as a means to apportion the food which could be stored in agricultural
societies, and to maintain the specialization of tasks of later agricultural
societies.

Ms. Eisler explores this theory.  She challenges the predominant theory of
cultural evolution as well, as I am sure some of you do too - that we are
progressing, and getting better and better - that dominance is a human
reality, etc. etc.

The first thing that really got my attention was her description of
petroglyphs.  Image from my youth - game on the wall, painted by hunters
(men), and often represented with spears near by, depicting the hunt.
Hunters through evolution become warriors.

Eisler describes the early history of archaeology - predominately men,
looking for treasure with financial reward for the backers involved because
of the treasure that would be found, which would be bought either for
private enjoyment, or later, for display in museums.  This approach is very
different than archaeology today, which involves teams of diverse
professionals, secular, including women.

She describes the petroglyphs in a different way:  that they were most
likely painted by women, that the "weapons" depicted are perhaps not spears,
but rather plants.  The cave sanctuaries, figurines, burials, and rites,
seem to relate to a "belief that the same source from which human life
springs is also the source of all vegetable and animal life - the great
Mother Goddess or Giver of All.  They also suggest that our early ancestors
recognized that we and our natural environment are integrally linked parts
of the great mystery of life and death and that ll nature must therefore be
treated with respect.  This consciousness - later emphasized in Goddess
figurines either surrounded by natural symbols such as animals, water, and
trees or themselves partly animal-evidently was central to our lost psychic
heritage.  Also central to that lost heritage is the apparent awe and wonder
at the great miracle of our human condition: the miracle of birth incarnated
in woman's body.  Judging from these early psychic records, this was a
central theme of prehistoric Western systems of belief."  p.3

Her reason for writing the book is to explore the change of human societies
from a "partnership" model to a "dominator" model in Western Civilization.
Her purpose is not to propose going back or going forward in any particular
matter, but rather to understand human possiblities so as to be more able to
intervene in our own cultural evolution.

I have only finished the introduction and the first 2 chapters, but I am
really enjoying the book!

                                   Jill