Riane Eisler

Riane Eisler

Riane Eisler lives a lifestyle based on eco-feminism. She believes that we all live in a sexual and social equality and harmony in nature. In her book The Chalice and the Blade, she states Ð''that for a millennia...prehistoric societies worshipped the goddess of nature and spirituality, our Great Mother, the giver of life and creator of all.' The societies that believed in this one creator were structured and peaceful, much like the societies we are trying to create in today's world. The ancient cultures did not treat earth as an object for Ð''exploitation and domination' and believed in gender equality and respected women for their feminie values and life-giving gifts.

Approximately 3,500 years ago, there were many different groups of civilization around the world. Within these different groups women held important positions such as priestesses and craftspeople. They were not male dominant and tended to be quite peaceful. Eisler mentions the Gaia hypothesis in her article stating that Ð''in essence it is a scientific update of the belief system of Goddess-worshipping prehistoric societies'. Gaia is the Greek name for Earth and this hypothesis belief is that the Great Mother gives us all life and life's necessities.

When Archaeology was just beginning scholars found evidence of societies where men were not superior to women, therefor they assumed that men had been inferior to the woman. This opinion was not based on evidence, but what Eisler called Ð''the dominator society world view'.

These Goddess worshipping societies believed that spirituality and nature were one. In Minoan, Egyptian, Sumerian and various other ancient cultures, women became priestesses and served the Goddess. These cultures all gave their Goddesses important roles. Examples being the Sumerian Goddess Nanshe who sought justice for the poor and shelter for the weak, the Egyptian Goddess Maat who was the goddess of justice and the Greek Goddess Demeter who was known as the lawgiver. For thousands of years, as these societies formed their beliefs, everything was done in sacred manner. Harvesting was celebrated and living and working cooperatively was used to better their cultures.....