![]() ![]() ![]() Some authorities would extend Goddess worship as far into the past as the Upper Paleolithic Age of about 25,000 BC. The Great Goddess-the Divine Ancestress-had been worshiped from the beginnings of the Neolithic periods of 7000 BC until the closing of the last Goddess temples, about AD 500. In prehistoric and early historic periods of human development, religions existed in which people revered their supreme creator as female. It allows us to comprehend the role that contemporary religions have played in the initial and continual oppression and subjugation of women-and the reasons for this. In the struggle to achieve equal status for women, in a society still permeated by the values and moralities of Judeo-Christian beliefs (which have penetrated deeply into even the most secular aspects of our contemporary civilization) we soon realize that a thorough examination of this creation legend, alongside its historical origins, provides us with vital information. The expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden is not exactly the latest news, but few contemporary happenings have affected women of today any more directly. We are also made to understand that, as a result of this act, it was decreed by God that woman must submit to the dominance of man-who was at that time divinely presented with the right to rule over her-from that moment until now. Generally, during the most impressionable years of childhood, we are taught that it was this act of eating the tasty fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil that caused the loss of Paradise, the expulsion of Adam and Eve, thus all humankind, from this first home of bliss and contentment. How did this idea ever come into being?įew people who live in societies where Christianity, Judaism or Islam are followed remain unaware of the tale of Eve heeding the word of the serpent in the Garden of Eden, eating the forbidden fruit and then tempting Adam to do the same. What else might we expect in a society that for centuries has taught young children, both female and male, that a MALE deity created the universe and all that is in it, produced MAN in his own divine image-and then, as an afterthought, created woman, to obediently help man in his endeavors? The image of Eve, created for her husband, from her husband, the woman who was supposed to have brought about the downfall of humankind, has in many ways become the image of all women. As if in answer to our queries, yet another question presented itself. This book is the result of my reactions to these and similar questions which many of us concerned about the status of women in our society have been asking ourselves and each other. How did it actually happen? How did men initially gain the control that now allows them to regulate the world in matters as vastly diverse as deciding which wars will be fought when to what time dinner should be served? ![]()
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