Author/Artist's
Statement
We are currently
experiencing an accelerated shift in consciousness and spirituality
which I describe and extrapolate in my book. By re-interpreting
and revitalizing our mythological heritage, I promote the empowerment
of women and the liberation of both women and men from the intellectual
grip of social stereotyping. I also pay tribute to the beauty
and sanctity of Mother Earth. The images in the book are based
on universal, matriarchal and multicultural mythologies that I
re-interpret for readers who are seeking to get away from the
restraints of a stale social system in order to liberate themselves
and unlock their creativity.
From the
book
Earth, Spirit
and Gender:
Visual Language
for the new Reality
All of the world's
religions, myths and archetypes are inventions of human minds.
Since the deepest recesses of prehistory, humans have been spinning
tales that subsequently evolved into their religions. These original
mythologies were gradually transformed through the millennia,
providing humanity with new forms of belief and archetypes that
reflected the many changes in its social structures. In the past,
each socio-religious shift was always mirrored by a change in
the visual images that those cultures produced. As new images
were created, they reflected all the changes in social directions.
This transformations continue today in order to give birth to
the new, gender balanced and multicultural social order.
As most societies
changed from matristic to patriarchal paradigms, their religious
mythologies and their archetypes increasingly projected the masculine,
while obscuring or obliterating the feminine. This slow and gradual
process took many thousands of years. The first, matristic civilizations
were many thousands of years old, and most scholars date them
beyond 35,000 BCE The conversion to patriarchy began about 5,000
years ago. This time span is comparatively short within the context
of the totality of human history, and current social changes indicate
that we are witnessing the development of yet another social model.
During this period of transition, planet Earth is experiencing
a dawning of the new possible future - that of a partnership society,
a term first used by Riane Eisler in her book, titled The Chalice
and the Blade. Within this new culture, female visions, myths,
archetypes and values will be allowed to co-exist with the surviving
components of patriarchal culture. We are already beginning to
experience an accelerated shift in consciousness and spirituality.
My art works
attempt to describe and predict this shift. This transformation
within our society is both physical and spiritual, and it is deeply
affecting all human beings. It is bringing into focus the need
for inclusion of submerged female values that lie dormant under
the layers of the dominator model's militaristic and hierarchical
society. Historically feminine values, which many men and women
are now beginning to adopt, regard world peace as essential. They
also promote reverence for all ecosystems, advocate love and compassion
as cardinal functions of a civilized society, accept the belief
in the interconnectedness of earthly and spiritual realms, and
respect the inherent rights of each human being to pursue his
or her freedom. All these issues are visually and symbolically
represented in my art works, and the text of this book is regarded
by me as an extension of my visual statements. The main source
of inspiration for my art is drawn from prehistoric, ancient,
Native American and other cultures that, in part, are predecessors
of a new world that I envision. These cultures provide me with
unlimited number of myths, archetypes and symbols to recreate,
recombine, revise and incorporate into my art works.
FROM CHAPTER
TWO: THE FACE OF MOTHER GOD In order for humanity to succeed in
transcending the patriarchal social structure and step into the
portal of a gender-balanced society that is spiritual, peaceful
and respectful of Mother Earth, it is necessary to readjust and
rethink our myths, archetypes and religious beliefs. As we have
seen, all organized religious systems that presently function
within the dominant cultures visualize their God exclusively in
male form. My belief is that in order for a society to succeed
in transforming itself into a new, egalitarian structure that
is spiritually and ecologically conscious, it is imperative that
both women and men should be able to visualize God in both female
and male forms, with equal ease.
Only when humanity
is able to revive, re-accept and re-absorb the image of the omnipotent
and universal creator as female, the gender-neutral or genderless
concept of God can be brought out for philosophical discussion,
and accepted by humanity on both conscious and unconscious levels.
Since a single-gendered patriarchal culture has been dominant
world wide for over two millennia, it is impossible for the majority
of human beings to visualize an all powerful creator in the body
of a woman. Even if the concept of God is dematerialized into
a pure energy or spirit form, this spirit-energy is usually perceived
by the human mind on a subconscious level as either all masculine
or more masculine than feminine.
Artists usually
place the male God, or the male divine Trinity in the heavenly
realm, residing on a layer of clouds and surrounded by lower ranking
spiritual beings, most of which are also male. Even the priesthood,
considered by many organized religions to be spiritually superior
to lay people and, therefore, closer to God, is still predominantly
male. In spite of this, God-the-Mother was never totally excised
from the genetic code and the subconscious minds of human beings.
She appears in Christianity as the Virgin Mary, the Mother of
God, and she is the occult Mother God in the psyches of most people
who were raised as Christians. Even as you read this book, the
role of the divine feminine is being re-evaluated within the Christian
establishment, and some clergy and religious philosophers are
ready to incorporate the original sacred feminine of early Christianity
into contemporary organized religion, equating God-the-Mother
with either the Holy Spirit or the Virgin Mary, or both. Some
propose that she could be perceived as the mother of the divine
son and the divine daughter. On the other end of the spectrum
of Christianity is the complete public denial of the existence
of God-the-Mother.
Since the Reformation,
many branches of Christianity have minimized or erased the role
of the Mother of God, and the devotees of these religions are
still deprived of the joy of celebrating the divine feminine principle
in its veiled form. The need for this void to be filled is now
emerging. My Latin heritage has gifted me with the variety and
richness of the images of a Great Mother, providing me with an
easy transition between the time of discovery of ancient myths
of the world, that include the divine feminine principle, and
the realization that the sacred feminine must surface into the
mainstream of our society. Discovery of the old myths and archetypes
came early in my life. I learned to read by the time I was five
years old, and I was immediately attracted to the world's myths
and religions that worshipped God in female as well as male form.
The study of matristic religions and civilizations became my life-long
passion.
Images of the
divine feminine started to appear in my childhood sketches, and
later in drawings and paintings created during my undergraduate
studies at Arizona State University (1969-1973). Ultimately, they
evolved into a series of art works on the theme of female spirituality
during my graduate studies at Florida State University (1974-1975).
During my college years, my investigation into the prehistoric
and ancient cultures led me to the realization that the Great
Mother was worshipped all over the globe before male gods were
invented by humankind. Although she had thousands of names, depending
upon the geographical locations and languages in which she was
worshipped, she was consistently believed to be the creator of
all that exists. She was omnipotent, the giver and taker of life,
the provider of abundance and fertility in nature. She ruled over
the earth, the waters, and the sky. She was worshipped as the
Great Creator of humans and animals.
Both the earthly
and the heavenly realms were believed to be equally loved by the
mother of all. The religion of the Mother permeated all aspects
of human existence: all that was, and all that will be. The status
of women in those matriarchal cultures was equal to the position
of men. Female sexuality and spirituality were respected, and
human beings shared a profound respect for their environment,
a respect that bordered on reverence. The trees, the plants and
the creatures that inhabited planet Earth were presumed to have
equal place with human beings in the world of the Great Mother.
Top of page