grandmother stones megaliths of the elder kindreds The megalithic sanctuaries, stone circles, and statue-menhirs are the foundational culture created by the elder kindreds of ancient Europe. Max Dashu provides a visual overview of the female menhir-statues of France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Sardinia, even Germany. She lays out their similarities to Algerian and Ethiopian menhir-statues, and explores recurrent symbolism such as the "ancestor-face" and swirl-patterns in megalithic chambers. These early monumental women are omitted by nearly all histories and minimized even in many archaeological surveys. The cultural focus on ancestral mothers suggests matrilineage, while the communal burials in the megalithic womb tombs ("passage graves") reflect a collective clan-oriented society. See the powerful symbolism of the petroglyphs at Gavr'inis, Bru na Boinne, Loughcrew, Bouhôa, and get a taste of the ancient cultures that preceded Greece and Rome by thousands of years. a visual presentation by Max Dashu

priestesses

I count the grains of sand on the beach and measure the sea.
I understand the speech of the mute and hear the voiceless.
---Delphi Oracle, in Herodotus I, 47

Holy women, ritual leaders and temple mothers: an illuminating voyage through ancient art and modern photos of priestesses performing sacraments. How women create sacred space: historic sanctuaries and living indigenous traditions of female spiritual leadership in Africa, Asia, Europe, the Americas, Australia and the Pacific Islands.

the women's drum

"...the turban-wearing women of Asian Kybele...with drums and bullroarers and booming of bronze cymbals in their two hands make great sound...celebrating her who is the wise musician of the gods and healer as well."

Four thousand years of women drummers: a stunning array of female musicians, shamans and celebrants from Mali, India, Siberia, Chile, Asia Minor, South Africa, Kansas, Eritrea, Spain, Canada, Yemen, Peru, Uzbekistan, Korea, Iran, New York, Algeria, Timor, and more .

the mysteries: birth sacraments

In the house with the tortoise chair/ She will give birth to the pearl/ To the beautiful feather...
There she sits on the tortoise/ Swelling to give us birth/ On your way, on your way/
Child be on your way to me here/ You whom I made new... --Aztec poem

Sacraments of conception, birth and child-blessing, in art from every corner of the world. Women's ritual culture around the passage into life (and possible death) through the body and blood of mothers. Birth huts and labyrinths, spirals and breastpots.

women elders

"Whoever does not know my name and my house, you can be sure they are from somewhere else!"
---La Celestina, 15th century play about a Spanish alcahueta

Clan leaders. Wisewomen. Oral historians. Healers. Rebels. Drummers. Dancers. Sibyls. Witches...
The social vulnerabilities of old women in patriarchal societies. Stereotypes and witch hunts. Survivors. Old women as resisters, radicals, non-conformists, activists, and leaders. Divinity as Old Woman: Omosi-mama (Manchu), Nana Buruku (Fon), Chhala Pachcho (Oraon), Cailleach Bhéara (Irish), Xi Wang Mu (China), Befana la Strega, la Vecchia (Sicily).