Woman (Artwork)
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Hierophant Self Discovery / Knowledge :: The Paradise Papers. The Suppression Of Women's Rites. Merlin Stone
"Man enjoys the great advantage of having a god endorse the code he writes; and since man exercises a sovereign authority over women it is especially fortunate that this authority has been vested in him by the Supreme Being. For the Jews, Mohhamedans and Christians among others, man is master by divine right; the fear of God will therefore, repress any impulse towards revolt in the downtrodden female."
Simone de Beauvoir. The Second Sex 1949
"In his statement opposed to the ordination of women, Bishop A.L. Meyers said the Episcopalian priesthood is a 'masculine conception'.
'A priest is a "God symbol" whether he likes it or not. In the imagery of both the Old and New Testament God is represented in masculine imagery,' he said in a statement that was circulated among some 760 delegates at Grace Cathedral for the 2 and a half day convention.
'Christ is the source of Priesthood. The Sexuality of Christ is no accident nor is his masculinity incidental. This is the divine choice', the statement said."
San Francisco Chronicle
25 October 1971
"In the beginning there was Isis; Oldest of the Old. She was the Goddess from whom all Becoming Arose. She was the Great Lady, Mistress of the two Lands of Egypt, Mistress of Shelter, Mistress of Heaven, Mistress of the House of Life, Mistress of the word of God. She was the Unique. In all Her great and wonderful works She was a wiser magician and more excellent than any other God."
Thebes, Egypt Fourteenth Century BC
"Thou Sun Goddess of Arinna art an honoured deity; Thy name is held high among names; Thy divinity is held high among the deities; Nay, among the deities, Thou alone O Sun Goddess art honoured; Great Art Thou alone O Sun Goddess of Arinna; Nay compared to Thee no other deity is as honoured or great...Thou controllest kingship in heaven and on earth."
Boghazkoy, Turkey Fifteenth Century BC
"Unto Her who renders decision, Goddess of all things, Unto the Lady of Heaven and Earth who receives supplication; Unto Her who hears petition, who entertains prayer; Unto the compassionate Goddess who loves righteousness; Ishtar the Queen, who suppresses all that is confused....To the Queen of Heaven, the Goddess of the Universe, the One who walked in terrible Chaos and brought life by the Law of Love; And out of Chaos brought us harmony, and from Chaos Thou has led us by hand...."
Babylon Eighteenth to Seventh Centuries BC
"Hear O ye regions, the praise of Queen Nana; Magnify the Creatress; exalt the dignified; exalt the Glorious One; draw nigh to the Mighty Lady."
Sumer Nineteenth Century BC
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The Paradise Papers. The Suppression of Women's Rites. Merlin Stone (An Excerpt)
Preface
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?
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. As if in answer to our queries, yet another question presented itself. 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 endeavours? 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. How did this idea ever come into being?
Few 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. 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. 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.
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. In the struggle to achieve equal status for women, in a society still permeated by the values and moralities of Judaic-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. 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 prehistoric and early historic periods of human development, religions existed in which people revered their supreme creator as female. The Great Goddess - the Divine Ancestress - had been worshipped from the beginnings of the Neolithic periods of 7000 BC until the closing of the last Goddess temples, about AD 500. Some authorities would extend Goddess worship as far into the past as the Upper Paleolithic Age of about 25000 BC. Yet events of the Bible, which we are generally taught to think of as taking place, "in the beginning of time", actually occurred in historic periods. Abraham, first prophet of the Hebrew-Christian god Yahweh, more familiarly known as Jehovah, is believed by most Bible scholars to have lived no earlier than 1800 BC and possibly as late as 1550 BC.
Most significant is the realization that for thousands of years both religions existed simultaneously - among closely neighbouring peoples. Archaelogical, mythological and historical evidence all reveal that the female religion, far from naturally fading away, was the victim of centuries of continual persecution and suppression by the advocates of the newer religions which held male deities as supreme. And from these new religions came the creation myth of Adam and Eve and the tale of the loss of Paradise.
What had life been like for women who lived in a society that venerated a wise and valiant female Creator? Why had the members of the later male religions fought so aggressively to suppress that earlier worship - even the very memory of it? What did the legend of Adam and Eve really signify, and when and why was it written?
The answers I discovered have formed the contents of this book. The Paradise Papers - the Suppression of Women's Rites has been written to explain the historical events and political attitudes that led to the writing of the Judaic-Christian myth of the Fall, the loss of Paradise, and, most important, why the blame for that loss was attributed to the woman Eve, and has ever since been placed heavily upon all women.
Merlin Stone
The Paradise Powers - The Suppression of Women's Rites. 1976
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