Goddess of Laussel, Europe circa 20,000 B.C.E.

There is a pic of her here:

http://jblstatue.com/pages/laussel_goddess.html

The Great Goddess of Laussel, France, is the direct descendant of the Great Goddess of Willendorf. Carved in limestone over the entrance to a cave that was both a dwelling place and a ceremonial site, she was painted red, the color of life, blood and rebirth. With her left hand she points to her belly, and in her right she holds a horned crescent marked with 13 lines, the number of moon cycles in a solar year.

The Great Goddess of Laussel represents an ancient honoring of the female body mysteries: the reflection in our bellies of the waxing and

waning of the moon,the shedding of our menstrual blood as the moon sheds her brightness. She shows us how to touch our bodies lovingly, how to caress our bellies in appreciation of their magical powers of lunar renewal.

This Great Goddess embodies the wisdom of cyclic time: That all of existence evolves not in a straight line, nor even in a circle, but in a

spiral of eternal growth. We come round to the same place on the wheel, yet we are at a different turn of the spiral. We have learned from the

past, and are able to move through this new- and also old - place more easily than before.

Carved markings on othe European Paleolithic artifacts, some shaped like the female body, correspond to the cycles of the moon. Perhaps these earliest human notations were women's records of their menstrual cycle, the precursors of writing and mathematics. The survival of gatherers, hunters and farmers depends on a knowledge of the moon's phases, and until recently lunar reckoning has been an integral part of all cultures.

People have used caves such as the one protected by the Great Goddess of Laussel throughout time as the most sacred sites for ritual rebirth. In

many Paleolithic caves, formations shaped like breasts are painted red or black. The soot of countless fires has darkened the ceilings, and the

floors have been beaten down by many feet. In some cases, one must crawl through long tunnels to reach the central chamber, at times with one's

face to the ground. For most of us, this act would be an initiation in itself.

That this was only the beginning of Paleolithic ceremonies gives us a hint of the power of such experiences, and of the spiritual depth of the

ancients. When we enter a cave or a cavelike space such as the Hopi kivas, we enter the womb of the Earth Mother, and our very molecules are

rearranged by being inside her. Placing ourselves in her trust, we allow our old selves to fall away, and we emerge renewed.

***

O Great Goddess, teach me the sacredness of my body. Remind me how to touch my body lovingly, how to caress my belly in appreciation of its

wisdom. Help me remember how to honor the female mysteries, the mysteries of blood and time.

***

Imagine such a Goddess carved over the entrances of our churches, synagogues, temples - or over the entrances to supermarkets and schools. Picture yourself making offerings to her when you enter a building. Remember that for 25,000 years almost all images of human beings were female, revered in public as sacred. How would living in such a culture make you feel differently about women? About the world?