REVIEW BY PEGI EYERS
I am so grateful to have read Goddess Lost and applaud how Rachel McCoppin has significantly enriched the Matriarchal Studies and Goddess Spirituality canon. In recent years, there have been detractors to the narrative of Proto-Indo-European invaders (i.e. Kurgan) dominating the peaceful, matrifocal cultures of Old Europe, and official recognition of the Paleolithic matrifocal society as a foundation for human organization has yet to be acknowledged in many academic spaces. But McCoppin does not need to engage with these controversies or debate with scholars – her meticulous research offers evidence that speaks for itself. I am not aware of any other book in Goddess Studies that has such a focused thesis, and her strategy is incredibly effective. No one reading Goddess Lost will be able to dispute that [1] strong Earth Mother deities were preeminent in societies worldwide, and [2] the women in those societies were leaders, and held power. This book is a powerful affirmation of women’s sacred importance as goddess, regent, queen, pharaoh, warrior, wisdom keeper, administrator and priestess.
The thesis of Goddess Lost is “to examine historical and mythic examples from around the globe to argue that when women were revered as sacred in religious belief systems, they were more likely to be respected socially. Conversely, when religious reverence of goddesses and sacred women declined in a mythological tradition, the social status of women also declined.” Beyond the patriarchal lens and brutal history of colonization, McCoppin traces the remnants of goddess reverence in Europe, the Middle East, the Mediterranean, India, Asia, Africa, the Americas and Oceania, to show that the worship of awe-inspiring female deities and divinities allowed women to have powerful religious and social positions, because their communities already recognized that women held power. A worldwide survey on this scale is a formidable task, but the layers of myth and fascinating links between them as revealed by McCoppin, makes Goddess Lost a joy to read. As men began to assert their power as warriors, the sacred religious narratives of matriarchal cultures were demeaned, obfuscated, and reversed. Demoting once revered goddesses was a universal process that occurred differently in each culture, and with keen logic McCoppin identifies the elements of female power that were a threat to the new social and political order.
Beginning in Europe, Upper Paleolithic cave art featured representations of the Great Mother, and the sacred feminine was expressed with bone, stone and ivory figurines that evoked both divinity and fertility, such as the renowned “Venus of Willendorf.” Throughout Neolithic Europe the concept of a Mother Goddess presiding over nature, agriculture and fertility, was indicative of societies with matriarchal rule, a female-centered social structure, and the worship of a primary female deity. In the late Neolithic and Bronze Age, several distinctive cultures broadly defined as Proto-Indo-European, expanded through the Pontic-Caspian steppes into Europe and Asia. These societies favored kingship, male sky deities and the valor of warfare, and the pattern as they grew to dominate was to incorporate the goddesses of a region into their own belief system, then marry the goddess to share power, and finally, to assume the role of those deities, frequently changing their names. In this way, as the goddesses were de-throned, the social rights of women were downgraded as well. “Neolithic values faded away in favor of Iron Age ideology and technology, and the role of women became viewed as secondary to the might of the Iron Age male.”
The thesis of Goddess Lost is “to examine historical and mythic examples from around the globe to argue that when women were revered as sacred in religious belief systems, they were more likely to be respected socially. Conversely, when religious reverence of goddesses and sacred women declined in a mythological tradition, the social status of women also declined.” Beyond the patriarchal lens and brutal history of colonization, McCoppin traces the remnants of goddess reverence in Europe, the Middle East, the Mediterranean, India, Asia, Africa, the Americas and Oceania, to show that the worship of awe-inspiring female deities and divinities allowed women to have powerful religious and social positions, because their communities already recognized that women held power. A worldwide survey on this scale is a formidable task, but the layers of myth and fascinating links between them as revealed by McCoppin, makes Goddess Lost a joy to read. As men began to assert their power as warriors, the sacred religious narratives of matriarchal cultures were demeaned, obfuscated, and reversed. Demoting once revered goddesses was a universal process that occurred differently in each culture, and with keen logic McCoppin identifies the elements of female power that were a threat to the new social and political order.
Beginning in Europe, Upper Paleolithic cave art featured representations of the Great Mother, and the sacred feminine was expressed with bone, stone and ivory figurines that evoked both divinity and fertility, such as the renowned “Venus of Willendorf.” Throughout Neolithic Europe the concept of a Mother Goddess presiding over nature, agriculture and fertility, was indicative of societies with matriarchal rule, a female-centered social structure, and the worship of a primary female deity. In the late Neolithic and Bronze Age, several distinctive cultures broadly defined as Proto-Indo-European, expanded through the Pontic-Caspian steppes into Europe and Asia. These societies favored kingship, male sky deities and the valor of warfare, and the pattern as they grew to dominate was to incorporate the goddesses of a region into their own belief system, then marry the goddess to share power, and finally, to assume the role of those deities, frequently changing their names. In this way, as the goddesses were de-throned, the social rights of women were downgraded as well. “Neolithic values faded away in favor of Iron Age ideology and technology, and the role of women became viewed as secondary to the might of the Iron Age male.”
Upper Paleolithic Cave Art and Feminine Icons
Each chapter in Goddess Lost begins with the original mythology of the region in relation to matrifocal deities, earth spirits and leaders in society, followed by details on the arrival of the patriarchal warlords, oppressors, sacred priests, and monotheistic religions. As a woman of Scots Gaelic descent, of personal interest was the sequence of events in Celtic lands, and how fertility goddesses connected to the prosperity of the earth sanctified the coronation of kings in a process known as the Sacred Marriage. There are many examples of powerful goddesses and socially superior women in the British Isles, but in their agenda to dominate, the patriarchy switched the Sacred Marriage to a new narrative of men owning women. Also, highly revered chthonic Earth Mothers found underground in serpentine caves and womb spaces were demonized by Christian forces, and reversed in mythic scenarios such as Saint George defeating the dragon, Saint Columba scaring away the Loch Ness monster, Saint Patrick driving the snakes out of Ireland, and in Germanic lands, Beowulf killing Grendel’s mother. In just a few centuries, honoring the Earth Mother tragically morphed into the killing of the Earth Mother.
The transition to patriarchal power all over Europe can be traced by the Indo-European language taking hold in Anatolian, Indo-Iranian, Celtic, Hellenic, Italic, Germanic, Armenian, Tocharian, Balto-Slavic, and Albanian lands. Through conquest, military elites, slavery, trade and hierarchy, male ascendancy rose at the same time as agricultural civilizations. In these new societies, divinity was imagined as male, most revered religious leaders were male, and the worship of primary and secondary goddesses were purposefully demoted or outright eliminated. With representations of divinity in female form now replaced, men were considered superior to women, and women soon became ostracized and excluded from meaningful work, education or leadership positions. Women were ruled by fathers and husbands, and forced into subordinate positions – a dynamic that has continued for millennia. Today, the religions that historically erased or reduced the power of goddesses still dominate the world: Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam – all philosophies that reinforce women’s inferiority and promote patriarchal systems.
The knowledge streams in Goddess Lost - embedded in worldwide mythology and folklore - are too numerous to mention in a brief review, but of key importance are the mythic tenets that show a deep, lasting reverence for the land goddesses, centuries after the domination of patriarchal ideologies. Countless groups worshipped a primary Earth Mother before encountering Indo-European patriarchies, Muslim expansion, Christianity or Western values. Moving ahead many centuries, and in the frenzy of European colonization, men were given total control over women’s agency and roles in both the domestic sphere and civic life. In Africa for example, oppressed by a foreign economic system and totally dispossessed, women who once held dominant social and religious roles were pushed into menial societal positions, and the worship of once powerful goddesses was in time forgotten. In the Americas and Australia, the same pattern of replacing goddesses with Euro-patriarchal models of divinity were repeated, which reduced the social power and spiritual leadership of Indigenous women. Despite the chaos of the holocaust that occurred in the Americas, many First Nations maintained their reverence for goddesses, matriarchal clan systems, and women as connected to female sources of spiritual power. Today, through miraculous acts of resistance and survivance, many contemporary First Nations women on Turtle Island continue to serve as religious and social leaders in their communities.
Goddess Lost draws on the most important Matriarchal Studies scholarship today, as McCoppin quotes relevant scholars such as Jeannine Davis-Kimball, Riane Eisler, Marija Gimbutas, Miranda J. Green, Patricia Monaghan, Vicki Noble, Merlin Stone, Johanna H. Stuckey and many others. By becoming educated about civilizations that worshipped goddesses above gods - and all the divine and powerful women in our own collective history - she urges us to influence the next generation by promoting the possibilities outside of patriarchy. Women have always been capable and strong - powerful healers, intellectual authorities and leaders - and formidable warriors as required. Goddess Lost is an excellent resource that will inspire us to fight for women’s rights to attain the power we are meant to hold, and to remember ourselves as sacred once again.
The transition to patriarchal power all over Europe can be traced by the Indo-European language taking hold in Anatolian, Indo-Iranian, Celtic, Hellenic, Italic, Germanic, Armenian, Tocharian, Balto-Slavic, and Albanian lands. Through conquest, military elites, slavery, trade and hierarchy, male ascendancy rose at the same time as agricultural civilizations. In these new societies, divinity was imagined as male, most revered religious leaders were male, and the worship of primary and secondary goddesses were purposefully demoted or outright eliminated. With representations of divinity in female form now replaced, men were considered superior to women, and women soon became ostracized and excluded from meaningful work, education or leadership positions. Women were ruled by fathers and husbands, and forced into subordinate positions – a dynamic that has continued for millennia. Today, the religions that historically erased or reduced the power of goddesses still dominate the world: Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam – all philosophies that reinforce women’s inferiority and promote patriarchal systems.
The knowledge streams in Goddess Lost - embedded in worldwide mythology and folklore - are too numerous to mention in a brief review, but of key importance are the mythic tenets that show a deep, lasting reverence for the land goddesses, centuries after the domination of patriarchal ideologies. Countless groups worshipped a primary Earth Mother before encountering Indo-European patriarchies, Muslim expansion, Christianity or Western values. Moving ahead many centuries, and in the frenzy of European colonization, men were given total control over women’s agency and roles in both the domestic sphere and civic life. In Africa for example, oppressed by a foreign economic system and totally dispossessed, women who once held dominant social and religious roles were pushed into menial societal positions, and the worship of once powerful goddesses was in time forgotten. In the Americas and Australia, the same pattern of replacing goddesses with Euro-patriarchal models of divinity were repeated, which reduced the social power and spiritual leadership of Indigenous women. Despite the chaos of the holocaust that occurred in the Americas, many First Nations maintained their reverence for goddesses, matriarchal clan systems, and women as connected to female sources of spiritual power. Today, through miraculous acts of resistance and survivance, many contemporary First Nations women on Turtle Island continue to serve as religious and social leaders in their communities.
Goddess Lost draws on the most important Matriarchal Studies scholarship today, as McCoppin quotes relevant scholars such as Jeannine Davis-Kimball, Riane Eisler, Marija Gimbutas, Miranda J. Green, Patricia Monaghan, Vicki Noble, Merlin Stone, Johanna H. Stuckey and many others. By becoming educated about civilizations that worshipped goddesses above gods - and all the divine and powerful women in our own collective history - she urges us to influence the next generation by promoting the possibilities outside of patriarchy. Women have always been capable and strong - powerful healers, intellectual authorities and leaders - and formidable warriors as required. Goddess Lost is an excellent resource that will inspire us to fight for women’s rights to attain the power we are meant to hold, and to remember ourselves as sacred once again.
This review originally appeared in S/HE: An International Journal of Goddess Studies, Volume 2 Number 2 (2023)
Published by Mago Books >Purchase Link<
Book description by Rachel S. McCoppin in the online journal
>Feminism and Religion<
Review of "Goddess Lost" by my colleague Margot Van Sluytman
>Feminism and Religion<
