REVIEW BY PEGI EYERS
 | Believe it or not, there was a time in recent memory when powerful women were not part of the cultural landscape. For those of us coming of age in the 60’s and 70’s, discovering historical figures and role models for the first time was like bestowing a set of phantom wings to our bodies, as we floated free and rose from the abyss after centuries of collective feminine soul loss. |
I remember walking through Judy Chicago’s Dinner Party at the Art Gallery of Ontario in 1982 and thinking, why did I not know about my own motherline, or the other incredible accomplish-ments of women throughout time? And I was not the only one! After an initial period of grieving, and facing down the terror of charting new terrain, modern women got to work. Artists, feminists and scholars in Matriarchal Studies, Women's History and Goddess Spirituality began to produce a monumental body of work, and our worldview changed forever.
One of these towering and influential figures is Max Dashu, who has spent over 48 years excavating the western canon for evidence of women of power in Old Europe, early medieval history and indigenous societies. She founded the Suppressed Histories Archives in 1970, and her ongoing research engages Herstory worldwide, placing women at the forefront where we belong. Women who were repressed, banned, hidden and obscured - the priestesses, clan mothers, healers, shamans, water-witches, oracles, myth-makers, philosophers, warriors and rebels from our ancestral motherlines - have come to life through Max’s relentless dedication to "restoring women to cultural memory." As author, activist and artist, she continues to offer a rich collection of visual presentations, exhibits, courses, workshops, webcasts, and keynote talks that highlight women's resistance to patriarchal oppression, challenge stereotypes of race and class, and interrogate the structures of Empire.
One of these towering and influential figures is Max Dashu, who has spent over 48 years excavating the western canon for evidence of women of power in Old Europe, early medieval history and indigenous societies. She founded the Suppressed Histories Archives in 1970, and her ongoing research engages Herstory worldwide, placing women at the forefront where we belong. Women who were repressed, banned, hidden and obscured - the priestesses, clan mothers, healers, shamans, water-witches, oracles, myth-makers, philosophers, warriors and rebels from our ancestral motherlines - have come to life through Max’s relentless dedication to "restoring women to cultural memory." As author, activist and artist, she continues to offer a rich collection of visual presentations, exhibits, courses, workshops, webcasts, and keynote talks that highlight women's resistance to patriarchal oppression, challenge stereotypes of race and class, and interrogate the structures of Empire.
| Over the years, Max has slowly worked toward publishing this monumental body of work, and Witches and Pagans: Women in European Folk Religion 700-1100 is the first installment in the highly-anticipated series entitled Secret History of the Witches from Veleda Press. As an independent scholar, Max explores history, myth, archaeology, art, linguistics, pagan traditions and diverse spiritual philosophies, and makes this knowledge accessible by bridging the gap between academia and grassroots education. |   Max Dashu |
From my own perspective as a writer and educator on ancestral empowerment, the most beautiful aspect of Witches and Pagans is how it gives modern women permission to recover, restore, and rejuvenate pre-colonial traditions in our lives today. We are witnessing the failure of the patriarchy in the late-stage capitalism, massive change and climate disaster that surrounds us, and alternatives for creating a new sustainable society can be sourced from our own roots - in women’s work, women’s power, women's knowledge, and women's ceremony. The renaissance is underway, and Max's work affirms the innate capacity of the feminine to embody the ideals of reciprocity and care, and to mentor others in justice and earth remediation.
 "The Cailleach Bhéara" art by Max Dashu | From roots in paleolithic times, Max illuminates the unique abilities and skills of women connected to the wild, and the magic of the cosmos. From a wellspring of deep mysteries, the healers, witches and seers of Old Europe held a vast repertoire of magic, and earth-based healing practices in service to their own communities. |
With powerful connections to the Goddesses, elements and spirits of place, the wisewomen in our female heritage worked with chants, poetry, songs, charms, divination, rituals, herbcraft, plant medicine and other tools. The Suppressed Histories Archives has a special focus on female iconography from all over the world, and the origins, or etymologies, of key words such as "wicce," "pagan" and wyrd." Much to my delight, Witches and Pagans has become the definitive sourcebook for creation myths on the megalithic "Old Shes" and powerful Celtic women in my own Scots Gaelic and Anglo-Saxon traditions!
Within a vast complex of traditions, for millennia the ancestral "Old Goddess" in northern Europe was considered a primordial being, a Creatrix more ancient than the Earth. Having super-human strength, vitality and endurance, these mythic "Old Women" or colossal giantesses could harness the elemental powers of stone, wind, water and fire. In Ireland and Scotland, the many versions of the archaic Cailleach myth speak of matrilineal origin stories, Elders who "carry all the knowledge," Crones who help travelers in distress, protectors of wildlife, and guardians with extraordinary powers. The Irish Cailleach Bhéara and Scottish Cailleach shaped the landforms and waters of the region, and built megalithic tombs, passage graves, womb-like crucibles, earth formations, sacred sites, monuments, standing stones, cairns and mounds. Alternatively, the "cailleachan" were nomadic herdswomen, spinners and weavers, supernatural women connected to animist sanctuaries, or associated with the Scottish deer goddess (Glaisteag).
Within a vast complex of traditions, for millennia the ancestral "Old Goddess" in northern Europe was considered a primordial being, a Creatrix more ancient than the Earth. Having super-human strength, vitality and endurance, these mythic "Old Women" or colossal giantesses could harness the elemental powers of stone, wind, water and fire. In Ireland and Scotland, the many versions of the archaic Cailleach myth speak of matrilineal origin stories, Elders who "carry all the knowledge," Crones who help travelers in distress, protectors of wildlife, and guardians with extraordinary powers. The Irish Cailleach Bhéara and Scottish Cailleach shaped the landforms and waters of the region, and built megalithic tombs, passage graves, womb-like crucibles, earth formations, sacred sites, monuments, standing stones, cairns and mounds. Alternatively, the "cailleachan" were nomadic herdswomen, spinners and weavers, supernatural women connected to animist sanctuaries, or associated with the Scottish deer goddess (Glaisteag).
 "Pictish stone with Snake, Mirror and Comb" ~ Art by Max Dashu |  Pictish Serpent Stone ~ Aberlemno, Scotland |
Reading through the amazing compilation of Celtic Goddesses, primordial myth-makers and wisewomen in Witches and Pagans, my own soul memories were awakened, and I could feel the potential of my motherline once again. Many of the tales felt familiar somehow - some as close as my own skin - and astounding revelations rose up from the female sphere of power. I knew these women, and I knew those places, and I have experienced that deep time! The spirit guardians of sacred springs, shines, holy wells and groves of trees; shapeshifters and animal ally-companions; storytellers, peace-keepers, rune-readers, midwives, and shamanic women that travelled in the spiritual worlds - all these are marvels that sing to the soul.
| In an epic collection of narratives from the ancient beginnings of European indigeneity to practices kept alive through the centuries, Witches and Pagans provides the threads for reclaiming our mystic talents and abilities as the witches, wisewomen and Elders of today. |  "The Weird Sisters" art by Max Dashu |
Stories of the Earth Mothers, Goddesses such as Arianrhod, the Wyrd, Morrigan and other raven shapeshifters, the Faerie Faith, sorceresses, soothsayers, enchanters, diviners, dream-readers, witch-herbalists, encounters with healers in nature sanctuaries and Mother's Night Traditions are all incredibly inspiring. "All that is old is new again" and we can continue to commune with the ancestral dead and the spirit world; visit sacred trees or holy wells; practice divination and healing rituals by invoking the pagan deities and powers; create weaving and spinning magic with spells, omens, amulets and prophecy; and enliven our practice with wands, staffs and oracle bones.
And yet uncovering these treasures has not been easy. History and myth is incomplete, with many gaps and missing pieces. For centuries, women's wisdom and mysteries were systematically demonized by the leaders of the Christian hierarchy in Europe. Most of the written records that survive had one sole purpose - to obstruct folk religion, and reinterpret European paganism according to a patriarchal worldview. Scholars who worked with this material historically (and in our time) have also been patriarchal, which has continued to marginalize women, earth-based spirituality and the sacred.
And yet uncovering these treasures has not been easy. History and myth is incomplete, with many gaps and missing pieces. For centuries, women's wisdom and mysteries were systematically demonized by the leaders of the Christian hierarchy in Europe. Most of the written records that survive had one sole purpose - to obstruct folk religion, and reinterpret European paganism according to a patriarchal worldview. Scholars who worked with this material historically (and in our time) have also been patriarchal, which has continued to marginalize women, earth-based spirituality and the sacred.
(C) WITCHES AND PAGANS: WOMEN IN EUROPEAN FOLK RELIGION
In the face of this erasure we are indebted to Max Dashu's particular talent, which peels back the layers of rhetoric and propaganda, and uncovers the empowered female realities hidden deep within. It takes an astute scholar to decolonize the western canon, someone who knows exactly how the patriarchy operates, and yet can delve beneath the damaging layers of religious pressure and patriarchal oppression to find authentic narrative and meaning. As evidenced in Witches and Pagans and the upcoming volumes in the Secret History of the Witches series, separating out the hidden strands of folkways, matricultures and animist customs from the "diabolist ideology" of white capitalist-abled cisheteronormative patriarchy is at the heart of Max's work.
Her ethnohistorical approach to integrating myth, folk religion, philosophy and the archaeological record provides a truly unique portal into our spiritual past. Throughout the long grim years of Christian domination, Empire-building and witch hunts, the wide-ranging narratives in Witches and Pagans recover and reinstate the ancient memories, symbols, mythic folkways and essential lore that continued on in Europe, and that can still nourish us today. For all those practicing cultural recovery work and nature-centered spiritualities, this brilliant series will heal our separation from each other, our European ancestry, and Earth Community. In my own work, my heart soars knowing that the divine otherworld female has been retained and expressed in our Celtic consciousness and tradition.
Thank you Max Dashu, for this incredible gift to the world!
Her ethnohistorical approach to integrating myth, folk religion, philosophy and the archaeological record provides a truly unique portal into our spiritual past. Throughout the long grim years of Christian domination, Empire-building and witch hunts, the wide-ranging narratives in Witches and Pagans recover and reinstate the ancient memories, symbols, mythic folkways and essential lore that continued on in Europe, and that can still nourish us today. For all those practicing cultural recovery work and nature-centered spiritualities, this brilliant series will heal our separation from each other, our European ancestry, and Earth Community. In my own work, my heart soars knowing that the divine otherworld female has been retained and expressed in our Celtic consciousness and tradition.
Thank you Max Dashu, for this incredible gift to the world!
Highly recommended, with extensive notes and exhaustive references, Witches and Pagans: Women in European Folk Religion 700-1100 is available from Veleda Press.
 | Pegi Eyers is the author of Ancient Spirit Rising: Reclaiming Your Roots & Restoring Earth Community, an award-winning book that explores strategies for intercultural competency, uncolonization, recovering an ecocentric worldview, rewilding, creating a sustainable future and reclaiming peaceful co-existence in Earth Community. Available from Stone Circle Press or Amazon. |
