Gimbutas '' The Chalice And The Blade'

There have been a great amount of speculation regarding the “Venus Figurines” and what they may have represented. Apart from Gimbutas interpretation of them being representations of the Great Mother Goddess and others being of worshippers, they have been considered to be reflections of the male appreciation of the female body, or as fertility figures. Some interpretations have suggested they were pornographic, created by and for the benefit of men. (Nelson, 2004). According to Nelson, taken as a whole, these figurines need to be studied further and that probably they could be symbols of different things based on where they were found and how they were left. Conkey and Tringham stated “her single interpretation of the material culture: the

That her work was pivotal in advancing the feminist movement is thought to be undeniable. In Modern Pagan culture, it was a key basis for Feminist Spirituality. Riane Eisler’s The Chalice and the Blade (1987) drew heavily on Gimbutas’ work. This book used Gimbutas' ideas as its cornerstone for arguing that features of modern civilization such as patriarchy, warfare and competitiveness are recent historical developments, introduced by the villainous Indo-Europeans. Eisler claims, “the ills of modern civilization can be blamed on its unbalanced embrace of masculine values.” Societies that cherish the Earth, as Gimbutas and Eisler argue that the Old Europeans did, would not waste their wealth on nuclear arsenals, nor would they allow life on the planet to be threatened by environmental problems. (Leslie, 1989). Merlin Stone’s book When God Was a Woman (1976) was influenced by Gimbutas and by Grave’s books as was Starhawk’s Spiral Dance: The Rebirth of the Ancient Religion of the Great Goddess. While most Pagans embrace Goddess Movement theory, not all feminists agree and feel that having a “Goddess” as a rallying point is counter- productive to the feminist movement. “The true believers in the fundamentalist faith of the Fall from Matriarchy and the Overthrow of the Mother Goddess

They point out that although the idea of a matriarchal, Goddess worshipping society in prehistory is not a new concept, the resurgence of interest in the wake of Gimbutas and her followers (ie: Eisler, 1987: Gadon, 1989) have led to the formation of social phenomena. Ecofeminism, Neo-Paganism, Spiritual Feminism, Covens, Witches, healing groups, and inspiration to dance and art are attributable to the Goddess Movement. According to Conkey and Tringham, a December 1992 issue of The Phoenix Republic, reported that, according to Megatrends, more than 500,000 people (most, but not exclusively women) identify with various aspects of these ideas and issues. (Conkey: Tringham, 1995, p.206). While the feminist/New Age "Idyllic Goddess" theory is not an intellectually-respectable hypothesis, and has been rejected by scholars, it has been embraced by the flourishing Neo-Pagan people because of their probably preconceived notions. Much of the Goddess influence in pagan circles was based on earlier works by such authors as Graves, Bachofen, Frazer and Murray. Gimbutas, as a renowned and respected archaeologist who presented material “proof” in Great Goddess worship and in an Old European