Sunday inspiration: We’ve come a long way, baby
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The Age of Cancer, approximately 6000-8000 bce, was marked by the rise of agriculture as a more reliable means to feed humanity than simple hunting and gathering. The Moon, ruler of the nurturing and sign Cancer, became elevated to goddess stature and we begin to see cults of the “Mother Goddess” and fertility cults. With people beginning to settle into homes and communities, paternity could not be established but maternity could, so the lines of family origin were traced through the mother. This matrilinear culture persisted through the Age of Gemini (approximately 4000-6000 bce) which continued the establishment of communities and language, and into the age of Taurus (approximately 2000-4000 bce)
Under the influence of the warlike Age of Aries (approximately 2000 bce to the beginning of the common era) the concept of monotheism arose and with it a more patriarchal warrior society to defend the single god. The role of women became diminished (they are hardly mentioned in the Hebrew bible) and while societies remained matrineal in nature they were ruled by men and dependent on them economically.
This continued through the Piscean age (approximately 0-2100 ce) with the rise of the ancient Church and its denigration of sexuality and emphasis on the idea that any man born from woman is born in sin. While some women rose to power through family connections it was a relatively rare thing and women held no government positions unless they were of royal blood. They were unable to attend school and were subservient to their male relatives. If they attempted to take on too much power in their societies they were looked on suspiciously and for about 300 years burned as […]
