Matriarchal Societies of the Ancient Past

There are different ages, or yugas, on the planet and each expresses a different configuration of energy. As the astrological energies, the planetary configurations and spatial energies change, the development of consciousness upon the planet changes and so there are different ages. In the different ages different types of energy patterns gain predominance. These are sometimes called archetypes. These archetypes are configurations of energy patterns. The feminine archetype was fully manifested during the matriarchal era.

Matriarchy was well developed at an early time, long before recorded history. Matriarchal societies progressed down through the ages until perhaps 10,000 or 11,000 years ago when these societies, one by one, began to decline and be replaced by more aggressive, warlike and patriarchal societies. Before that time they were in their heyday. The matriarchy that developed in the old European region was a part of the matrilineal heritage of that era. Atlantean society also had a matriarchal base. Although there were other influences, it was primarily matriarchal. Most societies of that time, simple or complex, were matriarchal. After that period came a steady increase of patriarchal domination at large and many changes took place in human culture. Some matriarchal societies did survive but in general they were somewhat diminished after that period. They did not have the full scope of power that they previously enjoyed.

During the period from approximately 45,000 BCE to approximately 8,000 BCE there was a predominance of matriarchal societies upon this planet. During this time there were a variety of independently developed cultures. Human beings had already spread throughout the world and were living in all parts. In the beginning there were both the present human forms and the proto-humans. They both lived at the time. The proto-humans, at the time of the development of matriarchy, were, in the main, a dying species. The present day human was the rising form, the rising star of that time. The number of humans upon the planet was small and as they spread to different parts of the world they became isolated and developed independent languages and independent cultures. But some streams of human development were brought together. And it is a fact that there was also extraterrestrial influence in this development.

Now, in the beginning of matriarchy, the human beings lived primarily in very simple conditions. They were hunters and gatherers. They roamed the countryside getting their food from the abundance of the earth around them. These people were primarily organized in clans or tribes and the different tribes were small. If they became too large, they would burden the food resources of a particular area and they would break apart and again become small. In this way the small bands of people, small tribes, spread farther and farther out to inhabit the earth.

There were tribal identities. So many of these small clans would belong to one tribe, so many to another and they would have their primary territories. But there was quite a bit of land, many natural resources, and life was abundant upon the planet. There was not much competition between people. The strength of a clan depended on the health of its children who would be strong boys and girls to hunt, bear children and preserve the clan. So the role of the mother became very significant. There was no marriage system; the mothers ruled the clans. All knew who their mother was, but who the father’s identity was often unclear. It was a communal situation; there was no marriage per se. So the mother was the great figure. All could remember and honor the mother who took care of them in their childhood, but as to the father, this was a mystery. No one knew nor cared. All that they knew was the link to the mother. This was true in almost all of these societies. However, as they developed more, this changed. But for many thousands of years, there was no emphasis upon fatherhood, only motherhood. The children would look to the mother. And a woman who had ten sons and daughters was a very wealthy person for she would have the honor of all ten children, were they healthy and strong and living to their adulthood. With her children themselves having children, a mother would become highly honored in the clan.

Now, all her children and her children’s children would look to her and say, "Oh there is my mother, and there is my mother's mother. She is so great. She is the mother of my mother." She would get much praise and much honor from her loving children and so her place in the clan would be very high. In this way the clan mothers gained a great deal of status. Those with the most children had the most status. Those who bore many healthy, strong children and who lived through child-bearing became highly honored. They were respected for being mothers, for bearing the children. This was their great feat in life. The mother became worshiped as the source of nurturance, of love and compassion, and the protector and caregiver for the clan.

Then a kind of ancestor worship came into being; "My mother's mother's mother was a great woman. She had fifteen children and she could keep us all safe throughout the coldest winter. She did so many wondrous feats." In this way the mothers of the past became worshipped and this ancestor worship became the first religion of these people. The stories of the great mothers of the past grew and grew and pretty soon they were known for accomplishing great feats, for having great powers to protect and nurture the clan. They were seen as goddesses. Carvings were made to worship them and images were painted upon the rocks. In so many ways they were worshipped. Certain ceremonies began to be performed to worship the mother of the mothers, known by many different names. The worship of goddesses began with this ancestor worship, the first religion. "It was my mother's mother who could do these things." As it became five generations down, ten generations down, soon the mother's mother's mother's mother became a goddess. The people put their trust and love in the mothers and in this way found comfort and protection.

All of these mother gods were very protective. Some were very soft and comforting; some were very fierce and warlike. But all protected their children. They were the nurturing, protecting force for the clan. When a small band of people lives alone in a vast wilderness, they may feel some need for protection. These people found that very mystical events would sometimes occur. Then the clan began to develop certain rituals to evoke the protection of the great mothers of the past. They began to develop certain ceremonies, chants, drawings, carvings and practices to bring forward the power of the great mothers of the past; to nurture and protect them, to make sure they had food throughout the whole season so that no one froze, no one starved, no one died of hunger. This was the job of the great clan mothers, to protect the clan. These were hunter-gatherer societies. For the hunt to be good, they felt that they must be blessed by the mothers and they began to give certain offerings.

There began to be one designated leader. She was often a woman who had a number of children and was particularly good at child rearing. She was one who could direct the children and keep their loyalty and faith. So it began that such clan mothers would guide the clan in its journeys. The hunters would worship the clan mother and they would bring treats of meats and fish and wild foods for the mothers. They would make a special place for them to sleep and these women would perform ceremonies to bless the hunters before the hunt, to make them strong and virile, to make them brave, to bring the animals in so that they would be there for the hunt, and to avert the dangers. It was felt that a clan with a powerful clan mother would have a far greater advantage over one that did not.

It began to be felt that these women had supernatural powers and that if there were not a strong clan mother, a clan could not survive properly. If a clan began to have illness, began to diminish in numbers, began to have hunger in the winter, all thought that there were defects with the clan mother and a new mother would be chosen for the clan. For it was the duty of the mother to make certain that her clan grew in numbers, was healthy and prosperous, and the hunts were successful. These were the duties of the clan mother and she would perform all the ceremonies, all the rites, to make certain that these things occurred. Then the hunters and all of the people of the clan gave great worship to the mother. When the mother died, a statue would be carved and she would be worshipped, put in a special place, kept in a special compartment for those great mothers of the past.

Then it began to be that the mothers, in order to perform their duties for the clan, which were rigorous, would evoke the powers of the great mothers of the past. A powerful clan mother was thought to have extraordinary powers to evoke the powers of the ancient ones and to control the birds in the air, the fish in the streams and the animals. If there were a powerful clan mother, it was felt that no wild creature would dare attack the clan and that the hunts would come to them. Such great clan mothers were given great respect, not only in their own clan, but also in all the surrounding clans. People would say, "Such and such clan is very great for their clan mother is a great holy woman who can perform so many miracles. Their clan will prosper for one-hundred years." So it was felt that these clan mothers had great capacities and if a clan did not prosper, it was for the lack of such a great clan mother.

These were the ways of the ancient matriarchal societies. For thousands upon thousands of years it went thus. It was a simple and a friendly life. There was no need for war. What was there was in abundance. Occasionally one clan would skirmish with another or take over another. A clan with a strong mother that was considered to have powerful magic might absorb a weaker clan that had no strong mother to guide it. But generally that was not considered aggressive because that poor clan was without guidance and they were very happy to have a powerful clan mother to help them. In this way, sometimes one clan would absorb another, but generally speaking, there was a great deal of land; game was in abundance and these people were nomadic. There was no need to fight each other; there was nothing to fight over. These people did not build cities.

As time went on and the societies became more developed, the tendency to nomadic life began to shift. The clans became larger. Those successful clans with powerful clan mothers did not want to disband. They wanted to stay together and so the people began to think, "How shall we live in such a way that we will not be apart from each other?" And they began to settle down, to cultivate the earth and to remain primarily in one locale. For a certain part of the year they might go to a different place and then return but still they began to settle primarily in certain areas. They began to grow in size so that the clans became tribes and the tribes became small nations, city-states that housed many thousands of people. Here the people, having a more sedate life, began to build abodes for themselves, began to till the soil and began to tame the animals for their use.

Now, the role of the clan mother became somewhat different but not at all diminished. There was no need for increased numbers as there was in the nomadic society, but there was a need for blessings upon the land; that the land should bear harvest, that the game should come to them each year, that there be a peaceful and abundant relationship with the natural surroundings. So again the clan mothers ruled the society, but they were no longer simple women who had borne children with great success. They became priestesses and a system of temples developed for the worship of the great goddesses, originally those ancient clan mothers who became known for their capacity to protect and guide their clan. Down through the ages, they became worshipped as the mother's, mother's mother. As these women’s progeny grew in numbers, they became the great goddesses from the ancient past who protected and guided the people. They were the matron saints of those societies. The people thought that these goddesses from the ancient past required temples to be built, buildings in which they would be exclusively worshipped. They felt that if they could evoke the goddess’ power that the people would prosper as they had in the original clans in which these great mothers were so powerful. So the temples to the different goddesses were established. The goddess worshipped in each city-state would be the ancient mother's mother who successfully guided the clan from whom the people descended. So they would have different goddesses in the different city-states.

As the system of city-states began to further develop and the hunter-gatherer societies became more settled, many of these societies began to stop their annual pilgrimage to a different region for the colder months. They began to simply stay in one place. Hence the city-states began to be the norm. In about 15,000 BCE this became the popular mode. The entire Mediterranean region was covered with city-states. They spread north along the Atlantic up into Ireland and the British Isles and then some scattered states were in present-day France, Spain, and Great Britain. Even into the Scandinavian region were a number of these city-states. They grew inland around the Baltic Sea and there were some in northern Russia. In India they settled in the Indus valley, along the southern coast near what would now be Mumbai, Channi, in the southern coastal region and down to the island areas of Celon. In the northern parts of the African region and in the southern parts these city-states developed. In the east there were no city-states at this time, their development followed a different track.

There were also city-states on a continental rift that existed, a kind of long and thin landmass that skirted from about North Carolina south past Mexico in the Atlantic. It was long and thin; a fragment of a previous continent that was a mountainous region separated by an inland sea from another portion of the continent in the area now called the eastern coastal region and the Gulf of Mexico. When it broke apart, sections drifted in different directions. What is now Florida was a part of it and present-day Greenland was connected to it. With the separation of this land mass, a part drifted south to become part of South America. There are islands along South America that are part of this. There was an adjustment of land masses.

Development during the matriarchal period in this region was somewhat independent but there were connections. There was development in the inland portion of the continent that developed south of Mexico, in the area that is now Venezuela and into the great Andean mountains. Several nations developed, one in the Andean region, one in the Mexican region and one that has been referred to as Atlantis on the outer limb across the inland sea. In this rift there were five or six major centers of population as it was well inhabited at that time.

Still there was no system of marriage. Only in very rare pockets were men recognized as husbands. Warriors were greatly worshipped for their capacity. Men had their place in those societies but all those men loved their mothers and no one knew or cared who their father was. They were the sons of their mothers and though they had power of their own, for they were the hunters and they were very strong in the clan, they always gave to their mothers. For a good son loves his mother and does for the mother and so these were the sons of the mothers. Thus it was matriarchal and the women's status increased as she bore children and was honored by her children and by the friends of her children. Every girl knew that when she was fortunate and blessed by the mothers, she would be able to bear children successfully and acquire this status. It must be remembered that when populations were smaller, societies by instinct sought survival by increasing the population. That is why the fertility of women was valued and worshiped.