Reading Notes: 7 Secrets of the Goddess Part B

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-Rural cultures valued fertility
    -Fertility rooted in women
-Urban cultures valued obedience
    -Obedience enforced by men

Yang - dragon in the sky
Yin - the phoenix, regenerating from its own ashes

Patriarchal societies...
-Link men with culture
-Link women with nature

The domination of women; men begin to "domesticate" women
-A female monster being defeated by a male God in a Mesopotamian epic
-Zeus raping nymphs
-The first Japanese man and woman create the earth together and go around a pillar from opposite ends, intending to copulate when they meet
    -The woman speaks first in their interaction and demon children are born
    -One the second go around, the man speaks first and normal children are born

In cities...
Battle of power ---> desire to be king ---> competition between men ---> youth seeking to overthrow elders ---> elders constantly suspicious of youth
-Women are the trophies of this rivalry

Pandora's box
-Zeus gives a box to the woman Pandora
-He warns her never to open it
-She opens it, releasing all problems into the world
-Humans no longer have the power to overthrow the Olympians, because they are so caught up in their own struggles
The moral: be wary of women, who value desire over rules

A forgotten biblical character? - Lilith
-Said to have been created before Eve
-Refused subservience to Adam
-Cast out and became the mother of monsters



The goddess boogie. Source: Wikimedia Commons

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