The First Known Artists were Women

In 2013, Dean Snow of the University of Pennsylvania published research on sexual dimorphism of hand prints present in Upper Paleolithic cave art. His analysis showed that the overwhelming majority of hand prints present in the European cave art analyzed belonged to women (source). Marija Gimbutas and others write that in Old European religion caves represented the womb of the earth Goddess.

Women, in the womb of the Earth Mother, creating artwork at the dawn of time. The Creator creating creators, matrilineally.

The Creator original painting.

Blogger Art Chester writes, "There is also an indirect argument based upon observations of modern primates. Blogger Greg Laden, who studied with Prof. Snow at Penn State, states that when you study chimpanzees, you find that the males are virtually technophobes:

'Virtually all chimp technology is used by females, invented by females, passed from female to female, and so on. Males don’t seem to do any of that.

"Thus if you believe that humans evolved from earlier primates, it’s not surprising if females were primary makers and users of many tools, including the tools used to create art.

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Sophia and the Apocryphon of John

In 1945, thirteen leather-bound papyrus codices buried in a sealed jar were found by an Egyptian farmer near the town of Nag Hammadi, Egypt. These early Christian texts date from the 3rd century CE, and include writings attributed to John the Baptist. The writings of John became known as the Secret Book of John, or the Apocryphon of John. A translation by Frederik Wisse can be read online . In the Apocryphon, there is a female counterpart to the Father - the holy Mother, Barbelo. "She is the forethought of the All - her light shines like his light - the perfect power... The first power, the glory of Barbelo, the perfect glory in the aeons, the glory of the revelation... she became the womb of everything, for it is she who is prior to them all, the Mother-Father." I became aware of the Apocryphon of John after reading a graphic novel by Marisa Acocella, The Big She-Bang, The Herstory of the Universe According to God the Mother (highly recommended, by ...

Asherah

An inscription from Khirbet El-Qôm (near Jerusalem) dated to the 700s BCE and translated by archaeologist Judith Hadley reads, "Uriyahu the Rich wrote it. Blessed be Uriyahu by Yahweh for from his enemies by his Asherah he has saved him by Oniyahu by his Asherah and by his A[she]rah.” ( Source ) Asherah was the Great Goddess of the Ancient Near East. From this inscription and other evidence, it is surmised that Yahweh, the God of the Jews, once had a wife - Asherah. Asherah was also sometimes known as Astarte and was associated with lions and the planet Venus, like her relative, Ishtar/Inanna. Asherah's symbol was the tree of life, and her worship involved sacred groves and asherah poles. Asherah original painting available through Saatchi Art . Stickers, prints, and other merch available in shop or through RedBubble or Fine Art America. All of the Asherahs in my painting are based on figurines housed in the Isra...

Ardipithecus ramidus, Eve of Bipedalism

Ardipithecus ramidus. Our first great grandmother to walk upright. The Eve of bipedalism. Dating to about 4.4 million years ago. Males and females of the species are similarly sized and both have canine teeth that are feminized. The males don't bare their fangs to scare off rivals. They don't have fangs. Based on these features, it can be assumed that Ardipithecus society was likely relatively egalitarian and cooperative. That's nice. Inspired by Cat Bohannon's new book, Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution. Ardipithecus ramidus, Eve of Bipedalism, original painting by Echoing Multiverse available via Saatchi Art . Stickers and other merch available through RedBubble or Fine Art America .

Feminist Protest Fist

I first saw a version of the feminist protest fist symbol on a t shirt that said, "I'd rather be fighting the man." I really wanted it, but didn't have the money to buy it at the time. If I was making a new version, I'd pair the symbol with "I'd rather be fighting the patriarchy." It's a system, not an individual. Feminist Protest Fist - I'd Rather Be Fighting the Patriarchy, original painting by Echoing Multiverse available via Saatchi Art . Stickers, t shirts, and other merch available through RedBubble or Fine Art America . Patriarchy is also not a universal system. There are many matrilineal cultures still existing in the world, even with the global imperial capitalist missionary patriarchy actively working to squash them into submission. Patriarchy with patrilineal descent is not the natural state of humanity. It is one possibility, that is actually pretty rare historically. Fighting the patriarchy is not futile. Fi...

The Cycle of Venus

Learning about goddesses has led me to learn a bit about astronomy. Many goddesses and a few gods throughout history have been associated with the morning star and the evening star . Different cultures discovered at different times that both of these stars are the same celestial object, known today as the planet Venus - the third brightest object in the sky after the Sun and the moon. The internet contains diagrams of the cycle of Venus, but I couldn't find one that put all of the pieces together. So I drew one! Here, I use a symbol from reliefs of Inanna to represent Venus's current position in her cycle. She just transited behind the Sun (represented by the Norse goddess Sol), and has reappeared low on the horizon as the evening star, which she will embody for the rest of 2021 before vanishing for 8 days to reappear as the morning star for most of 2022 ( source ). The Cycle of Venus, as viewed from Earth, not to scale The disappearance and reappearanc...

Chang e, Moon Goddess

Chang e or Chang o, the Chinese moon goddess. The details of her story vary, but generally she is married to an archer who shoots 9 of the 10 suns to prevent the Earth from scorching drought. He is awarded elixir of immortality by the Great Queen Mother Goddess of the West. To keep the elixir from burglars, Chang e drinks it. The elixir causes her to float up to the moon, where she is separated from her husband, but at least has a jade rabbit and busy woodcutter for company. China's lunar landers are named after her. Chang E, Moon Goddess original painting by Echoing Multiverse available via Saatchi Art . Stickers, prints, and other merch available through RedBubble or Fine Art America . In older stories, she also births the 12 moons. In some versions of the story with the archer, Chang e is reunited with him during the 8th moon of each year. The Mid-Autumn Festival celebrates this reunion, and is one of the largest holidays in China. According...

Echoing Multiverse

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