A commenter named Zara recommended When God Was a Woman by Merlin Stone—a book I’ve been waiting for all my life, although it’s been out since I’ve been an adult.
What an inspiring collection of images you have assembled to illustrate this post! So beautiful.
I would like to add my tuppence-worth of opinion on the subject you raise here.
In my family we were not permitted to discuss sex, religion or politics. This came about because my grandmother was a gypsy and her husband was a Czechoslovakian Jew. They had met in London after escaping pogroms in Europe after the first world war. They were taken in by the Leader family and my grandfather adopted the name of a son who had been lost during the war. In this way he was able to lose his original identity and disrespected surname, Cohen. He became Leonard Leader and my grandmother became Gertrude Leader, his wife.
They produced four children who were brought up without religious affiliations of any kind.
By the time I was born in 1952 my grandmother was the acknowledged matriarch of the family. She was very beautiful, very accomplished and her opinions were always sought before any decisions were made by all family members. She cared for me daily while both my parents worked full time.
I adored her because she was very kind but strict. She expected me to learn all the gypsy arts (sewing, knitting, reading cards, palmistry, healing herbs and she encouraged me to read, write and speak her language as well as English.)
She impressed upon me that women run the world and she would smile down at me saying, "We let the men THINK that they are the bosses! That is the trick, Frances!"
By the time I was only five years old and ready for school she had convinced me that, one day, I would become the head of my own family and would need to be very well informed about as many subjects as possible in order to keep the family stable and healthy enough to produce good strong future generations.
Marrying outside of our genetic pool was essential to her personal logic, so when I married a very Celtic blue-eyed Scotsman she was absolutely delighted. My cousin, Therese, migrated to Australia and married an Aboriginal man. I remember my grandmother's face lighting up as I read the letters I received informing us of 5 cheeky cherubs carrying our family line into the outback and a truly nomadic lifestyle! Nothing could have made her happier because the nomadic gypsy tribe from which she had descended had been totally wiped out in Andalusia, Spain.
I became a matriarch, just as my grandmother instructed, and I never did let any man know that I did not consider him to be 'the boss'! 😉
That's a charming story, Frances. You're as fierce and independent as they come, and now we know where you got it. I love the idea of '5 cheeky cherubs carrying our family line into the outback' ;-) I'm sure they're carrying on the legacy there.
Do women run the world? I saw a funny meme somewhere about the song: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Run_the_World_(Girls). Beyonce in stiletto heeled boots dancing on cobblestones in a dress slit to her waist, while the producers are raking it in. Who runs that world?
I see the world changing from your grandmother's era or even from ours. Had I not bought my house before I met my husband, it would have been lost to the family in the divorce, even with owning another house where he wanted to live. As one lawyer said, "Judges send 60 yr old women back to work all the time." In Social Security, the family-oriented spouse gets 2/7ths of the combined retirement income, with the wage-earning spouse getting 5/7ths.
For me to have retained my property and ownership of my time required so many divine interventions that I could never see it as chance. There but for the grace of Goddess go I.
My ex would have been all too happy for me to have acted like he was the boss. In fact, I just texted him those very words about some administrative hassle he was putting me through: "This makes you the boss and me the bookkeeper." It's been a constant struggle for me to remind him that we are equals.
My grandmother would say that women are queens and men should be grateful for the opportunity to serve us! Anything less than that indicates that the man has lost his grip of reality and must forfeit his right to be under our roof.
The way things were from the 60s onwards I could see what she meant. Women kept their homes and the men were almost itinerant because, if there was one thing they were unable to produce, it was commitment.
My other grandmother was even more powerful. She was a physically tiny Londoner, no more than 4ft 11 inches tall and she married a big strong man. She caught him messing with another woman and waited until he fell asleep. Then she clonked him one with her cast iron frying pan! He told me about this and she did not deny it. Instead she said, "You should have seen what I did to that trollop, Rosie!"
I was shocked by reference to Simone de Beauvoir, so I had to comment on this before finishing reading the article.
********************************
I would be careful taking Simone to Beauvoir as a reference. The following is from Wikipedia:
1. She was one of a few intellectuals who supported the execution of journalist Robert Brasillach solely based on his writings.
2. She was the precursor of CIA asset, Gloria Steinem of Women’s Lib, which turned out to be a component of the Money Powers Counterculture counterrevolution. In the 1970s when Gloria’s Women’s Lib was in full swing, she became active in France's women's liberation movement.
3. She along with her 51-year companion Jean Paul Sartre were unrepentant long-term pedophiles:
French author Bianca Lamblin (originally Bianca Bienenfeld) wrote in her book Mémoires d'une jeune fille dérangée (Memoirs of a deranged girl, published in English under the title A Disgraceful Affair) that, while a student at Lycée Molière, she was sexually exploited by her teacher Beauvoir, who was in her 30s. Sartre and Beauvoir both groomed and sexually abused Lamblin.”
In 1943, Beauvoir was suspended again from her teaching position when she was accused of seducing her 17-year-old lycée pupil Natalie Sorokine in 1939. Sorokine's parents laid formal charges against Beauvoir for debauching a minor. Beauvoir's licence to teach in France was revoked, although it was subsequently reinstated.
In 1977, Beauvoir signed a petition along with other French intellectuals that supported the freeing of three arrested paedophiles. The petition explicitly addresses the 'Affaire de Versailles', where three adult men, Dejager (age 45), Gallien (age 43), and Burckhardt (age 39) had sexual relations with minors of both sexes aged 12–13.
Sylvie Le Bon and Simone de Beauvoir met in the 1960s, when Beauvoir was in her fifties and Sylvie was a teenager. In 1980, Beauvoir, 72, legally adopted Sylvie, who was in her late thirties, by which point they had already been in an intimate relationship for decades.
Simone lived with Claude Lanzmann from 1952 to 1959. Lanzmann a French filmmaker, best known for the Holocaust documentary film Shoah (1985), which consists of nine and a half hours of oral testimony from Holocaust survivors, without historical footage.
As for her pedophile soulmate Jean Paul Sartre:
The French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre was famous for his anti-colonial positions, but waffled when it came to the Israeli occupation of Palestine. Why did he struggle to be consistent, and what does that tell us about “progressive except for Palestine” intellectuals today?
Both of these characters are scum of the earth. The only reason they were not jailed, is that they served the agenda of the Money Powers. Mind you, they wouldn't last long in any jail, prisoners bring swift justice to pedophiles.
That's interesting about Simone. Yet it also illustrates two of the points I've made.
First is that men judge if the person is good or bad and then, on that basis, if the idea is right or wrong. Women avoid conflict and judge neither.
Simone's statement exposed that for 1500 years the rape, enslavement and dispossession of women was upheld by the religious and legal systems of entire continents, which had been put in place by 1000 more years of terrorism, massacres and torture. She made this statement before I was even born, and I turn 68 in a week. I can see why there would be great effort to smear her ideas by discrediting her character.
Second, what these patriarchal (male hierarchical power over others, from the etymology) religious systems did was make violence sacred and sex profane. Allegations of 'seduction' lodged by parents and memoirs that make an unknown person famous are as fishy to me as women coming out against Russell Brand after 20 years. How does this make what she said right or wrong?
Simone certainly can't be blamed for someone who came after her, yes? And to judge her guilty by association is a rhetorical fallacy. Is 'intimacy' between two women, whatever that consists of, the same as rape? How many historical quotes do we have from men who are heroes for committing acts of violence? Why don't we discredit them?
Simone's statement is "For the Jew, Mohammedans and Christians among others, man is master by divine right." The violence in Palestine would never be tolerated if it weren't for this. Yahweh gave men supremacy over women and bought men's complicity in utter destruction. And Canaan has been the #1 target, perhaps because it represented the power of women and Astarte gives the lie to Yahweh's existence.
To end the violence in Palestine, Simone's statement needs to be heard and discussed. What do you think about her statement, Fadi?
Quote: "First is that men judge if the person is good or bad and then, on that basis, if the idea is right or wrong"
>>Simone is not only bad... she is evil.. you think we can learn words of wisdom from Ghislaine Maxwell? I can't.
Gloria Steinem was preaching equal rights, equal pay, and freedom for women. Were these her words or the script handed to her by her paymasters at Tavistock Institute, MI6 and CIA? She succeeded with flying colors.. check the graph of divorce rates between 1970 and 1980. She was a key instrument in destroying the family, the cornerstone of society.
Same with the "revolutionary" Simone and her soul mate Jean Paul Epstein. They were supporters of 20th century revolutionaries, in Cuba, China, etc... but when it came to Palestine ..they were supportive of israel
In the age of mass psychology manipulation, it is essential when assessing an to check the background of the person, their credibility, any agenda they are pushing. Also always helpful to follow the trail of money... who is sponsoring them
Quote: "The violence in Palestine would never be tolerated if it weren't for this"
The genocide in Palestine is tolerated because glorified "intellectuals" like Simone and Jean Paul Epstein were supportive of israel and dismissive of the untermenschen Palestinian men, women and children.
The worst era of colonization occurred during the reign of Queen Victoria.
The most destructive assault on the Levant and North Africa (Arab Spring) was justified by 2 female creatures... Hillary and Samantha... death of 500,000 Iraqi babies and children was also justified by another female creature Albright.
Unfortunately criminality and oppression is not limited to a single sex. The diseased mind can occur equally in males and females.
Quote: "To end the violence in Palestine, Simone's statement needs to be heard and discussed. What do you think about her statement"
>> Just for you, I would read it again.
"Man enjoys the great advantage of having a god endorse the code he writes; and since man exercises a sovereign authority over women it is especially fortunate that this authority has been vested in him by the Supreme Being. For the Jew, Mohammedans and Christians among others, man is master by divine right; the fear of God will therefore repress any impulse towards revolt in the downtrodden female."
1. "since man exercises a sovereign authority over women "
I wish, when my wife told me you have 30 minutes to leave the house, I left. She kept the house the car, all.. later when she wanted another car... I obliged. when she wanted another car... I obliged too.. when the bank crash occurred and her retirement evaporated, I compensated for that happily :-)
2. "For the Mohammedans and Christians among others, man is master by divine right"
I wish :-( must be the women around me never learned this lesson lol lol lol perhaps I should have found me a Jewish woman lol lol
3. "the fear of God will therefore repress any impulse towards revolt in the downtrodden female."
Here I will refer you to Frances Leader's comment:
.....my grandmother was the acknowledged matriarch of the family
......I became a matriarch, just as my grandmother instructed, and I never did let any man know that I did not consider him to be 'the boss'! 😉
In conclusion in women and men... there is the good, the bad and the ugly :-)
The only idea on which I ever disagree is our superiority to others, and that keeps me in nearly constant conflict ... even with the people I like and enjoy most, and agree with most often, which surely is you, Fadi.
From Whitney Webb's One Nation Under Blackmail, Vol 2, Ch 15 is on Ghislaine Maxwell. He brother went into a coma days after she was born, causing her to be so neglected she developed anorexia as a baby. At three, she told her mother, "I exist." At nine she told an author, "Daddy has a series of things lined up in a row. There's a riding crop with a swish to it, another straight riding crop and a few shoehorns. He always asks me to choose which one I want." These whippings were prearranged and not based on 'bad behavior.'
Sure, Ghislaine's evil. Sure, if you'd been born into her circumstances, you would have refused to go along. On what basis? Would you have been born with a moral superiority? And if women had power over their own finances, security and home, would Ghislaine's mother have allowed this? How many of Epstein's victims were easy prey because they were economically vulnerable? According to Whitney, almost all of them.
Of what Gloria Steinem was preaching, with which do you disagree: equal rights, equal pay, or freedom for women? We agree that the women's movement usurped women into becoming wage slaves just like men, and you know that my system would enable the labor of both men and women to serve the family and community.
In the age of mass psychology manipulation, it's important to think clearly and systematically. Do the systems of Judaism, Christianity and Islam state that God put men in charge of women? With the first two, there's no doubt. I have plenty of episodes analyzing that. I don't know the Q'uran, so if you say that it gives property rights, freedom of movement, economic activity, control of sexuality, and ownership of the children to women, I'll take your word for it.
I think we're answering two different questions, Fadi. You're answering, "Are women morally better than men?" with the answer 'no' and I would agree. What I'm looking at is the system. Would you want your daughter to have the freedom to be a full-time mom, and know that she could never lose the family home or have custody of her children taken away? Would you want her to keep that home in your family for generations, so that your grandchildren could never be homeless and would have a place to raise their kids? If the home you let your wife have becomes hers, and gives her the security to have kids, would you be happy about that? I don't think this can be changed overnight just reimagined for the future.
Quote: “if you'd been born into her circumstances, you would have refused to go along. On what basis? Would you have been born with a moral superiority?”
>> Perhaps yes and perhaps not. Hence the importance of having a superior moral authority for social guidance, or the world would fall into cannibalism. This superior moral authority is the civilizational heritage of a society, of which religion is commonly an important part. Personally being like most baby boomers non-religious, so I know very little about Christianity. However by listening to Sheikh Imran Hosein on YouTube and Sayyed Nasrallah’s speeches I have learned a bit about Islam. An Ayat of relevance here is Ayat 18 of Surat Fatir:
‘And no bearer of burdens will bear the burden of another.’
This means if someone committed a crime it doesn’t justify committing a crime against another.
Say a tribesman from tribe A killed a man from tribe B. Tribesmen of tribe B would seek to kill a guy of tribe A for revenge. If possible, they would target the most important man of tribe A they can kill. In this Surat, the Koran makes clear you can only punish the guilty party.
Back to the perverts. Robert Maxwell was a multidimensional criminal, for which he alone must be punished. Regardless of what his daughter was subjected to, does not justify her crimes against defenseless innocent young children.
I am sure that the essence of Surat 18 is present in all civilizational heritages. Not that all abide by it. Until a few decades ago, it was common practice to take revenge of anybody of the “other” clan. But at least there is a yardstick by which to measure what is wrong and what is right.
Quote: “Of what Gloria Steinem was preaching, with which do you disagree: equal rights, equal pay, or freedom for women?”
>> None, I agree with all. These are “motherhood statements” after all. By focusing on these statements, the trap is set. One should look at the bigger picture, who does her agenda serve, who is financing her? To what end? This is the essence of countering mass psychology manipulation.
Quote: “In the age of mass psychology manipulation, it's important to think clearly and systematically. Do the systems of Judaism, Christianity and Islam state that God put men in charge of women? With the first two, there's no doubt. I have plenty of episodes analyzing that.
>> As mentioned above, in the age of mass psychology manipulation, we should be very careful about messages, especially that the mass communication mediums are predominantly owned and controlled by the money powers. Gloria, Simone and Jean Paul are typical examples. What these tools have in common, is the destruction of civilizational heritage of which religion is a central part. When civilizational heritage is destroyed, the social bonding and cohesion within a society is weakened, and consequently the ability to resist manipulation.
Quote: “I don't know the Q'uran, so if you say that it gives property rights, freedom of movement, economic activity, control of sexuality, and ownership of the children to women, I'll take your word for it.””
>> I am not an expert in any religion, the very little I know about the Koran is from sources mentioned earlier. All I know is that Islam greatly improved conditions of women compared to pre-Islamic society in the Arabian Peninsula. It was common practice to bury newborn girls, the Prophet put an end to this. From a practical viewpoint, observing Christian and Moslem families around me, I do not note any engrained differentiation between men and women. As I mentioned earlier.. there is the good, the bad and the ugly in all communities, religions and sexes.
Quote: "Would you want your daughter to have the freedom to be a full-time mom, and know that she could never lose the family home or have custody of her children taken away? Would you want her to keep that home in your family for generations, so that your grandchildren could never be homeless and would have a place to raise their kids? "
>> She already has a lovely garden flat, two 3-bedroom apartments, a 1-bedroom garden flat and a studio. She can live in one and rent the other 4. So I doubt she or her kids will ever be homeless.
Quote: "If the home you let your wife have becomes hers, and gives her the security to have kids, would you be happy about that?"
>> I would be ecstatic! My bikes and my freedom are what matter most on a personal level :-)
You really make me think through my arguments, Fadi. My Course meditation yesterday was 'I am as God created me.' I told a friend that my divine mission from the Creatrix seemed to be arguing.
The point that we're debating is whether the Abrahamic religions are "a superior moral authority for social guidance, or the world would fall into cannibalism. This superior moral authority is the civilizational heritage of a society, of which religion is commonly an important part."
When God was a woman, the world had certainly not fallen into cannibalism. Human sacrifice was to the male gods, particularly Set who became Yahweh. The texts of Egypt, written onto stone tablets, make that clear.
So the individual actions--whether good, like yours toward your ex, or bad like Ghislaine--are irrelevant to our debate. So are interpretations of the scriptures from Hosein or Nasrallah. What we're looking at is the system of power authorized by the scriptures themselves.
The question inherent in Simone's quote is "Do the systems of Judaism, Christianity and Islam state that God put men in charge of women?" So this wouldn't mean 'do they urge men to be nice about their power?' It's a question of power itself. To say, 'Slaveowners, be benevolent and kind towards your slaves' simply confirms their power, correct?
What is a Surat? I started going through the one on women, and I'll put that into the reply to that comment. And I'm happy your daughter is doing so well! I think your comment about your bikes and your freedom actually confirms my point about property being matrilineal. Women are homebodies, the home is the domain of the woman. To men, property is a commodity to be used to make money, a speculative asset. To women, property is security and freedom. And your actions were consistent with that ethic. But if they hadn't been, would the law have dispossessed your ex of the home? I know that's true here but maybe not in the Levant. To be continued ...
Quote: “The point that we're debating is whether the Abrahamic religions are "a superior moral authority for social guidance, or the world would fall into cannibalism. This superior moral authority is the civilizational heritage of a society, of which religion is commonly an important part."”
>> I wasn’t. The Abrahamic religions I assume are Christianity and Islam. (Yahwism is a Satanic ideology not a religion.)
As for Christianity, as we can surmise from publications of, Laurent Guyenot, Nefahotep, Julius and ICE-9 is that it has been greatly distorted to serve the Empire. We are left with Islam as a religion. Islam itself was subject to distortion during the Omayyad reign, shortly after the death of the Prophet. However, what distinguishes Islam, is there is only 1 script, the Koran, which is identical word for word, wherever you buy it, whether in Russia, Iran, China, US, or Saudi.
True there are a lot of “interpretations” especially those financed by MI6 via the heretic Wahabi (Saudi) sect… and distributed all over the world via the petrodollar. But there is 1 reference book, which can be used as a reference.
Most importantly when I speak of religion, I do not mean only Christianity and Islam, there are thousands of religions for the various civilizations… Native “Americans” had hundreds if not thousands of tribes, and they probably had tens or hundreds of religions, these are just as valid as Christianity or Islam. Same applies to “Latin America” and Africa…
My concept of religion is the social code that has filtrated over centuries within a certain community.
Quote: “What we're looking at is the system of power authorized by the scriptures themselves.”
>> As mentioned earlier. One is a Satanic ideology and consequently the system it proposes is hell.
Another has been completely messed up by the Empire for the Empire, and we have seen what genocides, suffering and misery it has caused all over the world for centuries.
Islam has been greatly messed up by UK and US intelligence agencies and the petrodollar.
The closest thing to Islamic rule exists in Iran. I have reviewed their constitution and I found that it does provide for a good system of governance. The proof of that, is the phenomenal growth in all socioeconomic and scientific indicators despite being sanctioned since the Islamic Revolution.
By they way, there is a greater percentage of women in science and technology in Iran than in the US, Europe. I think it would be a good idea to check the Iranian constitution, and critique it.
Quote: “The question inherent in Simone's quote is "Do the systems of Judaism, Christianity and Islam state that God put men in charge of women?" So this wouldn't mean 'do they urge men to be nice about their power?' It's a question of power itself. To say, 'Slaveowners, be benevolent and kind towards your slaves' simply confirms their power, correct?”
>> Simone has to be understood within the context she was acting. As you note from the Protocols, destroying religion, value systems and traditions is high on the list of destroying the fabric of society, to enable its domination.
Ask yourself the question: How is it possible that an individual commit horrendous crimes, MULTIPLE times and not go to jail? Instead be revered as an “intellectual”
Quote: "would the law have dispossessed your ex of the home? I know that's true here but maybe not in the Levant."
>> I am no legal expert. But I doubt it. It is only natural that the mother takes care of the kids, so it is only natural that the mother keeps the home. Are there bad men,,, OF COURSE... is there abuse of the law... OF COURSE... .I just report my experience and observations...
Here is a funny one. We were riding and stop for a coffee. I meet a biker with a brand new racing Kawasaki, we chat.. I ask him what bike did you have before?
He names and old model... I am surprised.. tell him.. you jump 25 years in your bikes!
He replies: You know the story... bike, marriage, kids, bike is out, kids grow up, divorce, back to biking lol lol
Hold up. The women were calling the men what? Did you say Baal? What kind of fuckery…
Now, I’m inclined to selfishly agree that mothers are, indeed, more important in the equation because of the reasons you mentioned and we would naturally sacrifice our own lives for the lives of our babes. Maybe some men would too. But mothers wouldn’t even blink an eye. But. I do think the father serves a purpose more than just being a sperm donor. A good father can be a good role model for the masculine. Single moms can sometimes be either overbearing or turn their sons into mama’s boys. I think a father figure is more important for a son than for a daughter.
Another thought that came to mind when you were talking about the Abrahamic religions and how patriarchal they are, usurping the female divine— don’t you think it strange that Judaism is the only one out of the three where your Jewishness is matrilineal? But it does make sense because back in the day, before genealogy tests and all that, you could only be certain of the parentage through the mother because the baby comes out of her womb. The sperm could belong to anyone. How many Christian princes, for example might have not been the heir to the kingdom?
Lots to ponder in this post. Glad you went into a deep dive.
Thanks for noticing that, Tonika! That absolutely shocked me. And in other places, Ba'al was the female god of fertility, domestic, peaceful--not at all demanding blood sacrifice. So the goddess was usurped, and then every man became the lord and god of his own house.
The point you raise about men is important. If women didn't need men for financial support, would they want them around? Maybe yes, maybe no. I think that for men to be freed of being wage-earners and have the time to serve the family and community would be invigorating. But I can think of lots of marriages that would end tomorrow if it weren't for financial dependence.
I've also never met a mom who didn't want a good dad to spend as much time as he wanted with his kids.
In one example, it talks about how the kids are so communally raised that even the mothers sometimes forget who had them. That also seems like it could be even more true for dads. If there's no ownership claims, would kids gravitate to the adults that are 'attuned' to them?
Veronica was just saying that she wanted to make a list of all the things that used to be provided for parents socially, that are now their responsibility. One was drop offs and pick ups for school. Another was summer activities. And then there was parenting itself. She and her friend were watching a boy terrorizing some ducks. His mother couldn't get him to stop. Everyone else stayed out of it. Veronica has a high tolerance for boy rambunctiousness, and is good with boy energy, so when she says he was out of control, I believe her. But mothers are really left on their own to figure it out, or not.
I've thought about that Jewish matrilineal thing. But I don't think it's out of respect. Men had concubines, women sex slaves. Their children were still slaves, not part of the ruling class of Habiru/ Hebrew. The women were negotiating chips. They could be sent as concubines to kings or pharaohs, as they were. The theocracy could provide divine aristocracy to rulers by agreeing to marriages with Habiru or, more likely, Heka Khasut women. And then their lineage would inherit the throne, while they're the power behind it.
That's why an unmarried woman who was raped had to marry her rapist, and a betrothed or married woman who was raped was put to death. She's a vessel for that pure seed.
I can’t wait to read this book!! I first read about it from Renée Gerlich’s series “A brief complete Herstory” which is truly beautiful in hard copy and she illustrates it too ❤️ I have heard Gerda Lerner’s book “The Creation of Patriarchy” is worth reading too though haven’t yet secured a copy. Amazing to think that once upon a time things may have been SO different.
Even more great recommendations, LoWa! I'm glad that I waited to check out my Amazon cart from your comment elsewhere. I'll repost it and my reply here:
You: "Enna Reitort’s book “Krivda: The Godtrix Against the Matrix”? This also covers the Jesus story and its political / economic roots albeit with a different angle to your post here I think. PS on the “krivda” (crooked truth / distorted truth) of wordplay, Reitort also mentions how we have been conditioned to abhor the word matrix. Cue films like the Matrix and red/blue pill ideas. But matrix comes from matrice, which means womb, so I guess to be “in the matrix” is to be deeply connected into the life force of the universe! (Similar root to maternal, mother, mater etc)"
Me: I hadn't heard of Enna Reitort before but her book is now in my Amazon cart. I LOVE the way she puts it: "'Krivda' is an ancient Russian word that means 'deceit' with a twist - the subtler, more pernicious connotation of 'reality made crooked'. ... therein lies the god-trix." Wow!!!
Also Pyramidal Patriarchy or Matriarchal Matrix? from before I was on Substack: https://youtu.be/dtID5Ho_OBY. Although I no longer use the word matriarch because it's a contradiction in terms: the archons were all male and focused on power over others, mothers are a horizontal structure focused on power over ourselves.
Can’t wait to check out these other excellent pieces of yours too, thanks for pointing me in the right direction! Have you read The Power by Naomi Alderman? It was a total page turner (fiction), electrifying and sobering and un-put-downable. I agree with your point around the -arch suffix which means ruler (arkhos in Greek).
I’m sure you also know about the word radical (as we are all radicals apparently). In biology, the radical part of the plant is the root, and the apical part is the shoot. Radix, radish, rhizome, rhiza and root all share the same etymological root…so to be radical means to be more firmly rooted in the ground, in reality, ie grounded! Not a fringe looney as they would have you believe (actually one might technically say they should really refer to fringe loonies as neither radical nor apical but some thing else. Lateral? Telelateral?)
Another good word I love: spirit, which means breath. Inspire = to breathe in, expire = breathe out, respire = to breathe in and out. And conspire = to breathe together…hopefully breathing in the emergence of our collective dreams! In some indigenous cultures, the customary greeting is a simultaneous inhalation with noses pressed against one another, a sacred act of sharing breath. Literally a conspiracy. And the mathematician in me loves a good spiral (which must surely share a root with spirit) - a chakra is a spinning wheel, the earth spins, galaxies spin, and apparently the Fibonacci sequence shows you how so many beautiful things in nature arise out of spiral - unfurling ferns, babies in the womb, wave forms when mapped, sunflower seed patterns…In not sure if this has anything to do with the world/whirled/whorl/twirl words but with all the krivda of wordplay, I wouldn’t be surprised.
What a delight to find another word junkie! I adore etymology. And I always wanted to tell Russell Brand about the word radical because one of his favorites was deracinate--to tear up by the root. Another excellent word, the key to turning people into slaves/ commodities. Goes for education migration too.
I've proudly claimed radical, and told friends for years that 'liberal' was fighting words. And that was before it was fashionable.
And YES the link between spirit and conspiracy delights me! I looked to see if I'd talked about it here, but even though I didn't, I think you'd like this one: https://thirdparadigm.substack.com/p/conspiracy-theorists. Especially for the new rhetorical fallacies I've named, one after my mother.
Although it's only in video, before I had Substack, I'm fairly certain I talk about it in this on The Utopian Imagination: https://youtu.be/BTxuuSnRrZI.
Amazing articles, wish I could print your entire corpus to easily read on paper in the sunshine! If you ever collect up your substack works in a book, I’m sure you’d have many takers.
Have you any thoughts on the word state/estate? State like nation state but also as in stating = saying. And as being (eg “state of mind” or Spanish “estar” = to be, French “être” = to be, “estado” = have been).
In a perverse way, whatever the State states becomes true as the world seems to be built in proclamation. State it and so it shall be (estar/ être = to be). Words create reality whether that’s of viruses that don’t exist or other propaganda (I’m sure we all went more propaganda ie propagate more seedlings so that word is a bit of doublethink too).
So is it possible the word State denotes the socio-political reality we live in precisely to make any other reality inconceivable ? Because State cones from the same root as “to be” so we literally can’t imagining being/existing in any other political arrangement…And is it a coincidence that apparently the best place on earth (cough) is the united States? The State that gets to state what the state of the rest of the world should be?
I haven't thought about the word State but now that you mention it, I can't stop thinking about it. Yes, that makes sense, like fiat: make it so! And the word became flesh. And the word became reality.
Yes I can’t wait to read your book! And everything on your substack!!
Back to the topic of “when god was a woman” and perhaps more relevant to your work in tonic masculinity, many years ago I came across the work of Nora Samaran (real name Naava Smolash), who similarly coined an alternative to toxic masculinity in her viral piece “The Opposite of Rape Culture is Nurturance Culture”. It spurred some beautiful messages from all over the world of people defining what Nurturance Culture meant to them. I also liked her piece “For Men Who Desperately Need Autonomy” as it helped me see my needs of care and nurturance were normal and not “crazy”.
I just put the krivda book in my cart after reading this. I’m going to continue with these awesome comments before I buy because there will be more to add I’m sure. I will also get the Merlin Stone book. So excited for all these sources! Thank you.
I've been reading it before bed at night but I have to up my bedtime! It's SO interesting. She has a couple of things she doesn't question that I do, but that's true for almost everyone ;-) And Merlin Stone was life-changing for me. Krivda let me know that the first book written by King James was Demonology, after he supervised the burning of hundreds of Scottish 'witches.' Then he put together the Bible. Tells you everything you need to know, doesn't it?
Within the ranks of Anthropology some 50yrs ago, did some few break ranks of the party line academics, to point out a common sense conclusion, to wit: that in our most primitive but emerging society groups, the skillsets of women were acknowledged. Their birthing babies that perpetuate the clan(high pain tolerance and instinctive knowlege obvious), they were the fixers-- healing and creating the vast knowledge of DETAILS of plants and skills to generations. Females were shown as superlative communicators. Thus their value as food gatherers and preparers, child care and educators, language creators, teachers, and even as task assignators for survival tasks...women were put on pedastals as the single most important members for clan survival. The hunting and capture of other women through warfare was secondary to hunting for food.
And so that thru time it was only because of those immense skillsets and the power naturally conferred to women (who preferred love, peace,sex, and community) that men in their natural upper body strength and size did recognize that they could dominate everything with (combined) brute force.
Some of the images are Asian, some Middle Eastern, some made of gold, some of ebony and stars, BornAlive. I do have some stunning AI art from Amy on African goddesses, that I've saved for almost a year in a draft called OMGdess. But I would dispute whether being all-inclusive is the measure of truth. Should Amy be required to divide her images among the amount of representative races in the world? Should you be required to include one Latino among any five people whose images you display? Or is it only black images that matter? The issue is who has power over who. In an article about the usurping of women's power in the Middle East, I don't think God would have been a black woman.
the nature of 'god' is a mystery and will remain one for eternity,but it IS safe to say that the Dark Matter out there beyond the karman line gives us a good enough clue as to where creation occurs in the dark womb of the earth's atmosphere. we can argue over 'race' (a construct) but images DO matter. imagery has been used to disassociate nations from their own godhead and to confuse and obscure the power inherent in the psyche of those nations. i grew up with a white jesus and a white god staring at me from the pulpit. it took years to remove those images man made gods and few more years to remove the whole idea of a god,to be replaced with the TRUTH of the multiverse as CREATRIX. CREATION. by the way,the middle east was named and referred to as middle east by conquering european nations. like the rest of the world,no people ever called themselves middle eastern,oriental,african until europe stroll through renaming the world for their benefit. no one is required to do anything,but i have a real pushback when women tell the story of other women with very little consideration (creative thought) for who may be in their reading audience.
You write, "i grew up with a white jesus and a white god staring at me from the pulpit. it took years to remove those images man made gods and few more years to remove the whole idea of a god, to be replaced with the TRUTH of the multiverse as CREATRIX."
Unlike you, I don't claim to know the TRUTH. But when I replace images of a white jesus and white god with ethnically (and species-) diverse images of women as god, all you did was criticize. What used to be called 'politically correct' is now wokespeak, and it's a way of shutting others up by claiming moral superiority. All it does is divide us further.
You choose to be in my reading audience by whether what I'm writing has value to you. I do NOT choose what I write in order to win your approval. How could I? It's up to you to present your version of TRUTH and draw those to you to whom it speaks.
Quote from Simone de Maxwell: “the fear of God will therefore repress any impulse towards revolt in the downtrodden female.”
>> Response to Simone de Maxwell: The fear of God may repress any impulse towards what is historically, and universally accepted as immoral: sexually abusing children.
Quote: “But the Quran states clearly, “Allah will not tolerate idolatry … the pagans pray to females.”
>>I did a quick search but couldn’t find “the pagans pray to females.”
I went through it and didn’t find any chauvinism, on the contrary, I noted respect for women, for example that women have the right to inheritance. Something which was absent in Arabia before the Prophet and in the West for centuries after the Prophet.
By the way not all women are pacifists. Khawla bint al-Azwar ‘was an Arab Muslim warrior in the service of the Rashidun Caliphate. She played a major role in the Muslim conquest of the Levant, and fought alongside her brother Dhiraar. She has been described as one of the greatest female soldiers in history. She was a companion of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad’ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khawla_bint_al-Azwar
In pre-Islamic period there was Queen Zenobia of Palmyra ‘In 270, Zenobia launched an invasion that brought most of the Roman East under her sway and culminated with the annexation of Egypt. By mid-271 her realm extended from Ancyra, central Anatolia, to Upper Egypt, although she remained nominally subordinate to Rome. However, in reaction to the campaign of the Roman emperor Aurelian in 272, Zenobia declared her son emperor and assumed the title of empress, thus declaring Palmyra's secession from Rome.’ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zenobia.
Zenobia made of Palmyra a jewel in the desert, and its beauty and archeological sites were well preserved until the zionist-NATO islamist terrorists took over Syria. The roads to Palmyra used to be our favorite riding grounds. After 120 miles of full speed riding on open desert roads, we'd arrive at the jewel. It was like a Greek island in the desert.
I have a weird coincidence/miracle story to share about this book but too tired right now. Incidentally, had heard similar stuff about SdB to @fadilama
What an inspiring collection of images you have assembled to illustrate this post! So beautiful.
I would like to add my tuppence-worth of opinion on the subject you raise here.
In my family we were not permitted to discuss sex, religion or politics. This came about because my grandmother was a gypsy and her husband was a Czechoslovakian Jew. They had met in London after escaping pogroms in Europe after the first world war. They were taken in by the Leader family and my grandfather adopted the name of a son who had been lost during the war. In this way he was able to lose his original identity and disrespected surname, Cohen. He became Leonard Leader and my grandmother became Gertrude Leader, his wife.
They produced four children who were brought up without religious affiliations of any kind.
By the time I was born in 1952 my grandmother was the acknowledged matriarch of the family. She was very beautiful, very accomplished and her opinions were always sought before any decisions were made by all family members. She cared for me daily while both my parents worked full time.
I adored her because she was very kind but strict. She expected me to learn all the gypsy arts (sewing, knitting, reading cards, palmistry, healing herbs and she encouraged me to read, write and speak her language as well as English.)
She impressed upon me that women run the world and she would smile down at me saying, "We let the men THINK that they are the bosses! That is the trick, Frances!"
By the time I was only five years old and ready for school she had convinced me that, one day, I would become the head of my own family and would need to be very well informed about as many subjects as possible in order to keep the family stable and healthy enough to produce good strong future generations.
Marrying outside of our genetic pool was essential to her personal logic, so when I married a very Celtic blue-eyed Scotsman she was absolutely delighted. My cousin, Therese, migrated to Australia and married an Aboriginal man. I remember my grandmother's face lighting up as I read the letters I received informing us of 5 cheeky cherubs carrying our family line into the outback and a truly nomadic lifestyle! Nothing could have made her happier because the nomadic gypsy tribe from which she had descended had been totally wiped out in Andalusia, Spain.
I became a matriarch, just as my grandmother instructed, and I never did let any man know that I did not consider him to be 'the boss'! 😉
That's a charming story, Frances. You're as fierce and independent as they come, and now we know where you got it. I love the idea of '5 cheeky cherubs carrying our family line into the outback' ;-) I'm sure they're carrying on the legacy there.
Do women run the world? I saw a funny meme somewhere about the song: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Run_the_World_(Girls). Beyonce in stiletto heeled boots dancing on cobblestones in a dress slit to her waist, while the producers are raking it in. Who runs that world?
I see the world changing from your grandmother's era or even from ours. Had I not bought my house before I met my husband, it would have been lost to the family in the divorce, even with owning another house where he wanted to live. As one lawyer said, "Judges send 60 yr old women back to work all the time." In Social Security, the family-oriented spouse gets 2/7ths of the combined retirement income, with the wage-earning spouse getting 5/7ths.
For me to have retained my property and ownership of my time required so many divine interventions that I could never see it as chance. There but for the grace of Goddess go I.
My ex would have been all too happy for me to have acted like he was the boss. In fact, I just texted him those very words about some administrative hassle he was putting me through: "This makes you the boss and me the bookkeeper." It's been a constant struggle for me to remind him that we are equals.
My grandmother would say that women are queens and men should be grateful for the opportunity to serve us! Anything less than that indicates that the man has lost his grip of reality and must forfeit his right to be under our roof.
The way things were from the 60s onwards I could see what she meant. Women kept their homes and the men were almost itinerant because, if there was one thing they were unable to produce, it was commitment.
I like your grandmother.
My other grandmother was even more powerful. She was a physically tiny Londoner, no more than 4ft 11 inches tall and she married a big strong man. She caught him messing with another woman and waited until he fell asleep. Then she clonked him one with her cast iron frying pan! He told me about this and she did not deny it. Instead she said, "You should have seen what I did to that trollop, Rosie!"
lol lol lol sweet :-)
I was shocked by reference to Simone de Beauvoir, so I had to comment on this before finishing reading the article.
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I would be careful taking Simone to Beauvoir as a reference. The following is from Wikipedia:
1. She was one of a few intellectuals who supported the execution of journalist Robert Brasillach solely based on his writings.
2. She was the precursor of CIA asset, Gloria Steinem of Women’s Lib, which turned out to be a component of the Money Powers Counterculture counterrevolution. In the 1970s when Gloria’s Women’s Lib was in full swing, she became active in France's women's liberation movement.
3. She along with her 51-year companion Jean Paul Sartre were unrepentant long-term pedophiles:
French author Bianca Lamblin (originally Bianca Bienenfeld) wrote in her book Mémoires d'une jeune fille dérangée (Memoirs of a deranged girl, published in English under the title A Disgraceful Affair) that, while a student at Lycée Molière, she was sexually exploited by her teacher Beauvoir, who was in her 30s. Sartre and Beauvoir both groomed and sexually abused Lamblin.”
In 1943, Beauvoir was suspended again from her teaching position when she was accused of seducing her 17-year-old lycée pupil Natalie Sorokine in 1939. Sorokine's parents laid formal charges against Beauvoir for debauching a minor. Beauvoir's licence to teach in France was revoked, although it was subsequently reinstated.
In 1977, Beauvoir signed a petition along with other French intellectuals that supported the freeing of three arrested paedophiles. The petition explicitly addresses the 'Affaire de Versailles', where three adult men, Dejager (age 45), Gallien (age 43), and Burckhardt (age 39) had sexual relations with minors of both sexes aged 12–13.
Sylvie Le Bon and Simone de Beauvoir met in the 1960s, when Beauvoir was in her fifties and Sylvie was a teenager. In 1980, Beauvoir, 72, legally adopted Sylvie, who was in her late thirties, by which point they had already been in an intimate relationship for decades.
Simone lived with Claude Lanzmann from 1952 to 1959. Lanzmann a French filmmaker, best known for the Holocaust documentary film Shoah (1985), which consists of nine and a half hours of oral testimony from Holocaust survivors, without historical footage.
As for her pedophile soulmate Jean Paul Sartre:
The French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre was famous for his anti-colonial positions, but waffled when it came to the Israeli occupation of Palestine. Why did he struggle to be consistent, and what does that tell us about “progressive except for Palestine” intellectuals today?
https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/2021/06/jean-paul-sartre-and-the-problem-of-being-progressive-except-for-palestine
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Both of these characters are scum of the earth. The only reason they were not jailed, is that they served the agenda of the Money Powers. Mind you, they wouldn't last long in any jail, prisoners bring swift justice to pedophiles.
That's interesting about Simone. Yet it also illustrates two of the points I've made.
First is that men judge if the person is good or bad and then, on that basis, if the idea is right or wrong. Women avoid conflict and judge neither.
Simone's statement exposed that for 1500 years the rape, enslavement and dispossession of women was upheld by the religious and legal systems of entire continents, which had been put in place by 1000 more years of terrorism, massacres and torture. She made this statement before I was even born, and I turn 68 in a week. I can see why there would be great effort to smear her ideas by discrediting her character.
Second, what these patriarchal (male hierarchical power over others, from the etymology) religious systems did was make violence sacred and sex profane. Allegations of 'seduction' lodged by parents and memoirs that make an unknown person famous are as fishy to me as women coming out against Russell Brand after 20 years. How does this make what she said right or wrong?
Simone certainly can't be blamed for someone who came after her, yes? And to judge her guilty by association is a rhetorical fallacy. Is 'intimacy' between two women, whatever that consists of, the same as rape? How many historical quotes do we have from men who are heroes for committing acts of violence? Why don't we discredit them?
Simone's statement is "For the Jew, Mohammedans and Christians among others, man is master by divine right." The violence in Palestine would never be tolerated if it weren't for this. Yahweh gave men supremacy over women and bought men's complicity in utter destruction. And Canaan has been the #1 target, perhaps because it represented the power of women and Astarte gives the lie to Yahweh's existence.
To end the violence in Palestine, Simone's statement needs to be heard and discussed. What do you think about her statement, Fadi?
Quote: "First is that men judge if the person is good or bad and then, on that basis, if the idea is right or wrong"
>>Simone is not only bad... she is evil.. you think we can learn words of wisdom from Ghislaine Maxwell? I can't.
Gloria Steinem was preaching equal rights, equal pay, and freedom for women. Were these her words or the script handed to her by her paymasters at Tavistock Institute, MI6 and CIA? She succeeded with flying colors.. check the graph of divorce rates between 1970 and 1980. She was a key instrument in destroying the family, the cornerstone of society.
Same with the "revolutionary" Simone and her soul mate Jean Paul Epstein. They were supporters of 20th century revolutionaries, in Cuba, China, etc... but when it came to Palestine ..they were supportive of israel
In the age of mass psychology manipulation, it is essential when assessing an to check the background of the person, their credibility, any agenda they are pushing. Also always helpful to follow the trail of money... who is sponsoring them
Quote: "The violence in Palestine would never be tolerated if it weren't for this"
The genocide in Palestine is tolerated because glorified "intellectuals" like Simone and Jean Paul Epstein were supportive of israel and dismissive of the untermenschen Palestinian men, women and children.
The worst era of colonization occurred during the reign of Queen Victoria.
The most destructive assault on the Levant and North Africa (Arab Spring) was justified by 2 female creatures... Hillary and Samantha... death of 500,000 Iraqi babies and children was also justified by another female creature Albright.
Unfortunately criminality and oppression is not limited to a single sex. The diseased mind can occur equally in males and females.
Quote: "To end the violence in Palestine, Simone's statement needs to be heard and discussed. What do you think about her statement"
>> Just for you, I would read it again.
"Man enjoys the great advantage of having a god endorse the code he writes; and since man exercises a sovereign authority over women it is especially fortunate that this authority has been vested in him by the Supreme Being. For the Jew, Mohammedans and Christians among others, man is master by divine right; the fear of God will therefore repress any impulse towards revolt in the downtrodden female."
1. "since man exercises a sovereign authority over women "
I wish, when my wife told me you have 30 minutes to leave the house, I left. She kept the house the car, all.. later when she wanted another car... I obliged. when she wanted another car... I obliged too.. when the bank crash occurred and her retirement evaporated, I compensated for that happily :-)
2. "For the Mohammedans and Christians among others, man is master by divine right"
I wish :-( must be the women around me never learned this lesson lol lol lol perhaps I should have found me a Jewish woman lol lol
3. "the fear of God will therefore repress any impulse towards revolt in the downtrodden female."
Here I will refer you to Frances Leader's comment:
.....my grandmother was the acknowledged matriarch of the family
......I became a matriarch, just as my grandmother instructed, and I never did let any man know that I did not consider him to be 'the boss'! 😉
In conclusion in women and men... there is the good, the bad and the ugly :-)
The only idea on which I ever disagree is our superiority to others, and that keeps me in nearly constant conflict ... even with the people I like and enjoy most, and agree with most often, which surely is you, Fadi.
From Whitney Webb's One Nation Under Blackmail, Vol 2, Ch 15 is on Ghislaine Maxwell. He brother went into a coma days after she was born, causing her to be so neglected she developed anorexia as a baby. At three, she told her mother, "I exist." At nine she told an author, "Daddy has a series of things lined up in a row. There's a riding crop with a swish to it, another straight riding crop and a few shoehorns. He always asks me to choose which one I want." These whippings were prearranged and not based on 'bad behavior.'
Sure, Ghislaine's evil. Sure, if you'd been born into her circumstances, you would have refused to go along. On what basis? Would you have been born with a moral superiority? And if women had power over their own finances, security and home, would Ghislaine's mother have allowed this? How many of Epstein's victims were easy prey because they were economically vulnerable? According to Whitney, almost all of them.
Of what Gloria Steinem was preaching, with which do you disagree: equal rights, equal pay, or freedom for women? We agree that the women's movement usurped women into becoming wage slaves just like men, and you know that my system would enable the labor of both men and women to serve the family and community.
In the age of mass psychology manipulation, it's important to think clearly and systematically. Do the systems of Judaism, Christianity and Islam state that God put men in charge of women? With the first two, there's no doubt. I have plenty of episodes analyzing that. I don't know the Q'uran, so if you say that it gives property rights, freedom of movement, economic activity, control of sexuality, and ownership of the children to women, I'll take your word for it.
I think we're answering two different questions, Fadi. You're answering, "Are women morally better than men?" with the answer 'no' and I would agree. What I'm looking at is the system. Would you want your daughter to have the freedom to be a full-time mom, and know that she could never lose the family home or have custody of her children taken away? Would you want her to keep that home in your family for generations, so that your grandchildren could never be homeless and would have a place to raise their kids? If the home you let your wife have becomes hers, and gives her the security to have kids, would you be happy about that? I don't think this can be changed overnight just reimagined for the future.
Thanks for your patience, Fadi.
Quote: “if you'd been born into her circumstances, you would have refused to go along. On what basis? Would you have been born with a moral superiority?”
>> Perhaps yes and perhaps not. Hence the importance of having a superior moral authority for social guidance, or the world would fall into cannibalism. This superior moral authority is the civilizational heritage of a society, of which religion is commonly an important part. Personally being like most baby boomers non-religious, so I know very little about Christianity. However by listening to Sheikh Imran Hosein on YouTube and Sayyed Nasrallah’s speeches I have learned a bit about Islam. An Ayat of relevance here is Ayat 18 of Surat Fatir:
‘And no bearer of burdens will bear the burden of another.’
This means if someone committed a crime it doesn’t justify committing a crime against another.
Say a tribesman from tribe A killed a man from tribe B. Tribesmen of tribe B would seek to kill a guy of tribe A for revenge. If possible, they would target the most important man of tribe A they can kill. In this Surat, the Koran makes clear you can only punish the guilty party.
Back to the perverts. Robert Maxwell was a multidimensional criminal, for which he alone must be punished. Regardless of what his daughter was subjected to, does not justify her crimes against defenseless innocent young children.
I am sure that the essence of Surat 18 is present in all civilizational heritages. Not that all abide by it. Until a few decades ago, it was common practice to take revenge of anybody of the “other” clan. But at least there is a yardstick by which to measure what is wrong and what is right.
Quote: “Of what Gloria Steinem was preaching, with which do you disagree: equal rights, equal pay, or freedom for women?”
>> None, I agree with all. These are “motherhood statements” after all. By focusing on these statements, the trap is set. One should look at the bigger picture, who does her agenda serve, who is financing her? To what end? This is the essence of countering mass psychology manipulation.
Quote: “In the age of mass psychology manipulation, it's important to think clearly and systematically. Do the systems of Judaism, Christianity and Islam state that God put men in charge of women? With the first two, there's no doubt. I have plenty of episodes analyzing that.
>> As mentioned above, in the age of mass psychology manipulation, we should be very careful about messages, especially that the mass communication mediums are predominantly owned and controlled by the money powers. Gloria, Simone and Jean Paul are typical examples. What these tools have in common, is the destruction of civilizational heritage of which religion is a central part. When civilizational heritage is destroyed, the social bonding and cohesion within a society is weakened, and consequently the ability to resist manipulation.
Quote: “I don't know the Q'uran, so if you say that it gives property rights, freedom of movement, economic activity, control of sexuality, and ownership of the children to women, I'll take your word for it.””
>> I am not an expert in any religion, the very little I know about the Koran is from sources mentioned earlier. All I know is that Islam greatly improved conditions of women compared to pre-Islamic society in the Arabian Peninsula. It was common practice to bury newborn girls, the Prophet put an end to this. From a practical viewpoint, observing Christian and Moslem families around me, I do not note any engrained differentiation between men and women. As I mentioned earlier.. there is the good, the bad and the ugly in all communities, religions and sexes.
Quote: "Would you want your daughter to have the freedom to be a full-time mom, and know that she could never lose the family home or have custody of her children taken away? Would you want her to keep that home in your family for generations, so that your grandchildren could never be homeless and would have a place to raise their kids? "
>> She already has a lovely garden flat, two 3-bedroom apartments, a 1-bedroom garden flat and a studio. She can live in one and rent the other 4. So I doubt she or her kids will ever be homeless.
Quote: "If the home you let your wife have becomes hers, and gives her the security to have kids, would you be happy about that?"
>> I would be ecstatic! My bikes and my freedom are what matter most on a personal level :-)
You really make me think through my arguments, Fadi. My Course meditation yesterday was 'I am as God created me.' I told a friend that my divine mission from the Creatrix seemed to be arguing.
The point that we're debating is whether the Abrahamic religions are "a superior moral authority for social guidance, or the world would fall into cannibalism. This superior moral authority is the civilizational heritage of a society, of which religion is commonly an important part."
When God was a woman, the world had certainly not fallen into cannibalism. Human sacrifice was to the male gods, particularly Set who became Yahweh. The texts of Egypt, written onto stone tablets, make that clear.
So the individual actions--whether good, like yours toward your ex, or bad like Ghislaine--are irrelevant to our debate. So are interpretations of the scriptures from Hosein or Nasrallah. What we're looking at is the system of power authorized by the scriptures themselves.
The question inherent in Simone's quote is "Do the systems of Judaism, Christianity and Islam state that God put men in charge of women?" So this wouldn't mean 'do they urge men to be nice about their power?' It's a question of power itself. To say, 'Slaveowners, be benevolent and kind towards your slaves' simply confirms their power, correct?
What is a Surat? I started going through the one on women, and I'll put that into the reply to that comment. And I'm happy your daughter is doing so well! I think your comment about your bikes and your freedom actually confirms my point about property being matrilineal. Women are homebodies, the home is the domain of the woman. To men, property is a commodity to be used to make money, a speculative asset. To women, property is security and freedom. And your actions were consistent with that ethic. But if they hadn't been, would the law have dispossessed your ex of the home? I know that's true here but maybe not in the Levant. To be continued ...
Quote: “The point that we're debating is whether the Abrahamic religions are "a superior moral authority for social guidance, or the world would fall into cannibalism. This superior moral authority is the civilizational heritage of a society, of which religion is commonly an important part."”
>> I wasn’t. The Abrahamic religions I assume are Christianity and Islam. (Yahwism is a Satanic ideology not a religion.)
As for Christianity, as we can surmise from publications of, Laurent Guyenot, Nefahotep, Julius and ICE-9 is that it has been greatly distorted to serve the Empire. We are left with Islam as a religion. Islam itself was subject to distortion during the Omayyad reign, shortly after the death of the Prophet. However, what distinguishes Islam, is there is only 1 script, the Koran, which is identical word for word, wherever you buy it, whether in Russia, Iran, China, US, or Saudi.
True there are a lot of “interpretations” especially those financed by MI6 via the heretic Wahabi (Saudi) sect… and distributed all over the world via the petrodollar. But there is 1 reference book, which can be used as a reference.
Most importantly when I speak of religion, I do not mean only Christianity and Islam, there are thousands of religions for the various civilizations… Native “Americans” had hundreds if not thousands of tribes, and they probably had tens or hundreds of religions, these are just as valid as Christianity or Islam. Same applies to “Latin America” and Africa…
My concept of religion is the social code that has filtrated over centuries within a certain community.
Quote: “What we're looking at is the system of power authorized by the scriptures themselves.”
>> As mentioned earlier. One is a Satanic ideology and consequently the system it proposes is hell.
Another has been completely messed up by the Empire for the Empire, and we have seen what genocides, suffering and misery it has caused all over the world for centuries.
Islam has been greatly messed up by UK and US intelligence agencies and the petrodollar.
The closest thing to Islamic rule exists in Iran. I have reviewed their constitution and I found that it does provide for a good system of governance. The proof of that, is the phenomenal growth in all socioeconomic and scientific indicators despite being sanctioned since the Islamic Revolution.
By they way, there is a greater percentage of women in science and technology in Iran than in the US, Europe. I think it would be a good idea to check the Iranian constitution, and critique it.
Quote: “The question inherent in Simone's quote is "Do the systems of Judaism, Christianity and Islam state that God put men in charge of women?" So this wouldn't mean 'do they urge men to be nice about their power?' It's a question of power itself. To say, 'Slaveowners, be benevolent and kind towards your slaves' simply confirms their power, correct?”
>> Simone has to be understood within the context she was acting. As you note from the Protocols, destroying religion, value systems and traditions is high on the list of destroying the fabric of society, to enable its domination.
Ask yourself the question: How is it possible that an individual commit horrendous crimes, MULTIPLE times and not go to jail? Instead be revered as an “intellectual”
Quote: "would the law have dispossessed your ex of the home? I know that's true here but maybe not in the Levant."
>> I am no legal expert. But I doubt it. It is only natural that the mother takes care of the kids, so it is only natural that the mother keeps the home. Are there bad men,,, OF COURSE... is there abuse of the law... OF COURSE... .I just report my experience and observations...
Here is a funny one. We were riding and stop for a coffee. I meet a biker with a brand new racing Kawasaki, we chat.. I ask him what bike did you have before?
He names and old model... I am surprised.. tell him.. you jump 25 years in your bikes!
He replies: You know the story... bike, marriage, kids, bike is out, kids grow up, divorce, back to biking lol lol
Hold up. The women were calling the men what? Did you say Baal? What kind of fuckery…
Now, I’m inclined to selfishly agree that mothers are, indeed, more important in the equation because of the reasons you mentioned and we would naturally sacrifice our own lives for the lives of our babes. Maybe some men would too. But mothers wouldn’t even blink an eye. But. I do think the father serves a purpose more than just being a sperm donor. A good father can be a good role model for the masculine. Single moms can sometimes be either overbearing or turn their sons into mama’s boys. I think a father figure is more important for a son than for a daughter.
Another thought that came to mind when you were talking about the Abrahamic religions and how patriarchal they are, usurping the female divine— don’t you think it strange that Judaism is the only one out of the three where your Jewishness is matrilineal? But it does make sense because back in the day, before genealogy tests and all that, you could only be certain of the parentage through the mother because the baby comes out of her womb. The sperm could belong to anyone. How many Christian princes, for example might have not been the heir to the kingdom?
Lots to ponder in this post. Glad you went into a deep dive.
Thanks for noticing that, Tonika! That absolutely shocked me. And in other places, Ba'al was the female god of fertility, domestic, peaceful--not at all demanding blood sacrifice. So the goddess was usurped, and then every man became the lord and god of his own house.
The point you raise about men is important. If women didn't need men for financial support, would they want them around? Maybe yes, maybe no. I think that for men to be freed of being wage-earners and have the time to serve the family and community would be invigorating. But I can think of lots of marriages that would end tomorrow if it weren't for financial dependence.
I've also never met a mom who didn't want a good dad to spend as much time as he wanted with his kids.
In one example, it talks about how the kids are so communally raised that even the mothers sometimes forget who had them. That also seems like it could be even more true for dads. If there's no ownership claims, would kids gravitate to the adults that are 'attuned' to them?
Veronica was just saying that she wanted to make a list of all the things that used to be provided for parents socially, that are now their responsibility. One was drop offs and pick ups for school. Another was summer activities. And then there was parenting itself. She and her friend were watching a boy terrorizing some ducks. His mother couldn't get him to stop. Everyone else stayed out of it. Veronica has a high tolerance for boy rambunctiousness, and is good with boy energy, so when she says he was out of control, I believe her. But mothers are really left on their own to figure it out, or not.
I've thought about that Jewish matrilineal thing. But I don't think it's out of respect. Men had concubines, women sex slaves. Their children were still slaves, not part of the ruling class of Habiru/ Hebrew. The women were negotiating chips. They could be sent as concubines to kings or pharaohs, as they were. The theocracy could provide divine aristocracy to rulers by agreeing to marriages with Habiru or, more likely, Heka Khasut women. And then their lineage would inherit the throne, while they're the power behind it.
That's why an unmarried woman who was raped had to marry her rapist, and a betrothed or married woman who was raped was put to death. She's a vessel for that pure seed.
Thanks for reading, Tonika!
I can’t wait to read this book!! I first read about it from Renée Gerlich’s series “A brief complete Herstory” which is truly beautiful in hard copy and she illustrates it too ❤️ I have heard Gerda Lerner’s book “The Creation of Patriarchy” is worth reading too though haven’t yet secured a copy. Amazing to think that once upon a time things may have been SO different.
Even more great recommendations, LoWa! I'm glad that I waited to check out my Amazon cart from your comment elsewhere. I'll repost it and my reply here:
You: "Enna Reitort’s book “Krivda: The Godtrix Against the Matrix”? This also covers the Jesus story and its political / economic roots albeit with a different angle to your post here I think. PS on the “krivda” (crooked truth / distorted truth) of wordplay, Reitort also mentions how we have been conditioned to abhor the word matrix. Cue films like the Matrix and red/blue pill ideas. But matrix comes from matrice, which means womb, so I guess to be “in the matrix” is to be deeply connected into the life force of the universe! (Similar root to maternal, mother, mater etc)"
Me: I hadn't heard of Enna Reitort before but her book is now in my Amazon cart. I LOVE the way she puts it: "'Krivda' is an ancient Russian word that means 'deceit' with a twist - the subtler, more pernicious connotation of 'reality made crooked'. ... therein lies the god-trix." Wow!!!
And yes, I've been looking at how the word matrix has been twisted to mean its opposite. And the directors being two brothers who both became transgender ... come on. Here are some I've done on the real matrix, which I've looked at as the network of mothers: https://thirdparadigm.substack.com/p/2025-moving-the-matrix, https://thirdparadigm.substack.com/p/popping-the-blue-pill, https://thirdparadigm.substack.com/p/breaking-the-spell, and https://thirdparadigm.substack.com/p/having-words-peter-duke-and-jasun.
Also Pyramidal Patriarchy or Matriarchal Matrix? from before I was on Substack: https://youtu.be/dtID5Ho_OBY. Although I no longer use the word matriarch because it's a contradiction in terms: the archons were all male and focused on power over others, mothers are a horizontal structure focused on power over ourselves.
Thank you so much for this new reference!
Can’t wait to check out these other excellent pieces of yours too, thanks for pointing me in the right direction! Have you read The Power by Naomi Alderman? It was a total page turner (fiction), electrifying and sobering and un-put-downable. I agree with your point around the -arch suffix which means ruler (arkhos in Greek).
I’m sure you also know about the word radical (as we are all radicals apparently). In biology, the radical part of the plant is the root, and the apical part is the shoot. Radix, radish, rhizome, rhiza and root all share the same etymological root…so to be radical means to be more firmly rooted in the ground, in reality, ie grounded! Not a fringe looney as they would have you believe (actually one might technically say they should really refer to fringe loonies as neither radical nor apical but some thing else. Lateral? Telelateral?)
Another good word I love: spirit, which means breath. Inspire = to breathe in, expire = breathe out, respire = to breathe in and out. And conspire = to breathe together…hopefully breathing in the emergence of our collective dreams! In some indigenous cultures, the customary greeting is a simultaneous inhalation with noses pressed against one another, a sacred act of sharing breath. Literally a conspiracy. And the mathematician in me loves a good spiral (which must surely share a root with spirit) - a chakra is a spinning wheel, the earth spins, galaxies spin, and apparently the Fibonacci sequence shows you how so many beautiful things in nature arise out of spiral - unfurling ferns, babies in the womb, wave forms when mapped, sunflower seed patterns…In not sure if this has anything to do with the world/whirled/whorl/twirl words but with all the krivda of wordplay, I wouldn’t be surprised.
What a delight to find another word junkie! I adore etymology. And I always wanted to tell Russell Brand about the word radical because one of his favorites was deracinate--to tear up by the root. Another excellent word, the key to turning people into slaves/ commodities. Goes for education migration too.
I've proudly claimed radical, and told friends for years that 'liberal' was fighting words. And that was before it was fashionable.
And YES the link between spirit and conspiracy delights me! I looked to see if I'd talked about it here, but even though I didn't, I think you'd like this one: https://thirdparadigm.substack.com/p/conspiracy-theorists. Especially for the new rhetorical fallacies I've named, one after my mother.
Although it's only in video, before I had Substack, I'm fairly certain I talk about it in this on The Utopian Imagination: https://youtu.be/BTxuuSnRrZI.
And I love spirals. Somewhere I talk about 'spiraling into control.' I think the spiral is the shape of reality. Here are some where I talk about spirals: https://thirdparadigm.substack.com/p/grouse-and-dragonfly, https://thirdparadigm.substack.com/p/who-stole-our-creativity, https://thirdparadigm.substack.com/p/a-house-for-the-soul-in-the-land, and https://thirdparadigm.substack.com/p/78-habits-of-a-hopeful-oblate.
I haven't read The Power but I'll order it too. If you like fiction and words, you might like Babel. I talk about it here: https://thirdparadigm.substack.com/p/the-curse-of-babel.
What an excellent conversation! Do you go by a name that you reveal, LoWa?
Amazing articles, wish I could print your entire corpus to easily read on paper in the sunshine! If you ever collect up your substack works in a book, I’m sure you’d have many takers.
Have you any thoughts on the word state/estate? State like nation state but also as in stating = saying. And as being (eg “state of mind” or Spanish “estar” = to be, French “être” = to be, “estado” = have been).
In a perverse way, whatever the State states becomes true as the world seems to be built in proclamation. State it and so it shall be (estar/ être = to be). Words create reality whether that’s of viruses that don’t exist or other propaganda (I’m sure we all went more propaganda ie propagate more seedlings so that word is a bit of doublethink too).
So is it possible the word State denotes the socio-political reality we live in precisely to make any other reality inconceivable ? Because State cones from the same root as “to be” so we literally can’t imagining being/existing in any other political arrangement…And is it a coincidence that apparently the best place on earth (cough) is the united States? The State that gets to state what the state of the rest of the world should be?
https://winteroak.org.uk/2023/07/25/the-mortal-gods-drops-its-mask/
I haven't thought about the word State but now that you mention it, I can't stop thinking about it. Yes, that makes sense, like fiat: make it so! And the word became flesh. And the word became reality.
Interesting article too. Graeber challenges Hobbes in The Dawn of Civilization, but I'll spare you that link. No I won't! Here's the canon: https://thirdparadigm.substack.com/p/muskrat-love-and-anarchy, https://thirdparadigm.substack.com/p/when-mothers-ran-the-world and https://thirdparadigm.substack.com/p/sex-and-power-battle-of-the-daves.
I'm also fond of reading a book in the sun--is anything better? Funny, I was just thinking about organizing some of my topics into books. But you know I have one book out, yes? https://www.amazon.com/How-Dismantle-Empire-2020-Vision/dp/1733347607.
Yes I can’t wait to read your book! And everything on your substack!!
Back to the topic of “when god was a woman” and perhaps more relevant to your work in tonic masculinity, many years ago I came across the work of Nora Samaran (real name Naava Smolash), who similarly coined an alternative to toxic masculinity in her viral piece “The Opposite of Rape Culture is Nurturance Culture”. It spurred some beautiful messages from all over the world of people defining what Nurturance Culture meant to them. I also liked her piece “For Men Who Desperately Need Autonomy” as it helped me see my needs of care and nurturance were normal and not “crazy”.
https://norasamaran.com/2016/02/11/the-opposite-of-rape-culture-is-nurturance-culture-2/
https://norasamaran.com/2016/07/21/for-men-who-desperately-need-autonomy-make-it-dont-take-it/
I just put the krivda book in my cart after reading this. I’m going to continue with these awesome comments before I buy because there will be more to add I’m sure. I will also get the Merlin Stone book. So excited for all these sources! Thank you.
I've been reading it before bed at night but I have to up my bedtime! It's SO interesting. She has a couple of things she doesn't question that I do, but that's true for almost everyone ;-) And Merlin Stone was life-changing for me. Krivda let me know that the first book written by King James was Demonology, after he supervised the burning of hundreds of Scottish 'witches.' Then he put together the Bible. Tells you everything you need to know, doesn't it?
Within the ranks of Anthropology some 50yrs ago, did some few break ranks of the party line academics, to point out a common sense conclusion, to wit: that in our most primitive but emerging society groups, the skillsets of women were acknowledged. Their birthing babies that perpetuate the clan(high pain tolerance and instinctive knowlege obvious), they were the fixers-- healing and creating the vast knowledge of DETAILS of plants and skills to generations. Females were shown as superlative communicators. Thus their value as food gatherers and preparers, child care and educators, language creators, teachers, and even as task assignators for survival tasks...women were put on pedastals as the single most important members for clan survival. The hunting and capture of other women through warfare was secondary to hunting for food.
And so that thru time it was only because of those immense skillsets and the power naturally conferred to women (who preferred love, peace,sex, and community) that men in their natural upper body strength and size did recognize that they could dominate everything with (combined) brute force.
lovely article but why are all the images WHITE WOMEN? try reading when god was a black woman.
Some of the images are Asian, some Middle Eastern, some made of gold, some of ebony and stars, BornAlive. I do have some stunning AI art from Amy on African goddesses, that I've saved for almost a year in a draft called OMGdess. But I would dispute whether being all-inclusive is the measure of truth. Should Amy be required to divide her images among the amount of representative races in the world? Should you be required to include one Latino among any five people whose images you display? Or is it only black images that matter? The issue is who has power over who. In an article about the usurping of women's power in the Middle East, I don't think God would have been a black woman.
the nature of 'god' is a mystery and will remain one for eternity,but it IS safe to say that the Dark Matter out there beyond the karman line gives us a good enough clue as to where creation occurs in the dark womb of the earth's atmosphere. we can argue over 'race' (a construct) but images DO matter. imagery has been used to disassociate nations from their own godhead and to confuse and obscure the power inherent in the psyche of those nations. i grew up with a white jesus and a white god staring at me from the pulpit. it took years to remove those images man made gods and few more years to remove the whole idea of a god,to be replaced with the TRUTH of the multiverse as CREATRIX. CREATION. by the way,the middle east was named and referred to as middle east by conquering european nations. like the rest of the world,no people ever called themselves middle eastern,oriental,african until europe stroll through renaming the world for their benefit. no one is required to do anything,but i have a real pushback when women tell the story of other women with very little consideration (creative thought) for who may be in their reading audience.
You write, "i grew up with a white jesus and a white god staring at me from the pulpit. it took years to remove those images man made gods and few more years to remove the whole idea of a god, to be replaced with the TRUTH of the multiverse as CREATRIX."
Unlike you, I don't claim to know the TRUTH. But when I replace images of a white jesus and white god with ethnically (and species-) diverse images of women as god, all you did was criticize. What used to be called 'politically correct' is now wokespeak, and it's a way of shutting others up by claiming moral superiority. All it does is divide us further.
You choose to be in my reading audience by whether what I'm writing has value to you. I do NOT choose what I write in order to win your approval. How could I? It's up to you to present your version of TRUTH and draw those to you to whom it speaks.
you are welcome 🙏🏽
Very interesting article, some comments"
Quote from Simone de Maxwell: “the fear of God will therefore repress any impulse towards revolt in the downtrodden female.”
>> Response to Simone de Maxwell: The fear of God may repress any impulse towards what is historically, and universally accepted as immoral: sexually abusing children.
Quote: “But the Quran states clearly, “Allah will not tolerate idolatry … the pagans pray to females.”
>>I did a quick search but couldn’t find “the pagans pray to females.”
There is a Surat about women https://www.kuran.com/en/kuran-meali/english/women
I went through it and didn’t find any chauvinism, on the contrary, I noted respect for women, for example that women have the right to inheritance. Something which was absent in Arabia before the Prophet and in the West for centuries after the Prophet.
By the way not all women are pacifists. Khawla bint al-Azwar ‘was an Arab Muslim warrior in the service of the Rashidun Caliphate. She played a major role in the Muslim conquest of the Levant, and fought alongside her brother Dhiraar. She has been described as one of the greatest female soldiers in history. She was a companion of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad’ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khawla_bint_al-Azwar
In pre-Islamic period there was Queen Zenobia of Palmyra ‘In 270, Zenobia launched an invasion that brought most of the Roman East under her sway and culminated with the annexation of Egypt. By mid-271 her realm extended from Ancyra, central Anatolia, to Upper Egypt, although she remained nominally subordinate to Rome. However, in reaction to the campaign of the Roman emperor Aurelian in 272, Zenobia declared her son emperor and assumed the title of empress, thus declaring Palmyra's secession from Rome.’ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zenobia.
Zenobia made of Palmyra a jewel in the desert, and its beauty and archeological sites were well preserved until the zionist-NATO islamist terrorists took over Syria. The roads to Palmyra used to be our favorite riding grounds. After 120 miles of full speed riding on open desert roads, we'd arrive at the jewel. It was like a Greek island in the desert.
"before the secret of human fedundity[...]"
Fecundity?
Thank you, divine editor! And you should see all the other ones I made while transcribing over my gin & tonic!
I am really bad about typos lately; it's gotten worse the last couple of years, which is a little worrying.
I have a weird coincidence/miracle story to share about this book but too tired right now. Incidentally, had heard similar stuff about SdB to @fadilama
I'll be interested to hear your story, Neshma, after you've had some well-deserved rest!