Dark Wings Descending

Book Review: The Myth of Matriarchal Prehistory by Cynthia Eller

This book was an interesting, fact heavy read which intended to inform the reader about some common misconceptions regarding the role or existence of a prehistoric matriarchal society. The author was faced with several instances of renowned speakers who, for whatever reason, touted the theory of matriarchal prehistory as fact. I certainly don’t blame her for wanting to set the record straight, but I feel that her book could have done with a little less venom.

Eller makes some rather convincing arguments to back her case, but she begins her book fairly by asserting that because none of us actually lived during the prehistoric period, all we have to go by are our theories of what was. She is highly critical of specifically FEMINIST matriarchalists, which she openly criticizes throughout the book. Despite her emphasis on fact and the work she put into developing the feminist matriarchal belief structure, Eller is sometimes prone to making sweeping generalizations. For example, she often cited examples of Goddess worship and equated that with Feminist Matriarchalists interchangeably. Certainly not all religious paths that find themselves worshipping a Goddess, or feature a Goddess centered spirituality buy into the feminist theories.

Still, Eller does provide us with many of the leading theorists and what they have said to bolster their theories. She often finds herself touching on the work of Marija Gimbutas as the primary mother scholar of Feminist Matriarchal theory. Gimbutas has provided us with theories about, if a matriarchal society existed and a patriarchal revolution occurred, how and who the patriarchal revolution started with based upon her own archaeological/anthropological evidence. In a sense, she provided the evidence most matriarchal theorists were looking for to prove their insubstantial theories that females have long been oppressed by patriarchy, which they insist is against the natural human order. Feminist matriarchalists believe that in the beginning, women were the priestesses and rulers of society, revered as the mysterious and peaceful life bringers because men did not understand their role in reproduction. Then one day the patriarchal and nomadic “Kurgan” invaders came in from somewhere in modern-day Russia and introduced war and oppression to the female gender. It’s quite fanciful, and conveniently paints all men as the bad guys.

Despite all of the sarcasm Eller includes in her writing, I am inclined to agree with her. Feminist Matriarchalists are impractical and often seek to cherry pick evidence to back their theories rather than accepting the whole of the evidence presented. For a theory to be substantially considered, ALL of the evidence must support the theory, not just some of it. To quote the author, “Looking for religion is a near guarantee that one will find it, even if it is not there.” It would seem also that Feminist Matriarchalists have added religion to the mix by suggesting that they have faith in the theories as part of their spiritual belief. As a spiritual belief alone, this may work, but the theory does not stand up to archaeological evidence.

Would I recommend that anyone should read this book? Surely, provided they have a love for history and are capable of abstract thought. It’s a lot of information to take in at one sitting, so I’d recommend allowing a month for yourself to read and reflect.

(word count: 545)

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Book Reviews: The Tain by Thomas Kinsella

How shall I review the story of this excerpt from the Tain Bo Culaigne?
It is soon told.
This book is a small segment of a larger story: the Irish epic, Tain Bo Culaigne. Accompanied by the rudimentary illustrations by artist Louis deBrocquy, Thomas Kinsella echoes the words and wisdoms of the ancient Irish people in his translation of the classic tale.
Having read many retellings of the entire epic, it was refreshing to read Kinsella’s translation in a more true-to-life fashion. All too often, poor retellings of this tale have obliterated the magic and supernatural elements of the tale in a poor attempt at Christianizing it. All of the magical elements remain: shape changing, the sidhe, the interaction between Goddess and pupil, and even the more brutal details of the battles and duels that occurred.
The Tain follows the story of Queen Medb and her King Ailill as they set out to prove which of the two had more property and was thus the greater in the relationship. After having all of their possessions accounted for, Medb discovered (much to her frustration) that Ailill possessed one more bull than she, the likes of which could be found nowhere else save for Ulster. Unfortunately, the bull Medb required to be entirely equal with Ailill belonged to a farmer by the name of Daire mac Fiachna and so she sent her messenger MacRoth to go there and request to borrow the bull, Donn Culaigne for the duration of a year. He would be compensated enormously. When MacRoth went to mac Fiachna, the farmer eagerly agreed to the trade. However, two men of Ulster began a light hearted conversation with MacRoth just following the farmer’s agreement which ended in the insistence that Medb would have taken the bull by force if he had not agreed. This angered the farmer, and he retracted his agreement. This pitted the men of Ulster and the men of Connacht against one another, and the Tain began.
The Tain also follows the story of Cuchulainn, Irelands best known hero. Having been reared as sister-son to King Conchobor MacNessa of Ulster, Cuchulainn’s exploits as a child were well known to his childhood friend Fergus who happily relayed the beardless boy’s daring feats to Medb and Ailill of Connacht. The two monarchs greatly underestimated the young Red Branch warrior, trained by Scathatch herself, and found themselves outwitted and outmanned by him at every turn. Perhaps some of the book’s more enjoyable conversations in the book occur between Cuchulainn and his Charioteer, Laeg, as they travelled around the countryside committing outrageous feats. The conversations are honest and believable, and truly seem as a photograph of Ireland in another age. In this story, a man’s word and his integrity (and a woman’s word, besides) are more important than losing oneself to battle rage. Even Cuchulainn, while in his Warp Spasm, does not attack friends. The Tain is not about mindless killing, but about honor and integrity in the face of deception.
I was very amused by this translation of the story. Reading about what made Cuchulainn great instead of simply being told “he is great” is really what endears me to the character. This is true for all of the characters within the story. It is laced with humor, such as Fergus having to bear a wooden sword around for a while and Cuchulainn having to smear berry juice on his face just so the older warriors would fight him, and a complete cock walk of noble warriors and their entourages. I laughed out loud several times throughout the course of the book, and other times went a little cross-eyed reading about everyone that showed up at the big battle of the Tain. It reminded me of reading the Silmarillion.
It truly is an excellent translation, if not THE best available. For me, the illustrations really added to the spirit of the story, as the figures were suggested rather than obvious. They had an abstract stylization that forced the viewer to imagine what the figure was doing and fill in the blanks. Combined as one, with the text and the illustrations, it truly felt as though I had been spoken to in the words of an old Irish bard.

(word count: 708)

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This book is far and away my favorite book regarding the history of modern Pagan witchcraft and also happens to be written by my favorite author on the subject: Ronald Hutton. While I can understand why many modern Pagans may have been offended by his assertions, I truly believe that it is a book that should be read by anyone that has described them self as Pagan. Even if one does not follow the path of Wicca, it is a crucial book to dispel any romantic notions one may carry about the practice: an unbroken lineage of witchcraft which dates back until ancient times, or that in ancient times society was matriarchal, or even that Gerald Gardner possessed a doctorate degree). It’s a dense read in nature, but remains pleasantly absent of the fluff one can expect to find in many modern Pagan books. It is an honest work of historical literature.
Hutton has established a high standard of scholarship in Pagan research that was regrettably absent from previous works whose authors have attempted to write on the subject. Hutton makes no attempt to pander to anyone; he neither romances modern witches, nor does he condemn them for their practices to appeal to the common reader.
The book itself is divided into many chapters which are grouped into two large sections: Macrocosm and Microcosm. The Chapters which fall under “Macrocosm” discuss the larger pieces of the witchcraft puzzle. They discuss how the modern pagan movement started in the hearts of poets and romantics who longed to return to nature in order to escape the industrialization of the modern world. Popular poets at the time (Such as Keats and Shelley) were largely responsible for sowing the seeds of naturalism through study and admiration of the Greco-Roman deities. It is through this method that many of the native British deities (and those of ancient integrative texts by the Romans in Britain) became synonymous with those of foreign origin. Chapters discuss how Wicca established the archetypal God and Goddess, how it’s High and Low Magics were constructed, and which folklore and witchcraft figured in to form a sort of patchwork quilt of reconstructed traditions. Together, they set the groundwork for modern witchcraft.
In the section “Microcosm”, Hutton discusses the heavy hitters and founders within the modern Witchcraft movement such as Aleister Crowley, Gerald Gardner, Doreen Valiente, Aidan Kelly, Margaret Murray, the Folklore Society, the Golden Dawn, and many others who worked to establish order and contributed in their own ways to make Wicca an official religious movement. The book goes on to discuss the problems with communication and scholarship, and how sometimes new books were written based upon the fabrications of others which were taken as fact. Over time, a lot of the truths of modern witchcraft had been diluted and legitimacy had been lost.
A sampling of some of my favorite quotes are:
“It is an irony that, by contrast, many modern pagan witches identify themselves much more closely with traditional cunning craft, and yet, despite some linkages (which will become plain later), in their case the differences are greater than the similarities. They have much more in common with the stereotypical images of witches in the nineteenth-century popular culture; the very beings who were regarded as the natural enemies of the charmers and cunning people, representing the opposite aspect of magic.” -page 111
“The overwhelming majority of these have been agnostics, atheists, or individuals who answer to the name of Christian but do not attend church except for rites of passage. When I have informed such people of my research, far and away the most frequent question which they ask of modern witches is not “From what social and economic group are they drawn?” or ‘What motivates them to take up such a spirituality?’ or ‘How does their religion compare or contrast with others?’ or even ‘What do they believe?’ It is again and again, ‘Do their spells really work?’ –page 271
Hutton forces us to re-examine the popular ideas that are presented both from the now-classical works on the occult and challenge many modern perspectives and extract the truth from the lies. It is an especially valuable work in a time in which modern Pagans are plagued with bad stereotypes by misinformed individuals. In order to correct this, we absolutely must come together and review all of our sources for appropriate scholarship and honesty rather than accept the diatribes produced by people with pet theories who use Paganism as their venue to push their agenda. I really appreciated Hutton’s objectivity and unwillingness to soften blows to flawed scholarship, no matter how much they are loved by the masses. In that sense, his serious attempts at establishing real historical scholarship for the Occult and Paganism is both groundbreaking and significant.

(word count 797)

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