Appearance of the Goddess
The Cro-Magnon man, who appeared in Europe 40,000 years ago, was religious in his understanding, perception, and actions. It is difficult to grasp this in a secular culture like ours, but belief in a power beyond us and in hidden worlds is an essential part of human nature—a capacity as natural as art, reason, and emotion—and it constitutes an important and central element in defining humanity.
According to archaeological remains, the Cro-Magnon man had a complex belief system expressed in cave paintings and figurines, and their belief in the afterlife is evident in their burial customs. These early, highly developed human beings believed in the existence of spiritual worlds, forces, and entities, as well as in a meaningful organizing principle that governed the world and their lives.
Religion is not an intellectual invention that emerged at a particular point in history but an essential part of human nature. This is why it appears even in primitive societies that were isolated from the rest of humanity for tens of thousands of years, such as the Aborigines in Australia and the inhabitants of the remote jungles of the Amazon.
Eliade claims that “the experience of the sacred is one of the foundations of the structure of consciousness.” The basic human experience involves transcending into other worlds during sleep and experiencing another reality through dreams. This naturally leads to a belief in life after death, and the burial customs characteristic of humans testify to this belief.
It can be said with certainty that every human society has a belief system in higher forces, a form of shamanism or paganism. Surprisingly, in prehistory, we find highly developed belief systems that tend toward the abstract and even monotheistic. However, the all-encompassing deity initially appeared in the form of the Great Mother rather than a male god.
Already during the Ice Age, many figurines of women (goddesses) were discovered in the living spaces of ancient humans’ caves. These small figurines, some made of mammoth bone, were seen as representations of the Great Mother. It is worth noting in this context that mammoth bone circles from the Ice Age period—20,000 years ago—have been found in Russia – similar to later stone circles.
The first figurines were created more than 35,000 years ago. Some depict combinations of humans and animals, which were probably totem animals with symbolic and magical connotations. Many figurines are made of bone, while others are crafted from clay or stone. These were not toys but representations of Mother Earth, who protected the tribe and bestowed her blessings upon it.
The understanding that death is just a transition to the afterlife relied on cyclical perception of nature, death was leading to rebirth, and was therefore connected to the sacred feminine. Humans returned to the womb of the goddess who had given birth to them in the first place in order to be reborn. The tomb was a womb.
In other words, the organizing and generative force of the universe was seen as feminine, linked to the cycles of nature, the moon, and the sun (which were also considered feminine because of their cyclical disappearance and return). The secret of man’s birth, existence, prosperity, and continuity after death had to do with the goddess.
As humans became settled farmers instead of nomadic hunter-gatherers who spent part of their time living in caves, belief in the Goddess strengthened. It was women who initiated early agriculture; they were gatherers and knew the secrets of plants. Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that they were the ones who began the domestication of wheat and other food plants, with the guidance and blessing of the earth mother goddess. The cycles of vegetation—sprouting from the earth, growing and bearing fruit, decaying, and seeding—were seen as connected to the sacred feminine principles of the Goddess.
The Sacred Journey
“Mother Earth” was the most prominent expression of the Goddess principle, with every part of her attesting to this connection. If seeds were buried in her womb (earth), they grew and yielded harvest. The plants that emerged from her body responded to the cycles of nature and went through cycles of death and birth. The animals on her body reflected and echoed her essence—whether it was the snake shedding its skin, the snail emerging from and re-entering its shell, or the frog that lived both on land and in water—all were animals of the Goddess, revealing the secrets of the Great Mother.
Humans lived off what she provided them and dwelled in her dens and caves. When they died and were buried in her body, they hoped that her powers would help them sprout anew in the world of spirits, which they encountered every night in their dreams. In the meantime, they enjoyed the web of connections and relationships that existed under her auspices.
Life was part of a great and wonderful web in which everything was connected to everything else. The purpose of life was to connect with the vast diversity of nature and exist in harmony with the mother’s gifts and cycles. People embarked on journeys across the body of Mother Earth. This was not merely a journey in search of food, but a sacred journey in which participants received power through exposure to sacred sites.
During the “sacred journey,” humans had the opportunity to be consecrated in various places on the surface of Mother Earth according to cosmic events, such as the longest day of the year. In return, they sanctified her through rituals in which participants lost control and became part of something greater than themselves (Shamanic trance rituals). The “sacred journey” led to feelings of appreciation and gratitude, admiration for the beauty of creation, and exaltation—feelings that Mother Earth was happy to receive.
In other words, the human religious genius in the cave period before the agricultural revolution, when humans were hunter-gatherers, was linked to the sacred journey across the earth, in which a connection with various animals and plants was renewed throughout the changing seasons.
Humans lived in small groups of about 20–25 people and wandered along a sacred path. At certain times of the year, they reached a sacred mountain or another sacred place and performed religious rituals of a shamanic nature, which also served as initiation rites.
The physical aspect of the journey was the search for food, but it was accompanied by religious meaning, expressed through rituals, some of which were related to hunting. The ancients held ritual ceremonies to ensure a successful hunt, to appease the spirit of the animal, and to connect with it. These were probably circle dances in which they wore animal skins and masks, like those seen today in folklore festivals throughout the Balkans and Europe, thus “worshipping” the “god of animals,” the horned god.
Contrary to popular belief, the hunter-gatherer diet was better and safer than that of early farmers. The primary source of food was gathering, for which women were responsible, rather than hunting, which was likely the responsibility of groups of men. Women conducted ceremonies and rituals to communicate with the spirits of plants, seeking their aid in germinating mushrooms and bearing fruits on trees. Plants were seen as living beings with intelligence, especially trees, which were believed to be connected to one another and capable of communicating with the past, the future, the earth, and the entire universe. In other words, plants were seen as extensions of the earth and expressions of the goddess. Another manifestation of the goddess was the moon and the time cycles associated with it, and beyond all this was the great spirit of Mother earth, of which we are a part, whether we like it or not.
The sacred journey (which still exists today among “primitive” societies such as the Aborigines in Australia) was also related to the ability of hunter-gatherer humans to feel the energies of the earth and fulfill their role as intermediaries—receiving and transmitting antennas between the Earth and the universe. Small groups of hunter-gatherers would visit sacred rocks in the Iron Gates Canyon area on the Danube (for example) and admire the surrounding landscape, sitting in silence and awe, thereby fulfilling their role as humans who generate deep emotions for the planet.
Only humans sit aimlessly atop magnificent cliffs (especially at sunrise or sunset), in wonder and awe, saying to themselves, “How beautiful is the world.” The cow is focused on the grass in the nearby field, and the wolf is focused on the cow, but humans can step outside themselves in that moment and experience the Sacred.
The sacred journey was intended to expose humans to the “beauty” of creation in special places and at special times, so that they would generate profound feelings of gratitude, exaltation, and amazement. This was the reason why, from the very beginning, Mother Earth supported humans and helped them develop—so that they would generate these deep emotions, which could be called “religious” in the sense of being part of something greater than oneself.
The sacred journey was usually circular (cyclic) journey across specific territory, in which participants visited special places at special times of the year. The journey had practical aspects as well. For example, it followed the presence of fish in Lake Ohrid during the spawning period (they came there from the waters of the Sargasso Sea in the Caribbean), the ripening of berries in the forests, and more.
The sacred journey concerned not only animals and plants but also inanimate objects. There were places where the ancients gathered materials such as red ochre or flint stones, which they needed. They carried their basic equipment with them, while other necessary items were made or taken from the earth, leaving behind certain things in specific places for future use. As part of the sacred journey, they may have collected medicinal plants, washed in hot springs, and more.
According to Eliade, humans in ancient times merged with the environment in a way that is difficult for us to imagine today. They were born with a connection to the spirit of Mother Earth, which existed in the water, crystals, stones, trees—everywhere. They knew how to leave their bodies in shamanic trance, sometimes aided by intoxicating plants, and how to connect with the energies of the earth and the spirits of animals. Humans participated in the life of the universe, which was different from their own, and this experience was reinforced through dance and rituals.
