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Thematic Essay | Goddess

What Lasts in Time

By Caitrina Oldjoy
January 7, 2009
Through the patient work of her hands and the processes of creativity a woman could produce complex, dreamlike textures, intricate overlapping, abstract floral and geometric patterns... 
Summer Clouds
Summer Clouds -Charles Courtney Curran (1917)

The theme of protogenos of the earth or primeval goddess of creation is the primal motif of nature, founded in the mysteries of fecundity and transformation, and inextricably linked to traditional handwork, which is the most ancient design. The archetypal pattern of goddess, which expresses the sacred mythological-ancestral matrix of “womanliness”, reassembles the fragments of an ancient memory, depicting what might be called “woman of nature”.

It was an idea that inspired the tribal deities of our ancestors and was the basis of the ancient goddess cults that stretched over continents and thousands of years, from the coastal countries of the Red Sea, the eastern African coast, the ancient harbors of the Indian Ocean, the golden temples of Ur, the valley of the Nile, to the Mediterranean trading ports, as a key symbol of the transformative spirit of nature.

The first artists adapted protogenos motif with thought and care, and in typical holistic fashion. Ancient weavers, painters, bead makers, and potters, were inspired by the idea that “woman of nature” was not above nature, but entangled within its opulent colors and lovely textures.

Endymion
Endymion -Arthur Hughes (1870)

The memories, visions, and dream sequences that shaped this entanglement and formed the basis of symbolic thought were pattern-encoded to handwork techniques and themes. The art of handwork transformed nature into the colors and shapes that recreated the circle of life, and illustrated the entwine of its weaves, folds, and layers, with human life.

Through the patient work of her hands and the processes of creativity a woman could produce complex, dreamlike textures, intricate overlapping, abstract floral and geometric patterns, and interlacing threads that surprised the eye with playful juxtapositions, and seemed to have no beginning and no end.

The ancients watched the sumptuous sunrises of desert and mountain, the interconnecting spheres of stars, the undulating waves of the sea crossing over each other, the mosaic of seasons. They immersed themselves in nature’s primeval sequences of duality and polarity and saw continuous cordage, multiple circles, folds, and veils in cycles of light and shadow.

Through the centuries the primal, subconscious relationship of nature and woman, which was translated and personalized out of woman’s experiences with nature, gave human life its eternal character, and it has endured as the underlying pattern in handwork.

The wholeness of human consciousness is wrapped in the symbolic meanings of this enduring theme. The womanliness of nature, the exuberant embrace of its positive and negative energies, contrasts of depth and focus, balances of color and shading, celebrates patterns that last in time and blossom in handwork.

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