152 lines
7.4 KiB
Reg
152 lines
7.4 KiB
Reg
whgdsreg.reg
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Ben Blumenberg
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Reality Software
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P.O. Box 105
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Waldoboro, Me 04572
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February 12, 1992
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Introduction to the Neolithic Great Goddess
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Welcome to an overview of the Neolithic Great Goddess of Old
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Europe. Before we start, a word about her name. The name 'Great
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Goddess' is synonomous in my usage with 'White Goddess' (cf
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Graves 1966) and I shall use the terms interchangeably. One of
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the primary epiphanies of the Great Goddess was the White Goddess
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of Death and Regeneration, which held a particular fascintion for
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Robert Graves as he attempted to trace her survival in the
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Medieval and Renaissance Celtic world.
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This text was written with a several goals in mind. When
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Marija Gimbutas (1989) published The Language of the Goddess in
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1989, a landmark work of scholarship was made available to the
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public. This study is not only unique, it carries the stamp of
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authenticity and quality. It is the first in-depth overview of
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the Neolithic Great Goddess that draws upon the wealth of
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archeological and mytho-poetic evidence from Old Europe. Old
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Europe was a cultural area in what is now Eastern and Central
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Europe that was unified by virtue of its mytho-poetics. Each
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culture had a social and religious structure determined by the
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mytho-poetics of the Great Goddess and this unity lasted for
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several thousand years. Specifically, the evidence from
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Yugoslavia, Thessaly, the Balkans, Transylvania, Moldavia and the
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Ukraine is sifted, interpreted and then intergrated with that
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from Iberia, France, Italy, Sardinia, Malta, and NW Europe. The
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result of this magnificent synthesis is the first comprehensive
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look at the Great Goddess in all of her complex manifestations,
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metaphors and ritual.
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Given the success of Gimbutas' work, one may ask why write
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about it? I would not have done so, if I felt there was not
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something I could contribute that is not present. For all of its
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brilliance, her writing at times is quite disorganized and the
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chronology often falls apart as folk tales are told and commented
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upon. Also, much of the important information in the book is
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contained in captions to illustrations. This forces a
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disjointed, back and forth reading process and, indeed, almost
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guarantees that several readings are necessary to gain a complete
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understanding of the material. My first objective was to compile
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a detailed outline of the Goddess' iconography and derived
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metaphor according to the scheme presented by Gimbutas, but
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paying stricter adherence to the historical chronology.
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Gimbutas' tripartite division of the Goddess' mytho-poetics into
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Life Giving, Death and Regeneration and Energy Unfolding is
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brilliant and I have no wish to modify it. This outline is of
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great use to me as I search for the Great Goddess elsewhere and
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contemplate her specific metaphors in other times and places
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(Blumenberg 1992a, 1992b). The White Goddess was not restricted
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to Old Europe and the nearby regions; Gimbutas does not journey
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to India, Tibet, China or Japan and her exploration into Celtic
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realms and ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia and the
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Mediterranean is incomplete. Perhaps this 'field guide' to the
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Great Goddess will be of interest and value to you.
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I also wished to present my original thoughts and
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interpretations for your contemplative pleasure and mid-way
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through this text you will begin to come upon them. I pereceive
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a four layers of iconography, that may be found both as discrete
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categories or in combination. There are extensions to the modern
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realm of genetics and evolution that are apparent and I wish to
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explore those in order to widen the parameters for that never-to-
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be-achieved final synthesis. The Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind
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(Janes 1976) is a provocative hypothesis that has been exiled by
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most scholars and laypersons and I wish to bring it into the
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arena of possible models and mechanisms behind surface reality.
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The fundamental principle behind 'chaotic phenonmena', as
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strictly defined by modern physics, may be seen in these mytho-
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poetics and I wish to briefly introduce that possibility. Another
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study will explore Chaos in cultural and biological evolution in
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detail. Finally, I desired to demonstrate the usefulness of the
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'field guide' by exploring an interpretation of Joseph Campbell
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(1988) regarding an artefact of the Paleolithic Goddess that I
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believe misconstrues what is present and draws conclusions that
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are unwarranted.
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This software 'volume' is the first in the series about the
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Great Goddess now being published by Reality Software; those
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publications ocurring out of sequential order. If you have our
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other packages about Celtic Realms and/or China and Japan, this
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text will greatly enrich the exploration of those materials,
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although they are self-contained. If you have not yet previewed
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them, two files in this package will allow you to do so and I
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hope they spark your interest. Also scheduled for release in
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1992, are packages about the Great Goddess in India and Tibet and
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in early 1993, one about the Great Goddess in ancient Mesopotamia
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and the Classical Mediterranean world.
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References
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Campbell, J. 1988. The Way of Animal Powers. Vo.1. Historical
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Atlas of World Mythology. New York: Alfred Knopf.
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Gimbutas, M. 1989. The Language of the Goddess. San Francisco:
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Harper and Row.
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Graves, R. 1966 rev. The White Goddess. New York: Farrar, Straus,
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Giroux.
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Jaynes. J. 1976. The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of
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the Bicameral Mind. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
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Registration
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If you wish to read more than a few sample pages of this
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presentation you must register. The complete text (whgds.dos or
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whgds.wpw) comprises 89 single spaced pages and provides a
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bibiliography. You also have the option at registration to
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purchase a version of this package in which the files are
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formatted for Word Perfect for Windows (WPWIN). These files are
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identical in content to those formatted for old fashioned ASC II
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Dos Text but they utilize a desk top publishing format that
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includes bold, underline, italic and special characters. The
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WPWWIN version also contains a file for a second version of the
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title page with a small map that is more or less readable
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(whgdttl2.wpw). If you have WPWIN and wish to own files with a
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splashier design, consider registration with this option.
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____________________________________________________________
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To register, simply fill out the form below and mail to:
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REALITY SOFTWARE, P.O. BOX 105, WALDOBORO, ME 04572.
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Name ___________________________________________________
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Street Address __________________________________________
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Town or City _______________ State ________ Zip _________-
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WHITE GODDESS TEXT and Docs.*
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Disc Size 5 1/4" (Quant) __$20 (ASCII) __$22 (WPWIN) Total ___
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($ each)
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3 1/2" (Quant) __$21 (ASCII) __$23 (WPWIN) Total ___
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Method of Payment. Check ___ Money Order ____
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(Made out to Ben Blumenberg)
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Where did you obtain WHGDS.ZIP ?____________________________
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