Throughout recorded history, there have been recurring patterns where men and women have tried to recreate human society based on the partnership social structure that existed before the rise of dominator societies in the fifth millennium BCE. Two historical movements have been chosen to show that the desire for peace and harmony between men and women is not merely wishful thinking. For example, during the twelfth century in southern France, romantic love and respect for women emerged as the central themes of poetry and courtly life in Medieval Europe. Women were revered as powerful and honoured rather than dominated and despised, while the ideals for men were honour and gentleness rather than domination and brutality (Eisler, 1988, p.139). This was revolutionary because it was a return to a partnership social structure where men and women were seen as equals who embraced life, freedom, and love. Like Minoan Crete, the link that bound this culture together was the veneration of a female deity - in this case, the Virgin Mary. As pointed out by Riane Eisler, “The worship of Mary was a return to the ancient worship of the Goddess” (Eisler, 1988, p.140). However, this culture was eventually destroyed during the Albigensian Crusade in the early thirteenth century, which saw southern France devastated by the armies of the Catholic Church.
Another attempt to return to a partnership social structure was during the period that lasted from 1580 to 1620 when idealists in England and Germany attempted to create an alchemical monarchy under Elizabeth I of England. Historians have long described the Elizabethan era as a Golden Age in which there was “a flood of creative energy, especially in poetry and the drama, England’s preferred form of art, but also in painting, architecture, and music” (Taylor, 1954, p.151). In 1583, this spirit of artistic and cultural flowering was taken into Germany by Elizabeth’s court astrologer John Dee, who saw the potential in the queen to bring about a universal reformation of human society. After Elizabeth and Dee died in 1603 and 1608, respectively, this dream was taken up by Frederick V, Elector Palatine, and his wife Elizabeth Stuart, daughter of James I of England, who were married in 1613. The couple embodied the essence of sacred union: “Frederick and Elizabeth really fell in love with one another and this romance was to endure throughout the vicissitudes to come” (Yates, 2002, p.2). Sadly, Frederick and Elizabeth’s dream of an alchemical monarchy in Europe ended in 1620 when they were forced into exile after the Habsburgs defeated their army at the Battle of White Mountain.
The underlying themes behind these two historical resurgences are alchemy and the emancipation of women and men. Alchemy is an ancient science concerned with turning lead into gold, which is a metaphor for spiritual transformation. According to Jay Weidner, southern France was at the forefront of a spiritual revival based on feminine values, which was “a desire to reinvigorate Europe with the ancient alchemical knowledge of the path to liberation and enlightenment” (Rose, 2002, p.105). This was demonstrated by the worship of the Virgin Mary and through the building of the Gothic Cathedrals, which, according to the French alchemist Fulcanelli, were “alchemical texts written in stone” (Melville, 2002, p.54). When this revival was driven underground, it reemerged during the Elizabethan era with the creation of the Rosicrucian manifestos, which promised a general reformation of human society and a return to a Golden Age of peace and harmony. Ultimately, the movement was driven underground again after its spokesperson, Frederick V, Elector Palatine, failed to gain the support of James I of England and was defeated by the Habsburgs at the beginning of the Thirty Years War.
Another theme of these two time periods is the increased respect for women, particularly those in leadership positions. During periods of rule by female leaders, like Eleanor of Aquitaine and Elizabeth I of England, there was a great flowering of cultural and artistic expression, along with “less social and sexual repression, more individualism, and social reform” (Eisler, 1988, p.139). Conversely, periods where there are more repressive attitudes towards women signal periods of war and violence, with the Albigensian Crusade and the Thirty Years War being two prime examples. These patterns throughout history show that partnership has tried to reassert itself through social movements like the Troubadours and the Rosicrucians, only for these movements to be suppressed by the dominator system where “a shift to an “unwarlike” and “unmanly” world – a world no longer governed by the “masculine” Blade – was not to be tolerated” (Eisler, 1988, p.145).
Despite periods of regression, another underlying theme shown by these two case studies is that men are not intrinsically violent and that, given the right social and environmental conditions, they can live in peace with women, children, and other men. In other words, the problem is not the male gender; instead, the problem is society’s narrow definition of what constitutes true masculinity: violence and domination at the expense of love and kindness. As Michael Kimmel points out, toxic masculinity “is responsible for most of the evil in the world” and proclaims, “the unheralded goodness of the men who fight the fires and till the soil and nurture their families” (Kimmel, 1995, p.367). In other words, the dominator social structure inexorably drives us towards war and destruction, not ourselves. “In short, if we look at our present from the perspective of Cultural Transformation theory, it becomes evident that there are alternatives to a system founded on the force-based ranking of one half of humanity over the other” (Eisler, 1988, p.159). These alternatives will be presented in a future book.
Bibliography
Balivet, Emily. “The Alchemical Marriage.” Pinterest. Accessed December 21, 2023. www.pinterest.nz/pin/155866837093285469/
Eisler, Riane. The Chalice and the Blade: Our History, Our Future. San Francisco, Harper & Row, 1988.
Kimmel, Michael S. The Politics of Manhood: Profeminist Men Respond to the Mythopoetic Men's Movement (And the Mythopoetic Leaders Answer). Philadelphia, Temple University Press, 1995.
Melville, Francis. The Book of Alchemy. Smithfield, Gary Allen Pty Ltd, 2002.
Rose, Sharron. The Path of the Priestess: A Guidebook for Awakening the Divine Feminine. Rochester, Inner Traditions, 2002.
Taylor, Gordon Rattray. Sex in History. New York, Ballantine, 1954.
Yates, Frances. The Rosicrucian Enlightenment. New York, Routledge Classics, 2002.