December 10, 2003
Awakened Woman's Circle is working for peace
Beyond a dominator paradigm
by Lauren Raine
Dear Friends,
I recently learned that Riane Eisler, author of THE CHALICE AND THE BLADE, and founder of the Center for Partnership Studies in California is seeking to produce a documentary video film about her work. While I am not a film artist, I would like to put out a call to film artists, or those who may know qualified and interested individuals on her behalf, because I believe, unabashedly, that Riane's work is among the most important on the planet.
With colleagues such as Starhawk, Marija Gimbutas, Elinor Gadon, and many others, Riane Eisler's work has been instrumental in formulating a vision of a new paradigm, beyond dominator or patriarchal based culture - a world in which women and men are in partnership with each other, and with the Earth.
As war escalates in the middle east, I reflect that this violence overlays the ruins of Mesopotamia - the origin lands of the Goddess cultures of the west. As the feminine face of deity was banished from our religious traditions and cultural mythos, women, the body, and nature became subordinate to a term Eisler coined the "Dominator paradigm". This mythos engenders a message of enduring violence - from the abuse of women and children, to the military mind that can so abstract itself from relatedness as to discuss, in all seriousness, a "limited nuclear exchange", to corporate entities that can clear-cut the last old growth redwood forest.
Please visit Riane's website <http://www.partnershipway.org>www.partnershipway.org for more information about her work. Dr. Eisler would like to create a video, perhaps similar to the Bill Moyer/Joseph Campbell series, and/or a strong documentary based on her work over the last decades on the foundations for cultures of peace. The Partnership Way has limited resources to do this at the present time, although I believe this is a very grantable project for a film/video artist, given both Riane's stature as an author and teacher, and the significance of the Women's Spirituality movement.
If you know qualified individuals who might be interested in such a project, please contact me (<laurenraine@aol.com), or Riane at <eisler@partnershipway.org> with information about your experience in film and video media. Who knows what seeds may bear fruit; thankyou for passing this information on.
With gratitude,
Lauren Raine