Resources / Library
Welcome to our curated collection of books and videos that inspire and inform the mission of the Council for the Revival of Matriarchal Arts (CRMA). Each resource below offers nuanced insight into matriarchal social structures, the Sacred Feminine, the principle of the gift economy, and communal living practices.
Matriarchal Societies
Studies on Indigenous Cultures Across the Globe
Author: Heide Goettner-Abendroth
Dr. Heide Goettner-Abendroth’s “opus magnum” carefully documents the deep structures of indigenous matriarchal cultures worldwide, offering insights into their social organization and values. This volume provides valuable insights that demonstrate how care, consensus, and the principle of “women at the center” function in practice. Together with Goettner-Abendroth’s latest book, Matriarchal Societies of the Past and the Rise of Patriarchy: West Asia and Europe, it is the foundational text for International Akademie HAGIA’s curriculum on Modern Matriarchal Studies.
Societies of Peace
Matriarchies Past, Present, and Future
Author: Heide Goettner-Abendroth
Societies of Peace is a collection of essays from the presentations featured at the first two World Congresses on Modern Matriarchal Studies held in 2003 and 2005. Contributors represented a wide range of cultures from around the world, notably: The Mosuo of China; The Zapotecs of Oaxaca, Mexico; The Iroquois of North America; The Tuareg of the Central Sahara region; The Kabylia of Algeria; The Minangkabau of Sumatra, Indonesia; The Asante and Akan of Ghana; the Nayar of Kerala, India; and the Khasi of India. The collection directly informs CRMA’s vision of a society rooted in the principles of maternal care, mutual gift giving, and reverence for Mother Earth.
The Language of the Goddess
Author: Marija Gimbutas
In this book Marija Gimbutas takes us on a beautiful visual tour of “Old Europe” through her interpretation of more than 2000 archeological finds. She contends that “Celebration of life is the leading motif in Old European ideology and art. There is no stagnation; life energy is constantly moving as a serpent, spiral, or whirl.” Through her interpretation of ancient figures and symbols found all over the European continent, she reveals that the “Goddess has been the most persistent feature in the archeological record of the ancient world.” This book lays the myth-symbolic foundation that inspires CRMA’s mission to awaken collective memory, and to gather in community, nurture one another, handcraft meaningful wares, and re-weave resilient bonds among women. It provides historical context for the importance of women’s roles in shaping peaceful cultures.
The Living Goddesses
Author: Marija Gimbutas and Miriam Robbins Dexter
The Living Goddesses is a tour through the ancient religions of Old Europe that celebrated life through a veneration of the cycles of birth, death, and regeneration. Gimbutas and Dexter offer detailed explanation of the temples, arts, deities, rituals, and folklore of the Minoans, ancient Greeks, Etruscans, Basques, Celts, Germanic-speaking peoples, and the Balts. For European-descended peoples, we find evidence of our indigenous lands and cultures that predates ancient and modern empires, statehood, and patriarchy.
West Asia and Europe
Matriarchal Societies of the Past and the Rise of Patriarchy
Author: Heide Goettner-Abendroth
As Dr. Joan Cichon, Author of Matriarchy in Bronze Age Crete and Co-Director of the Association of Women and Mythology writes: “This book is about re-writing the history of cultures from a non-patriarchal perspective, bringing the forgotten matriarchal epoch to light again. It is based on Heide Goettner-Abendroth’s pioneering anthropological research on still extant matriarchal societies worldwide, which provided her with a new definition of “matriarchy” as true gender-egalitarian societies. According to modern Matriarchal Studies, matriarchies have never needed patriarchy’s hierarchical structures of domination, as they are socially egalitarian, economically balanced, and politically based on consensus decisions.” This book informs CRMA’s understanding of historical precedents for matriarchal organization and dismantles the notion that patriarchy is the natural or only viable form of societal organization.
Maternal Roots of the Gift Economy
Author: Genevieve Vaughan
This book presents a collection of essays that illuminate the workings of the gift economy from a broad array of perspectives, experiences, and cultures. Scholars and activists from around the world share their academic, experiential, and cultural wisdom regarding the maternal roots of gift giving, and its validity as a sustainable solution to correct the ills of capitalist exploitation. Editor of this volume and Founder of the Maternal Gift Economy Movement, Genevieve Vaughan, elaborates on the the principle of mutuality based on nurturing and being nurtured as a means to foster positive relations, trust, healthy human attachment, and ultimately peaceful societies.
The Heart of the Goddess
Art, Myth and Meditations of the World’s Sacred Feminine
Author: Hallie Iglehart Austen
In The Heart of the Goddess Hallie Iglehart Austen has curated a collection of images of female deities from all over the ancient and modern world. The images as well as the historical context and meditations that Iglehart Austen provides invite us into a relationship with the Sacred Feminine, and ultimately on a journey to ourselves. The exquisite artisanship of the images invoke a liminal encounter with the complexities of the human experience, the mysteries of the universe, and a timeless appreciation for the sanctity of life. We are introduced to deities and myths that celebrate the cycles of life, creativity, nurturance, motherhood, sensuality, the erotic, and the Cosmos Herself. Iglehart Austen invites readers to contemplate the images, to acknowledge the divine within ourselves, and to become catalysts of healing in our world. View the images at https://heartgoddess.net/
The Evolved Nest
Nature’s Way of Raising Children and Creating Connected Communities
Authors: Darcia Narvaez and G.A. Bradshaw
Narvaez and Bradshaw draw from neuroscience, psychology, and evolutionary biology to illustrate why a return to nestedness is essential for the future of humanity and the planet. With beautiful examples from our animal kin and comparison with Indigenous and kinship worldviews, we learn what caring communities are and why humans need them. The authors remind us that “even adults need welcoming social climates, responsive relationships, affectionate touch, self-directed play, Nature immersion, connected holism, and regular healing practices.”
Women's Work
The First 20,000 Years
Author: Elizabeth Wayland Barber
Wayland Barber demonstrates through archeological and historical record that women were an important force of economy and culture in early societies. Until now, the history and significance of the early textile industry has been underrepresented in historical literature due to the perishability of the product (fabric) and the fact that the artisans were primarily women. Wayland Barber brings ancient women’s work and experiences into focus, revealing a legacy of highly skilled artisans that wielded economic influence and culture-defining relevance. In this volume we also find evidence that women traditionally gathered to work, to mentor one another, to sing and dance, and to enjoy one another’s company. In both the practice and metaphor of skillfully crossing threads to weave a beautiful and resilient fabric, women’s influential roles as weavers of community and culture is now undeniable.
Braiding Sweetgrass
Author: Robin Wall Kimmerer
In Braiding Sweetgrass, Robin Wall Kimmerer’s elegant prose relays lessons in history too infrequently told, and illustrates what it actually means to be a good citizen in a “democracy of species”. She introduces us to a world of abundance and gifts, and reveals that all we need to know about generosity, reciprocity, consensus-making, and good citizenship is waiting for us in Mother Earth’s classroom. Kimmerer offers maternal, scientific, and Indigenous insights that inspire our efforts to become responsible and attuned stewards of a regenerative world.
Matriarchy in Bronze Age Crete
Author: Joan Marie Cichon
Joan Cichon’s research, detailed in her book Matriarchy in Bronze Age Crete, applies an integrative approach to discerning the significance of the archeological evidence from Crete during the Bronze Age. Utilizing the research-based definition of matriarchy put forward by Dr. Heide Goettner-Abendroth, and drawing insight from historical, mythological, linguistic, folkloric and archeological records, Cichon illuminates the innerworkings of a period of time in which women held prominent social roles and a Mother Goddess was the center of spiritual life. Cichon’s book represents an important contribution to the growing international field of Modern Matriarchal Studies, and lends significant insight for European women who have been many generations removed and alienated from our own matriarchal roots.
International Akademie HAGIA for Modern Matriarchal Studies
The International Academy HAGIA was founded in 1986. It is dedicated to the exploration of the long history of matriarchal societies and cultures. Historically, matriarchal cultures have existed worldwide and continue to exist all over the world today. The courses and activities offered by Academy HAGIA are at once intellectual, political, artistic, and spiritual. Every Academy event includes aspects of both history and society, and creates a living connection to the natural world around us. Learn more and apply to study at Akademie HAGIA here.
The Evolved Nest
Nature’s Way of Raising Children, the Film
This short film is an accompaniment to the newly released book by Darcia Narvaez, PhD, and G.A, Bradshaw, PhD. The Evolved Nest: Nature’s Way of Raising Children and Connected Communities is a beautiful resource for Nature advocates, parents-to-be, Animal lovers, and anyone who seeks to restore wellbeing on our planet, The Evolved Nest reconnects us to lessons from the Animal world and shows us how to restore wellness in our families, communities, and lives. Learn more at https://evolvednest.org/
Maternal Gift Economy Movement
This virtual conference hosted by the Maternal Gift Economy Movement features scholars and activists that have made significant contributions to the field of matriarchal theory, specifically highlighting the principle of gift giving as an essential cornerstone for social structures within which people and planet can thrive. Through science, cultural experience, historical research, and modern activism, panelists demonstrate that another world is and always has been possible. Detailed descriptions of the panelist’s presentations and biographies are available on the conference page.
Signs Out of Time
The story of archeologist Marija Gimbutas
Signs out of Time tells the story of Archeologist Marija Gimbutas, from her childhood to young adulthood in Lithuania, to her displacement as a refugee in the Second World War, and her legacy of becoming a world-renowned archeologist. She challenged the old guard in the field of archeology and shared her own insights with great conviction, illuminating an epoch of time that was peaceful, egalitarian, and exquisitely artistic. In this documentary we witness the process and lens through which Gimbutas revealed the Goddess-revering culture of “Old Europe”.