This month's altar honours the Great Goddess of Laussel who is also known as the Goddess of the 13 Moons. She was carved 25,000 years ago as a bas-relief over the rocky entrance of a sacred cave near what is now Laussel, France.
Dating from the Old Stone Age/Paleolithic Era, this goddess celebrates the lunar year and the mysteries of the female body. In one hand, she holds a bison horn with 13 notches on it, one for each lunar month in a lunar year. In essence, she is displaying the first calendar known to humans. Her other hand rests on her belly/womb to demonstrate the connection between the Moon Above (lunar phases) and the Moon Within (menstrual periods, childbearing power). The original carving still bore traces of red ochre paint reinforcing the blood imagery.
I obtained my copy of the Laussel image about 30 years ago in Toronto, but I believe the store probably obtained it from Sacred Source. The other altar items also allude to lunar phases and red menstrual blood, particularly the nosegay of red carnations.
The backdrop is a page from the Lunar Calendar Dedicated to the Goddess in Her Many Guises. The calendar shows the moon phase for each day of every lunar month. The Luna Press has been publishing these charming lunar calendars (which also include art and poetry dedicated to the Divine Feminine) for nearly 50 years.
[Photos © Debra She Who Seeks, 2025]
P.S. -- If you have half an hour to spare and are interested in learning more about the Stone Age Eurasian culture which produced this Goddess, plus the Goddess of Willendorf and the Lascaux Cave Paintings, here's a very good video on the subject. Be forewarned there are a number of ads sprinkled throughout which can, however, be skipped after a few seconds --
...WOW, another facet of your extensive knowledge!
ReplyDeleteI'm interested in the antique legends. This is very great legend, never known before. Thank you for sharing with the great pictur 🌺🎭
ReplyDeleteI never fail to learn things from your Full Moon Altar posts.
ReplyDeleteThe use of red ochre was a part of the culture of the Beothuks of Newfoundland, before white settlers wiped them out. You had me at red ochre.
ReplyDeleteAnother education! This is great, once again a lot I didn't know. Studying this, it's no wonder men have feared the mystery of women's connection to life.
ReplyDeleteIt was quite gorgeous last night.
ReplyDeleteI so enjoy learning the stories associated with the full moons! Thank you, Debra!
ReplyDeleteLove the altar and loved the video!
ReplyDeleteI am a geek at heart and those videos are just my jam.
XOXO
saw the moon rise last nite, she was a beauty!
ReplyDeleteA beautiful full moon altar, Debra, which is no surprise. I love the bas-relief carving and how absolutely amazing it is that the original still had traces of red ochre on it! It must have been celebrated, tended, honored for millennia.
ReplyDeleteI wish our calendar hewed to the moon phases. It just makes sense!
Thank you for the education, as always...
Thank you, Debra. Very cool and interesting. Do I get any credit for celebrating the mysteries of the female body? Well it is mostly head-scratching and more about the female mind. Living with two of them has made me question my sanity many nights.
ReplyDelete🧘♀️🥰🫃🤱 Oh, how I love any discussion about robust, menstruating, prepared-for-childbearing goddesses we can worship! It gives me the chance to bring up one of my favorite books (out-of-print but still out there):
ReplyDelete"WOMAN'S CREATION: Sexual Evolution and the Shaping of Society" by Elizabeth Fisher; Anchor Press/Doubleday; 1979.
🤔 Fisher reminds us that women were worshipped as the source of life until hunter-gatherers started farming and discovered animal husbandry. We quickly moved from "givers of life" to "vessels for sperm emissions and useful only until the end of gestation." Amazing how guys still believe in the power and virility of their little "ejaculites" even though millions of them end up dead every time! Aww, poor little weaklings! 🤣
@ Cleora Borealis -- Yes, once men discovered their role in procreation, things changed. Combine that with the rise of warrior culture, and it was game over. Hellooooooo, Patriarchy.
DeleteHello Debra and Cleora Borealis, I know that you were kind-of joking, but this is not really a fair overview of conception. First of all, girls are born with one to two million eggs, of which several hundred thousand remain in childbearing years. So better not complain of wasted male virility, unless you want to go through hundreds of thousands of gestations (apiece) in order not to waste any precious and vaunted female fertility. In all, reproduction is a pretty amazing system--no need to involve either male or female vanity. Perhaps it is time to return to the Stork model.
Delete--Jim
Thanks for the link. I will definitely watch it.
ReplyDeleteYou always share the best alters and share your knowledge about them. I have watched part of this video. I clicked it over to youtube and saved it. It's my kind of docs. Thanks so much.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the explanation.
ReplyDeleteYou have the most interesting things for me to read. My old astrologer got me into the lunar calendar and How it effects me and others. Loved this Debra.
ReplyDeleteHer is real femininity. The patriarch wants us thin so we are their play things. Not a mystical body that is the entrance of humans to this realm. We conceive, grow and then feed the amazing miracle that is us.
ReplyDeleteAll they can do is kill
@ Parnassus (Jim) -- I personally would support the Stork model, provided they are unionized and fairly paid for their labour (so to speak).
ReplyDeleteI need to watch this video when I have time. I should also note the dates of the full mon every month.
ReplyDeleteThe altar's quiet power lies in how it bridges ancient stone and present spirit reminding us that long before words the rhythms of the moon and the body told the first stories of time and creation.
ReplyDeleteYou are an all-knowing guru, Debra.
ReplyDeleteCodex: think my comment got eaten again. My question was I remember Doni figurines. Does that ring a bell?
ReplyDelete@ Anonymous (Codex) -- No, that doesn't ring a bell with me, but perhaps some other reader will recognize it?
DeleteSeems to me that The Great Goddess of Laussel did not know about weight reduction medication in those long gone days. Last night's full moon is generally known as The Buck Moon so it was interesting that you referenced a bison horn.
ReplyDeleteanother fabulous moon altar - you're very good at this!!
ReplyDeleteI'd never heard of Gravettians before so thank you for sharing the vidoe.
ReplyDelete