Amazons with Mirrors–Mirror Divination Through the Ages

August 31st, 2010

Who Were the Amazons?

Part 7: Amazons with Mirrors

Mirror Divination Through the Ages

by

Theresa C. Dintino

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The hand mirror is the most common grave item of priestesses uncovered from burials in all areas of the world. The Issyk Warrior Priestess from Kazakhstan (400 BCE) was found with a bronze mirror. The Ice Maiden from the Altai Mountains (500 BCE) had a silver mirror. There were bronze mirrors in the burials of priestesses at Pokrovka (300 BCE).

In Crete, at Phourni, priestesses were found buried with copper mirrors (1600 BCE). In Egypt, Priestesses of Hathor (1800 BCE) were known by their hand mirrors which were made of silver or bronze and had a carved image of Hathor on the handle. To date, in the excavations at Çatal Hüyük, on the Konya plain in Turkey, eleven hemispherical obsidian mirrors have been found in women’s graves (7000 BCE). The polish method was very sophisticated and difficult. In fact, we still do not know how they attained it. These are the earliest known mirrors in the world.


(One of the eleven “obsidian mirrors” found in the remains at Çatal Hüyük.)

Archeologists often falsely interpret these mirrors as items used for “cosmetic purposes.” Since the mirrors were always buried with these priestesses, we need to assume they were more than tools for personal hygiene.

Magic mirrors have a long and interesting recurrence in human story and myth. We find them hung on walls in fairy tales interacting with the characters. Legend tells of alchemists and fortunetellers using them. In European folklore they are a witch’s tool. We are told repeatedly that the mirrors are used for “scrying”, “telling the future.”  These mirrors were most probably used for divining, interacting with the other realms.

Many traditions have mirrors as a way of “seeing” into the future or into other time dimensions. In the Tibetan tradition, it is believed that diviners have special “eyes.”  They inherit their eyes and special vision from their ancestors or from previous incarnations. With these special eyes they can see what others can’t. They learn how to see into a mirror after asking a question. Mirror divination in Tibetan is known as “Ta” which means, “that which is coming forward very clearly.” But even calling these priestesses diviners isn’t enough if you only think of divining as fortune telling.  There is more to divining than we usually think.

I believe that ancient women knew how to store as well as access memories and information in their mirrors. They used them to have “alive interactions” with the past, present and the future—all the many layers of time.

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Podcast Version–Mirror Divination Through the Ages

August 31st, 2010

Who Were the Amazons?

Part 7: Amazons with Mirrors

Mirror Divination Through the Ages

 
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Amazons on Minoan Crete

August 24th, 2010

Who Were the Amazons?

Part 6: Amazons on Minoan Crete

by

Theresa C. Dintino

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Lyn Webster Wilde, author of, On the Trail of the Women Warriors and Vicki Noble, author of, The Double Goddess, believe the priestesses of Minoan Crete may be one form of ancient Amazon women.

In the archeological finds from Minoan Crete, images of Goddesses and priestesses abound. Most prominent are the statues of women in trance dressed in ritual attire, holding forth snakes in either hand as others spiral and encircle their waists, ascend their backs, and climb a tall, tiered hat.

Snake Priestesses and votive offerings found with them

Minoan Crete had its origins as early as 6000 B.C.E. and evolved as a continuous society reaching its height of achievement in the Bronze Age (1700-1550 B.C.E.).  The island boasts several huge, sprawling buildings with wings emanating outward from the open air, central court.  These great buildings referred to as ‘palaces’ contained: workshops for various art forms, Goddess temples, ritual baths and long corridors full of giant urns for storage. The upper floors were reserved for administrative facilities. There were large central halls arrived at through great processional walkways and extravagant staircases.


The ‘palace’ in Knossos, the largest city on Crete in the Bronze age, covered over three acres, was at least three stories high and possessed central plumbing including running water and flush toilets!  One can still see the in-place terra cotta pipes.  This alone is stunning for its sophistication, a technology that was not seen again for well over 1000 years.

The remains reveal a very sophisticated society possessing a striking lack of fortification and arsenal, equal status among men and women, deep respect for nature and an all-pervasive spirituality centered around a female deity.

Worship was not confined to temples.  Votive offerings made of clay including serpents, butterflies, female figurines, hundreds of finely crafted copper and gold double axes were found in caves, in private homes, on hilltops and mountain peaks, in grotto waters and at the marinas.

Cretan Labrys


In the artwork, such as ring seals and frescoes, we find indication of tree worship on Crete. Some depict a priestess approaching a tree, or the Tree Goddess, some have a Goddess or priestess holding forth the Tree of Life symbol, others have women and men dancing around a tree or stylized images of trees.


The pillar crypts in the palaces are a continuation of this tree-worshipping theme. These were rooms with a single column in the middle surrounded by several libation holes.

Crete, which is almost completely deforested now, had an active trade in timber in ancient times and was covered with cypress trees. Deforestation in Europe and Crete make it hard for us to identify sacred trees and to understand the depth of this tree worshipping tradition. But, it was obviously a large part of ancient people’s beliefs.


Vicki Noble notes the deep associations between priestesses uncovered on the Russian steppes and the burials of two priestesses at Phourni, Crete. Discovered at Phourni in 1965, was a woman dating from 14th c BCE. Her elaborate burial reminds us of the Siberian Ice Maiden and the Issyk Warrior-Priestess. She wore a robe trimmed with gold beads. Buried with her were extravagant grave goods including 140 pieces of jewelry, much of it gold. The jewelry included five signet rings and two seals with images of Minoans worshipping trees engraved on them.

In a side building where she was buried is the corpse of a horse and a bull skull. These animals were most probably sacrificed for her.

The second priestess found at Phourni wore a gold crown, and held a copper mirror in her left hands.

In the images of women on Crete, they are often wearing tall hats, another similarity to the women of Eurasia.

Sketch of the back of one of the Snake Priestess statues.

The Phourni women predate the Siberian Ice Maiden and the Issyk Warrior-Priestess by over a thousand years. Is this evidence for a continued tradition of the Amazon Tree Priestesses? Is there a continuous connection between these women? The mirrors found in the burials with these priestesses are one place to start.

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Podcast Version–Amazons on Minoan Crete

August 24th, 2010

Who Were the Amazons?

Part 6: Amazons on Minoan Crete

 
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Women Worshipping Trees–Priestesses of the Tree Goddess

August 19th, 2010

Who were the Amazons?

Part 5: Women Worshipping Trees—Priestesses of the Tree Goddess

by

Theresa C. Dintino

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In her book, The Double Goddess, Vicki Noble, a goddess scholar, traces a relationship between Tibetan Dakinis and Scythian shaman priestesses. She notes that many of the Scythian skeletons of the warrior-priestesses or Amazons, are found in the same bent knee position that Dakinis are often portrayed in. She calls it the “Dakini posture.” But what is the Dakini posture? When I look at the bent knee position of the Dakini posture, what comes to my mind is the “tree posture” in yoga. The Dakini pose is the tree pose. Maybe these women are Tree Priestesses.

A Tibetan Dakini

In the ancient world, it was a common belief all across the globe that the Goddess manifested herself in the form of a tree. In Ireland she is the yew tree, in Italy she is Diana of the oak, in Egypt she is Hathor the sycamore and Isis the date palm. In Sumer, Inanna is the “huluppu” tree, a willow.  In Jewish tradition there is Asherah, a Tree Goddess often represented in the temple by a pillar. The Kabala, the mystical Jewish tradition, has the tree of life as its central theme and image.

In the Scythian tradition there are also Goddesses. One of the most prominent of this tradition is Tabiti-Hestia, the patroness of fire, the hearth and the beasts. On an ancient carpet discovered in a frozen Scythian tomb by Professor S. I. Rodenko in 1929, is an image of Tabiti-Hestia holding forth the Tree of Life to an approaching “horseman.”

In the pottery and artwork found in archeological digs and in myth and tradition, we find images of women worshipping trees.

If a woman who works with snakes is a Snake Priestess and one who tends bees is a Bee Priestess, then it goes to follow that a woman in sacred relationship to the trees is a Tree Priestesses.

There are many reasons for a woman to be in sacred relationship to the trees. Trees know how to transmute energy. Trees are the life-giving lungs of the planet. Trees are the highest form of plant life and some of the oldest living beings on earth. Trees are the elders of the ecosystems. Wouldn’t it be natural for the priestesses to see the trees as embodying the sacred wisdom of the Goddess?

The Goddess as Tree is tied closely to the cosmology of the World Tree or Tree of Life: the cosmic creative force. By being in sacred relationship to the cosmic tree, a priestess is able to access the greater cosmos. This has always been a part of shamanic tradition where shamans travel the World Tree to access different realms, the center of the earth through the roots, the center of the galaxy through the branches.

As seen in the tree hats of the Siberian Ice Maiden and Issyk Warrior-Priestess there is a connection between the consciousness of the Tree Priestess and the World Tree/universal consciousness. As the Tree Priestess travels these other worlds through the World Tree she, like the shaman, retrieves information from the larger cosmos and brings it back to inform and benefit her own community.

There is a continuous link between ancient Goddess cultures, the Amazons, the Iron Age warrior-priestesses, and women who worship trees.

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Podcast Version: Women Worshipping Trees–Priestesses of the Tree Goddess

August 19th, 2010

Who Were the Amazons?

Part 5: Women Worshipping Trees–Priestesses of the Tree Goddess

 
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The Issyk “Gold Man” Warrior-Priestess

August 5th, 2010

Who Were/Are the Amazons?

Part 4: Issyk “Gold Man” Warrior-Priestess

by

Theresa C. Dintino

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Archaeologist Jeannine Davis-Kimball, carried out excavations at Pokrovka on the Kazakh Steppes, uncovering Scythian and Sauromatian warrior-priestesses from the 6-8th centuries B.C.E. She has compiled a treasure trove of information on these women whom she identifies as Amazons or descendants of Amazons.

In her research into warrior-priestesses, the most surprising find to date is the Issyk  “Gold Man” (400 B.C.E.), who turned out to be a woman. Davis-Kimball did not excavate this grave. But she is the one who was willing to say out loud to the whole archeological community that this must be a woman, not a man. Some of the things that made her suspect this were: the 3 gold and turquoise earrings and beads, which are never found in male graves. The body was very petit, five-foot-three. The grave also contained the classic trappings of a priestess, including a hand mirror and a hat typical of high status females of this area. When Davis-Kimball proposed the change in gender to the archeological community, most agreed with her.

This elaborate burial was discovered in 1969 by a farmer working his field in southern Kazakhstan, near Almaty. The priestess was buried in a sarcophagus made of large fir logs. The lid was gone and the body had been badly crushed by the weight of the soil.


This priestess, identified as being from the “Saka” tribe found near Issyk, must have been a person of great importance because her grave was filled with gold items. When originally found, the body was covered with 4000 gold plaques, which were subsequently stolen. Her “caftan,” which survived the theft, was covered with 2400 “arrow-shaped” gold plaques. Gold lions run along her jacket’s piping. She wore a belt with “13 stylized gold deer heads.”1 She was found with an iron dagger and a long sword. Both were “decorated with scenes of parading embossed gold animals along the blades and were encased in ornate gold encrusted scabbards and placed at her side.  Many of the animals have the twisted style of the Pazyryk culture.”2


Also found in her grave was a bowl engraved with what some believe to be the earliest form of runic writing and revealing literacy in a people who were previously believed to be illiterate.


The Hat

The Issyk Warrior-Priestess was buried with a very tall hat (25 inches high) made of  wool felt over a wooden frame. The headdress flared upward with long feathers and four arrows. It was adorned with gold foil images including snow leopards with twisted torsos, winged tigers and goats. Trees sprout out of mountains and birds perch upon them. This is a strong image of the Tree of Life or World Tree.


She also wore a ring on her right finger that had a feathered headpiece on it, which has been associated with an image of a shamanka (a female Siberian Shaman).


Many of the grave goods of the Issyk Warrior-Priestess are similar to the Siberian Ice Maiden and the Pazyryk culture including the very tall hat, and the snow leopard and Tree of Life symbolism. She also had a bronze mirror and other similar grave goods to the Siberian Ice Maiden including a koumiss beater and bowl to hold koumiss(fermented mare’s milk). There is some association between the cultures and the high status of these women.

The tall hats and Tree of Life symbolism point to the continuous tradition of a Tree Priestess. But what is a Tree Priestess? A priestess of any kind implies the context of a culture that honors or worships the Goddess. Who is this Cosmic Tree Goddess and how is she related to the mysterious Amazons?

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1 Jeannine Davis-Kimball, Ph.D.,Warrior Women, (N.Y.: Warner Books, 2002)p.102

2 Ibid., p.102.

Podcast Version–The Issyk “Gold Man” Warrior-Priestess

August 5th, 2010

Who Were the Amazons?

Part 4: The Issyk “Gold Man” Warrior -Priestess

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The Siberian Ice Maiden

July 28th, 2010

Who Were the Amazons?

Part 3: The Siberian Ice Maiden

by

Theresa C. Dintino

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In 1993, Natalia Polosmak, a Russian archaeologist unearthed the tomb of the “Siberian Ice Maiden.” Because the Ice Maiden was so obviously a woman of high status, given a very prestigious burial, Polosmak identified her as one of the “Amazon Women” mummies.  The Siberian Ice Maiden was found high in the Altai Mountains of Siberia in a sacred burial ground called the “pastures of heaven.” She lived around 500 BCE.

The Altai mountain system covers a vast region spanning four countries: Russia, Kazakhstan, China and Mongolia.


Because there were no weapons found with her, this woman does not appear to have been one of the warrior women of the tribe, but rather, served an important spiritual purpose as a priestess. She was buried with 6 horses, sacrificed for her. The horses were lined up on the outer wall of the tomb. Food was left for them for their otherworld journey.

The priestess was buried in a large wooden enclosure with many extravagant items surrounding her coffin. Among them were a small container of coriander seeds and a mirror with a deer engraving on the back. The mirror was kept in a small red pouch and hung from her belt. The deer were very important to the tribe of people the Ice Maiden belonged to, the Pazyryks, a tribe related to the Scythians. The deer are portrayed with enormous branching antlers often stylized into wave formations.


There are depictions of the Pazyryks putting antlers on their horses to turn them into deer. Most likely there was a tradition of people turning into deer in shamanic shapeshifting rituals.


The Ice Maiden’s costume was elaborate and made of wild silk, local to the area, with carefully crafted edging. On her feet were felt, thigh length, riding boots. She wore a necklace of wooden camels. She was buried with a bowl that held koumiss and a koumiss beater. Koumiss is a drink made from fermented mare’s milk. These were both common grave items for a priestess. She died a natural death at 25-30 years old.

Her body was in the permafrost and so well preserved that the archeological team could see her skin, even though it was 2400 years old. They immediately noticed that her body was graced with elegant tattoos. They are images of animals but their bodies are twisted and somewhat contorted. The tattoos were created with pins and soot. The tattoo imagery is similar, but not the same, as the rock engravings in the area.



Polosmak believes the Ice Maiden was a bard, a sacred storyteller. Perhaps the tattoos tell a story in multidimensional form. Storytellers would have been very important to this nomadic tribe to hold the history of their people. They would have most probably sung their stories in a ritual context, much like the throat singers of Mongolia today.

The Ice Maiden’s eyes had been cut out after her death.  They don’t know what they did with them. This indicates to me that she was also some form of diviner for her people. She could see with her special eyes, into other worlds, other dimensions, other times.

She wore a three-foot high headdress covered with wooden animals, all once gold plated, including 15 birds and a mystical griffin. The coffin was so long to accommodate the hat, the archaeologists initially thought perhaps it was the coffin of two people.

On her hat are symbols of the Tree of Life. The fifteen wooden birds adorning it are the strongest clues. The World Tree or Tree of Life was very important to the Pazyryks. Clearly this woman was a priestess, probably of the cult of the tree.  Polosmak believes the symbolism of the Tree of Life is a symbol of “bringing universes together. The higher universe of the gods and the universe of humankind come together with this symbol.” She also refers to a gold buckle found in another tomb with an image of a woman’s headdress and the branches of the Tree of Life entwined. The Tree of Life of the hat connects the priestess to the universal World Tree, the source of all, which she could access in a state of trance and other ecstatic states.

This type of high status burial of a woman who was a priestess and wore a tall hat is a pattern found throughout this area and seems to be a clue about the identity of the original Amazon women.

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Podcast Version–The Siberian Ice Maiden

July 28th, 2010

Who Were the Amazons?

Part 3: The Siberian Ice Maiden

 
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