There once was an idyllic society with true equality of the sexes, and no class or gender differentiation. Unlike Camelot, there were no soldier knights. Archaeologists could find no evidence of any warfare nor weapons.
This surprisingly advanced society existed around 6,000 years ago, a millennium before the pyramids of Egypt, 2,000 years before Stonehenge, and 4,000 years before Christ.
The country I’m talking about is Malta, an archipelago in the central Mediterranean that is noted as the place where the oldest buildings still standing on Earth can be found.
Even Malta’s architecture is a blend of male and female elements working together for the greater good. In one of the most intact temples, the Hypogeum, there are masculine, angular, squared-off portals and lintels blended into curved, feminine walls.
If women and men were accorded equality in ancient Maltese society, their deity was certainly feminine. The Goddess is obviously reflected in the design of the temples on Malta and Gozo. An aerial view of the temple of Mnajdra shows a shape clearly symbolic of a full-figured female body, with oval shapes representing her head, breasts and buttocks.
A small terra-cotta figurine found in the Hypogeum, known as “The Sleeping Goddess” (shown at the top) suggests the temple could have been used for sleeping/dreaming rituals. Like Delphi in Greece, pilgrims may have gone there to receive dream messages or prophecies.
The temples of Malta were not tombs for the dead, but lively, social centers for the community, serving as schools, hospitals, meeting places and commercial marketplaces, as well as centers for Goddess worship.
You Are Invited to Experience Malta in September
Registrations are now open for our small group guided tour of Malta September 15-21, 2024, hosted by Ronna Prince and Dr. Donald Backstrom.
Here are some of the highlights:
- Visit the temples of Temples of Mnajdra and Hagar Qim
- In St John’s Co-Cathedral, see masterpieces painted by Caravaggio when he was a Maltese Knight of Obedience
- Ride the ferry to Gozo and see the Ggantija prehistoric temples
- Explore the Mosta Church, one of the most concentrated energy spots in Malta
- Go into the subterranean Hypogeum, rated by the Smithsonian as “one of the world’s best preserved prehistoric sites”
- Take part in an experiential workshop on the Creation Chakras, led by Ronna and Donald.
Click Here For Full Malta Tour Details
Photo credits: Malta sleeping lady sculpture: rob koopman from Leiderdorp, netherlands, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons