Venus of Willendorf
The Venus of Willendorf ~ a delightfully tiny limestone Paleolithic statue crafted 25,000 years ago, discovered in Austria in 1908 by archeologist Josef Szombathy.
To some, she is “a fascinating yet grotesque reality of the female body and its bulging vegetable nature; an impersonal composition of sexually-charged swollen shapes; an embodiment of overflowing fertility, of mindless fecundity, of eternal sex, the woman from which all women descend.” (1) To others, she represents the Earth and its fertility and continuation of life, the Mother Goddess, the universal female principle.
I think, perhaps, she is all of those things. The ultimate expression of womanhood, albeit exaggerated. Her ample bosom, rotund mid-section and curvaceous hips resonate a celebration of the female form. If someone were to refer to me as having “sexually-charged swollen shapes” and the “embodiment of mindless fecundity and eternal sex” I would probably smile and reply in a most seductive tone, “Why, thank you.”
I am quite content being compared to a Mother Goddess.
The artisan who crafted this pocket-size treasure certainly found her shape to be worthy of glorification… Why shouldn’t we as well?
~*~*~*
(1) “Women in Prehistory: Venus of Willendorf” Christopher L. C. E. Witcombe
Enchanted Zaftig 