I saw Riane Eisler at Amazon Bookstore last night. She wrote The Chalice and the Blade in 1987. As I commented in Saints or Sinners, she has a new book out, The New Wealth of Nations. It took her 10 years to write it. It took her 10 years to write The Chalice and the Blade.
Talk about process.
Eisler is an Austrian born Nazi survivor who has dedicated her life to meaningful work designed to evoke world change. She’s written books about politics, sex, partnerships, and now, money. She is animated and funny. She has a serious message.
When I left, I wondered if I was doing enough. I have a feeling that’s exactly what she wants me to wonder.
I sat next to Liz on the green couch a few feet from Riane, the same spot I sat to see Jean Shinoda Bolen a few weeks ago. I am still digesting Riane’s talk. I haven’t read her new book yet. It’s hot off the presses. She wrote the Intro in January 2007. We were her first book signing. She drove to Amazon straight off the plane at MSP.
Wordraw responded in his New Saturday post to a comment I made from Eisler that there is a need for women to penetrate high places, not only in this country, but the world. Places where important decisions are made about the economy and war and wages and healthcare.
It isn’t because women have all the answers. Or are better at doing the job. It is to role model a connecting, relational archetype. So that people in power (who for every great effort we have made over the last 50 years are still mostly men) can learn new ways of relating.
And those who are not, can become empowered.
“You can’t just throw money at women and children in 3rd world cultures and expect change,” she said. “The best thing you can do is help them organize politically. They have to infiltrate a system that wants to keep them submissive. Teach them to be empowered.”
Eisler’s categories may seem general. They are broad because she studies systems. She is looking at the economic model from a broader perspective which includes gender. I’m thinking she gets into details in her book which is widely supported by many influential men, as well as women. But I’ll have to read it to tell you more.
One thing I know for sure – the old warrior models we are operating under are not working. As Wordraw said in New Saturday, “there are wars, skirmishes and a feudal mentality dominates politics. There is a lot of hunger, many types, lack of milk and lack of compassion.”
There were pointed questions in the basement at Amazon after her talk. One woman haughtily asked, “Why can’t the U.S. be more like Europe, more progressive in its thinking?”
“What do you mean?” Riane said. “Right now there is more anti-Semitism in Europe than anywhere else I’ve seen. Don’t forget, Hitler came out of Europe.”
Another woman asked her what she thought was holding this country back. She paused for a moment. Then she said the fundamentalist religious thread running through the heart of this country is where the greatest resistance is rooted. Fundamentalism in any religion is about power. With dominance, as opposed to partnerships, you are either with them or you’re a threat. It’s black and white.
But the world is full of gray. And if relational global models are allowed to penetrate the dominate system in great enough numbers, then the dominant will feel less threatened. They can let their guard down. And the balance of power can start to be restored.
Eisler sees women, and men who are willing to embrace the feminine in themselves, as the great equalizers. For all of us. But mostly, for the children of the next generation.
I can’t speak for Eisler. And I wouldn’t want to. All of this is my interpretation after an hour of listening and filtering her words through my own experiences and brain. But I felt a need to write about it. I am being moved in a direction of action. I don’t know yet what that will be.
At the end of her talk, there was tension in a room filled primarily with middle-aged women (there was only one man) who leaned toward the left. Many of us had fought hard in our early 20’s for equal rights.
I started to wonder, if there is this much dissension among grassroots women on the ground where her message is most likely to take seed, what hope is there for the rest of the world?
She wasn’t fazed. She said we need to keep talking. She sees hope for this country. There are many good things that spring from our rugged individualism. She has not given up.
Sunday, March 25th, 2007
redravine.wordpress.com 
We’ve all heard that wheeze, a saint is a sinner who never gave up.
Does not the presence of someone like Eisler give awe and hope? Look at what she has endured and I’m agog that she continues to make positive suggestion.
Thanks for introducing her to us. I’m going to pick up a copy of The Chalice and the Blade.
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Yes, thanks for introducing her to us. I hadn’t heard of her nor her theories. Are there nations or cities or entities (NGOs, governmental) that have put her ideas into practice? Are they working?
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Wordraw,
Thanks for your comment. That’s great. I want to read the original copy of The Chalice and Blade that Liz has on the book shelf here, too. So much I want to read.
By the way, Liz has been impacted by Riane, too. This morning when I got up, she was at her computer composing a letter to our Minnesota Senator, the Honorable Amy Kloubachar, who is on the Joint Economic Committee.
Liz actually purchased a copy of The New Wealth of Nations and mailed it directly to Amy in Washington with her comments. I think Riane would be pleased. This is how real change happens!
Who knows if Amy will ever read it. But chances are someone there will.
There is hope. One person can make a difference. We writers can make a difference.
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Romey,
Your question is a good one. I am as new to her work as you are. But what I’ve discovered, and she talked about this at her book signing, is the webpage for the Center for Partnership Studies, a non-profit she founded to help enact the changes she writes about worldwide.
If you go to the site, there are kits, tools, all the info you need to set up a Partnership Model in a church, school, or community. When I clicked on the CPS About Us page on the left, there at the bottom was a whole list of communities where her work is already making a difference.
I can’t say for sure, but it seems from what she said in her talk, and from her website, that her ideas are well-organized and being practiced in places where her Partnership Models are being set up.
It reminds me so much of Jean Shinoda Bolen’s Millionth Circle website. Bolen (see her website) didn’t start the website but it sprang from her work. These women have been doing this work their whole lives. They have a large following. And since they are already respected in their fields, it seems they are able to make an impact.
I provided links in this comment to her sites. Thanks for this great question.
One last comment, the reason Eisler and Bolen were here in Minnesota is because an amazing woman here, Nancy Stephan, resigned from her corporate job and her business when she heard the calling to set up an Honoring Women Worldwide organization in Minnesota.
She’s been at both events at Amazon and is a powerhouse of positive energy and drive. She’s lending great effort to these kinds of worldwide changes at the global level. And is starting a museum here in Minnesota honoring women worldwide.
The whole thing is energizing me to go forward and do the work I need to do. I am listening as it comes.
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