Aphrodite Kallipygos aka ‘Aphrodite of the Beautiful Buttocks’ (0-200 BC) —great name!—is the Goddess on the right. She is a lot more known than the formidable, Neolithic, much older “Red Hair Goddess” (6300-5500 BC) from Northern Serbia, on the left.
In fact, I just learned about this “Red Hair” bountiful buttocks Goddess! The similarity and contrast between these goddesses are awesome! I couldn’t resist.
I love the attitude of the Red Hair Goddess who was created from a matriarchal culture. The reference to the ‘red hair’ comes from the red ocher which you can sort of see in this closeup— which is a blood mysteries indicator and that she is representative of the one and only Mother Goddess.
She’s got her hands on her hips. She’s not in the act of ‘exposing’ herself. She’s owning her power.
Marija Gimbutas, cutting edge, feminist archeologist, suggests that the recurring theme of “exaggerated buttocks” in Neolithic and Paleolithic Goddess sculptures “are a metaphor for the double egg or pregnant belly, intensified fertility or life power.” [1]
She goes on to say that “fat female posteriors had quite other than erotic significance. They were, in fact, the actualization of a cosmogonic concept. This symbolism expressed reverence for supernatural potency, expressed by the doubling device, the power of two.” [2]
I definitely feel the supernatural potency of “Red Hair’s” butt, especially in spectacular contrast with her mini perky breasts! And I’d like to add my somatic impressions to the mix as I’ve recently been doing healing butt and anus work.
Though Marija is saying these buttocks are “not of erotic significance,” as well as the breasts and curvaceousness of hundreds of naked female sculptures that have been found, I believe she had to de-emphasize the erotic aspect because male archeologists could only contextualize them as erotic images for male pleasure.
Marija was the first to interpret them as evidence of a Mother Goddess worshiping matriarchy. This feels right to me, but the debate continues.
I can’t help but feel that Aphrodite Kallipygos can help us in further decoding these ‘butt goddesses’ (my term ?.)
Origin of the cult of Aphrodite Kallipygos
The Kallipyge festivals celebrated Aphrodite, and consisted of a beauty pageant in which women exposed their buttocks, the winner gained the Kallipyge title, aka the one with beautiful buttocks! [source]
Ancient legend has it that two daughters of a successful farmer in Siracusa, Italy, made a bet to see which one had the most beautiful butt. They waited a long time for a passerby to come by and decide.
The moment a handsome, young man came close enough, Helena lifted her tunic, smiled and looked down at her butt. Apasia the younger sister then showed him hers and asked him to vote on the one he liked the most.
The young man was not only smitten by Helena’s butt but by her sassiness and chose hers. He then went back to the city to tell his younger brother who most intrigued raced over to see for himself. He promptly fell in love with Apasia, “long before he was lucky enough to see her bare buttocks!!”
The sons’ father, a wealthy gentleman, was hoping to marry his sons to women of his position but could not convince his sons. He finally agreed to let his sons marry the sisters.
Once married, Helena and Apasia built a temple in honor of Aphrodite and they called the statue of the goddess Aphrodite Kallipyge, because they invoked her powers of attraction and desire by baring their butts and found love!
Ass Power
Aphrodite Kallipygos could be a veiled way of re-igniting the healing, spiritual potency of the tush. Writing off the eroticism of “Red Hair” does not do her justice.
Most of us never let our butts see the light of day. Same with our yonis but I believe the butt has gotten an even greater ‘bum rap’ and I’d like to help ‘rectumfy’ the situation! ? ?
I have begun to awaken the erotic nature of my butt and anus— not what I expected in my healing journey but a nice surprise. I thought there was enough healing and pleasure to uncover in the yoni, but it seems the ass and anus have much to offer as well.
Like the Yoni, the Anus holds a lot of suppressed emotion, trauma— sexual or otherwise, you name it. I remember being in a yoga class many years ago and the teacher asked if we could feel whether we were holding our anus and at that moment I realized that I was constantly holding/clenching in my anus!
This was a somatic ah ha for me and helped me become aware of this pattern, but little did I know how much more there was to unravel here.
We automatically hold/lock our anus, as a natural survival mechanism to protect ourselves, just like we brace our lungs to not feel, to reduce the impact of a mental or emotional or physical blow. When we do this unconsciously for decades, we stop the flow of energy from the earth and our legs and we end up living more in our heads, feeling less stable and ultimately less safe in our bodies.
The same can be said about holding in the yoni— both are important! And I discovered that as I let go of holding in my yoni, it helped open my anus. I just discovered that there are many nerve endings in the opening of the anus which when stimulated, sends pleasure sensations to the clit and vagina!
WHO KNEW? In fact, it really feaked me out at first! I didn’t know what the heck was happening. Awakening these pleasure pathways feels as significant as bridging the left and right hemispheres of the brain!
The yoni and anus are very interrelated and when you think about it, only separated by half an inch!! Yet they feel like worlds apart! One is more hidden and just for elimination and not important, right? Wrong!
I had been thinking that my yoni and womb were the missing links in my somatic healing journey and have come to realize that the ass and anus are extremely important as well!
A tight ass leads to a tight lower back, and a tight attitude. Most of us have neglected our backsides, big time! This is a shadowy, less known part of ourselves.
There is much more to say about how important the ass is regarding the nervous system, spirituality and beyond. We will definitely revisit it.
Suffice it to say, that I believe the ancient ‘butt goddess’ sculptures’ erotic aspect is part of the spiritual power of the Mother Goddess and I will help guide us to viscerally unlock that in our bodies.
Exploring the Butt
We will:
- bring awareness to the energy stored in the tail bone and butt
- move in ways to open up stored, stuck energy in the back of the legs, lower back and butt & allow it to flow throughout the body
- Feel the connection between the butt, lower back, legs, and feet with the earth
- allow any emotion to move
- have fun ‘shakin’ that ass!’
I hope you’ll join us at Womb Power, this Thursday, June 30th, 5-6:30pm PT!
NOTES:
[1] [2] Gimbutas, Marija, “The Earth Fertility of Old Europe” article in ‘Dialogues d’histoire ancienne’ https://www.persee.fr/doc/dha_0755-7256_1987_num_13_1_1750, p.26 & 27
IMAGE SOURCES:
[image #1] Author of photos: Jugoslav Pendić, ERC BIRTH projekat 640557 – “Births, mothers and babies: Prehistoric fertility in the Balkans between 10000-5000 cal BC”, funded by European Research Council (ERC), BioSens Institute, Novi Sad.
Neolithic Venus figurine called “Red hair goddess”, terracotta, Starčevo culture, around 6300 – 5500 BC, excavated at Donja Branjevina archaeological site in Deronje village, Bačka region, northern Serbia. Red-hair goddess is standing female figurine with oversized glutei and emphasized breasts, and it represents woman progenitor or great mother, female divine concept characteristic for early matriarchy societies.It is on of the largest prehistoric figurines found in Serbia, being 38 cm high.Starčevo culture was one of the first Neolithic cultures in the Balkans, part of Starčevo–Kőrös–Criș cultural complex, possible predecessor of famousVinča culture. Bearers of Starčevo culture were the earliest agricultural communities in this part of Europe, and they were the first who introduced domesticated animals in the Balkans
[image #2 ]
