On women's work I recommend:
"Women's Work: The first 20,000 years." By Elizabeth Wayland Barber.
W.W.Norton, 1994, ISBN 0-393-31348-4
Cheers
William
DANA SCOTT wrote:
Hello Dennis, Yes, this is where I am focusing my attention. While pre-Etruscan Italians may be a bit early for the VMS, I keep seeing hints that this is probably a good area to stake a claim. The Wicca tradition is beginning to make sense to me. From "Etruscan Civilization, A Cultural History" by Sybille Haynes (British Museum Press, 2000) there are a few subtle clues which seem to have a presence in the VMS. Women were apparently revered as equals with distinctive roles in Etruscan society. For example, the spindle held in the left hand of the damsel at the top left of f80v (also in f76v) has always caught my attention. From "Etruscan Civilization" we learn that "The main crafts practiced by women were spinning, dyeing, and weaving of the wool of both sheep and goats and sewing clothes from cloth." (p.10) Most likely these skills would have existed throughout Europe and this in not meant to be definitive; it is just an example of the cultural findings in Italy. The Etruscans were also with working bronze, which makes me think of the pans seen in f78v and f81r/v. There is a picture of a bronze "Campanian ash urn with statuettes on lid and rim" ("Etruscan Civilization", p.200). A detail of one of the statuettes shows an individual (warrior?) riding a horse with a bow in his left hand; but what interests me here is his pointed hat which to me is a dead ringer for the pointed hat seen on the head of the "moon face" at the bottom right of f67v2. Moving from f70v2 to f70v1 and then f71r, we see a transition from naked women to some clothed to mostly clothed, which seems to correlate to a change of seasons and is an aspect seen in Strega, (e.g., women gathering all naked at the full moon). These are just some samples of what I am seeing in addition to the herbal plants which were widely known and used in witchcraft. There seems to be a lot here to consider. I can imagine the VMS confiscated by the Inquisition in Italy as a prime example of a "witchcraft bible" with the secrets of its translation having been lost along with its owner. History of Stregheria www.fabrisia.com/history.htm Regards, Dana Scott ----- Original Message ----- From: "Dennis" <tsalagi@xxxxxxxx> To: <vms-list@xxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Wednesday, May 12, 2004 10:02 PM Subject: Re: VMs: La Vecchia ReligioneHi, Dana,I have begun to investigate La Vecchia Religione of ancient Italy. There are numerous aspects of Stregheria that seem to have correlations in the VMSStregheria sounds interesting. I've mostly heard that Wicca claims to be a folk survival of the antique pre-Christian traditions of Europe, but is in fact a literate invention of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. I believe that Wicca claims that "La Vecchia Religione" is such a survival of ancient Roman beliefs and practices, and that it is similarly suspect. I don't know much, but keep that in mind. Dennis ______________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, send mail to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxx with a body saying: unsubscribe vms-list______________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, send mail to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxx with a body saying: unsubscribe vms-list-- Dr William H Edmondson School of Computer Science University of Birmingham Edgbaston B15 2TT United Kingdom Voice - +44-121-414-4763 email - w.h.edmondson@xxxxxxxxxx