Ready to Be Challenged? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~The Partnership Way~
“Do not go where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson
Many books may come our way. Once in a while—perhaps once in a lifetime— one knocks your socks off.
I had that experience while reading Riane Eisler’s book The Chalice and the Blade.
I had Eisler’s 1987 book, with its 1994 epilogue, on my bookshelf for all these years, had scanned it at the time I purchased it, but only really read it closely very recently .
The book is filled with scientific and historical facts about women’s and men’s lives globally—and especially with facts about our ancient Neolithic past and how these relate to our current times.
While reading The Chalice and the Blade, I hadn’t expected to be so radically changed—so inwardly enlightened—so calmly satisfied by having many of my previously unsettling questions clarified—put into place.
And all this was accomplished so simply by Eisler with two words: Dominator and Partnership.
Within the perspective of those two descriptors, Eisler addressed many of my questions about our human nature and about our relationships; as well as my questions about pre-historical civilizations and about religion.
If I can succeed in relating her startling insights at least fairly decently, you might be as stunned as well by their simplicity.
The aim of this post is to introduce Riane Eisler, an internationally acclaimed scholar and a systems scientist, cultural historian, futurist, and attorney.
Eisler is the founder and co-president of the Center for Partnership Systems (aka Center for Partnership Studies) in Pacific Grove, CA, which keeps her theories active and current, while providing useful resources and programs for us.
Riane Eisler (1931- )
If I do not succeed in totally exciting you with Eisler’s analyses, I suggest heeding the advice of my good friend and spiritual journey-person, Nancy Murgalo, who suggested it well: Buy the book!
I do urge you, though, to obtain the book anyway. It is a must-read! It’s mind opening and mind bending—and it is important!
Ashley Montague’s quote on the front cover states: “The most important book since Darwin’s Origin of Species.”
The Chalice and The Blade is now in 26 foreign editions (including Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Hebrew, Arabic, Urdu, and most European languages), and used in universities worldwide.
I suggest you read it with a highlighter close at hand.
Riane Eisler charts a new path for us in several ways
She goes back in time to include those ancient Neolithic and Paleolithic civilizations, about which I wrote in this C:WED post: “WHEN GOD WAS A WOMAN,” September 19, 2025.
Eisler identifies those ancient periods and their concomitant civilizations as the beginnings of our human story, a fact to which she can attest now that we have archeological evidence that this is the way it was.
2. She introduces a new way of characterizing how we humans exist—and, more importantly, have existed—in our relationships, in our societies, in our wholistic civilizations. She does so with two words: Dominator and Partnership.
3. The two descriptors are part of Eisler’s Cultural Transformation Theory.
At this point I will allow Riane Eisler to speak in her own words about her theories from the Introduction to her book:
It of course makes eminent sense that the earliest depiction of divine power in human form should have been female rather than male.
When our ancestors began to ask the eternal questions (Where do we come from before we are born?…), they must have noted that life emerges from the body of a woman. It would have been natural for them to image the universe as all-giving Mother….
When the first evidence of such societies was unearthed in the nineteenth century, it was concluded that they must have been ‘matriarchal’.
Then, when the evidence did not seem to support this conclusion, it again became customary to agree that human society always was—and always will be—dominated by men.
But if we free ourselves from the prevailing models of reality, it is evident that there is another logical alternative: that there can be societies in which difference is not necessarily equated with inferiority or superiority. [emphasis mine]
This theory, which I called Cultural Transformation theory, proposes that underlying the great surface diversity of human culture are two basic modes of society.
The first, which I call the dominator model, is what is popularly termed either patriarchy or matriarchy—the ranking of one half of humanity over the other.
The second, in which social relations are primarily based on the principle of linking rather than ranking, may best be described as the partnership model.
In this model—beginning with the most fundamental difference in our species, between male and female—diversity is not equated with either inferiority or superiority.
[Anne’s note: the following paragraph contains a significant theory about the original direction of our cultural evolution.]
CULTURAL TRANSFORMATION THEORY further proposes that the original direction in the mainstream of our cultural evolution was toward partnership but that, following a period of chaos and almost total disruption, there occurred a fundamental social shift.
The title The Chalice and the Blade derives from this cataclysmic turning point during the prehistory of Western civilization, when the direction of our cultural evolution was quite literally turned around.
…[T]here are…indications that this change in direction from a partnership to a dominator model was roughly paralleled in other parts of the world.
At this pivotal branching, the cultural evolution of the societies that worshipped the life-generating and nurturing powers of the universe—in our time time still symbolized by the ancient chalice or grail—was interrupted.
[THIS IS HOW IT HAPPENED:]
There now appeared on the prehistoric horizon invaders from the peripheral areas of our globe who ushered in a very different form of social organization.
As the…archeologist Marija Gimbutas [wrote], these were people who worshiped ‘the lethal power of the blade’—the power to take rather than give life that is the ultimate power to establish and enforce domination.
So where does that leave us?
In our C:WED posts, we have been reviewing what we can now call two “dominator models” of patriarchy—Femicide and Ecocide—turned upside down by also considering the path of the “partnership models” of ecofeminism with its two arms of feminism and ecology, both of which are linked by the patriarchal dominator model.
Now, I believe that using the terminologies of patriarchy, femicide, and ecocide could become so general that they risk precluding any real understanding and of making a significant impression.
I believe that Eisler has resolved that dilemma with her dyads: dominator and partnership, as well as, ranking and linking.
The simple story is that back in the day—way, way before Mesopotamia (the Fertile Crescent), which has been historically understood as the birthplace of civilization (although there were other birthplaces as well), there existed a civilization that was thriving.
It was a civilization of people who were peaceful—who created pottery, art, agriculture, infrastructure, roads, and more—and who did not seem to use weapons of destruction or fortresses of defense. It was a society of women and men and was led by women, following a matrilineal lineage.
And those people, the women and the men, understood the Divine as feminine.
A NOTE FOR TODAY: From Eisler in The Chalice and the Blade, page xxiii.
[Reminder: the timeframe of this assessment is 1994, although the concepts are still valid.]
There is growing awareness from two bodies of thought—feminism and ‘chaos theory’—that the present system is breaking down, that we must find ways to break through to a different kind of future.
The chapters in [The Chalice and the Blade] explore the roots of — and paths to — that future.
They tell a story that begins thousands of years before our recorded (or written) history: the story of how the original partnership direction of Western culture veered off into a bloody five-thousand year dominator detour.
They show that there is another course which, as co-creators of our own evolution, is still ours to choose.
This is the alternative of breakthrough rather than breakdown: how through new ways of structuring politics, economics, science, and spirituality, we can move into the new era of a partnership world.
My (Anne’s) questions are:
—How do we define human nature?
—Is human nature biologically, psychologically, and spiritually naturally in the Dominator or in the Partnership model, if the early evidence tends toward partnership?
—Those members of the early Neolithic partnership civilization were humans.
—They shared our humanity.
—They were us.
—They seem to have been originally in the partnership model and then were forcibly changed into the dominator civilization, which is our heritage today.
—We, as a civilization, changed back then, and we can change again—regaining our civilization in the partnership model.
—How shall we choose?
In the model of:
The Blade
or the model of:
The Chalice
The next post will continue the story.
Riane Eisler co-authored with her husband David Loye a companion book in 1998: The Partnership Way: New Tools for Living and Learning. (Also highly recommended for teachers and for group study, or just for personal knowledge)
This practical companion to The Chalice and the Blade offers a series of nine well-designed meeting exercises for groups who might wish to analyze dominator and partnership societies, examine ways of understanding them, and consider how to relate to their actors.
Through her Center for Partnership Systems, Eisler’s theories remain tried, alive, and well—and, as I see it, they are a sign of real hope! The website is: https://centerforpartnership.org/
A Holy Spirit Moment:
On Monday, October 6, 2025, my friend Nancy Murgalo texted me that the following article from the Huffington Post had just randomly popped up on her phone. She was surprised because of the coincidence of its topic.
The day before, she and I had an in-person discussion about Eisler’s theories—the dominator and partnership models of ranking versus linking. Nancy commented that Jesus was all about linking.
We were standing outdoors in the parking lot of our Catholic Church and we were not using our phones.
Here is the article, which references Christians and “vertical morality.” It has proven to be an example of Eisler’s theory.
“‘Vertical Morality’ Might Describe Why MAGA Christians Seem So Unchristian”
This framework reveals why some MAGA-aligned Christians act in ways that contradict Jesus’ teachings.
by Caroline Bologna
Huffington Post, October 6, 2025
https://apple.news/A20X1GcLLQhyOkweGz1peSQ
In Your Own Words:
Preview of Current Post: “Ready To Be Challenged? ~ The Partnership Way” Written by Anne Andersson, October 10, 2025
—”Very interesting! Like you said, very simple! And you and Eisler give us hope that even though the dominator model overthrew the partnership model and remained in power for 5,000 years doesn’t mean it can’t be overthrown itself!” —CA
Previous Post: “Ecocide and Patriarchy” Written by Anne Andersson, October 3, 2025
—Well done!!! 👏👏👏
AI Overview: “The Seventh Generation philosophy is an ancient Native American principle, particularly from the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy, emphasizing that all decisions should consider their impact on the next seven generations. This philosophy promotes long-term thinking, community responsibility, and sustainability by requiring present-day actions to ensure the well-being of future peoples and the environment. “ 🌎 —MA
—The topic of the post is interesting. —DA
—New and interesting! —ER
—The post looks good! And easy to digest. Very clear and great idea to discuss both ecofeminism and ecocide in the context of what we can do.—CA
C:WED’s New Section:
WOMEN SPEAK OUT.
BELIEVE THE WOMEN.
Listen! Hear! Believe!
REMEMBER THE SURVIVORS:
—WHO ARE TODAY’S WOMEN
—SOME OF WHOM WERE YESTERDAY’S GIRLS
—WHO WERE THE CHILDREN OF THE ABUSE.
Missing from governmental discussions of the Epstein/Maxwell pedophile and trafficking of girls and women story have been the voices of the survivors. WE WILL HIGHLIGHT ONE SURVIVOR IN EACH POST.
TODAY’S FEATURED SURVIVOR: CHAUNTAE DAVIES
On Wednesday, September 3, 2025, Representatives Ro Khanna (D-CA) and Thomas Massie (R-KY) held a press conference at the House Triangle alongside survivors of Jeffrey Epstein/Ghislaine Maxwell’s abuse — several of whom spoke publicly for the first time.
Actress and Epstein survivor Chauntae Davis was one of the women who spoke out that day. She said she was taken on a trip to Africa with former President Clinton and other notable figures and remembers feeling "powerless" against convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein because, in her words, he surrounded himself "with the most powerful leaders of our country and the world."
"In those moments, I realized how powerless I was," she said. "If I spoke out, who would believe me? Who would protect me?"
https://youtu.be/v9PWmgYyVCA?si=D-3CQDEwT3j44niv
For more about this subject:
The 2020 Netflix original, four-part docuseries, Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich, presents a detailed account of Epstein’s abuse and those who enabled him. Survivors also share their own stories.
BREAKING NEWS — AND — A REVERSAL!
THE BREAKING NEWS!
In a second press conference—just a month after the first one mentioned above—the survivors congregated outside the capital this past Wednesday, October 8, 2025. They again appeared alongside Representatives Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Ro Khanna (D-CA) to publicly advocate for the release of the Epstein files.
THE BREAKING NEWS REVERSAL!:
I should have followed the adage: “I'll believe it when I see it.”
The signature of Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva (D) Arizona, who won her special primary election on September 23, would have been the final signature needed to pass a resolution for a vote on directing the Justice Department to release documents on Epstein.
After a week of delay, the House Speaker appeared to have been pressured by the people to end the hold-up. And so, he declared that Rep.-elect Grijalva would be installed on Tuesday, October 7, 2025.
HOWEVER, IT DID NOT HAPPEN AND THE DELAY CONTINUES.
On Friday, October 3rd, the speaker found a way to continue the delay: by extending the vacations of the members of the House. THIS WILL EFFECTIVELY PAUSE REP.-ELECT GRIJALVA’S INSTALLATION.
Of note: Others who, like Grijalva, were elected in a special primary earlier this year, were sworn in within 24 hours of their election.
GRIJALVA says she can think of only two reasons for this delay:
She is a woman.
Her signature will provide the required 218 signatures for the bill to go forward to a vote on the release of the Epstein files—with all the criminal information these files appear to contain.
C:WED WISH LIST:
Our wish is to flesh out in the next post the tenets of Riane Eisler’s theories, particularly by examining religion and how the two societal models, the dominator and partnership, influenced the writing of the Judeo-Christian Bible.
The next post will also mark the completion of our in-depth study of Ecofeminism, which we began in February 2025.
We will then revert to a more leisurely publishing time frame, that is, posting on a variety of topics as they arise. We will cover more general topics of choice while remaining within our framework of Women, the Earth, and the Divine.
Perhaps you might suggest a topic for the C:WED blog.
We would love to hear from you!
And we thank those who have already suggested topics!
—Please do send your suggestions to: info@cwed.org
—PLEASE keep reading our posts! Share their views.
—PLEASE spread the word about us!
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