My name, Ariana, is a spiritual name I took in my 30s. When I interviewed Riane Eisler recently for my Reclaiming The Wise Woman Elder – for the healing of Earth summit, I told her the story.

I told her because SHE was really responsible for me taking the name.

Her book, The Chalice and The Blade, was a transformational book for me. Reading about ancient European cultures that had worshipped the Great Goddess, in which women held power in equalitarian societies, and war was almost non-existent, was a revelation.

Learning her language of the Dominator paradigm vs. the Partnership paradigm was liberating and affirming.

We are not doomed by human nature to use violence! Cultures existed in our past where women and men were in partnership with each other and with our Earth! We can do it again, and even better.Continue Reading