earth's pharmacopeia

my haven for OCs inspiration, and my interests in herbs, gardening, and witchcraft practical uses witchcraft uses

[aylaoftheclan]

Part of me feels like Jean Auel’s Earths Children series is a cautionary tale- directed at those in power in modern human society, mainly men. Yes the clan were “backwards” in a sense, but they also were closer to the earth and “die” with the Earth Mother bc they don’t receive the “gift of knowledge” as AMH do. But that gift that Ayla receives also leads to the subjugation of women, coming full circle back to the “backwardness” that the clan displayed. The clan is a reflection of the bad direction modern humanity has taken. It’s stated that at one point in the distant past the clan acknowledged women’s spiritual power, but that time had passed and now men subjugated women to keep their spiritual power in check. In a way, the clan used their knowledge to go backward, which humans today are also in danger of doing. Ayla is the messenger that there are two paths humanity can take. One of enlightenment and one of ignorance. But we are given the tools to choose while the clan were not, and they die out. The clan die out bc they refuse to change. Humanity today will die out the same way unless we become more enlightened.

@fan-of-the-cave-bear I would love to know your thoughts on this!

[fan-of-the-cave-bear]

First things first, I'm so sorry it took me so long to see this! Thank you so much for tagging me! :) Anyway, on to my thoughts.

I really like your perspective on this, especially since Jean wrote these right off the tail of second wave feminism, which as a wife and mother at that time, was certainly thinking about these things.

I really like your point about Ayla's gift, I don't know if you meant her "gift of knowledge" in general or even her revelation about men being integral to the creation of children. I personally see Ayla's gift more as an ability to change rather than knowledge itself, as the Clan quite literally has too much knowledge. The difference is that they can't innovate or use anything they learn.

You can see towards the end of LoPC that men are ALREADY starting to question if they have to care about a child in their family if it might not be theirs biologically. You can already see what ignorance does to people. (to be clear they do have 'knowledge' of biological fatherhood now, but ignorance about what that means emotionally.)

The Clan being very strictly patriarchal is shown to be THE reason that the clan has been stunted, they literally cannot evolve, change, or grow to keep up with the Others. They say in the very beginning of CotCB that men and women of the Clan literally cannot live day to day life without each other, precisely because men have gone on so long not doing, "women's skills" that they are now incapable.

It's not hard to draw a parallel between that and men that call taking care of their own children "babysitting", or being incapable of taking care of their home when the wife is unable. Even the fact that the Clan men have a ritual to beg the spirits for a new home at the start which is forbidden for the women to see, purely because it would show that the men are not all powerful, proving that the entire system is fragile and ultimately made up (by the men).

I see the Clan as a cautionary tale against traditional values being held above change. Even if it is for the better, they are scared of change, because they literally can't do it.

It's reminiscent of how many things are upheld in today's society that are plain wrong or even hurtful to people, just because, "We've always done it like that."

[cryptotheism]

The unsavvy talk about furries like they're some hypersexual excretion of modernity, but drawing animal-people is one of the top 10 neolithic human activities. It's up there with collecting berries and producing clay figures of fat women.

[kaijutegu]

This is the Löwenmensch figurine, an ivory sculpture from about 38,000 BCE.

This is the Lascaux birdman, the only humanoid figure in the entire cave, and dates back to about 16,000 years ago.

These are a lot harder to interpret with the naked eye, but these cave paintings from Indonesia are at least 43,900 years old (older than the lion man) and are considered to be the oldest representative art in the world. They represent beings with human and animal characteristics- therianthropes- hunting warty pigs and anoa.

Before this painting was discovered, the lion-headed figurine was the oldest known depiction of a person. Now, these are. Nihil novi sub sole.

[our-queer-experience]

helen “trans people are perpetuating gender steriotypes” joyce is now upset that the scientific american is writing about how women were hunters too back in the day, not just mothers and caretakers. feminist win!

[the-gummy-worms-have-me]

I think I found the article!

The Theory That Men Evolved to Hunt and Women Evolved to Gather Is Wrong

The influential idea that in the past men were hunters and women were not isn’t supported by the available evidence

Read it if you have the time, it's very interesting.

[mikkeneko]

Reading the article I see why TERFs are mad about it; it explicitly makes the distinction between gender as a social entity and sex as a biological category, and defines biological sex having multiple factors, both of which are anathema to TERF philosophy.

It also includes these fascinating paragraphs about the role of estrogen in different types of physical activity, directly debunking the widespread notion that estrogen is the weak human's hormone and only does weak human things:

Given the fitness world's persistent touting of the hormone testosterone for athletic success, you'd be forgiven for not knowing that estrogen, which females typically produce more of than males, plays an incredibly important role in athletic performance… The estrogen receptor—the protein that estrogen binds to in order to do its work—is deeply ancient. Joseph Thornton of the University of Chicago and his colleagues have estimated that it is around 1.2 billion to 600 million years old—roughly twice as old as the testosterone receptor. In addition to helping regulate the reproductive system, estrogen influences fine-motor control and memory, enhances the growth and development of neurons, and helps to prevent hardening of the arteries. Important for the purposes of this discussion, estrogen also improves fat metabolism. During exercise, estrogen seems to encourage the body to use stored fat for energy before stored carbohydrates. Fat contains more calories per gram than carbohydrates do, so it burns more slowly, which can delay fatigue during endurance activity. Not only does estrogen encourage fat burning, but it also promotes greater fat storage within muscles… which makes that fat's energy more readily available. Adiponectin, another hormone that is typically present in higher amounts in females than in males, further enhances fat metabolism while sparing carbohydrates for future use, and it protects muscle from breakdown. Anne Friedlander of Stanford University and her colleagues found that females use as much as 70 percent more fat for energy during exercise than males. Estrogen's ability to increase fat metabolism and regulate the body's response to the hormone insulin can help prevent muscle breakdown during intense exercise. Furthermore, estrogen appears to have a stabilizing effect on cell membranes that might otherwise rupture from acute stress brought on by heat and exercise. Ruptured cells release enzymes called creatine kinases, which can damage tissues… Linda Lamont of the University of Rhode Island and her colleagues, as well as Michael Riddell of York University in Canada and his colleagues, found that females experienced less muscle breakdown than males after the same bouts of exercise. Tellingly, in a separate study, Mazen J. Hamadeh of York University and his colleagues found that males supplemented with estrogen suffered less muscle breakdown during cycling than those who didn't receive estrogen supplements.

The article also talks about sexual dimorphism in different species, concluding that "Modern humans have low sexual dimorphism compared with the other great apes," and that overemphasis on averages obscures the wide dispersal of individual traits, which is what I keep saying.

[aethersea]

Anthropologists also look at damage on our ancestors' skeletons for clues to their behavior. Neandertals are the best-studied extinct members of the human family because we have a rich fossil record of their remains. Neandertal females and males do not differ in their trauma patterns, nor do they exhibit sex differences in pathology from repetitive actions. Their skeletons show the same patterns of wear and tear. This finding suggests that they were doing the same things, from ambush-hunting large game animals to processing hides for leather. Yes, Neandertal women were spearing woolly rhinoceroses, and Neandertal men were making clothing.

I also thought this part was cool :)

[genderqueerdykes]

PLEASE read this article, this information is incredible for everyone looking to unlearn bioessentialism

[anti-terf-posts]

official anti terf post

[vonclosen]

i also cannot stress enough that the conception of “woman the gatherer” has been challenged since the 1970s. this is nothing new as a concept, which means she has even less of an excuse for being a misogynistic shithead.

anthropologist sally slocum wrote about male bias, misogyny, and the lack of evidence for women only being gatherers and nurturers in her 1975 essay “woman the gatherer: male bias in anthropology.” i highly recommend reading it.

[expressions-of-nature]

Misty Sunset on Lake Lagoda, Karelia by Mikhail Shirobokov

[expressions-of-nature]

by Tineke Barten

[life-on-our-planet]

Although it was once extinct in the wild the takhi has been successfully reintroduced to its native territory in Central China and Eastern Europe. ©ChornobylWild

[hope-for-the-planet]

This species only exists because many, many humans cared enough to invest tremendous effort in stopping it from going extinct. And now they've been de-listed from extinct in the wild to just endangered.

I believe these gifs are specifically from the herd that was released into the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone when the species was still extinct in the wild. That herd is estimated to be about 100 strong now.

Something, something, life finds a way.

[leahberman]

daybreak

instagram - twitter - website

[gardenstatetait]

Permafrost mummies! All these creatures represent a real animal found preserved in the permafrost. There's something so fragile and special about the earth and ice reuniting us with an animal our ancestors would have been so familiar with, that shit makes me cry.

[sixth-extinction]

I love this so much 🥺

[selkie-on-land]

They are the cutest 🥹

This is Sparta, she died 28 000 years ago.

This is Boris, he died 43 500 years ago.

This is Lyuba, she died 42 000 years ago.

This is Sasha, she died 34 000 years ago.

This is Lena, she died 42 000 years ago.

This is the Badyarikha mommy of a Homotherium cub,

This is Blue Babe, he died 36 000 years ago.

[artgreen-blog1]

[uroko]

Kyoto 京都 // JiYeon 지연

[ouroborosils]

selkie by the sea

[ymutate]

Mark Maggiori (French-American, b.1977)

"Dibé Yázhi" (Navajo name for that massive rock located in Monument Valley, Arizona; it means 'little sheep'), 2023

Oil on linen

44 x 55 in

[enchantedbook]

The Breckland Slumber' by Adam Oehlers

[expressions-of-nature]

Hunt's Mesa, Monument Valley by Bousure

[mapsontheweb]

Paleolithic cultures in Europe

Landscape and the spread of vegetation during the Würm/Weichsel glaciation. In this glacial period, the grapevine was pushed back into the ice-free Mediterranean countries and the Orient. The probable refugia during this glaciation, according to Levadoux, 1956, are indicated here by a red line.

[rherlotshadow]

Mushrooms in garlic.

[ymutate]

Vladimir Kush

Birth of Love