Citation: S/HE: An International Journal of Goddess Studies, V5 N1 (2026)
Abstract In “The Goddess as Regeneratrix,” the archetype of the Goddess of Venus in the Paleolithic cave art, sculpture, and ancient monuments is identified in its earliest stages. Venus appears to be part of what Carl Gustave Jung and Erich Neumann call the transformative character of the primordial archetype where her image is seen as a regenerative force for change connected to the celestial order. Joseph Campbell and Marija Gimbutas also note the emergence of the transformative form of the archetype as time-factored and identified with cyclical time in the cosmos, respectively. Many of the sites in France, such as the caves in Lascaux and Chauvet, use symbols such as sacred water, water birds, reclining nudes, and the columns of life to delineate the patterns of the planet Venus in its cycles as Morning and Evening Star. The fluidity and beauty of these patterns in the night sky represent a feminine force for conception from the maternal waters as well as the regenerative force of life itself. Like the caves in France, the Neolithic mounds of Newgrange at the Brú na Bóinne in Ireland and the Neolithic temples, such as Ħaġar Qim and Ħal-Saflieni in Malta, also embody the concept of Venus as Regeneratrix in both the construction of their sacred spaces and in the symbolic language carved on the temples. The sacred waters, reclining nudes, triangle signs, and the figure of a goddess climbing The World Tree are dominant representations in the cycles of Venus reflected in the temples’ orientation to the planet’s journey in the night sky.
Keywords Archetypes, Venus, Aphrodite, Lascaux, Regeneratrix, Ancient Astronomy, Paleolithic, Neolithic, Archeomythology, Goddess Studies, Celtic Mythology, Comparative Mythology, Archeoastronomy, Goddess, Mythology and Folklore, Ancient Myth and Religion, Celtic Studies, Feminism, Goddess Spirituality, Ancient Astronomy and Calendars.
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