Images of Women Archers: Ancient

Relief on sacred bronze vessel shows two female shamans dancing for rain. China, 476-221 B.C.E.

Johnson, B. 1994. Lady of the Beasts: The Goddess and Her Sacred Animals. Rochester, VT: Inner Traditions International.

pp. 42-43
“Millennia later... the bird was used in much the same way for a rite pertaining to water. Two deities confront each other dramatically on a Chinese Hu bronze vessel that dates from the period of the Warring States (476-221 B.C.E.). Both dancing figures have the strong beaked heads of owls, and both have female breasts. The skirt of the figure on the right swirls into a curving tail as she dances on spurred human legs, her arms outstretched. The female deity on the left wears a skirt. Among the Tungas and Yenesei tribes of Siberia, shamans’ coats are still cut to resemble the wings and tail of an owl.

"In this astrological scenario, a female figure portrays the archer of Sagittarius, who aims her bow at two dragons, emblems of spiritual strength in China associated with the rain cycle. A vertical dragon and a horizontal dragon accompany two orbs that represent phases of the moon. To this day, in astrology the ascending node of the moon is called the dragon’s head and the descending node, the dragon’s tail.

"At the astrological conjunction of the moons with the dragons of water, a dangerous situation is averted by rituals; dancing is necessary to reinforce the magical effectiveness of the rite. The deities or shamans direct the ceremony that draws down the fertilizing rains. Magical forces control conflicting elements to release moisture, which often results in the slaying of the dragon by the bird. Dancing wards off the risk of the moon’s orbs being swallowed by the dragons, which would cause a disastrous drought. Pierced by an arrow, the moon spills its contents as rain."