Share the Wisdom: Recordings Available to the Public

Since 2012, ASWM has been recording important programs and presentations on a wide variety of related topics. All of our recordings are available as member benefits, along with other resources and discounts. At the same time, we also recognize that some material should be shared with a wider audience. Here, we offer everyone the chance to view some of our important keynotes and special programs. 

If you are not now a member, but want to see other excellent recordings in our library, please consider joining, or donating to ASWM (a 501-C3 nonprofit)  to keep this unique and important scholarship available to all.


The International ASWM Art Exhibition


History or Mystery:  Fact or Fiction?” Keynote with Dr. Elinor Gadon about goddesses in art and history. Interviewer Dr. Dianne Jennet. April 1, 2016 Conference

Reweaving the Web of Life: New Myths for Restoring the Waters and Ourselves”  Hallie Iglehart Austen  keynote, May 5, 2023 Conference

Shapeshifting Lands of Lāhainā, Maui: Mo’o and Moku’ula”  with Mahealani Ahia, November 30, 2024 (Scholar Salon #58)

Teachings of Water Spirit” Marjorie Beaucage, Douglas Cardinal, Miigam’agan, and Margaret Kress-White, May 6, 2023 Conference

Tona Ina, the Yoruba “sea light”: Community Arcaeomythology in Costa Rica’s Southern Caribbean” Maria Suarez Toro, July 27, 2023 (Scholar Salon #56)

Wabanaki Women: Ritual, Tradition, and Feminine Intuition” Miigam’agan, Sherri Mitchell, Patricia Saulis, 2016 Conference

Water Worlds: Mermaids, The Drowning World, and Climate Change” Brenda Peterson, June, 29 2023 (Scholar Salon #54)

Why Brigit was Born at Faughart, Co. Louth” Dr. Mary Condren, February 22, 2024 (Scholar Salon #66)

Women and Earth Centered Mythologies: Traditional Knowledge and Sacred Kinship between Women, Plants and Animals” Panel with Joan Cichon, Mara Lynn Keller, Susan Moulton, and Elizabeth Sikie, March 16, 2018. ASWM Conference

Women Are the Water Bearers of the Universe” Sherri Mitchell keynote, March 17, 2018, ASWM Conference

Women, Waterbirds, and Place in European Folklore” Elizabeth Wayland Barber keynote, March 16, 2018, ASWM Conference

“River Sisters” to Perform at 2023 Conference

ASWM Conference May 5-6, Syracuse NY

Registration Links and Conference information here

The River Sisters

River Sisters:  Finsevatn (Norway) & Seneca Falls (USA)

LOCUS / Thale Fastvold & Tanja Thorjussen: We will present a performative talk where we introduce our artistic research focusing on ecofeminism and hydrofeminism with our ongoing project “River Sisters” which we started in 2021 and will continue through the Ocean Decade 2020-2030. Our brief talk will be followed by a performance in our series “River Sisters” where we physically connect rivers and bodies of water through gathering and mixing water in a healing process. In this performance we will connect the River Finsevatn of Finse, Norway with the water of Seneca Falls, US.

Our artistic approach is to cross-pollinate ideas and knowledge in a healing way with performance rituals, art in public space, drawing and photography. Our focus is on hydrofeminism and the interconnectedness of all sentient beings of this planet, whether it be animals, waterways, ocean, human or forest communities.

Finse, Norway

 To date, the River Sisters performance series has linked the rivers of Akerselva (Oslo 2020), Great Ouse (Kings Lynn UK 2021), Lille Lungegårdsvann (Bergen 2022) and Finsevatn (Finse 2022).  Our conference will be their first river connection in the US.

Tanja Thorjussen and Thale Fastvold

Thale Blix Fastvold (b. 1978) is a Norwegian visual artist working primarily with photography, film and performance art. Thematically within the frameworks of eco feminism, inter-species-collaborations and the more-than-human intelligence, her work aims to utilise artistic research as a response to current ecological challenges. She believes collaborations, communication and speculative storytelling is essential to envision new and more sustainable futures. www.thalefastvold.com

Tanja Thorjussen (b. 1970) is an artist living in Oslo (NO). Her artistic medium spans between drawing, sculpture, performance and art in public space. Through speculative research her artistic practice revolves around how ancient art can inform the present. Her current artistic focus is on the mystic and spiritual in nature and bodies of water, hydrofeminism, and the science embedded in indigenous knowledge and ancient mythology.) www.tanjathorjussen.com

LOCUS is Thale and Tanja’s independent gallery space and small publishing house based on Oslo, established in 2006. As a nomadic and fluctuating entity LOCUS produce exhibitions and presents artists in various locations nationally and internationally.

 

2023 ASWM Conference

 “Waters of Life: Exploring Mythos, Divinity, Beings, and Ecology”

Crowne Plaza, Syracuse New York

ASWM Conference May 5-6, 2023

In-person registration is open. Good news–Live streaming is available for keynotes and all panels in main room. See below to register.

“Salmon River” by Natalie Sappier

Water is one of the elements (Earth, Air, Fire, Water) recognized in multiple spiritual traditions as building blocks of everything on earth from the holy to the mundane. Water  is scientifically recognized as a necessary component of life, crucial for our survival and composing 50%-60% of our bodies.  

Indigenous peoples honor the intertwining of life and water and hold it as sacred in ritual, story and everyday life, while the industrial world has reduced it to a commodity.  With the onset of global warming, a consciousness is arising of the need for respect, reverence and protection for our water sources – a time to look back and around to gather the wisdom of Water Keepers, past and present, around the globe. 

This conference will provide the opportunity to explore world myths of water Goddesses, water creatures and water itself in cultural, spiritual, historical, and ecological contexts.  We especially encourage proposals from First Nations women of the Americas,  Indigenous women, internationally, and women of color.

CONFERENCE  DETAILS:

Please note: The International Feminists for a Gift Economy will hold a free Day of Global Sisterhood on Sunday May 7 at the Crowne Plaza. The Matriarchal Studies Day has been cancelled.

If you have questions about ASWM or our conference please contact Events@womenandmyth.org

Read about artist  Natalie Sappier and “Salmon River,” the featured artwork for this event.

Our deep gratitude to the Worldwide Indigenous Sciences Network for their grant support of our Native American and Indigenous conference presenters.

Symposium: Arts and Culture Hall ~ Lauren Raine and Yoga Nidra Network

Meet Presenters in Our Arts and Culture Hall:

Lauren Raine, Yoli Maya Yeh and Umā Dinsmore-Tuli 

We are excited to offer Arts and Culture Hall “booths” where some of our great presenters will share their work through videos and links, and maybe even in face-to-face conversations with you! There are also booths for academic programs and other resources. You may access these booths any time from April 3 to April 18m,  by signing in after you register and selecting the Culture Hall at the top menu. Sign up at the booth to receive news about their work, see their videos, leave messages, and meet other attendees at the “table” at each booth.  Two of these feature work by:

Lauren Raine (Earthspeak) and Yoli Maya Yeh and Umā Dinsmore-Tuli (Yoga Nidra Network)

Lauren Raine: “Earth-speak: Envisioning a Conversant World”

In 2018 I attended the Gatekeepers Conference on sacred sites & pilgrimage and made a personal pilgrimage to Avebury, Silbury Hill, Glastonbury, and other sites. EARTHSPEAK explores a mythic, historical, poetic and subjective response to these geomantically potent sites, in particular Silbury Hill, the largest prehistoric monument in Europe, with research that suggests it was at one time a representation of the body of the Earth Mother. EARTHSPEAK also suggests that Geomantic reciprocity occurs as human beings bring intentionality to a particular place, making it a holy or sacred place. Numinous communion with “spirit of place” can become increasingly active as it accrues mythic power in the memory of the people, and in the land. Sacred places have both an innate and a developed capacity to bring about altered states of consciousness, especially if people come prepared within the liminal state of pilgrimage.

Lauren Raine Portrait
Lauren Raine

Lauren Raine MFA is a cross-disciplinary artist best known for her Masks of the Goddess collection. She was resident artist at Henry Luce Center for the Arts & Religion, an Aldon B. Dow Fellow, and Resident Artist for Cherry Hill Seminary. Her work can be seen at: www.laurenraine.com.

Yoli Maya Yeh and Umā Dinsmore-Tuli:  “Please, Humans – Get Some Sleep!” Listening to Yoga Nidrā Shakti Devī – Goddess of Rest

Yoga Nidrā Śakti is a South Asian Goddess of sleep, rest, and liminal spaces between dreaming and waking. A key figure in The Greatness of the Goddess (Devī Mahātmyam, c600BC), her Sanskrit name literally means ‘power of sleep’. She features in many images and indigenous story rituals, all describing her power to send every being (including gods) to sleep; she restores right relationship to cyclical rhythms of rest that hold life in balance. Wherever she appears, Nidrā Śakti counters transgressions of those who refuse to sleep, returning all beings to right relationship with natural cycles. Yoganidrā is also a state of yogic rest that supports healing for out-of-balance human experiences such as insomnia, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder. Sadly, the presence of Nidrā Śakti has been marginalised and eradicated from commercial and traditional yoga schools profiting from methods of the popular practice bearing her name: yoga nidrā. Through stories and exquisite images, we explore the liminality of Nidrā Śakti as goddess of thresholds between sleep and dream.

Yoli Maya Yeh

Yoli Maya Yeh is a Yoga & Shiatsu Therapist & Educator in Comparative Religions & Global Studies, working at intersections of Indigenous Preservation, Healing Arts & Social Justice through her experiential education-based Decolonization Toolkit. Raised in her family’s Native American spiritual teachings, she spent 12 years of young adulthood studying language, yoga, tantra, healing arts & meditation in India.

 

Uma Dinsmore-Tuli

Umā Dinsmore-Tuli and Yoli Maya Yeh are collaborative educators from the Yoga Nidra Network, a radical post-lineage organisation training yoga nidrā facilitators to make yoga nidrā freely accessible to all humans in their mother tongue. Umā is a yoga therapist and writer whose books include Yoni Shakti, Nidrā Śakti, and Yoga Nidrā Made Easy.

Symposium: Arts and Culture Hall ~ MamaDonna and Pegi Eyers

Meet Presenters in Our Arts and Culture Hall:

MamaDonna Henes and  Pegi Eyers

We are excited to offer special Arts and Culture Hall “booths” where some of our great presenters will share their work through videos and links, and maybe even in face-to-face conversations with you! There are also booths for academic programs and other resources. You may access these booths any time from April 3 to April 18m,  by signing in after you register and selecting the Culture Hall at the top menu. Sign up to receive presenter news, see their videos, leave messages, and meet other attendees at the “table” at each booth.  Visit these great presentations by:

Booths with MamaDonna Henes and Pegi Eyers

MamaDonna Henes: Wisdom Delivered By Wing: Me & My Birds”

Multi cultural bird mythology, folk lore and contemporary stories. Bird goddesses and bird familiars. bird omens and bird teachers.Avian visitations, inspirations, lessons trance-formations. Bird dreams, bird omens, and lots of amazing true stories!

MamaDonna with Ola

MamaDonna Henes is an internationally acclaimed urban shaman, popular speaker, and award-winning writer specializing in multi-cultural ritual celebrations of the cycles of the of the seasons and the seasons of our lives. (cityshaman@aol.com)

Pegi Eyers: “Deep Time Wisdom” 

Embracing ways of thinking that pre-date Empire is a good starting point for all endeavors that revive the eco-self, and our re-connection to matristic community bonded to the land. Shifting away from the patriarchy is possible, and from pre-colonial, Indigenous or egalitarian models, the worldview and values we need are just waiting to be re-kindled. Also known as “decolonization,” we all have access to a well of deep knowing, or ancestral knowledge, that can be revived with immersion in nature, and by focusing on the “old ways.” Compiled from years of experience and research, Deep Time Wisdom will weave through a comparison chart that identifies the habits of modernity we take for granted, and alternatives in holistic patterns of thought and action. As just one example, “modern thinking/western mind” regards humans as separate from nature, bounded by the ego, self-absorbed, material and having a sense of linear time; whereas “ancestral thinking /Indigenous mind” views humans as part of nature, connected, empathic, physically grounded and embodied. I conclude with a statement on combined intelligences, or the “entwining of heart and mind” that fulfills our potential as true human beings. It may be a daunting task to “read our own souls” as women dwelling in an animist universe once again, but the outcome is clear that by activating Deep Time Wisdom, we align with the sacredness of the Earth, and the love and respect for nature that dwells at the heart of our lives.

Pegi Eyers is the author of the award-winning book Ancient Spirit Rising, a survey on social justice, nature spirituality, and the holistic principles of sustainable living. Pegi self-identifies as a Celtic Animist, and is an advocate for the recovery of ancestral wisdom and traditions for all people. She lives near Peterborough, Canada, on a hilltop with views reaching for miles in all directions. (Pegi-eyers@hotmail.com)