When the Moon and Sun are Daughters of Mother Earth: Analysis of Basque Cosmology
with Idoia Arana-Beobide

Wednesday, October 21, 2020
3 pm Eastern Daylight Time 

Register for this live online event: scroll to the bottom of this post to login.

What does it mean to have a feminine worldview?  How does it manifest?  The recently inaugurated exhibit in Bilbao (Basque Country, Spain) titled ‘Izen Izan’ (to name, to be) cited the “Dominion of the feminine: The matriarchal character of Basque mythology.“ And yet, little was explained about the meaning of the words ‘dominion’, ‘matriarchal’, or what the divine feminine might mean in a society.

The Basque are enigmatic peoples, considered ‘Europe’s mystery people,’ that live in Europe along the Pyrenees mountains facing the Atlantic Sea, between France and Spain.  Marija Gimbutas mentioned that Basque mythology shows clues of the ancient matriarchal pre-Indo-European worldview.  Furthermore, since the Basque language is the only indigenous non-Indo-European language surviving in Europe, the Basque remain with a strong adherence to their ancestral origins.  Even if the present Basque culture has been molded by influences of Indo-European and Latin (Christian) acculturalization, the language and the ancient belief systems tell us of a reality of a feminine-centered worldview.   

I will introduce the feminine elements extant in Basque society, as Heide Göettner-Abendroth’s theory of Modern Matriarchal Studies entail.  I will explain the principles of its innate Basque mythology, and scholarly interpretations of the reality of the world when the three celestial bodies that sustain life for humans: the earth, the sun, and the moon, are all feminine. To conclude, I will analyze the role of women in these systems in Basque traditional society, and its meaning and possibilities for contemporary life.

Idoia Arana-Beobide is co-founder of ‘Network on Culture,’ home of the online journal Matrix: A Journal for Matricultural Studies and the Global Matricultures Research Network. She is also the Managing Director of Douglas Cardinal Architect Inc., a leader of Organic Architecture.  A student of humanism, Idoia graduated with Museum and Interdisciplinary Studies in Medieval History and holds a MA in Religion and Public Life.  Idoia is a Euskalduna (Basque speaker) presently researching the source and manifestation of Basque identity through mythology and matriculturalism. 

Save these dates for upcoming Salons

November 4 at 3pm Eastern Standard Time
Beyond the Trees: Ecofeminism and Connections to Current Movements for Change
Jeannette Kiel

November 18 at 3pm Eastern Standard Time
Hieroglyphic Thinking
Normandi Ellis

December 2 at Noon Eastern Standard Time
Deep Economy: The Maternal Gift
Genevieve Vaughan

January 13 at 3pm Eastern Standard Time
The Creative Soul in the midst of Winter
Jean Shinoda Bolen

The Salon recording will also be available to members after the event.