“Marija Gimbutas and Women’s Empowerment: Wisdom from Women’s Lodge and The Women’s Well“

Apara Borrowes, Anne Yeomans and Joan Marler

Wednesday, May 19, 2021 at 3 pm Eastern Daylight Time 

REGISTER HERE

 

 

A hundred women awaited Marija Gimbutas at a mountain lodge nestled in forest. Banners painted with Old European images from Gimbutas’ books decorated the entrance. Autumn scents of fallen leaves, damp earth, and pine surrounded women as they spilled out of the doorway, singing, drumming, trilling, when Gimbutas arrived at this “Women and the Goddess” retreat in Massachusetts.

 So much was inspired by Lithuanian archaeomythologist Marija Gimbutas’ spirit and profound research. Anne Yeomans and Apara Borrowes were each deeply affected by her work. Apara will share her experiences meeting and working with Marija, and founding Women’s Lodge in 1994 in Marija’s honor. Twenty-seven years later, Women’s Lodge remains a thriving women’s spirituality community dedicated to celebrating the cycles of the earth and of women’s lives.

Also in 1994, without knowing Apara, Anne worked with other women to create the Women’s Spirituality program at Interface Foundation in Cambridge, MA. This led to founding The Women’s Well (womenswell.org), a center dedicated to the circle and the healing and empowerment of women and girls. The Women’s Well continued for seventeen years.

Anne and Apara are pleased to document their parts of Marija’s considerable, continuing legacy, and celebrate Marija’s contributions to revisioning our culture. They will be joined by Joan Marler of the Institute for Archaeomythology.

Apara Borrowes, M.S., C.A.G.S., is a writer, poet, gardener, therapist, mother, and student of ancient history, archeology, and mythology who finds unending inspiration in the mysteries of life and nature. She founded Women’s Lodge, a women’s spirituality community in the Boston area, in honor of Marija Gimbutas. In addition to her work as a school counselor with elementary and middle school students, Apara has taught yoga, breathwork, ceremony, and healing arts, and has guided numerous women’s spirituality circles. She knew Marija Gimbutas personally and is working on a historical fiction novel inspired by Marija’s work.

Anne Eastman Yeomans, MA, LMHC has been a psychotherapist, and holder of circles for many years. She was one of the founders of The Women’s Well in Concord, MA, a center dedicated to circle work and to the healing and empowerment of women and girls (womenswell.org). She has convened women’s circles in the US, Canada, and most recently in St Petersburg, Russia. Anne is a poet, a social activist, and a grandmother of five. Her poem about Christine Blasey Ford, The Silence is Broken, was published in Voice Male, a magazine for Feminist men. She lives in Western Massachusetts.

Our Scholar Salons are going on hiatus until September, so that we can work on our 2021 Online Symposium

Wisdom Across the Ages: Celebrating the Centennial of Archaeomythologist Marija Gimbutas

July 16-18 2021

Registration opens on May 5 2021

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