Hallie Iglehart Austen 2023 Keynote: “New Myths for Restoring the Waters”

“Reweaving the Web of Life:  New Myths for Restoring the Waters and Ourselves”

Hallie Iglehart Austen

ASWM 2023 Conference May 5-6 2023

We are pleased to offer this important presentation to the general public as well as to our members.

“Reweaving the Web of Life: New Myths for Restoring the Waters and Ourselves” shows the importance of mythology in reestablishing kinship amongst humans and with non-humans for our planet to survive and how, inspired by our actions in this time of the Great Turning, our lives can become the myths for our descendants.

 “The recounting from my book, The Heart of the Goddess, of an Inuit shaman journeying to visit the Sea Goddess Sedna illustrates the direct and powerful way many indigenous cultures use myth to ensure environmental survival and spiritual practices to regain equilibrium. We can use such stories as inspiration to create new myths and new ways of being, not just looking to the past.

 “I weave indigenous wisdom and mythology from around the world with my story of founding in 2010 All One Ocean to highlight the urgency of learning about ocean plastics. My story is a part of our new mythology, one in which we work to decolonize our minds, bodies and souls and take action to reweave the fraying web of life.

 ” I have long imagined that we will each be diligently doing our work in this reweaving, sometimes unaware of one another. My vision is that eventually we will all meet in the center and turn around and see one another and the web of life that has been rewoven. It will look different than it originally did but it will be strong and vibrant— future myths for our descendants looking back at this critical time.”

Hallie Iglehart Austen has been a community organizer since 1968 and has taught since 1974. She grew up on a farm and has lived close to the earth for most of her life. Her lifelong interest in goddesses began at the age of twelve when she started studying ancient Greek language and mythology at Bryn Mawr School. She is the author of two influential books on women’s spirituality. Womanspirit: A Guide to Women’s Wisdom, describes her journey to discover women’s spiritual heritage and promotes meditation and the creation of a personal mythology. The Heart of the Goddess: Art, Myth and Meditations of the World’s Sacred Feminine, which focuses on multiple images and symbolism of goddesses from world cultures, has been called ” an exultantly female-centric text whose wisdom is universal.” It has recently been published in a new edition by Monkfish Press.

In 2001, driven by her love of marine life, Hallie co-founded Seaflow: Protect Our Living Oceans to educate people about the dangers of active sonars and other ocean noise to whales, dolphins and all sea life. She continued her passion for sustainable living by building two model green homes, one in bamboo. In 2010, she initiated All One Ocean: Cleaning Up the Oceans, One Beach at a Time, to alert people to the hazards of ocean plastics and organize beach cleanups. She also offers her Wisdom Healing Zhineng Qigong classes by donation via Zoom.