ASWM’s 2021 Symposium, “Wisdom Across the Ages: Celebrating the Centennial of Archaeomythologist Marija Gimbutas,” is presented in cooperation with the Institute of Archaeomythology (IAM). Inspired by the scholarship of Lithuanian-American archaeologist Marija Gimbutas, IAM is an international organization of scholars dedicated to fostering an interdisciplinary approach to cultural research with particular emphasis on the beliefs, rituals, social structure, and symbolism of past and present societies. The Institute encourages dialogue among specialists from diverse fields by sponsoring international symposia, by publishing collected papers and monographs, and by promoting creative collaboration within an atmosphere of mutual support.
Marija Gimbutas
Background
A visionary scholar, Marija Gimbutas actively encouraged students and colleagues from a variety of fields to examine problems in European prehistory with a more inclusive and interdisciplinary point of view. A major focus of her research centered on the Neolithic cultures of Old Europe and the Indo-European Bronze Age societies that replaced them. She stressed the importance of investigating the enormous changes in beliefs, rituals and social structure that took place as a result of the “collusion of cultures” that took place between c. 4500-2500 BC, during the Indo-Europeanization of Europe, in order to more fully understand subsequent European cultural development. In Gimbutas’s view, this was “one of the most complex and least understood [periods] in prehistory.”
Journal of Archaeomythology
The JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOMYTHOLOGY has been published on a semi-yearly basis since 2005. The Journal is available on an OPEN ACCESS basis. All issues of the Journal are freely available to members and non-members alike. To have full access to all Journal articles, please click here to register for a free account. IAM also publishes collected papers from international symposia and monographs on archaeomythological themes. Learn more at their website. IAM is a membership organization; learn more here.
We have many talented members. Occasionally ASWM holds art or service auctions.
This December 22nd, 2021 Auction has ended. Congratulations to the lucky winner!
Thank you all for your participation in our Auction Fundraiser. We so appreciate your generosity. 100% of the winning bid provides support for ASWM’s 2021 Symposium.
A very special thanks to Vicki Noble for offering this Motherpeace Tarot Reading opportunity.
Chariot
World
Judgement
Crone
Justice
High Priestess
Vicki is one of our favorite Foremothers of the Women’s Spirituality Community! Vicki Noble, artist, feminist, scholar, along with Karen Vogel, is creatrix of the MotherPeace Tarot Deck. Vicki offered a one hour Tarot reading to the winner of this fundraising Auction.
Jane Goodall has pointed out that human global disregard for nature brought on the current pandemic, documenting that mistreatment/exploitation of sentient beings can result in an exponential crisis for the whole planet.
Our 2022 biennial Symposium focuses on meanings found in the relational reality among science, culture, and mythology in regards to animals, the green world, and ecosystems.
With our primary focus on interconnectedness, we feature academic and artistic work that addresses collaborations between humans and other sentient beings, foundational myths about earth’s response to misuse, and scientific solutions to transgressions against the balance of nature.
Read about Denise Kester and “The Caretaker of the Precious,” the featured artwork for this event.
This article recently came to our attention. Judith was a wonderful visionary artist of archetypes of women and nature, who passed away in 2008. (Our thanks to Lauren Raine and Max Dashu for the reference.) The Encyclopedia of Women in World Religions: Faith and Culture Across History says that Judith “used womb/vagina imagery explicitly as devotional work dedicated to the goddess.”
“Missa Gaia: This is My Body,” Judith Anderson, etching, 1988
Describing her process of printmaking, Judith said,
“The germ of the idea for a particular print develops over many months or sometimes years. Images from reading, dreams, relationships, pictures, plants and animals will gather and cluster until a beginning form for the print emerges. The main image grows and changes, often in surprising ways, during the long process of working on the plate, which may be several months. Only some time after a print is finished do I come to understand intuitively more about its origins and implications.” (from Art of the Print website)
Here as well is artist Alicia Blaze Hunsicker’s blog post about Judith.
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