As a special feature of our 2021 Symposium program, we are delighted to present a collaborative poetry performance in tribute to Marija Gimbutas. “An Exaltation of Goddesses” is a mythological tour of goddesses created by thirteen international poets.
The amazing poets/goddesses presenting include Annie Finch (*Friya), Jurgita Jasponyte (Zemyna), Ann Filemyr (Brigid) Marianela Medrano (Ataberya), Richelle Slota (Cybele), Mary Mackey (Xori), Yona Harvey (Nana Buruku), Monica Mody (Saraswati), Arundhati Subramaniam (Neeli Mariamman), Raina Leon (Nyx),Anna Halberstadt (Dalia), Purvi Shah (Kali), and Judy Grahn (Aruru).
“An Exaltation of Goddesses” is a creation of Dr. Annie Finch and Poetry Witch Ritual Theater Productions. It is scheduled for Friday July 16 at 5:30pm Eastern Daylight Time. It will also be available in the “On Demand” content page for viewing at other times.
Special thanks to Annie Finch and the talented women of the Poetry Witch Community for sharing their work in this unique celebration. Annie says the Community “brings together women poets and poetry lovers, feminists, and women-centered spiritual seekers and practitioners from around the world. We practice poetry, scansion, and magic, weave webs of connection and empowerment–and explore the rhythmic languages of poetry and life–so we can learn to craft our lives and words in more joyfully powerful ways.”
A commemorative book of these 13 poems, along with each poet’s meditation on her Goddess, is being published in conjunction with the performance. Copies of this keepsake book, entitled An Exaltation of Goddesses: Poems for the Divine Feminine, are available from Poetry Witch Press.
Wisdom Across the Ages: Celebrating the Centennial of Archaeomythologist Marija Gimbutas
July 16-18, 2021
Marija Gimbutas in Slovenia, 1993. Photo by Joan Marler
UNESCO has recognized the centennial of Marija Gimbutas’ birth as one of the world’s most influential events for 2021.
In honor of her work and life, ASWM’s 2021 Symposium is presented in cooperation with the institute of Archaeomythology. This unique event offers cutting edge scholarship in the context of artistic celebrations and memories of this revolutionary scientist, who was also a wise mentor and a loving friend.
We are pleased to introduce the program for our Online Symposium. The program features two important keynote addresses:
“Celebrating a Great Woman of Science: The Life and Legacy of Archaeomythologist Marija Gimbutas”(Joan Marler)
“Marija Gimbutas’ ‘Collision of Cultures’: the Kurgan
Invasions and the End of Old Europe” (Dr. Harald Haarmann)
See the full program at the symposium website–and watch for updates coming soon.Registration for this event opens May 5, 2021.
Please note: We realize that there may be schedule conflicts during the weekend of the symposium. To give you plenty of time to view the program at leisure, all sessions will remain available, to those who register, for twelve months following the event.
Altar from Anne Yeomans’ workshop in St. Petersburg Russia
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.Continue reading “Announcing Scholar Salon 28: Register for May 19”
There is a far-reaching integrity, authenticity and intelligence in things that are free to self-organize, adapting to change in Nature, a phenomenon that we call being “wild.” The complexity and immeasurable quality of “wildness” is perceived by most Eurocentric people as a mystery, uncontrollable and beyond our ability to comprehend. Typically, wild animals have been considered by Europeans as “beasts” to be feared, hunted, conquered, or tamed solely for the purpose of human utility.
This talk proposes that the earliest humans learned their social organization from the animals and other sentient life they observed in Nature, in a process that considers all parts of the whole as sacred, organized around what Marija Gimbutas described as a cyclical, Mother-centered principle of life-death-regeneration. The oldest visual messages left by some of the first humans are found in Palaeolithic caves in Southern Europe, dating to as far back as 38,000 B.C.E. Using what we might consider current Indigenous understanding and animal behavior, we can decode these vibrant ancient messages through a “language of animacy” which requires that we focus on deeper levels of sensory perception and knowing that is universal.
Susan Moulton with two of her teachers
Susan Moulton Currently retired from teaching at Sonoma State University in California, Susan now devotes her time to managing her small farm in rural Sonoma County where she has worked for 50 years with rescued animals, particularly American mustangs, and conducting research and writing on human-animal communication and relationships. She developed and taught courses ranging from the Palaeolithic to Post Modern and In the 1970s she developed the first inclusive American Art Course in the California State University system, where she included contributions of First Nation Peoples before the arrival of European colonizers, with artistic and cultural contributions from African American, Asian American and Hispanic American artists through the present time. In collaboration with Joan Marler, she helped develop the International Institute of Archaeomythology, which focuses on the fields of study created and advanced by Marija Gimbutas. For over a half century she has functioned as “caretaker” of the farm she views as a sanctuary, not just for wild and abused animals, but also for rare conifers, many of which were started by internationally known agronomist Luther Burbank. A tireless organizer, educator, and working artist, Susan is currently working on a book that explores the impact of animal behavior on the earliest human communities.
Save these dates for upcoming ASWM Events:
May 19 at 3pm Eastern Time Encounters with Marija: Wisdom from Women’s Lodge and The Women’s Well Apara Borrowes & Anne Yeomans
July 16-18 2021 ASWM Symposium Wisdom across the Ages: A Celebration of the Centennial of Marija Gimbutas Registration to open May 1, 2021
Note: Because of our work on the July Symposium, we will not offer Salons again until September.
The Salon recording will also be available to members after the event.
Save these dates for upcoming ASWM Events: