Category: Events

Snake Women: a global perspective

This is a visual presentation on goddesses, ancestors, shapeshifters, priestesses and shamans around the world, with the focus on snake iconography. Among the sources we’ll examine are rock art from Australia, Brazil, Utah, and South Africa; seals from eastern Iran, Canaanite gold, Egyptian stelae, Aztec statues, and masks from Nigeria to Ivory coast. We’ll look at the continent-spanning theme of the woman who grasps serpents in both hands, and also she who is belted with snakes, and discuss the python oracles of Greece, Malawi, and Surinam.  We’ll also view snake goddesses from Egypt, Mexico, Germany, China, India, Benin Republic; and snaky women from Mali’s Inland Delta of the Niger, Argentinian bronzes, Frankish ivories and Romanesque churches. It’s a free-for-all of fairies and saints, Chinese shamans, Mami Wata and Santa Marta la Dominicana.

Max Dashu founded the Suppressed Histories Archives in 1970 to research global women’s history and heritages. From her vast collection of images, Dashu has created over 100 visual talks. Her books are Witches and Pagans: Women in European Folk Religion (2016) and Deasophy: A Coloring Book of Goddesses, Spirits and Ancestors (2017). She has produced two videos: Woman Shaman: The Ancients (2013) and Women’s Power in Global Perspective (2008).  www.suppressedhistories.net

Tepeyollotl: the Mountainheart. Mesoamerican Myths of the Jaguar and the Mind of Humankind

This paper is a depth-psychological analysis of the mythology and symbolism of the Jaguar and the cloud-forest. Especially, I explore how the Mesoamerican way to dialogue with its unconscious through mythologies and rituals brought a profound sense of the sacred, which was expressed through the glorification of the jaguar and of natural sacred landscapes. The cloud-forest and the jaguar symbol have a prominent place of the in the different Indigenous cultures of the pre-Columbian world.  The importance of these traditions is preserved in contemporary Indigenous groups in Mexico and Guatemala. I examine the impact that climate change and the unsustainable practices of human consumption have on indigenous populations, the ecosystem and the natural species.  I conclude by suggesting solutions that promote a holistic relationship with the environment.

Yuria Celidwen is a native of Chiapas (Mexico). She is a Ph.D. candidate in Mythological Studies and Depth Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute, and a graduate from the Contemplative Sciences, Contemplative Psychotherapy, and Yoga and Psychology Programs from the Nalanda Institute for Contemplative Sciences. Her interdisciplinary approach bridges reason with emotion, and scientific inquiry with contemplative practices. Her research focuses on mystical traditions, the experience of the numinous, and compassion and ethics for social and environmental justice.   She chairs the Psychology, Culture and Religion section of the American Academy of Religion—Western Region, and is a humanitarian affairs officer for the United Nations in New York.

We are pleased to announce that Yuria is a winner of our Presentation Outreach Grant Award for 2018.

Traditional Designs and Contemporary World Patterns: Connections with Prehistoric Images of the Human and the Animal Feminine

In this presentation I examine how feminine images and symbols that blend the human and the animal divine have dominated the visual language of artistic representations, as they developed in Eurasia, the Near East, and the Americas. In particular I focus on embroideries, paper cutouts, hand-woven laces, painted Easter eggs, wood, metal, and leather carvings, as well as on abstract symbols on ritual cloths, folk costumes, and kilims. I pay special attention to the prominent place two female elks/deer, considered the mothers of humanity, as well as the frog, play in these designs.

Since her childhood, Dr. Malgorzata Oleszkiewicz-Peralba has lived and studied in many countries and continents, and is fluent in seven languages. Different cultures and languages became the subject of her research and her passion. Her cross-cultural, women-centered interests are reflected in her two recent books, The Black Madonna in Latin America and Europe: Tradition and Transformation (UNMP) and Fierce Feminine Divinities of Eurasia and Latin America: Baba Yaga, Kali, Pombagira, and Santa Muerte  (Palgrave), as well as in her numerous presentations and articles around the world.  She is Professor of Hispanic Literary and Cultural Studies at the University of Texas at San Antonio.

Kathy Jones, the Nine Morgen Sisters and Animal Mysteries of Glastonbury

“Nine Morgen Sisters dwell on the Isle of Avalon. The most famous of them is Morgen la Fey, Morgana, Moraine, in the Arthurian legends, but she is just one of nine sisters. Over the last 35 years the Morgens have been appearing once again in Glastonbury, England, which is the Outerworld counterpart to the Otherworld of Avalon. Within Her nature they appear in the forms of crows and as weather.”

We are very pleased that Kathy Jones will be a featured speaker for this year’s conference. Her presentation will combine myths and animal mysteries of the land. Kathy is the founder of the Glastonbury Goddess Conference and the author of many books such as Priestess of Avalon, Priestess of the Goddess; The Ancient British Goddess: Goddess Myths, Legends, Sacred Sites, Present Revelation; and most recently Soul and Shadow: Birthing Motherworld.

Kathy describes herself as “a ceremonialist, teacher, writer, wounded healer, initiator, Temple Melissa and sacred dramatist.” Most recently she has helped create the Motherworld Political Party to support “a society where Mother Earth, mothers and the values of mothering – love, care and support for each other, are placed in the centre of life, rather than being left out on the periphery.”

Kathy has lived on the Isle of Avalon in Glastonbury for forty years and loves this sacred land of Goddess. www.kathyjones.co.uk http://www.goddesstemple.co.uk/