“Shâmaran: The Mother Earth Goddess in the Hearts and Mountains of Kurds”

with Dilşa Deniz

Thursday,  November 2, 2023 at 3 PM Eastern Time  

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Shâmaran is an important figure in  mythology and folklore of cultures of the Middle East, including Kurdish, Turkish, and Armenian. She is portrayed as a dual-headed creature with heads of a woman and a serpent, with a crown on each head.  A version of her story appears as The Queen of the Serpents in the Thousand and One Nights.  This Salon presents Dr. Deniz’ research into the ancient roots of Kurdish myth:

“This study and presentation delve deeply into a significant facet of Kurdish culture: a myth featuring a unique image, part snake and part woman, which has left an indelible mark on Kurdish heritage. After five years of extensive research, it is clear that this entity represents one of the earliest depictions of the Mother Earth Goddess, a highly revered deity whose worship extended across a wide geographical expanse.”

 “In this context, my research reveals the enduring traces of her legacy, encompassing myths and cultural practices that have persisted over time within Kurdish communities. This work stands as one of the pioneering studies of its kind, providing comprehensive documentation of the Mother Earth Goddess faith within an existing culture.

“I contend that the myth supplies us with important information on the missing part of the unwritten history of Goddess worship, which is still being fervently recorded through the circulation of this myth and the image. Thus, the myth of Shaymaran can therefore be considered as a counter-philosophical narrative to post-colonial monotheistic history and philosophy, the one forged by the oppressed.”

Dr. Dilşa Deniz, a Kurdish anthropologist and visiting scholar at Harvard University Divinity School, was dismissed from her position in Turkey in 2016 for signing a peace petition. She has been a prominent activist in the women’s movement and co-founded the first two Kurdish feminist magazines in Turkey.Her research primarily focuses on gender, culture, politics, and religion within Kurdish Alevi communities, exploring topics such as sacred geography, Alevi myths, and eco-spirituality. She also investigates environmental challenges and racism faced by Kurds and Kurdish Alevis, particularly in Dersim, a significant Alevi center. Her monograph is a pioneering study of Kurdish Alevism. Her research also delves into the impact of internal colonization policies and advocates for decolonization within Kurdish Alevism. Hence, she strongly opposes the classification of Alevism as a mere sect of Islam and instead views it as an independent Iranian/Arianic religion.

With a Ph.D. in Social Anthropology, Dilşa has authored numerous articles, book chapters, and books; her book on Shâmaran is forthcoming.

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Save the date for this upcoming ASWM Salon:

Thursday November 16 at 3 PM Eastern Time

“The Legacy and Art of Lydia Ruyle”  

with Katie Hoffner

Following a break, Salons will  begin again on January 11, 2024.

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

“A Women’s Psychology: The Wheel of the Year”

with Kim Duckett

Thursday,  October 19, 2023 at 3 PM Eastern Time  

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The Wheel of the Year as an Earth-Based Spiritual Psychology for Women:  (This ain’t your mama’s Wheel of the Year!)

This work came out of my realization that our ancient foremothers developed and applied a shamanic psychology for their people based in the movement of the seasons through time (what we now call The Wheel of the Year). I realized that the Wheel of the Year that we were following in contemporary women’s and goddess spiritualities was a remnant of that ancient psychology.  The Wheel is usually associated with earth-based spiritualities. My work shifts the focus of the Wheel to being a psychology, and specifically a transpersonal and spiritual psychology.  I have discovered that the Wheel is not simply a teaching or illustrative tool about the seasons, or planting, or a backdrop for the agricultural myths of antiquity. I have come to see it as what we have left of those ancient psychologies as well as a spiritual path, and I teach it as such. 

Although in this presentation, I speak in passing about the idea that following the seasons may have been a psychology as well as a spirituality and a way of life for ancient peoples and cultures, proving that is not my purpose in this presentation. My focus is to share the concept of The Wheel of the Year as a helpful contemporary earth-based psychology for women that can be used to recognize, understand, and respond to experiences and processes that occur over the course of women’s lives.

  My work in the Mystery School is enhanced with the beautiful creations of earth-artist Barb Lutz (Tribas) who creates seasonal altars and provides energetic support for the deep work around the Wheel.

Kim Duckett received her  Ph.D in Women’s Studies and Transpersonal Psychology at Union Institute and University. She is the founder of “A Year and a Day Sacred Mystery School for Women,” a three-year feminist spirituality curriculum, established in 1993. Kim taught Women Studies in university for thirty years, including courses on women and psychology. She is a shamanic ritualist, and has presented at a variety of feminist events including RCGI Priestess Gatherings, National Women’s Music Festival, ASWM, Modern Matriarchal Studies conferences, and others. Her book, The Wheel of the Year as an Earth-based Spiritual Psychology for Women can be found at kimduckett.org. Her personal and professional focus is now solely on the psychology and well being of Goddess women. 

Barb Lutz /Tribas creates altars and sacred spaces that augment and enhance the teachings of Kim’s Mystery School and is recognized as an earth-based artist in her own right in Goddess communities. Barb’s work has been exhibited in locations and events including ASWM conferences, and she has given workshops in the creation of altars and ritual spaces from natural materials.

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Save the date for this upcoming ASWM Salon:

Thursday November 2 at 3 PM Eastern Time

“Shâmaran: The Mother Earth Goddess in the Hearts and Mountains of Kurds”  

with Dilsa Deniz

Upcoming Salons also on November 16, 2023.

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

“Shapeshifting Lands of Lāhainā, Maui: Mo’o and Moku’ula”

with Mahealani Ahia

Thursday,  September 21, 2023 at 3 PM Eastern Time  

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Following the devastating fires on August 8, 2023, in Lāhainā, Maui, there has been a call for a restoration of the sacred lands of Mokuʻula, once the seat of Hawaiian government and home to the great akua moʻo (reptilian water deity) Kihawahine. In this kairotic moment, my dissertation research entitled “Shapeshifting Hawaiian Biography: The Life and Afterlives of Kihawahine” intends to share a longer and richer story than tourist and colonial myths have perpetuated of this famous site. My project is an Indigenous Hawaiian biography centering Kihawahine —daughter of 16th century Maui high chief Piʻilani— who was ritually deified into a guardian akua moʻo and later elevated to island-wide worship under Kamehameha. Shapeshifting moʻo are kiaʻi wai, the most revered and feared water protectors. The study of Kihawahine’s life, afterlife, and multiple body forms—giant lizard, white dog, spider—invites deep examination of Hawaiian history, religion, politics, culture, art, and language.

By historicizing various re-tellings and interpretations of her story across time and region, I map the meanings and intentions behind keeping her image alive for each successive generation. The story of Kihawahine is found in many sources including Hawaiian-language newspapers, missionary journals, ship logs, archaeological reports, oli (chant) and hula (dance). Her kiʻi (ritually carved wooden image) is currently sailing around the world aboard the Hōkūleʻa voyaging canoe. Unfortunately, another kiʻi sits behind glass in the Berlin Ethnological Museum. By sharing these stories, Kānaka ʻŌiwi hope our voices will aid in the repatriation of our ancestral kiʻi, restoration of sacred Mokuʻula, and return of our life-giving waters.

Māhealani Ahia is a Los Angeles-born Kanaka ʻŌiwi artist, scholar, activist, songcatcher and storykeeper with lineal ties to Lāhainā, Maui. With a background in theatre arts, writing and performance from U.C. Berkeley and U.C. Irvine, Māhea is committed to creating artistic and academic projects that empower Indigenous feminist decolonial research. Her Master’s Degree in Mythology and Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute focused on cultural trauma and the power of stories and chanting to heal. As a PhD candidate in English (Hawaiian Literature) and a graduate certificate student in Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, her dissertation research “Shapeshifting Hawaiian Biography: The Life and Afterlives of Kihawahine” inundates biography’s genre boundaries as it theorizes feminist power and leadership within the moʻo (reptilian water deity) clan. Māhea teaches courses like Indigenous Feminisms, Island Feminisms, Creative Writing for Healing. She serves as editor for Hawaiʻi Review and ʻŌiwi: A Native Hawaiian Journal and is co-organizer of the Mauna Kea Syllabus Project.

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Save the date for this upcoming ASWM Salon:

Thursday October 12 at 3 PM Eastern Time

“She Who Hunts: Artemis, the Goddess Who Changed the World”  

with Carla Ionescu

Upcoming Salons are on October  19, November 2 & 16 2023.

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