Myths Shattered and Restored
The Association for the Study of Women and Mythology (ASWM) is delighted to announce the publication of the first of our conference and symposia Proceedings anthology, Myths Shattered and Restored. This anthology, edited by Marion Dumont and Gayatri Devi, features essays in archaeomythology, place-based wisdom of indigenous peoples, feminist and goddess-centered reworkings of western myths, the Dianic tradition, essays on cross-cultural investigations into goddess myths, and collective goddess deities, to list a few of the themes and topics explored in this collection. As the Introduction says,
Today’s history becomes tomorrow’s myths. This exceptional collection of essays is a valued contribution toward contemporary feminist and womanist efforts to re-cover the herstory of mythology and to ensure that today’s herstory is not forsaken in tomorrow’s myths. The writings presented in this volume serve to strengthen and support the circle of women and men who share a scholarly passion for sacred myths about women.
Authors include Mara Lynn Keller, Joan Cichon, Arieahn Matamonasa-Bennett, Alexandra Cichon, Mary Beth Moser, Denise Saint Arnault, April Heaslip, Alexis Martin Faasberg, Natasha Redina, Savithri Shanker de Tourreil, Gayatri Devi, and Dawn Work-Makinne.
Purchase Myths Shattered and Restored for Kindle on Amazon or the book at Amazon or Goddess Ink.
Foremothers Receives Award from Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association
We are delighted to announce this recent news about the recently released anthology, Foremothers of the Women’s Spirituality Movement: Elders and Visionaries, edited by Miriam Dexter and Vicki Noble. The book has been selected as a co-winner to receive the Susan Koppleman Award for the Best Anthology, Multi-Authored, or Edited Book in Feminist Studies in Popular and American Culture. This prestigious award from the Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association will be formally presented at the organization’s annual conference in Seattle in March.
The award is also being presented to Cari M. Carpenter and Carolyn Sorisio (editors) for The Newspaper Warrior: Sarah Winnemucca Hopkins’s Campaign for American Indian Rights, 1864-1891.
Congratulations, Miriam and Vicki!
We in ASWM are particularly proud of this anthology because it was born in part as a result of ASWM’s award programs. In 2012 our Sarasvati Award for Best Nonfiction Book went to Cambria Press for Sacred Display: Divine and Magical Female Figures of Eurasia, edited by Miriam Robbins Dexter and Victor H. Mair. Miriam says that her editor was inspired by that award to suggest that she follow it with another publication, and that support led to the creation of Foremothers.
A stellar plenary panel with ten of the authors of the Foremothers anthology will be featured at our 2016 ASWM conference. Speakers bringing their wisdom to share include Max Dashu, Starr Goode, Mama Donna Henes, Donna Read, Genevieve Vaughan, Cristina Biaggi, Miranda Shaw, Elinor Gadon, and Susun Weed. Miriam and Vcki will moderate this historic session.
Women and men seeking to restore balance to society can learn much from these remarkable stories of personal transformation of consciousness and culture.
Voices of Our Foremothers
Forty years ago, the Second Wave Feminist Movement was in full swing in America. Radical women began to question the very concept of God as male, with “man in his image,” and from this revolutionary brew, the Women’s Spirituality movement was born. Just as foam-born Aphrodite arose from the sea, the revolutionary Goddess movement arose to inspire women around the country and the world to begin researching ancient worldwide Goddess-based cultures and to create spontaneous circles of women’s ritual and Goddess worship.
In Foremothers of the Women’s Spirituality Movement: Elders and Visionaries, editors Vicki Noble and Miriam Robbins Dexter have assembled the personal stories of 33 women who have been integral to the development of this movement.
On Friday evening of our conference, we will hold a special session to honor these foremothers. On hand to read from their personal stories will be these amaziMiriam women:
Cristina Biaggi
Max Dashu
Elinor Gadon
Starr Goode
Mama Donna Henes
Donna Read
Lydia Ruyle
Miranda Shaw
Susun Weed
There is much to be learned from these stories of strong women leaders. Now as then, the personal continues to be political. Hearing these voices reinforces the collective memories of women who grew during that Second Wave. And more important is that they strengthen connections across generations, to speak to the bold young women working now to bring their spiritual values into the cultural mix.
Miriam Robbins Dexter says, “One of my goals with this book is to inspire the next generation of women who are active in women’s spirituality to bring that vision of the divine into the world,”
This volume is to be gathered/edited by Viviane Dzyak, Ph.D., Shannon Marie Reich, M.A., and Lucia Chiavola Birnbaum, Ph.D.
The focus of volume 4 is The Dark Mother: Embodied Spirit, Political Hybridity and Radical Transformation. We are seeking scholarly papers, creative nonfiction essays/memoir pieces, short fiction, prayers, poetry and artwork.
Deadline for submissions is Oct. 1, 2014
Written Submissions:
- Prose (scholarly, creative nonfiction and fiction) submissions are limited to 5000 words exclusive of endnotes and bibliography.
- Poetry submissions are limited to three poems.
- All submissions should be single-spaced, 12 point Times New Roman font with 1-inch margins.
- Artwork Submissions: please submit artwork in JPG format.
For inquiries and complete submission guidelines contact Shannon Reich at SheIsEverywhereVol4@gmail.com. Include She Is Everywhere in the email subject line.
This year is the 30th anniversary of the groundbreaking book, Goddesses in Everywoman: Powerful Archetypes in Women’s Lives. The book introduced modern women to the importance of archetypes, examining Greek goddesses as personifications of deep patterns that have a powerful effect on shaping personality, behavior, and meaning. How we understand goddess archetypes can have a profound effect on our ability to live meaningful lives and nurture a sense of sacredness.
About Goddesses in Everywoman, Gloria Steinem says,“The highest value of this book lies in the moments of recognition it provides: that insightful second when we understand and internalize, when we recognize what we ourselves have experienced, feel trust because of that truth, and then are taken one step further.”
Jean Shinoda Bolen will lead a special conference session in celebration of Goddesses in Everywoman and its contribution to empowering women. This session is your chance to sit in circles and to discuss the role of goddess archetypes in your life with Dr. Bolen, a pre-eminent scholar and psychologist. Don’t miss this unique opportunity to meet and talk with her about the borderlands between myth and women’s development. Session on Friday March 28 at the ASWM Conference in San Antonio—there’s still time to register!
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