The Association for the Study of Women and Mythology
2026 Online Symposium ~ May 3, 2026: Reimagining Goddess Scholarship: At the Edges of Sacred Knowledge
Mary Beth Moser, “Sacred Belonging: The Enduring Presence of the Black Madonna in Italy”
2026 Online Symposium ~ May 3, 2026: Reimagining Goddess Scholarship: At the Edges of Sacred Knowledge
Kay Turner “Dining with Hekate: Embodied Knowledge as a Source of Nourishment”
Apostolia Papadamaki, “Anamnesis: Embodying Ancient Greek Mysticism Through Ceremonial Performances”
2026 Online Symposium ~ May 3, 2026: Reimagining Goddess Scholarship: At the Edges of Sacred Knowledge
Keynote Presentation
2026 Online Symposium, May 3 2026
Reimagining Goddess Scholarship: At the Edges of Sacred Knowledge
Apela Colorado, Ph.D. (Oneida-Gaul) is a renowned Indigenous scholar, educator, and cultural bridge-builder whose work centers on restoring Indigenous wisdom and forging ethical relationships between Western and Indigenous knowledge systems. A Ford Foundation Fellow, she earned her Ph.D. in Social Policy from Brandeis University in 1982, with additional coursework in Federal Indian Law and Child Welfare at Harvard University.
Dr Mฤhealani Ahia (she/her/สปo ia) is a Kanaka สปลiwi (Native Hawaiian) scholar, educator, songcatcher and storykeeper with lineal ties to Lahaina, Maui. With a background in theatre arts, writing and performance from U.C. Berkeley and U.C. Irvine, Mฤhea is committed to creating artistic-intellectual projects that empower Indigenous feminist decolonial research. Her Masterโs Degree in Mythology and Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute and her PhD research in Pacific Womenโs Literatureโparticularly akua moสปo (reptilian water deities)โemphasize the power of cultural stories to heal. Mฤhea is the newest member of WISNโs dream team working with Indigenous narratives, sacred sites, and publications.
Katrina Maulion Arriola, M.A., is the Worldwide Indigenous Science Networkโs (WISN) Research Associate. She is of Tagalog and Bicolano descent. She acquired her Masterโs of Indigenous Science and Peace Studies from the United Nationsโ sanctioned university, Universidad para la Paz and has worked intimately with Indigenous cultural practitioners from the Philippines, United States, Costa Rica, Brazil, Colombia, Kyrgyzstan, South Africa, France and Ethiopia. Her current work with WISN includes developing Indigenous Science research, especially in the field of dreamwork as the โglypherโ or dream illustrator. In the past three years, she has travelled with Dr. Apela Colorado and the WISN โdream teamโ to Chartres, France and various conferences for the International Association for the Study of Dreams (IASD).
Presentation Description:ย Thirty years of research has unveiled a web of sacred sites that evince the mysteries of conception, birth, death, and rebirth, and reveal a lineage of Hawaiian and western women carrying the stories and caring for associated sacred sites. Manuakepa, Owl Woman and Chief of the White Springs (Womanโs) Temple, is a mythical, shapeshifting Owl who confronts invaders, frees village prisoners, and takes them into the underworld. Her story, encoded in the Manuakepa sites, prepares the villages to confront patriarchy and the spirit of death.
The women of the Worldwide Indigenous Sciences Networkย will discuss the barriers they experienced while recovering the foundational story of Manuakepa the Owl Woman and navigating traditional Indigenous knowledge protocols. They will also highlight innovative approaches to negotiating voice, copyright, and access. Their presentation will take a narrative approach, “sharing the challenges we have encountered and illustrating how we are actively working to open pathways and expand access.”
Panel: “Gatekeeping/Safekeeping Material Culture”
2026 Online Symposium, May 3 2026
“Reimagining Goddess Scholarship:ย At the Edges of Sacred Knowledge”
Mary Beth Moser, Ph.D., has traveled widely in Italy to study womenโs spirituality, with a focus on the Black Madonna and Italian folk culture. Her publications on this subject include the book Honoring Darkness: Exploring the Power of Black Madonnas in Italy as well as essays in the โShe Is Everywhere!โ anthology series, founded by Dr. Lucia Chiavola Birnbaum. Last year, Mary Beth returned to the sanctuary of the Black Madonna of Oropa in Piedmont on a personal pilgrimage of gratitude for her first encounter with a Black Madonna thirty years ago. That experience served as a gateway and calling to the scholarly study of her deep ancestry, published as The Everyday Spirituality of Women in the Italian Alps: A Trentino American Womanโs Search for Spiritual Agency, Folk Wisdom, and Ancestral Values. Mary Bethโs work is nurtured by the wild nature of the Northwest US, by the Ancestors, and by her Dream work. She is the recipient of ASWM’s Kore Award for Best Dissertation in Women and Mythology. For more, see: DEA MADRE: A Black Madonna Resource Center and Ancestral Connections.
Abstract:ย ย The Black Madonna has been a beacon of hope, compassion, and protection for centuries throughout Europe and beyond. Her statues, paintings and frescoes are often the central image of devotion in her sanctuaries, churches and shrines, in a tradition kept alive by millions of pilgrims each year.
More than 10,000 ex-voto tablets bearing her image have survived the ages, testifying to her willingness to help people in times of dire need. In the origin stories of her various representations, she is clear about where she wants her shrines to be built, and how she wants her image to appear.ย
Even with this long-standing legacy of reverence, paintings of her have been โrestored,โ statues have been stolen, and frescoes have been covered over. What does it mean when her visage is altered so that it is no longer dark? Can the stories, rituals, and traditions continue to impart the knowledge and values conveyed by the ancient images? Or are vital messages lost when her representation is remade, reimagined, and expressed anew?
In this presentation, I focus on the widespread devotion to the Black Madonna in Italy, citing examples of what has protected โ and threatened โ her iconography over time.ย In this era of cultural suppression, omission and erasure, can her presence advise us on what endures, and how?
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