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Thursday March 27, 2025, 7:30 PM

Westward Look Inn, Tucson AZ

Seasons of the Witch: A Poetry Reading  in Honor of Patricia Monaghan

“Poetry is an oral art. Although since the invention of writing, poetry has been written down, it begins with the voice. The Inuit people of the arctic recognize this, for they use a single word to indicate “breath” and “poem.” A poem is not a picture but a song; it lives best when spoken, chanted, sung. 

“Earth-centered people must reclaim the voice of magic. We must make songs of the cycles of the year and of our own lives; we must chant the names of our own divinities; we must remember the powers of earth and air, fire and water, that ancient people honored. As we do so, we not only reconnect with their wisdom, we bring that wisdom to life and breath again.”  (Patricia Monaghan, Introduction to Seasons of the Witch, Third Edition, 2004)

Tonight we celebrate Patricia Monaghan  as a poet and our inspirational leader. Her words, her ideas, and her visionary works continue to feed the fires of our own creativity. We are grateful to the five poets who present their work in honor of her lasting contribution to scholarship and the arts.

Flow: Our five featured readers are Annie Finch, Ann Filemyr, Judy Grahn, Monica Mody, and Marna Scooter Cascadia.  In keeping with Patricia’s organic, ever-flowing view of the art of poetry, these women will decide the order of their readings on site. Pat’s poems are read by Miriam Robbins Dexter, Mary Jo Neitz, Letecia Layson, Sid Reger, and Dawn Work-Makinne.

Ann Filemyr  is the author of six books of poetry.. She speaks on the Rising of the Divine Feminine as connected with deepening Earth-based consciousness and leads a monthly New Moon Circle for gathering and grounding. She is the Founder/Director of the PhD in Visionary Practice & Regenerative Leadership at Southwestern College in Santa Fe.

Annie Finch is the author of seven poetry collections including Among the Goddesses (awarded the Sarasvati Award). Her other works include poetry translation, verse theater, writings on poetic craft, ritual, and the Divine Feminine, and the anthology Choice Words: Writers on Abortion. Based in NYC, she teaches and performs worldwide. 

Judy Grahn, Ph.D., has been writing about women’s spirituality and women’s contributions to human culture for over fifty years. She taught her own work in Women’s Spirituality Master’s Programs at New College of California and the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology for over thirteen years total. Her work on Inanna includes Eruptions of Inanna: Justice, Gender, and Erotic Power; and three book-length poems on the goddess of love, power, and beauty.

Marna Scooter Cascadia designs collaborative writing games for climate justice futures. Recent work appears in the International Symposium of Poetic Inquiry series, and in the We’Moon. Marna serves as Southwestern’s Associate Director of the Program in Visionary Practice and Regenerative Leadership. She tends Goddess gardens and earth dreams in Pacific Cascadia.

Monica Mody is the author of poetry collections Wild Fin (Weavers Press, 2024) and Bright Parallel (Copper Coin, 2023), the cross-genre Kala Pani (1913 Press, 2013), three chapbooks, and other creative and academic work that has been published widely and presented at international and US-based conferences and talks. Visit www.drmonicamody.com.

About our friend: Patricia Monaghan was a poet, a writer, a spiritual activist, and an influential figure in the contemporary women’s spirituality movement.  Her own experience of the natural world and her deep connections with the other-than-human were significant for her adopting the worldwide vision of the earth as feminine. She saw the connection between ecological damage and the oppression of the feminine in Western society. Much of her work explored the question of the role of feminine power in our world, in an inclusive and multicultural way.

The creation and development of goddess scholarship were high priorities for Pat.  When she and Sid Reger compared their visions, they jumped at the chance to create ASWM. Pat was devoted to mentoring new and emerging scholars; endowing ASWM’s  Kore Award for the Best Dissertation.  Pat’s commitment to supporting new work, to call attention to goddess scholarship within society and academia at large, led her to create our prestigious Sarasvati Award for Best Nonfiction Book in Women and Mythology. Her vision and creativity continue to inspire  our work to advance goddess scholarship.

 

Read all about the ASWM Conference and register  here.

 

 

Friday  March 28, 2025, Westward Look Inn, Tucson AZ

Trekking through Ruins and Forgotten Temples: Reclaiming Women’s Sacred Spaces with Carla Ionescu

 

Throughout history, women’s sacred spaces have been neglected, erased, or rewritten to fit dominant narratives that diminish their original power. In an era where access to historical knowledge is increasingly filtered and controlled, the act of documenting and reclaiming these spaces is an essential. This talk explores the Artemis Mapping Project, a research initiative dedicated to uncovering, preserving, and amplifying the voices of the past through firsthand archaeological investigation, video documentation, photography, and historical analysis.

Led by Dr. Carla Ionescu, this session will guide participants through key locations—including Eleusis, the Sanctuary of Despoina, and Sardis—where goddesses and their priestesses once held authority, where rituals centred on feminine power flourished, and where layers of erasure have obscured their histories. By retracing these sacred landscapes, this research not only reconstructs the spiritual and cultural significance of goddess temples, but also challenges the systemic forces that have silenced them.  By prioritizing boots-on-the-ground exploration, this project reminds us that to reclaim history, we must walk the paths of those who came before us. Through film, site notes, and immersive research, this session invites us to engage with women’s sacred spaces not as distant relics, but as living, breathing testaments to feminine power, resilience, and legacy.

Founder of the Artemis Mapping Project, Dr. Carla Ionescu is an ancient historian specializing in Artemis and her impact on both ancient and modern cultures. Her research spans mythology, ecology, and the sacred feminine, bringing ancient wisdom into dialogue with contemporary environmental and cultural conversations.

Read all about the ASWM Conference and register  here.

 

 

Friday  March 28, 2025, Westward Look Inn, Tucson AZ

Encounters with the Wisdom of Iona’s Beach

with Carol Geisler and Janet Marinelli

An ancient beach called us to her pink volcanic rock shoreline on the shores of Lake Superior. We trust that long before this was named Iona’s beach, indigenous people felt the sentient nature of this place; its rocks, water and waves, sun and wind and fog, plants, and animals. A Finnish immigrant family ran a resort on the land where Iona Lind saw and felt the magic/mythic nature of the “singing” beach. Sixty years later, instead of selling the land, Iona wanted all people to be able to access the 11 acres; it is now a Scientific and Natural area free to all through the State of Minnesota. Iona’s beach communicates to those who listen and offers many lessons: historic, scientific, spiritual, archetypal, psychological, ecological and the presence of the divine feminine.

Iona’s beach presents paradoxes: Indigenous roots/colonization, science/spirituality, seriousness/playfulness, taking/giving, and harming/restoring. As guests on the beach, we experienced much beauty and joy, and we witnessed transgressions against the balance of nature and struggled with how to respond.

We’ll explore what it’s like to be called to a soul place, go on pilgrimage, enter a portal, and open to the awesome and unsettling messages that arrive. We will describe our own sacred, painful, and funny journeys with Iona’s beach, show whimsical photos of the magical stones, and invite you to reflect on your experiences with animal, plant, and earth intelligence and to remember the power of place and interconnectedness in our journeys.

Carol Geisler, Ph.D., Professor in the Master of Arts in Holistic Health Studies at St. Catherine University. Carol’s life journey is one of integrating mind, body, spirit. She uses her experiences as a psychologist, nurse, researcher, holistic healer, ritualist, mother, and collaborator to inform her work in the world.

Janet Marinelli, M.S.,Assistant Professor in the Master of Arts in Holistic Health Studies at St. Catherine University. Janet enjoys working with students at the graduate level and in community workshops. Topics that form a foundation for her work include the creative arts, energy healing, spirituality, transformative learning, and circle process. An overarching theme of Janet’s work is transformation, and she deeply appreciates exploring with others on the journey.

Read all about the ASWM Conference and register  here.