“Women’s Mythologies: Is mythology relevant today?”

with Tova Beck-Friedman

Wednesday, March 10, 2021 at 3 pm Eastern Standard Time

REGISTER HERE 

“Over the last decade, I have been gleaning legends from vast archives of ancient Biblical stories to Greek and Roman mythologies, recounting them as cine-poems. This presentation combines, art, poetry and video to illustrate the relevance of mythic stories of antiquity in present day society, in particular as it pertains to women’s social status. These cinepoetic videos are put in context of women’s selfhood, authority and strength.”

View Tova’s videos through the links below:

Medusa’s Head depicts a universal cultural narrative of blaming the victim, an ancient #metoo story.

Gaia Regards Her Children  laments the most pressing issue of our time, climate change.

Lot’s Wife & Jephthah’s Daughter draw from ancient Biblical myths to tell of women’s historical invisibility and insignificance.

Ashera, one of the most ancient of mother goddess symbols, laments the fate of the earth.

the Pythia – the powerful oracle of Delphi, the arbiter of wisdom.

Wisdom – “Hochma” the Hebrew goddess of wisdom gives account of women’s strength and power.

Tova Beck-Friedman is a mythological artist, filmmaker and a writer.  Presenting in festivals, museums, galleries and television, including the International Artists’ Museum; 50th Venice Biennale; National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington DC; FIVAC, Cuba and Jerusalem Cinematheque.   Her documentary, “ At the Altar of Her Memories” was broadcast on Israeli Television, and “A  Portrait of the Artist as an Old(er) Woman” aired on PBS. She presented her works at the Women and Mythology East Coast Symposium in 2011.  See all of her work on her website.

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Save the dates for upcoming ASWM Salons:

March 24 at 3pm Eastern Daylight Time
“Sacred Stones and the Immanence of Life in the Alpine Folk Traditions”
Mary Beth Moser

April 7  at NOON Eastern Daylight Time
“Daughter of the Goddess, Sister of Man: Matriarchal Patterns in the International Fairy Tales”
Heide Goettner-Abendroth

April 21 at 3pm Eastern Standard Time
“Bringing The Civilization of the Goddess to Life in The Four Novels of The Earthsong Series”
Mary Mackey

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

“Signs Out of Time” Honoring the Life and Work of Marija Gimbutas

with Starhawk and Donna Read

Wednesday, February 24, 2021 at 3 pm Eastern Standard Time

Registration is Now Closed for this Salon 

In this special Salon in honor of the centennial of Marija Gimbutas, , Starhawk and Donna Read reflect on the  importance of her work and the making of “Signs Out of Time,” their influential documentary about Gimbutas’ life and research. 

“Marija Gimbutas asserted, from the evidence she found, and from her extensive first-hand knowledge of her place – including its folklore and traditions – that the earliest layers of Western culture were peaceful, and that the primordial Deity in this place was female. Gimbutas says of the Deity of these Old Europeans: ‘She is a metaphor of living Earth – nothing else.’

“Signs Out of Time,” the documentary film about the life and work of Marija Gimbutas, made by Donna Read and Starhawk, combines a wonderful collage of images – both photographic and animated – from the extensive excavations that Gimbutas conducted over decades, with story and photos of her life – who she was and what enabled her unique perspective and synthesis.

“Gimbutas’ method was the application of a rigorous scientific mind in combination with an intuitive sensuous indigenous relationship with her material. And so it is for this great documentary of her life and work, of her theories and her critics, and of her influence on scholarship and consciousness studies. It is itself a document of the complexities and confluences of all these aspects, and pleasurably presented with narration, interviews and animated graphics.”

Excerpts from review of “Signs Out of Time” by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D. on the PaGaian Cosmology blog.

Donna Read is an editor and director, best known for The Women’s Spirituality Trilogy (The Burning Times, Full Circle and Goddess Remembered),  Permaculture: The Growing Edge, and (with producer/director Donna Roberts) Yemanjá: Wisdom from the African Heart of Brazil. In 2016 she received ASWM’s SAGA award Saga Award for Special Contributions to Women’s History and Culture. The award honors Donna’s role in making feminist scholarship and the history of spirituality visible and accessible to a wide audience.

Starhawk is an author, activist, permaculture designer and teacher, and a prominent voice in modern earth-based spirituality and ecofeminism. She is the author or co-author of thirteen books, including The Spiral Dance: A Rebirth of the Ancient Religion of the Great Goddess and the ecotopian novel The Fifth Sacred Thing, and its sequel City of Refuge. Her most recent non-fiction book is The Empowerment Manual: A Guide for Collaborative Groups, on group dynamics, power, conflict and communications. 

Save the dates for upcoming ASWM Salons:

March 10 at 3pm Eastern Standard Time
“Women’s Mythologies; Is mythology relevant today?”
Tova Beck-Friedman

March 24 at 3pm Eastern Daylight Time
“Sacred Stones and the Immanence of Life in the Alpine Folk Traditions”
Mary Beth Moser

April 7 at NOON Eastern Daylight Time
“Daughter of the Goddess, Sister of Man: Matriarchal Patterns in the International Fairy Tales”
Dr. Heide Goettner-Abendroth

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

“Living in a Sentient World”

with Judy Grahn

Wednesday, February 10, 2021 at 3 pm Eastern Standard Time 

REGISTER HERE

“For forty years I’ve been thinking and writing about the intense psychic connections we can experience with creatures, including insects, that live around us, incorporating them into my poetry and my novel, Mundane’s World, as well as in stories and essays.  This paper will discuss how to recognize and induce these connections of inter-species consciousness (shared sacred space), how to record and believe the experiences, and then how to write them.  My goal is to share these accounts with more skeptical humans in order to reduce both cynicism and romanticism, to strengthen bonds between people and creature life, to encourage recognition of shared minds, and to amplify the value we place on beings who share space with us. I’ll illustrate the topic with selections from my forthcoming book, Touching Creatures, Touching Spirit: Living in a Sentient World. (Red Hen Press, Pasadena, California, May 4, 2021). “

Judy Grahn is internationally known as a poet, author and cultural theorist. She has published fifteen books, with two more forthcoming in May, 2021. Judy holds a Ph.D. in Integral Studies from the California Institute of Integral Studies, where she often teaches. She is retired co-director and core faculty of the Women’s Spirituality MA program at New College of California, and the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology and Sofia University. The Commonality Institute,  an international community of scholars and changemakers, promotes and teaches her work.

Art by Helen Klebesadel   Helen is an artist, educator, and activist working in Madison WI.

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Save the dates for upcoming ASWM Salons:

February 24 at 3pm Eastern Standard Time
“Signs Out of Time: Honoring the Life and Work of Marija Gimbutas”
Starhawk and Donna Read

March 10 at 3pm Eastern Standard Time
“Women’s Mythologies; Is mythology relevant today?”
Tova Beck-Friedman

March 24 at 3pm Eastern Standard Time
“Sacred Stones and the Immanence of Life in the Alpine Folk Traditions”
Mary Beth Moser

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

“Decolonizing Diwatas – Reclaiming Ancestral Knowledge in Myth, Legend, and Folklore of the Philippines“

with Letecia Layson

Wednesday, January 27, 2021 at 3 pm Eastern Standard Time 

In this presentation, Letecia draws from her personal practice of reclaiming Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Practices of the Philippines that live in the Origin Stories, Myths, Legends, and Folklore of the Philippines. She will share the creation story from the Visayas of Maganda and Malakas and how the Diwatas (Goddesses)– GamaoGamao (Mandaya), Mayari (Tagalog), Haliya (Bicol), Kan-Laon (Hiligaynon) and Maria Cacao (Cebuano)–are providing inspiration for contemporary urban Filipinas both in diaspora and in the Philippines. Filipino are using living wisdom from Ancient Stories to help make meaning and navigate these challenging times.

Letecia Layson is a Filipina, Feminist, Futurist, Priestess of Morphogenesis (Form Coming Into Being), High Priestess of Diana; Priestess Hierophant in FOI/TOI-LA. Letecia is one of the founding Mothers of the Center for Babaylan Studies; a member of International Feminists for Gift Economy, and the Modern Matriarchal Studies Network. Letecia’s maternal Ancestors are Wary from Tacloban, Leyte and her paternal Ancestors are Ilongo from Iloilo, Panay.

Save these dates for upcoming ASWM Salons:

February 10 at 3pm Eastern Standard Time
“Living in a Sentient World”
Judy Grahn

February 24 at 3pm Eastern Standard Time
“Signs Out of Time: Honoring the Life and Work of Marija Gimbutas”
Starhawk and Donna Read

March 10 at 3pm Eastern Standard Time
“Women’s Mythologies; Is mythology relevant today?”
Tova Beck-Friedman

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