Announcing Scholar Salon 6 with Verónica Iglesias and Anne Key
“Tlazohteotl: Spirit of Divine Love”
“Tlazohteotl: Spirit of Divine Love”
Wednesday, June 10, 3 pm Eastern Daylight Time
Mesoamerican goddess Tlazohteotl was central to many rituals performed by the Aztecs and those that came before them. Originally from the Gulf Coast region, she represented love in all of its guises, from maternal to sexual partner. Typically considered as the “eater of filth,” her role in ritual and spiritual experience was reduced to a confessor. Through in-depth research into her names, rituals, functions, symbols, and iconography, the multivalent image of Tlazohteotl can finally be fully realized. This presentation discusses the methods of research–which utilizes current concepts of Tlazohteotl by healers in Mexico–and the spiritual experience of performing rituals described in early texts.
Verónica Iglesias was born in Mexico City and has a Masters Degree in Mesoamerican Studies. A traditional healer, also known as Curandera, she was initiated in the sacred knowledge of Mesoamerican shamanism and became a bearer of the Sacred Word. A Priestess of Ix´Cheel, the Mayan Goddess of Medicine, Veronica researches Pre-Hispanic medicine, rites of passage and Goddesses from Mesoamerica. She is co-creator of the “Jade Oracle” Tarot Deck.
Anne Key is an adjunct faculty member at Central New Mexico Community College. Founder of the independent press Goddess Ink, she is the co-author of Prayers to the Goddess and co-editor of An Anthology in Exaltation of Sekhmet and An Anthology of Writings on Priestesses. She co-created The Jade Oracle deck, based on ancient Mexican deities and symbols, with Veronica Iglesias. Anne resides in Albuquerque.
Scholar Salons are an ASWM member benefit. Members will receive a link to join the Salon. If you are not yet an ASWM member, join here. The Salon recording will also be available to members after the event.
Online Scholar Salons Series on the Way
We’re Adding More Scholar Salons for 2020
Our 2020 conference, like ones before it, featured many thought-provoking and inspiring presentations. We’re aware that the timing of the event meant that some presenters and members who planned to attend were unable to do so. At this time we are expanding our online Scholar Salons series in order to share more of the work of featured presenters, and other new scholarship, with members everywhere.
Scholar Salons are a member service available to current members. If you have not renewed for 2020, you may do so here. You will then gain access to previous Salons, conference recordings, and other resources.
We will announce each Salon in advance with detailed information, and also include updated calendars of upcoming Salons. Plan now to attend:
May 27, 3 pm Eastern Daylight Time
“Wild Felines and Female Sovereignty,” with Miranda Shaw
June 10, 2020, 3 pm Eastern Daylight Time
”Tlazohteotl: Spirit of Divine Love,” with Anne Key and Verónica Iglesias
June 24, 2020, 3 pm Eastern Daylight Time
“Poetic Rhythm and the Goddess,” with Annie Finch
ASWM Scholar Salon: Miranda Shaw on Wild Felines and Female Ferocity
Wild Felines and Divine Females as Guardians of Sacred Place
ASWM Scholar Salon with Miranda Shaw
May 27, 2020 3 PM Eastern Daylight Time
“My presentation offers an explanation for the ancient and enduring association between wild felines – primarily lions — and revered female figures. Bringing together iconographic and zoological evidence, I will illustrate the highlights of a historical trajectory spanning the Upper Paleolithic and living traditions. The details of art and symbolism (e.g., floral, agrarian, martial, civic, royal, celestial, and cosmological) elicit the nuances of power evoked by the leonine imagery. The nature and scope of the power in turn helps us understand the shared character of the leonine females as guardians of sacred place (caves, settlements, cities, empires, nations). I also consider the behavior, qualities, and distinctive roles of the females of the lion species (panthera leo) in order to understand the reverence for and trust vested in a power shared in common by wild felines, divine females, and women. I draw conclusions about the contours of female ferocity, in contrast to the glorification of violent conquest that accompanied the rise of patriarchy. I will issue a call to reclaim the ideal of female ferocity in order to protect our sacred home, mother earth.”
Miranda Shaw (Ph.D., Harvard University) is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Richmond in Virginia, and a member of the ASWM Advisory Board. Her publications on women’s spiritual practices and female deities in South Asia and the Himalayas include Passionate Enlightenment: Women in Tantric Buddhism (PUP, 1994), which has been translated into six languages, and Buddhist Goddesses of India (PUP, 2006).
Scholar Salons are an ASWM member benefit. Members will receive a link to join the Salon. If you are not yet an ASWM member, join here. The Salon recording will be available to members after the event.
“Women Make Movies” Continues Free Film Festival
In light of the coronavirus stay-at-home orders and film festival cancelltiona, Women Make Movies is extending their free film festival through May 31. This is a great opportunity to see excellent documentaries made by and about women.
Their website says, “In March, we launched the WMM Virtual Film Festival to commemorate International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month. However, in response to the demands and circumstances of COVID-19, we have expanded the content of the festival and extended it to run through May 31, 2020. Sign up to watch films by women at no cost! (You’ll be joining more than 5000 attendees in 89 countries — and growing!)
“The “Films, Interrupted” Series showcases films distributed by Women Make Movies that had film festival and public screenings canceled due to COVID-19. Each film will be available for a limited window and we will include filmmaker Q&As whenever possible.”
Learn more and register here.
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