“Ohero:kon – Under the Husk” is a 26-min documentary following the journey of two Mohawk girls as they take part in their traditional passage rites to becoming Mohawk Women. Kaienkwinehtha and Kasennakohe are childhood friends from traditional families living in the Mohawk Community of Akwesasne that straddles the U.S. / Canada border. They both take part in a four-year adolescent passage rites ceremony that we were able to revive for our youth even though it had not been practiced for generations. This ceremony challenges them spiritually, mentally, emotionally and physically. It shapes the women they become.
The ceremony is called Ohero:kon because the corn is a metaphor for the youth that are meant to be protected by the husk until they are grown. We started with seven youth, and in just ten years there were more than 80 youth with Ohero:kon branching out to sister communities as well. The women and men in our community were called upon to be aunties and uncles to these young people and guide them through a transition we had never experienced ourselves. We learned with them and were amazed by how this ceremony awakened their gifts and strengthened their spirits.
“There are so few films that reflect the true strength and beauty of our young people, especially our young women. It is important for us to be in the driver seat of these stories of hope and empowerment that are unfolding in Native communities across Turtle Island.
The Film “Ohero:kon – Under the Husk” has screened across the country at a variety of film festivals. The film engages the audience to reflect on the importance of recognizing Rites of Passage in their own culture. I enjoy the dialogue that is sparked by the film.”
—Melissa Katsitsionne Fox
“Ohero:kon:Under the Husk” has won the imagineNATIVE Jane Glassco Award for an Emerging Filmmaker (2016) and the LA Skins Fest – Achievement in Documentary Filmmaking Award for 2016. It is available for purchase through Women Make Movies.
ASWM is thrilled to announce an exciting new addition to its 2018 conference program.
Friday March 16, 5:30-7pm – Goddess Banquet: Priestess Prayers to Shechinah
Join two Hebrew Priestesses – Judith Maeryam Wouk and Sarah Chandler– for a vegetarian dinner to celebrate the opening of the Jewish sabbath with poetry, prayer, and song. The language plays with gender of God/Goddess both in Hebrew and English. It also includes some earth-based imagery. Participants will have the option to interact with natural objects on a small altar at the center of our table/altar, as well as the option for contemplative time.
All are welcome. We are requesting that you RSVP and pay in advance, as the meal will be catered and we need a head count by March 9th. This is an OPTIONAL event, and not included in your conference registration fee. The cost will be $45 and include a vegetarian meal with wine or grape juice along with ritual supplies.
RSVP by March 9th to Judith (see below)and please pay in advance on ASWM’s donation page. Select donation type “other” and write shabbat in the “other”field so we can code properly.
For more information and to RSVP, contact Judith Maeryam at aswm.ft9z@ncf.ca.
Native American Toypurina, from the Kizh Tribe is the first and only Native woman to lead a revolt in the history of California and America. The Kizh are the original, peaceful people of the Los Angeles basin plus the Sacred Sea of Kizh (including Catalina, San Nicholas Island, etc). The tribe is also known as the Gabrielenos. They were living in a Golden Age until the Spanish arrived to force their agrarian system and religion on the people, devastating the environment and the culture. This film aims to tell the story of Toypurina and the rich ecological heritage of the Kizh, now largely forgotten.
In telling the story of one particular Warrior Woman, we discuss the way women lived in harmony with the earth, and the fearlessness and injustices of indigenous women. This little-known story must be told, so women will be emboldened by this young, Native American named Toypurina: To know that a woman fought back for the injustices done to her people and land. To know that the Indigenous people lived in Los Angeles with harmony and great respect for the land, sea, and mountains. To know that our indigenous people’s lives were not in vain.
Celia Xavier (Salish, Athabaskan and Mayan ) is the CEO and Head of Original Programming at Tribal TV, a dedicated channel on Amazon Prime and Roku, and Founder and Executive Director of Tribal Film Festival in Tulsa, OKLA, whose mission is advocating a broader audience for Indigenous films. She is also the owner of IndieIN films (Filmmaking with Intention) and a co-founder with Mary Aboud of a filmmaking bootcamp that “empowers, inspires, and sustains students to tell their digital stories.” Celia comes from the Big Island of Hawaii and resides in Los Angeles.
“Signifiers and an Emerging Paradigm – – Lucia Chiavola Birnbaum & Kindred Spirits” A Roundtable Discussion at the 2018 ASWM Conference
Stimulated by the opening chapter of Lucia Chiavola Birnbaum’s latest manuscript, Blackbird and a Pear Tree, (excerpted below) co-participants will be encouraged to share their signifiers. Lucia will bring to light the events, beliefs, people, and ideas that have contributed to her deep story, encouraging us to find our own submerged signifiers along the way. Participants will include Mary Beth Moser, Laura Zegel,Marion Dumont, Annette Williams, and Chickie Ferella, all of whom have been influenced by Lucia’s work. All kindred spirits are welcome to the discussion and to contribute their ideas and visions for a better future.
Dr. Lucia Chiavola Birnbaum
I began writing Black bird and a pear tree after my husband Wally passed September 4, 2014 numb with grief touching Wally’s and my deep story in our genetic unconscious~ preconscious submerged historical experience ~while consciously trying to keeping heart and eyes open
Because transparence is necessary for truth in a deceitful time, my political convictions are explicit on front cover, my deep beliefs suggested in front matter. Mary Saracino’s poem dives into my deep story, persecuted sister’s subterranean rage at historic violent power-over killing and subordinating dark others, including women.
Louisa Calio’s Italian American jazz poem, Signifying Woman, goes to the personal geographic/ethnic/spiritual /feminist context of this book. Renate Sadrozinski, feminist kindred spirit from a different cultural context, states her synthesis of shared feminist beliefs. Mary, Louisa, Renate inspire me to find my particular signifiers for my deep story. . . hoping this will stimulate you to find your own signifiers.2 steps backward uncovering our deep stories may give us the energy to bound forward. . . encountering one another. . . creating energy that may transform ourselves and renew the world.
Lucia Chiavola Birnbaum, Professor Emerita, Women’s Spirituality, CIIS, great grandmother, feminist cultural historian, and nonviolent revolutionary. Internationally recognized author of several award-winning books including dark mother, Black Madonnas, and the future has an ancient heart. Lucia’s current manuscript, black bird and a pear tree, is a memoir that suggests convergence of values of primordial migrants out of Africa learning how to survive by caring, sharing, and healing. Lucia is the recipient of the ASWM 2016 Demeter Award for Leadership in Women’s Spirituality, awarded in recognition of “decades of visionary scholarship.”
Marion Gail Dumont: I was born in Verdun, in the Alsace-Lorraine region of France, and hold a Ph.D. in Philosophy and Religion with a specialty in Women’s Spirituality from the California Institute of Integral Studies. As a registered nurse, mother, and grandmother, the focus of my work over the years has been women’s health and well-being. Today, this focus has shifted from the physical care of others toward the spiritual, with an emphasis on women’s mysteries, sacred arts and healing.
Chickie Farella is a multimedia artist/writer in Women’s Spirituality, native of Chicago, Illinois who has been transplanted to the southern California desert. She is the recipient of the 1981 Chicago International Film Festival Video Music award and the 1982 Athens Film festival video Music Award and a contributing writer to several Italian American anthologies. Her essay “I Love You Mom: Do Me A Favor. . . Don’t Tell Nobody” is published in She Is Everywhere: Volume 3. www.Godthemother.com
Mary Beth Mosér holds a Ph.D. in Philosophy and Religion with a specialty in Women’s Spirituality from the California Institute of Integral Studies. Mary Beth’s dissertation, “The Everyday Spirituality of Women in the Italian Alps,” recipient of the 2014 Kore Award, reflects her passion for her ancestral homeland. An excerpt, “Wild Women of the Waters” is published in Myths: Shattered and Restored. Mary Beth lives on an island in the Salish Sea in the Northwest US and serves as president of the Seattle Trentino Club. See more of her writings on www.AncestralConnections.net and www.DeaMadre.net.
Annette Lyn Williams, Ph.D. is chair and core faculty in the Women’s Spirituality program at the California Institute of Integral Studies. She holds a doctorate in Philosophy and Religion with specialization in Women’s Spirituality. Research interests have centered on soul healing from sexual trauma, and the theme of women’s spiritual power and agency within the Yorùbá Ifá tradition, with specific reference to the primordial feminine authority of àjẹ́. She collaborated with Lucia Birnbaum and Karen Villanueva on the compilation of She is Everywhere! An Anthology of Writing in Womanist/Feminist Spirituality Vol. 2 and is currently co-editing a Motherline anthology.
Laura M. Zegel, LCSW received her M.S.W. from Columbia University and her M.Div. from Yale University. In private psychotherapy practice for adults and adolescents since 1994, currently in Rockland, Maine, she has consulted for public schools, local agencies and hospitals, providing inpatient and outpatient psychotherapy. With a deep interest in women’s and adolescent girl’s psychology, she has presented workshops and presentations on these subjects for the NASW Maine Chapter, the C.G. Jung Center, Brunswick, Maine, ASWM 2014 Conference in San Antonio, TX, and the Motherhood Initiative for Research and Community Involvement’s 2015 Conference in Rome, Italy.
We are very happy to include in our program such varied and unique scholarship concerning the mysteries of animals. Ever-present in world myths and literature, animals of all kinds are, in many cases, as much a part of our lives as people (some might say, “other people”). In every culture their attributes and qualities contribute to our symbolism and sacred stories. Here are just a few of the panels featured at this year’s conference!
LIVING MYTHS: REVIVING FEMININE IMMANENCE
Idoia Arana-Beobide, “Mari: The Power of Feminine Immanence in the Basque and Anishinabe Belief Systems”
Lauren Raine, “Spider Woman: A Myth for Our Times”
Monica Mody, “Snake Priestesses and Snakes in India”
COMPANIONS IN EVOLUTION AND ITS OUTCOMES: HUMAN-ANIMAL SPECIES BOND IN MYTHS
Heather Kohser, “Pollinators and People – Our Evolving Story”
Marie-Lucie Tarpent, “The Animal Origins of Medusa”
Lisa R. Skura, “Natural Darkness and Women”
ANIMAL ALLIES IN HUMAN-SACRED ENCOUNTERS: THREE CANONICAL MYTHS RETOLD
Judith Maeryam Wouk, “Sorcerers, Kings, Donkeys and Angels: A ReFraming of Biblical Story”
Colleen Harris, “An Automythography of Liminality: Dante’s (Un)Natural Worlds Bounded by Animal and Woman”
Sarah Chandler, “The Bereaved She-Bears: Violent Saviors or Terrorizing Monsters”
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