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Małgorzata Oleszkiewicz-Peralba, PhD

I was born in Poland, and spent my childhood both in Warsaw and in Montevideo, Uruguay, visiting many other countries in Europe, Africa, and Latin America. During my adult years I lived in Poland, Peru, and New York, with extensive stays in Brazil, Mexico, and Spain, and for the last 20 years I have resided in San Antonio, teaching at the University of Texas. Thus, since childhood I have been exposed to different cultures and languages that became the subject of my cultural and linguistic studies and my passion. My cross-cultural, women-centered interests have been reflected in my numerous presentations and articles around the world in six languages, as well as in my two recent books, The Black Madonna in Latin America and Europe: Tradition and Transformation (UNMP) and Fierce Feminine Divinities of Eurasia and Latin America: Baba Yaga, Kali, Pombagira, and Santa Muerte (Palgrave). I am proud to have been able to bridge the rigors of academia with my research centered on the divine feminine, and to have recently been promoted to Full Professor as the first female faculty member ever at the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures at UTSA.

Malgorzata’s presentation is entitled, Liminality, Transgression, and Feminine Empowerment: The Case of Kali and Pombagira:

“Kali–an Indian goddess—and Pombagira—a female trickster entity from the Brazilian Umbanda religion–are surprisingly similar. They both represent the concepts of liminality, outsiderhood and structural inferiority, embodied in the divine feminine. They are strong, independent, unrestrained, and full of magical powers, including power over sexuality, transformation, and death. In fact, they are the opposite of what has been promoted as the model for western females in the last millennium, with traits such as motherliness, docility, humility, passivity, and obedience.  Conversely, they are untamed feminine divinities that are powerful, fiercely independent, childless, courageous, and wise.”

 

Ingrid Kincaid

Ingrid is an “irreverent wise woman.” Her work as an author, teacher and ritualist is deeply rooted in the wisdom traditions of pre-Christian, Northern Europe. Ingrid is dedicated to reawakening connection with our ancestors and the neglected myths of indigenous Norse and Germanic tribes. Her latest book, The Runes Revealed – an (un) familiar journey, challenges its readers to remove the distorted lens of patriarchal interpretation and start viewing history, archeology and mythology with new eyes.

In order to find refuge in our histories we need to hear our stories told in our own voices, not in the voices of men. In order to find safe harbor in our stories they must be meaningful and relevant to the lives we live today.

Ingrid’s presentation for the 2016 conference is entitled “Playing By Your Own Rules When The Gods Cheat:  The Saga Of Skadi  – How A Strong-willed, Independent Norse Giantess Found Safe Harbor By Claiming What Was Rightfully Hers”

“The saga of Skadi is both ancient and modern. It’s the tale of a giantess who was willing to rebel against the system, demand retribution for injustice and lay claim to her rightful inheritance.  She made choices that were strategic and far-sighted and choose divorce rather than settling for anything less than her own happiness.  Skadi is an example of freedom and independence, and yet there are parts of her story that beg to be reexamined and retold. ”  

 

Meagan Miller

A few years ago a doctor friend mentioned to me that 90% of all women are unhappy with their breasts. Although I knew I was part of that percentage, the magnitude of the number stunned me.  My thoughts immediately went to the women in my life who were struggling with their breasts.  

Some had body image issues, others grappled with breastfeeding woes, and still others had cysts or cancer.  Suddenly I realized that what I had been thinking of as strictly personal was actually a large-scale issue. It was therefore essential that the women feel they had nothing to hide, and that they feel connected to their bodies.

My goal for The Breast Archives was to invoke women’s wisdom regarding their breasts, to invite it out of hiding.  

 

https://youtu.be/oinueiSa2RY

Meagan Murphy is a firm believer that social transformation can be achieved through courageous storytelling. With 25+ years of experience in film and broadcast, Meagan has earned a Communicator’s Award for her work with teens and a Medical Journalism Fellowship through Blue Cross Blue Shield. While at PBS-WGBY, she contributed to and oversaw several award-winning series. Her film repertoire includes Night Deposit, Fathers & Sons, and Victor’s Big Score. She also completed a 2-year women’s spirituality program and is trained as a girls’ mentor. In 2012, Meagan formed Deliberate Healing Productions LLC in order to The Breast Archives, a film about body-based wisdom and the complex, un-discussed relationship women have with their breasts. Ms. Murphy is a member of the Easthampton Arts Council, Women in Film & Video, The Independent Documentary Association, eWomen and Women Business Owners Alliance.

 

Meagan will participate in our Film and Filmmakers Roundtable at the conference, bringing the trailer for The Breast Archives. You will also see her videotaping the keynote presentations and authors’ panel.

Grief is a universal human condition, frequently dismissed or avoided in modern culture. Yet, when confronted, grief can lead to wisdom and strength. In the spirit of shamanic scholarship, this panel explores the passage through sacred suffering, a shared human and divine experience that fosters intimate compassion and hope as safe harbor in turbulent waters. From the wellspring of emotion where mothers’ tears gather, wisdom is drawn. The rapture of an embodied, wholehearted encounter with grief is captured in ritual, re-imagination, and remembering.

Stephanie Zajchowski:

Birthing my sons was the beginning and end of me. As I poured all that I was into the child within my arms, the light of new life intertwined with the darkness of postpartum depression. Maternity, for me, was an erasure, the shattering of an empty vessel, an utter loss of self. In my search for understanding, mythology allowed me to integrate these experiences, ultimately containing the “mother” without letting her consume me.

Jaffa Frank:

For me, motherhood and loss are as inextricably linked as motherhood and joy. My first pregnancy ended in the stillbirths of my twin sons and my own near death due to complications of endometriosis. My life—the mothering of my living children, service to the dying and bereaved through hospice, therapeutic work, and doctoral work—are dedicated to making space for the truth of loss as inherent to and formative of a life of joy.

Angelina Avedano:

Mothering three sons for thirty years, I’ve learned that grieving is natural and necessary. The cycles of loss associated with my son’s schizophrenia and bipolar disorder have become a part of the rhythm of my life. As I tread the path of the grieving mother, I am not defined by grief; I am however, forever changed. This ongoing spiral brings unexpected connections, deeper wisdom, and an awareness that I can truly embrace joy and sorrow.

Kayden Baker-McInnis:

After losing my toddler in a car accident, I still grieve thirty years later. That tragedy continues to mold me. The thawing of my grief brings me to a fierce compassion and curiosity for how sorrow informs the soul. I find engaging mythic story a way through these dark passages. When I finally brought my grief to the Utah desert canyons, nature responded. Today, mothering the soul is at the heart of everything I do.

Betsy Crane

Betsy Crane leads workshops that are interactive and enlightening.  She is Professor, Center for Human Sexuality Studies, Widener University, Chester, PA. She was Director of Graduate Programs in Human Sexuality at Widener from 2007-2012.  Previously she worked for 17 years as a sexuality educator, first as a public health family planning outreach worker, then as Education Director and later Executive Director for Planned Parenthood in Ithaca, NY. She is co-editor of Sexual Lives: A Reader on the Theories and Realities of Human Sexualities (Heasley & Crane, McGraw-Hill, 2003). Her research interests include history of gendered sexuality and shifting gender and sexual identities.

Designated as Distinguished University Professor, 2014-17 by Widener University for outstanding teaching, scholarship, and service, she is past president of the Foundation for the Scientific Study of Sexuality and of the Eastern Region of the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality.

Today’s gender norms emerged from the last 7,000 to 10,000 years of patriarchal social arrangements that legitimated sexual and physical violence against women and subverted women’s ability to support themselves without men. But what about the time before gender relations pivoted so heavily toward male dominance? Based on the work of goddess history scholars, e.g. Eisler & Gimbutas, participants in this workshop will experience a trip to a “pre-history” where our ancestors conceptualized the supreme power in the universe as a female.

During this time girls would have seen their bodies and social roles in relation to a creative, powerful, and deeply mystical feminine creator. Boys saw themselves in terms of the ‘horned god,’ a passionate and embodied force of nature who was lover and ally to the goddess. What might all this mean for us today? Join the conversation.

Betsy’s 2016 conference workshop is Implications of the Goddess for Gendered Sexuality: Then and Now