News

As you plan to join us in Portland for our 2015 Symposium (April 11), be sure to include enough time to join us for special free events before and after our day program.  On Friday night the program begins with a special event held in conjunction with the Black Earth Institute:

7:30 pm at Red Lion Hotel on the River–free and open to the public

““Can the Blessed Virgin hold the heart of goddess women?” A celebration and reading from Patricia Monaghan’s Mary:  A Life in Verse with Michael McDermott.  If anyone has tales of the hold of Mary, come prepared to share.

 

And after the day of presentations, we’re happy to announce a wealth of talents hosted by the Women of We’Moon:

7:30-9:30 pm at Red Lion Hotel on the River–free and open to the public

SACRED SHINDIG: A Sharing Circle

with Goddess play, Goddess stories, songs, jokes and other shenanigans!

• Including Performance by Bethroot Gwynn (“A Wisdom Goddess Mind Play”)
• Spoken Word by Lea Bayles (“Wild Wisdom”)
• Inspirations by SisterSpirit Women’s Spirituality Circle
• Anthem by Naomi Littlebear Morena and Izetta Smith
• And surprise interactive offerings

Priestess of Ceremony: Marna Hauk

Priestess of Song: Barbara Dickinson

 Wear your Sacred Garb! Be ready for a Circle of Participatory Power

“Who Is Telling the Story? A Few Remarks on the Mythic Imagination”

 

The wondrous events and magic depicted in myth mirror the creative process

of storytelling in countless ways. Using her own experience as a writer as

well as that of other contemporary and classic writers and poets, Griffin

will describe the often mysterious alchemical process by which words and

rhymes, plots, turns of plots, characters, scenes and even whole landscapes

enter the imaginary realm of the tale, a process which challenges many of

the dualities engrained in modern consciousness.

Meaning to Writing or Writing Meaning

Friday, April 10, 2015  9 AM to 3 PM

First Unitarian Church, 1011 SW 12th Ave., Portland, OR

Details:  $55.  Bring sack lunch; tea and coffee provided

To register: kradditz@firstunitarianportland.org

Whether you have never gotten around to writing before or you are an accomplished, like most of us, you have probably faced a blank page thinking you don’t know what to say. Often this feeling can prevent you from writing anything at all. In this workshop we will explore the way that the process of creative writing is less about knowing than discovering meaning. From developing trust in intuition, to listening to the sounds words make, to exploring metaphorical and mythic resonances, to exploring the significant “accidents” we call synchronistic, to allowing endings to develop naturally, often surprising us, literature gives us a different path for finding meaning. We will do some writing in class and talk about all the angels and monsters we have encountered along this path.

Susan Griffin is an internationally celebrated writer whose books have been translated into 17 languages and widely anthologized. Among twenty books, Woman and Nature is considered  a classic of the environmental movement and  A Chorus of Stones: the Private Life of War was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. The recipient of an NEA Grant, a Guggenheim Fellowship, an Emmy Award, and the Commonwealth Club’s Silver Medal for poetry, she has taught writing on college campuses and in community centers throughout the United States and internationally.

Pre-register by Friday, April 3, 2015!

We are so excited to see everyone at our April 11 Symposium in Portland! Symposium registration ends Friday evening, April 3. After April 3, registration can made on a walk-in basis at the Symposium on April 11. Lunch may not be able to be included for walk-in registrations. Register soon, and we will see you in Portland!

Your Room at the Red Lion Hotel on the River  (503) 283-4466

Please reserve your room right away to get our conference rate:  Red Lion Reservation Link

PROGRAM SCHEDULE AND ABSTRACTS

Our program is set for the 2015 Symposium. We are excited about the quality and variety of presentations—thanks to all of our presenters. See below for the list of panels and presentations and a PDF of Abstracts. . We are also happy to include pre-symposium events that will be of interest but are not organized by ASWM.

Check out the complete Schedule! 2015 Program Schedule

NEW:  Abstracts 2015  Alphabetical by author, summary of presentations

Friday 7:30 PM at Red Lion Hotel on the River

Special presentation by ASWM and Black Earth Institute

“Can the Blessed Virgin hold the heart of goddess women?” A Celebration and reading from Patricia Monaghan’s Mary:  A Life in Verse  with Michael McDermott

Saturday April 11, Registration 7:30 AM

Program 8:30 AM to 6:15 PM at Red Lion Hotel on the River

“Tales and Totems: Myth and Lineage in Goddess Scholarship” 

• “Who Is Telling the Story? A Few Remarks on the Mythic Imagination” Keynote Presentation with Susan Griffin

• ASWM Awards Ceremony:
• Brigit Award for Excellence in the Arts, to Women of We’Moon
• Saga Special Recognition for Contribution to Women’s History, to Z Budapest 

• “Goddess Lineage, Rituals and Community” with Z Budapest

• “Huntress and Hearth: Artemis and Hestia and the Balance of Connection and Solitude in Group Experience”

• “Sacred Presences in Secular Time: Myth and the Rebirth of the Old Goddesses of Europe” 

• “Through Words, Pictures, Ceremonies: Feminist Spirituality and Cultural Identity”  

• “Mother Earth: Fertile, Feminine and Feminist”

• “In the beginning was the Goddess: The Devi of Speech, Perception and Embodiment” 

• “Guidance at the Thresholds: Goddess Spirituality and the Myth of Journeys.”

• “Destabilizing Gender, Decolonizing Place: Sacred Tales of Spirit Transformations” 

• “Devotion, Death and Dynamism: The Many Faces of Mary Magdalene”

• “Goddesses of the living Land: Oregon Women’s Lands, Wisdom Circles, and Living Goddess Cultures”

• “Women Artists of We’Moon”

 AND STAY FOR  Sacred Shindig: A Sharing Time,  free and open to the public

Saturday night, April 11 7:30 PM at Red Lion Hotel on the River

hosted by Women of We’Moon

SACRED SHINDIG: A Sharing Circle

with Goddess play, Goddess stories, songs, jokes

and other shenanigans!

Wear your Sacred Garb!

Be ready for interactive surprises and

a Circle of Participatory Power