Tag: 2025 Conference Special

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2025 Conference: Special Plenary Panel: “Inanna: The Great Goddess of Mesopotamia”

Saturday, March 29, 2025, 9:00 AM Pacific Time

Akkadian Cylindrical Seal, inanna and Ninshubur
  • Judy Grahn: Inanna, Protectress of Nature’s and Women’s Cycles
  • Annalisa Derr: Reclaiming Inanna: A Myth Model for Embodying Erotic Aliveness
  • Pinar Durgun:  Goddess of Ambiguities: Inanna/Ishtar and her (many) images

Facebook Live Promo interview on 3/15/25:

Our plenary panel examines the many dimensions of one of the world’s oldest known mythic figures, the Mesopotamian goddess Inanna.  Her attributes include celestial powers of stars and planets,  yet she is best known for her voluntary journey into the underworld of loss and pain. This outstanding panel includes the work of three pre-eminent scholars of Inanna’s myths and images:

Dr. Annalisa Derr

Annalisa Derr, PhD, offers an affirming alternative by re-visioning the Sumerian myth, “The Descent of Inanna,” as a sacred menstrual narrative and ritual rite-of-passage. Her forthcoming book, under contract with Inner Traditions, aims to help liberate women from internalized sexism and menstrual shame and (re)awaken them to their Sacred Feminine Power.  Annalisa earned her doctorate in Mythological Studies with Emphasis in Depth Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute and holds a BA in Theater with specialized training in masked and physical performance.  Out of a desire to enrich the lives of everyday women, Annalisa hosts “Journey to the Goddess TV,” facilitating interviews and keynote presentations by experts in goddess scholarship and spirituality. Last, but not least, she is an aspiring flamenco dancer, Italophile, and a recent resident of Athens, Greece.

Dr. Pinar Durgun

Dr. Pınar Durgun is the Jeannette and Jonathan Rosen Associate Curator of Ancient Western Asian Seals and Tablets and Department Head of Ancient Western Asian Seals and Tablets Department at the Morgan Library in New York, which contains one of the most distinguished collections of Mesopotamian cylinder seals in the United States. She studied in Turkey and has a Ph.D. in Archaeology and the Ancient World from Brown University. She is an art-historically trained archaeologist with a strong background in anthropology. Her research focuses on ancient materials and crafts, seals and sealings, death and burial, image and identity making, and copies and copying in ancient western Asia. With over ten years of experience teaching and working in museums, Dr. Durgun is interested in how museums help us engage with the past and how they can better serve our communities today.

Judy Grahn, PhD

Judy Grahn, Ph.D., has been writing about women’s spirituality and women’s contributions to human culture for over fifty years. She taught her own work in Women’s Spirituality Master’s Programs at New College of California and the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology for over thirteen years total. Her work on Inanna includes Eruptions of Inanna: Justice, Gender, and Erotic Power, for which she won the ASWM Sarasvati Award,  and three book-length poems on the goddess of love, power, and beauty.  She is also the winner of ASWM’s Demeter Award for Leadership in Women’s Spirituality.

Read all about our 2025 Conference and register here.

 

 

 

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2025 Keynote: “On Holy Ground”

“On Holy Ground: Commitment and Devotion to Sacred Land”
With Yeye Luisah Teish and Kahuna Leilani Birely
ASWM Conference ~ March 27-29, 2025

 

The Black Oshun by Luisah Teish

Join us for a discussion regarding Land, Sacred Sites, and our Responsibility to Land and Life. In this presentation the audience is invited to experience the magic inherent in the mythology of Hawaiian and African diasporic culture. We will discuss the Oath to Mother Earth and how we can become more respectful and devoted to the land and Her people. Here, the audience will meet such figures as Yemaya, the Goddess of the Sea, and Earth Mother Papa-Haumea. They are among the many spirits that inhabit the Natural world. Kahuna Leilani and Yeye Teish will share the stories of their childhoods, families, and communities and demonstrate how myths and storytelling shaped their character and guided their lives.

The history of the colonial period, which sought to demonize, exoticize, and disempower these cultures is examined briefly. We will share the concept of Conquistadors on Tour and how not to continue the devastation of colonialism through modern day travel. We will learn how the myths and stories inspired resilience in the people.

 We will also honor the ancestors whose dedication and persistence preserved the myths and enabled us to inherit their wisdom. We will share guidelines for reclaiming the primal messages in the myths, reinterpreting their meaning, and applying them to today’s Concerns. Both Yeye Teish and Kahuna Leilani grew up within spiritual cultures that survived centuries of oppression while maintaining reverence for and centering the sacredness of Land within  their cosmology and rituals. They will share their wisdom around healing our relationship to Sacred Land and each other in these times of ecological crisis and the clear  manifestation and impact of the disregard for Earth, her gifts, and her children.

Yeye Luisah Teish

Chief Iyanifa Fajembola Fatunmise also known as Yeye Luisah Teish is a writer, performance artist and Yoruba priestess. An American author of African and African-diaspora spiritual cultures, also is an affluent ritualist, keynote speaker, and spiritual advisor on a global scale. Primarily known for Jambalaya: The Natural Woman’s Book of Personal Charms and Practical Rituals, a women’s spirituality classic that has been translated into German, Spanish, and Dutch. She has co-authored has co-authored On Holy Ground: Commitment and Devotion to Sacred Lands with Leilani Birely. She has contributed to 40 anthologies, and her essays, artwork and poetry appear in such publications as Essence, Ms, and Coreopsis: Journal of Myth and Theater. As an Oshun priestess (Yoruba Goddess of Love and Sensuality), Yeye continues to officiate over spiritual retreats, rituals, and workshops that span over forty years since her introduction into the Ifa spiritual practice.  Teish has said, “My tradition is very celebratory – there’s always music, dance, song, and food in our services – as well as a sense of reverence for the children. It’s joyful as well as meditative.”

Kahuna Leilani Birely

Leilani Birely is a Native Hawaiian Kahuna and Dianic High Priestess who brings ancient Hawaiian healing and Goddess wisdom to the community. Kahuna Leilani brings forth teachings of the Aloha Spirit through Hula, Ceremony, Performance, Writing and Ritual. She is the founder/ritual director of Daughters of the Goddess Women’s Temple in the San Francisco Bay Area an international community of women dedicated to She of 10,000 names and Multicultural Women’s Mysteries. She has her Master’s in Women’s Spirituality from New College of San Francisco.  She has lectured at the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, Dominican University and the California Institute of Integral Studies. Leilani has co-authored the book, On Holy Ground: Commitment and Devotion to Sacred Lands with Luisah Teish. She is included in anthologies Shades of Faith: Minority Voices in Paganism and Stepping into Ourselves: An Anthology of Writings on Priestesses.

 Leilani gives thanks and honor to her teachers: Yeye Luisah Teish, Iyanifa Yoruban Chiefess and author of Jambalaya; Kahuna Auntie Pahia; Vicki Noble, author and co-creator of the Motherpeace Tarot; and Kumu Hula Patrick Makuakane and Mahea Uchiyama, and Uncle Butch of Ka’ala Farms, O’ahu.