Announcing the Kore Award

Kore

Through the gift of a generous contributor, AWSM has launched the Kore Award for Best Dissertation in Goddess Studies.

Between Jan 1-March 15 of even-numbered years, ASWM will receive applications for the award, to be announced at the biennial conference.

Dissertations from those who complete their degrees within the previous two calendar years are eligible, in any relevant field: literature, classics, anthropology, psychology, sociology, history, art history, religious studies, etc.  Details available on the AWSM website after January 1, 2010.

Review: Textbook on Women and Goddesses

Women and Goddesses in Myth and Sacred Text:  An Anthology, Tamara Agha-Jaffar, editor.  New York:  Pearson Longman, 2005.

Reviewed by Johanna H. Stuckey, Ph.D., York University, Toronto, Canada

Women and Goddesses

When I was teaching Goddess courses in the 1970s to 1990s, I would have been really grateful to have had access to this textbook. It does what few other such books do: it provides key selections in translation from religious and mythical material pertaining to the goddess/woman being studied. Thus, students can dip into, among others, such works as the Babylonian creation story, the Hebrew and Christian Bibles, the Qur’an, and the Ramayana.

The goddesses and sacred women Agha-Jaffar treats are as follows: Isis, Inanna, Tiamat, Demeter and Persephone, Circe, Medea, Sita, Kali, Amaterasu, Kuan Yin, Lilith, Eve, Virgin Mary, Hawwa, Maryam, Oshun, White Buffalo Woman, and Corn Mother. If I had been picking the ones to include, I probably would have left out two of the sacred women (Circe and Medea) and added the Canaanite/Israelite Asherah and another Greek or Asian goddess or both. However, Agha-Jaffar’s choices reflect the course she was teaching and for which she devised this textbook.

Report on 2009 Symposium–by Storyteller Nancy Vedder-Shults

Nancy Vedder-Shults takes notes at the ASWM Symposium

I want to thank the newly-formed ASWM (Association for the Study of Women and Mythology) for the wonderful conference they put on last Thursday.

When I walked into the space, I knew I was in the right place, because of the beautiful goddess banners made by Lydia Ruyle that hung around the room.  It felt like a homecoming!  They included Tara, Isis, and Mnemosyne, the Mother of the Muses who as Lydia says “is RE-membering Herstory.”

And when we took our first break, we left the space through a fabric Sheila-na-gig made by Lee Melchior and Susan Swope, that they had hung in the doorway after we arrived.  How wonderful to be birthed and rebirthed through this “vulva” again and again throughout the day!!

About the 2009 Symposium itself:  It was fantastic!  Sid Reger was the M.C., and she started out by introducing Barbara Marx Hubbard’s term “vocational arousal” for passionate work, which was demonstrated by presenters throughout  the day.  Every one of them was enthusiastic about what she shared.  

Online Class on Ice Age Art and Archetypes

Shamans, Skywatchers, and Storytellers:  Wisdom from the Ice Ages

a six-week online course with Sid Reger, Ed.D.

Lascaux Cave, c. 17,000 BCE

It’s winter.  In many cultures, this is the time to share myths, stories, and wisdom for the tribe.  Let’s meet around an on-line hearth to explore myths and realities of life for our most ancient ancestors, the tribes of the Ice Age.  Recent discoveries reveal that these early people were highly intelligent and skilled in healing and astronomy.  They also created the first sets of symbols for sacred rituals, which remain as archetypes for us to use today.  We will explore their magnificent art, symbols, and creativity, and learn about their knowledge of seasonal and celestial cycles.  And, in the process, we will separate facts from the fictions of patriarchy.  Based on what we learn, we’ll create new stories and rituals to celebrate our ancestors.  This class includes short writing activities.

Sid Reger, Ed.D., is a goddess artist and scholar whose passions are prehistoric art and goddess cultures. Sid is a member of the faculty of the Women’s Thealogical Institute, and the president of the Association for the Study of Women and Mythology.

Registration begins Dec. 1, 2009.  Class runs from Jan. 3 to Feb. 18, 2010.

For more information contact Sid Reger goldcrow47@comcast.net

To register:  http://www.rcgi.org/wti/onlineclass/online_index.asp

Call for Submissions: Sekhmet anthology

This anthology (current working title: Heart of the Sun:  An Anthology in Exaltation of Sekhmet ) comprises works about the Egyptian Goddess Sekhmet.  Edited by Dr. Candace Kant and Dr. Anne Key, Priestesses of the Temple of Goddess Spirituality Dedicated to Sekhmet. As Priestesses and scholars, we endeavor to create an anthology that will serve as a resource and a source of inspiration to those that want to honor Sekhmet and explore more about Her multiple manifestations.

This call for proposals is being sent to a carefully selected group of scholars and priest/esses. We are seeking submissions in any printable form, including but not limited to:

• Scholarly essays
• Personal essays
• Poetry
• Artwork
• Chants
• Rituals
• Invocations

Proposals should briefly describe your submission.  Please submit proposals by email to: submissions@goddessinstitute.org or to candace.kant@csn.edu.

The anthology will be published by Goddess Institute Publishing (through iUniverse). Contributors will be compensated with one contributor’s copy of the anthology.

Deadline for proposals: September 30, 2009; Planned publishing date: Fall 2010.

Resource: History of Goddess Studies

Minoan Era Golden Bee

Patricia Monaghan has written an article called “Approaches to the Study of Goddess Myths and Images” for the Summer Seasonal Salon, the on-line journal for the Re-formed Congregation of the Goddess, International.  This is the first of four articles on the subject that she will publish in future Seasonal Salons, which explore the contributions of pioneer researchers over the last 150 years.

http://www.rcgi.org/salon/062009/goddessstudy.asp

Web Resources for Managing References

In her recent editorial in Matrifocus, Sage Starwalker lists  these two great sites for managing, searching, and sharing scholarly references on the web.  Thanks, Sage!

CiteULike

http://www.citeulike.org/

a service for managing, discovering, and sharing scholarly references

Bibster

http://bibster.semanticweb.org/

a system that assists researchers in managing, searching, and sharing bibliographic metadata; “…it provides the possibility to search on a distributed peer-to-peer network … (and) an easy way to share data with other researchers.”

Resource Article: “Goddess Movement Beyond the Baby Boom”

Minoan Era Golden Bee

One of the problems that has plagued feminist movements in the past is that one generation of “movers and shakers” has not found a way to communicate with the next generation.  In this informative editorial Sage Starwalker addresses cross-generational communication through the use of social networking and other technologies.  In order for us to keep growing and moving forward, we “elders” must find ways to bridge the gap and overcome any reluctance to meet our younger sisters in the places where they meet (probably on the internet).  This article ought to be required reading for those of us who want to open such a dialogue.

http://www.matrifocus.com/LAM09/editorial.htm

Resource for Independent Scholars

Bee on Sunflower by Ginny Stibolt

The National Coalition of Independent Scholars is an organization whose goals include increasing access to libraries and archives, publicizing grant opportunities, and encouraging foundations to open competitions to include independent scholars.  Membership is reasonably priced and there are valuable resources available, whatever your area of interest.

National Coalition of Independent Scholars

A Web Tour of Goddess Megaliths with Max Dashu

La Dame de St. Sernin, a wonderful example of mythic megaliths

Last night I sat down at the computer with a cup of tea, a pen and a tablet, ready to experience “Ancestral Stones of the Elder Kindreds.” It was Max Dashu’s visual tour of the megalithic standing stones of Europe.  I thought I was ready for the course, but I found myself writing and sketching all over my tablet until I had 6 pages of scribbled notes.

Deanne Quarrie (Bendis), a scholar and author in her own right, also took the class.  She says,

I sat enthralled before my computer, enjoying Max’s collection of images of standing stones and menhirs from France, Spain, Germany, areas around the Mediterranean, and from Africa, clearly representing woman’s forgotten place in our ancient heritage.  I am going to be taking her course (also online) and can hardly wait – I am so excited!

“Vocational Arousal” and Goddess Study, by Sid Reger

Maenads, the Greek Women of Ecstatic Dance

Futurist Barbara Marx Hubbard coined the phrase “vocational arousal” to describe the thrill that occurs when you meet a person whose sense of purpose fuels your own.  This occurred for her when Jonas Salk asked her to discuss her concept of co-creation, which exactly matched his dream for a new conversation about humanity:

This excitement happens when you meet somebody whose purpose activates your own.  I call that supra-sexual.  I was aroused, I had a vocational arousal.  Because the vocation is the genius of the individual wanting to be expressed.  And that’s as powerful as the genetic code wanting to be expressed sexually.  In fact many women know it’s more powerful.  It’s more important to us to have a vocation than it is to have a child.