Preface
This is a paper I delivered at the American Academy of Religion on November 7, 2009 in Montreal for the Religion and Music Consultation.
I was introduced by the chair of the group, Ted Trost of the University of Alabama with the following text:
Once upon a time, Kris was a professional percussionist who performed and recorded in Los Angeles until she became a television and an interactive producer for E! Entertainment Television. She now lives in Santa Barbara, CA where she performs in West African and Brazilian music ensembles and facilitates drum workshops for both men and women.
During her undergraduate study in music at California State University, Northridge, Kris began to learn African-Brazilian and Cuban percussion and became interested in the spiritual traditions connected to the rhythms she was learning.
Kris continues to explore the mystical, transcendent aspects of drumming, and is writing her doctoral dissertation entitled "The Heartbeat of the Mother: Ritual Drumming & Re-Birthing Images of the Feminine in Brazilian Candomble" in the Mythological Studies department at Pacifica Graduate Institute. Kris received her M.A. in Mythological Studies with an Emphasis in Depth Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute in 2004.
This paper today is based on research for a chapter of Kris' dissertation about the stories and myths surrounding female drummers, both in Brazilian Candomble and abroad. The presentation combines data from an online survey she conducted over the past four months and her field research in Brazil in 2006.
Paper Title:
Mothers, Tricksters and Drummers: Transformational Female Figures in Brazilian Candomblé & Re-Storying the Voices of Female Drummers.
On my first day of classes at California State University, Northridge, I realized I was the only female percussionist in the department and remained so that first academic year. During my undergraduate study between the years 1986 and 1992 another 4 or 5 women joined the program, but this was a paltry amount compared to the total number of percussion students in the program which included both undergraduate and graduate students-totaling approximately 35 percussionists.
Where
were all the other women drummers? Even in Brazil, female percussionists number far less than men drummers. What is clear is that the drums historically have been used to express male physical prowess in both popular music, such as samba reggae, and
the sacred rhythms of Candomblé. The drums used in Brazilian Candomblé,
called atabaques,
initiate ritual, announcing that time and space is now shifting from a “mundane” layer to a “sacred” one, and place
becomes cosmological, a meeting ground of orum, the dwelling place of spirits and aiyé, the
earth. The atabaques mediate between both worlds and the Candomblé drummers command the liminal space. Because the
rituals are so long, strength and endurance are just as important as technical
skill. In Candomblé, it is tradition for men to perform on the atabaques during sacred
ceremony and it is forbidden for women to play the consecrated drums. Bahian
anthropologist Goli Guerreiro points to the taboo of women drummers in
Candomblé ritual spaces as one of the main reasons why
female percussionists did not find their place among male percussionists in popular African-Bahian music until the 1990’s
(Guerreiro 2000). In spite of this fact, women have made rare appearances behind
the atabaques during ceremony. While
researching the early history of Candomblé in Bahia, João José Reis found one
mention of a female drummer in the newspaper Alabama, published between 1864-1871, that
he believes is “a hint that women
were allowed to play drums” (131): I was very surprised With my mouth opened and dumb When I saw Maria Doufona How she could play the drum. (Reis 131) During my fieldwork in Bahia during 2006,
I had the opportunity to visit a music school, Escola Pracatum[1],
where I interviewed three young
women percussionists, Mercia, a Catholic, and Ivana and Ayala, who are both Candomblé
practitioners. Ivana,
whose orixá is Iemanjá Ogunte, a warrior version of Iemanjá connected to the
warrior orixá Ogum, told me she once saw a
woman drummer play in her
grandmother’s Candomblé house when one of the male drummers did not show up. When I inquired which house her grandmother led and who the female drummer was, she did not answer. Instead, she reiterated that in general, women were forbidden to play
atabaques. I heard other reports about women playing in Candomblé
rituals and no one wanted to mention the houses where they took place. Women percussionists report
that drumming is an empowering activity that
enables them to re-vision themselves as strong creators of their own destiny. Viviane
Caroline, a Candomblé practitioner
and band leader of the Brazilian all female drum
group, Dida Banda Feminina, describes how drumming has transformed her life: “When I play the drum, I feel on top of
the world, able to do anything, to change whatever destiny, to build, to
overcome” (“Girl Beat,” 00:38-00:54). Despite
their growing numbers, women drummers and all-women percussion groups in Bahia, such as Dida Banda Feminina, struggle for the kind of
international fame and recognition earned by their all-male group counterparts, Olodum and Timbalada. The
growth in numbers of female drummers is not limited to Brazil and the
phenomenon reaches across to other parts of the globe, including the United
States, Canada and Europe. Although, my study has focused on Brazilian female
percussionists and the Candomblé female deities, I also surveyed and
interviewed women from other cultures because these groups also experience the
marginalization that Brazilian female drummers do. I found women who practice
Candomblé in North America, as well as other African-Atlantic religions,
namely, Santeria, Ifa and Vodou. I want to note that many women cited other religions and deities who
inspired them, but time does not permit me to discuss these in this paper. The complete survey results,
will be posted to my website at http://www.mythicrhythm.com
before the end of the year. I
asked all the
women I interviewed and surveyed for this study, three main questions: “Who is your role model?”;
“Are they male or female?”; and “Who is your
orixá?” . Ethnomusicologist Clarence Bernard Henry
points out that the ayabas, Yoruba for “queens,” are the predominant role models for women in Bahia (Henry 121). The top three female orixás who appeared most among the
research participants include
the ayabas Iemanjá, Oxum and Iansã. Xangô,
definitely not an ayaba, was also cited by a good number of the survey
respondents, and, not surprisingly, since in Candomblé he is the patron orixá
of drummers. All of the orixás in Candomblé possess an
archetypal resonance with both nature and the realm of human activities. They
provide structural patterns that inform the inner and outer lives of their
devotees and serve as functional models for the roles that men and women
perform in society. When I use the term archetypal, I’m referring to its use in post-Jungian archetypal
psychology, as an image or story that is “geographically distributed, temporally enduring,
and emotionally charged” (Hillman 29). The
archetypal images are not just reflected in the myths and images of the orixás,
but also in the drums and rhythm patterns. The sacred rhythms of Candomblé are
“leitmotifs.”[2] Each rhythm
is a narrative, telling the story of its associated orixá, and each rhythm has
the power to call down that orixá into earthly manifestation through trance
possession. The rhythmic patterns for each
deity is distinct and is mimetic of that orixás’ personality as expressed
through Candomblé mythology. I would like to play some
examples. The music excerpts are from a CD called Odum Orim, and were produced
by the master drummer Gamo da Paz of the ile Gantois in Bahia, Brazil. Gamo
resides in SF and teaches the rhythms and songs of Candomblé. The rhythms for Iansã are played at a
faster tempo than any of the other rhythms for the orixás. As her Yoruba name
Oya, meaning “swift,” and her element, wind, suggest, Iansã’s dance movements
are quick and agile. She sometimes brandishes a sword and at other times holds
the buffalo-tailed whip to
show her control over the Egun, the ancestral spirits, and forces of life and death. [Listen to Iansã’s rhythm – play
track 1 on the CD] In
contrast, Oxum’s
rhythm can best be described as regal, calming and sensuous, matching her
feminine elegance, healing qualities and capacity for fertility. Paul
Christopher Johnson makes a reference to her “cooling”
sacred rhythm:
“Drum rhythms are played to honor and call Oxum with the bare hands and thus
sound ‘cool’” (Johnson 38). [Listen to Oxum’s
rhythm - play track 2 on CD] Oxum and Iansã personify the
archetypal energies of Trickster. Oxum is the guardian of the gates of life, protecting both mother and child
during the birth process. Iansã is the queen of the cemetary, a psychopomp who
guides the souls of the dead to the spiritual realm. Many canonical tricksters we
have come to know and love share common characteristics with Oxum and Iansã:
the capacity to create new life, the ability to shape-shift, a connection with
the realm of the dead, and particularly, the facility to upset the balance of power in order to bring equilibrium to
their mythological universes. For these two orixás, there is no question of asking for permission or
doubting they have the right to have or do what they wish. In
opposition to Paul Radin’s view of the Trickster as “undifferentiated and
plunged in unconsciousness” (Makarius 86), Laura Makarius suggests that “the
myth of the trickster is truly the first myth bringing onto the stage a
characterized individual hero” (86) that acts in opposition to society.
Makarius’ argument underscores
how Trickster’s actions
portray a differentiated being, consciously creating change and upsetting the status quo. Ricki
Stefanie Tannen refers to “Female Trickster” as a trickster in female form who possesses
“psychological authority, physical agency, and bodily autonomy” (Tannen 8). The
female trickster initiates change by asking and encouraging questions,
particularly challenging authority by “encouraging others to ask questions
about their own lives” (Tannen 74). In following her model, I re-imagine two prominent female figures in Brazilian
Candomblé, Oxum and Iansã, as tricksters. One
instance to illustrate the connection between trickster and Iansã is this myth told in a film about the orixás of
Candomblé: At the beginning of time Xangô
sent Iansã, mistress of winds and storms, his most important wife, to bring him
a potion that would let him breathe fire from his nose and mouth. Iansã disobeyed him and tasted
the potion on her way back, so that she could breathe fire too. This made Xangô furious because
he had wanted to keep that power all to himself. Without Iansã, Xangô cannot
make fire. Xangô is inseparable from
Iansã. (“Orixás,” 13:50-14:28) Iansã
takes it upon her own authority to drink the potion and become indispensable to
her husband, Xangô, even though she knows she is going against his wishes. Trickster
stories also show up in Oxum’s myths. In this example, Oxum is the only female
orixá present during the creation of the earth. According to legend, when Olorum
created the universe, he forgot to send Oxum along with the first orixás, so
everything was dry and ugly and lacking in feminine grace. Realizing his mistake, Olorum sent Oxum
who took with her all the fresh water, the source of life on aiye. (“Orixás,”
21:27-21:53) The
myths of Iansã and Oxum just told, imply that the feminine principle is an
indispensable factor in the balance of the cosmos, and as above so below, the
feminine principle is necessary for social balance as well. Through
their subversive acts, Iansã and Oxum may take power for themselves to be equal
to their male counterparts, but they do not take or use the power to spite
their husbands. Badejo expresses this eloquently when she describes her calling
to write about Oxum: What Osun wanted me to say is that
women are powerful in and of themselves, and that power exists to ensure our
continuity, and that controlling our lives and our destiny is a joint effort
not to be diminished by male dominance or female antagonism. (Badejo xvii) Women
drummers differentiate their feminine power by challenging the supposition
that drumming is a “male-oriented” performance medium and replacing it with a
paradigm that favors a “community-oriented” approach. Pauline, who played clave
and surdo, not the traditional atabaques, in a Candomblé ceremony in the U.S.
muses, “Women bring a different
energy to drumming. Often it is more about community and being and doing
together than about performance” (personal interview Oct 28, 2009). Although
all Candomblé rituals are designed to balance feminine and masculine energies,
the Mother in tandem with the Female Trickster are the formative and transformative feminine archetypes in Candomblé
mythology. The Mother archetype is associated with the
atabaque that calls down the orixás and is referred to by the Yoruba term ìyá
‘lù, meaning “mother
drum” (Henry, Music and Female 121). Normally,
the Great Mother is stereotyped to be all nurturing, all encompassing, but in
Brazilian Candomblé there are multiple types of Iemanjás. According to Pierre
Verger there
are seven Iemanjás and not all conform to the picture of motherly, unconditional love: […] she [Yemaya] is Ogum’s woman, deity of
war; is a terrifying amazon, who brings, hanging around her waist, a machete
and other iron implements of Ogum. She is severe, rancorous and violent […]
(Verger, Orixás 192) Myths
function as imaginative icons that inform change and re-visioning by providing
figures who model transformation and innovation.
According to William Doty: “Myth
is, yes, conservative; but it is also an important source of change. It
e-du-cates, draws forth some of the possible means of revisioning ourselves,
both individually, first of all, and then (and most importantly) socially”
(Deardorff “An
Interview”). As more women begin to play
drums and perfect their craft in the mundane realm, it will be interesting
to see if more opportunities to perform in
sacred ritual
will also arise. The
trickster represents the what if energy of all possibilities, seen and unseen, that can break through at
any time. Carolyn
Brandy has been a drummer since 1968 and is considered a “foremother” of the
movement of women into the field of percussion by many of the women who
participated in this research. Carolyn, whose orixá is Obatala, has performed
on congas in Santeria ceremonies both in the U.S and in Cuba, but never on the
fundamento bata drum, which women are forbidden to play. When I asked Carolyn,
“Hypothetically - if there was no longer a taboo for women to play the
fundamento bata, how would that make you feel?” Her answer was enlightening: To tell you the absolute truth, what I would
really like to do is play a woman’s
Fundamento drum in ceremony. I
love to sing and dance to the Bata, but I don’t have that strong desire to play
Fundamento Bata. If there is a Fundamento drum that women play
traditionally–just to be part of a lineage of women who have played for a long
time would be really great. (personal interview Oct. 21, 2009) There
are three potent feminine figures in Candomblé mythology who are role models
for female drummers: Oxum and Iansã, who personify the Female Trickster, and
Iemanjá, personifying the Great Mother. As role models, they empower women
drummers to transform their lives and break down social obstacles to their
musical expression in percussion. If we wish to restore, and
re-story, the voices of female drummers, we can
begin by reimagining the feminine as a dynamic agent of change, with the capacity not
only to extend female drummers’
participation into both
sacred and profane musical
contexts, but to re-vision that
participation as uniquely feminine; where the goal is not to replace men in ritual or to undermine their masculinity, but rather to create
a new space to express the power of the feminine principle in drumming. Works Cited Aiello,
Pauline. Personal interview,
28 Oct. 2009. Brandy,
Carolyn. Personal interview,
21 Oct. 2009. Deardorff,
Daniel. “An Interview With William Doty.” http://www.mythsinger.com/doty_interview.pdf
accessed on 10/01/2009. Faria,
Lazaro. “Orixás da Bahia.” DVD. Bahia, Brazil: Casa de Cinema da Bahia,
2005. Gil, Fora. “Odum Orim.” Music
CD. Musical Director: Gamo da Paz. 2000. Girot, Suzanne and Renato Frota. “Girl Beat: Power of the Drum.” DVD. 2004. Guerreiro, Goli.“Mulheres Do Batuque.” A Trama dos Tambores. São Paulo: Editora
34 Ltda, 2000. Word doc of this chapter emailed by the author . Henry, Clarence Bernard. “Music
and Female Imagery in the Candomblé Religion of Salvador, Bahia, Brazil.” Journal of Latin American Lore
22.1 (Winter 2004): 109-36. Hillman, James.
“Notes on White Supremacy:
Essaying an Archetypal Account of Historical Events.” Spring,
46 (1986): 29-58. Ivana. Personal interview, 22 Feb. 2006. Johnson, Paul Christopher. Secrets,
Gossip, and Gods: The Transformation of Brazilian Candomblé. New York: Oxford U P, 2002. Makarius, Laura. “The Myth of the Trickster: The Necessary
Breaker of Taboos.” Mythical
Trickster Figures: Contours, Contexts, and Criticisms. Ed. William J. Hynes
and William G. Doty. Tuscaloosa and London: The U of Alabama P, 1993. 66-86. Reis, João José. “Candomblé in Nineteenth-Century Bahia: Priests,
Followers, Clients.” Rethinking the African Diaspora, The Making of a Black
Atlantic World in the Bight of Benin and Brazil. Ed. Kristin Mann and Edna G. Bay. London: Cass,
2001. 116-34. Tannen,
Ricki Stefanie. The Female Trickster: The Mask That Reveals. Post-Jungian
and Post Modern Psychological Perspectives on Women in Contemporary Culture. London:
Routledge, 2007. Verger, Pierre Fatumbi. Orixás:
Deuses Iorubás na África e no Novo Mundo. Salvador da Bahia, Brazil:
Corrupio, 1981. [1] Carlinhos
Brown opened the school after becoming an international music star and a local
hero. He is most well known for creating Timbalada, an all-male percussion
group designed to help keep young men off of the streets. The group has since
toured internationally and recorded multiple albums. [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leitmotif.
A leitmotif is a
recurring musical theme, associated with a particular person, place, or idea. By extension, the
word has also been used to mean any sort of recurring theme, whether in music, literature, or the life of a fictional character or
a real person.
Living in Bliss: Personal Mythology 101
- Re-member the fragmented pieces of your early life, when you felt inspired and enlivened
- Experience a deeper connection to your soul purpose.
By studying and applying current developments in archetypal psychology and personal mythology we can begin to discern the deep archetypal patterns that drive our lives behind the scenes. We will study the work of James Hillman, C.G. Jung and Joseph Campbell. We will specifically look at the Mentor, Divine Child, Hero (Heroine) and Trickster archetypes, and investigate life-transforming archetypal patterns such as Descent to the Underworld, Crossing over the Threshold and Rebirth.
In this 3-part, online interactive course we will:
- Deepen our awareness of our own archetypal tendencies.
- Connect with our hearts' desires through story and myth.
- Re-write our myth, our story, to help illuminate our individual path to bliss.
- Listen to others' stories and tell our own. Let's be inspired!
I will be your guide and witness through this process using writing exercises, guided meditation, active imagination, mantras and interactive dialogue.
To get the most out of this course, please complete pre-course materials in the online library prior to our first meeting. I will send a link to the online library after I receive your payment.
Course Fee: $45 for all 3 sessions. PayPal and personal checks are accepted. Please send payment prior to our first meeting.
About the instructor:
To learn more about Kris and her projects, visit her website: www.mythicrhythm.com, or contact her at krisoster@gmail.com.
Living in Bliss: Personal Mythology 101
- Discover your personal mythology & re-create your life.
- Re-member the fragmented pieces of your early life, when you
felt inspired and enlivened
- Experience a deeper connection to your soul purpose.
By studying and applying current developments in archetypal
psychology and personal mythology we can begin to discern the deep
archetypal patterns that drive our lives behind the scenes. We
will study the work of James Hillman, C.G. Jung and Joseph Campbell.
In this 3-part, online interactive course we will:
- Deepen our awareness of our own archetypal tendencies.
- Connect with our hearts' desires through story and myth.
- Re-write our myth, our story, to help illuminate our individual
path to bliss.
- Listen to others' stories and tell our own. Let's be inspired!
I will be your guide and witness through this process using
writing exercises, guided meditation, active imagination, mantras and
interactive dialogue.
To get the most out of this course, please complete pre-course
materials in the online library prior to our first meeting.
Course Fee: $65 for all 3 sessions. If you wish to take an
individual session the fee is $25. PayPal and personal checks are
accepted. Please send payment prior to our first me
This course is given online and you can use your computer for both the visual and audio component. The VoIP (audio) through your computer is free, so you won't need to call long-distance.
If you are just using the audio and need to call in, let me know and I'll conference you in so you do not need to pay any phone fees.
Please pre-register for this training, as there are only 12 spots available. To register, email Kris at kris@mythicrhythm.com or RSVP on her facebook page, if you've accessed this page through the event posting there.
There are 3 two-hour sessions:
Saturday, December 5, 2009 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM PST
Saturday, December 12, 2009 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM PST
Saturday, December 19, 2009 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM PST
About the instructor: Kris Katsuko Oster is a Ph.D. candidate at
Pacifica Graduate Institute who is completing her dissertation,
"The Heartbeat of the Mother: Ritual Drumming & Re-Birthing Images of
the Feminine in Brazilian Candomble." Kris received her M.A. in
Mythological Studies with an Emphasis in Depth Psychology from
Pacifica Graduate Institute in 2005.
To learn more about Kris and her projects, visit her website:
www.mythicrhythm.com, or contact her at kris@mythicrhythm.com.
I felt so exhausted yesterday. I know there's a lot of stress in my life at the moment - working full time, raising a daughter, being a wife and working on my dissertation.
Prenatal Rhythm Workshop: MotherRhythms
Pregnancy is a time of change, celebration and profound bonding between mother and child.
Through this workshop, learn how to use rhythm to facilitate deeper bonding with your child in the womb, stimulate baby’s healthy interactivity and play, and promote relaxation of both mother and baby. Also builds community and support among mothers and serves as a safe place to express emotions and creativity. Course designed for pregnant mothers and can be modified for birth educators, doulas and midwives who wish to do rhythm work with their clients.
 Where: Private Residence, Santa Barbara, CA - Address Given Upon Registration
Date: July 11, 2009
Times: 11am - 1pm (Group Class); Set up time for individual instruction.
Cost: $20.00 per person for group class; $35 for individual instruction.
What to bring: pillow, blanket, journal, writing utencil, tape recorder (optional). Extra writing materials will be available. All drums provided. Drums will be available for purchase after the workshop.
To register, email or call Kris - kris@mythicrhythm.com , 805-624-4361
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Living in Bliss: Discovering Your Personal Mythology (Meets 3 Times)
An Online Workshop
Sunday, 8/9/09 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM PDT
Sunday, 8/16/09 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM PDT
Sunday , 8/23/09 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM PDT
Cost: $65
Register Online:
http://gaiafestival.wufoo.com/forms/living-in-bliss-discovering-your-personal-myth/
Course Description:
- Discover your personal mythology & re-create your life.
- Re-member the fragmented pieces of your early life, when you felt inspired and enlivened
- Experience a deeper connection to your soul purpose.
By studying and applying current developments in archetypal psychology and personal mythology we can begin to discern the deep archetypal patterns that drive our lives behind the scenes.
In this 3-part, online course we will:
- Deepen our awareness of our own archetypal tendencies.
- Connect with our hearts' desires through story and myth.
- Re-write our myth, our story, to help show us the path to where we want to go.
- Listen to others' stories and tell our own. Let's be inspired!
I will be your guide and witness through this process using writing exercises, meditation, mantras and breath work. Each person will get a chance to share a poem, story, song, music, collage, painting, basically any creative media they choose to share their personal mythology, during the last meeting of the course.
To get the most out of this course, please complete pre-course materials in the online library prior to our first meeting.
About the instructor: Kris Katsuko Oster is Ph.D. candidate at Pacifica Graduate Institute who is completing her dissertation, "The Heartbeat of the Mother: Ritual Drumming & Re-Birthing Images of the Feminine in Brazilian Candomble." Kris received her M.A. in Mythological Studies with an Emphasis in Depth Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute in 200
As I opened up my computer to begin writing this letter to all of you, the time read 1:53 am - the numbers 1-5-3 being significant here.
Shannon Andersen, one of our Gaia Fest exhibitors this year, wrote a book entitled "The Magdalene Awakening" where she talks a lot about the numbers that constantly pop up in our lives to affirm we are on the right path - 444, 222, 111, and 153. I just finished reading her book early this morning and finally found the inspiration to write my wrap up for the festival.
"Mother Mysteries" was the theme of this year's festival, and I didn't realize at the time I conceived it how perfect the title was.
Ever since my first visit to Glastonbury in 2002 - where I met my spiritual soulmate and Gaia Fest partner Stephanie Hamberger - my life has followed a defining path and purpose, connecting with the Divine Feminine and realizing the strength and warrior qualities that are not only within men, but inherent in the Masculine energy of women. After all, the womb may be the receptacle for gestating a child, but it takes a lot of force to push that baby out. I have a very clear memory of how sore and tired my abdominal muscles felt after birthing Saraphina on August 7th - it felt like I had done 1,000 sit ups!
The first time I saw the Vesica Piscis was on the lid of the Chalice Well in Glastonbury and afterwards I have been drawn to that symbol like a fish to water (pun intended; Vesica Piscis means "vessel of the fish" ). For our wedding, Shaun and I planned to stand in the oval intersection between the two circles as we gave our vows. As it turned out, it wasn't too easy creating that symbol with flowers an hour before our wedding, so Shaun's cousin J.P. created a beautiful circle of flowers for us and our guests to stand inside during the ceremony instead.
Not all of our births are literal, and many of you have birthed books, films, works of art, and environmental projects, and know how hard it is to push out the final product after spending years as a womb holding and protecting the vulnerable piece of yourself that has been gestating within. Even more than last year when the first annual West Coast Gaia Festival took place, this second year has felt like a birthing of something new and special. It was the culmination of many years of reflection and inner work around my own wounded feminine voice that was seeking a group of like-minded souls to be in conversation with.
The festival was a gathering of Magdalenes - the strong, outspoken Feminine presence within all of us, men included. I felt more interconnections this year and Paula, a healer at the event and wonderful friend, said she felt it was more intimate than last year. The festival attendance was half the size, but quadruple the feeling of heart and soul connections that took place. Thank you Margaret for midwifing Her energy for all of us to rebirth within ourselves.
The story of the Magdalene resonates strongly for so many right now, that I can't imagine a more timely way of bringing her into our consciousness. With the elections coming up so soon on November 4th, the time has come to be outspoken; to speak up for the rights of all people in our nation, many of whom have been downtrodden and pushed to the margins of society. I keep hearing the phrase "Compassionate Warriors" in my mind and I think that may be part of the message garnered from our gathering on October 11th.
Karen Tate, thank you for always helping with promotion, planning, and being the first presenter to say "Yes!" to this event each year without hesitation. You are truly an embodied Goddess. I look forward to taking a pilgrimage with you next year...I have been getting a few signs to travel to Iona. Should we try to plan a trip?
This past Gaia Festival caught me a little off guard because it reawakened my hunger to explore and write about the mystical experiences that have been an important part of my life. And the part of my life I so quickly put aside to go out and make money...you know, the old 9 to 5 drag that can also be a blessing because it helps finance your dreams. One of my dreams has been bringing people like you together in community.
It is my hope that we continue our communal conversations and support each other in the diverse work that we are all engaged in, a most important work for this age: the rebirthing of Goddess and the Divine Feminine into world consciousness.
If you would like to see Gaia Festival photos, keep up with community events throughout the year, announce your events and post discussion topics please join our online Tribe:
I hope you will hope you will join us and keep the Gaia Festival community vital for years to come!
And remember to follow all the synchronicities that cross your path. You never know where they will lead you. They are mysterious blessings meant to illuminate your divine mission and bring you closer to your hearts' deepest longings.
Blissfully yours,
Kris
The following posting was sent to me by Tim Ward, author of the "Savage Breast:
One
Man's Search for the Goddess"
Enjoy!!
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Hi Friends, I thought this latest Goddess archaeological discovery would
intrigue you. The
link at bottom has photos.
Tim
Subject: [DiosasAncianos2012] Huastec "Mother Culture" & Lunar Calendar in
Southern Mexico
Monolith raises questions about ancient Mexican culture
Deep in the Huastec jungle (Mexico) the enormous carved stone
monolith stands, suspended over the pool of water where a team of
archaeologists discovered it. A powerful woman stands at the center
of the carving, flanked by two smaller decapitated women. A stream of
liquid flows from the headless women toward the woman in the center.
The women on each side are thought to represent priestesses, and the
liquid represents the life force, while the woman at the center
represents Mother Earth; so the priestesses seem to be nurturing the
Earth with their life force. The truth is, however, nobody knows for
sure what these stones mean. One thing is fairly certain - because of
the recurrence of the number 13, the monolith seems to be a lunar
calendar of some sort. That's why it set the archaeological world
abuzz with discussion when it was unveiled last November. It is
believed to have been created around 600 BCE - 2,000 years before
what was previously the oldest discovered calendar in the Americas,
the Aztec Calendar, which dates to 1400 CE.
"What this discovery did was to force us to stop, turn around
and dig deeper into the history of the Huastecan groups to
re-evaluate them," said Guillermo Ahuja, the lead archaeologist at
Tamtoc who discovered the stone tablet, or Monolith 32, as it's
called. The discovery was especially surprising given that the
Huastec people were thought to be a relatively recent culture. Now
archaeologists are wondering whether the Huastecs - or their
predecessors, the Proto-Huastecs - might have played a bigger role in
the development of Mesoamerica than previously thought. It has also
raised questions about whether the Olmecs might have had an influence
in the region, since there are cultural similarities, or whether
there might have been a third group of people, the so-called Mother
Culture, that dominated the area first.
What is known is that Tamtoc was inhabited by a sophisticated
people who enjoyed a high standard of living for the time, with one
of the most sophisticated hydraulic systems in Mesoamerica. It was
first excavated by a group of French archaeologists in the 1960s, but
their project was short-lived, and work did not begin on the site in
earnest until 2001. It's the only major Huastec archaeological site,
and like the Huastec people themselves, it is shrouded in mystery.
The intricate carvings the Huastecs left on the stones leave
clues to a culture in which women clearly played a strong role as
governors, priestesses and warriors. The monolith was discovered in a
graveyard surrounded by the remains of 84 women - 90 percent of all
the remains discovered there. Ahuja has pieced together a story that
might explain why. The monolith seems to have been toppled from its
original location, broken into pieces and covered with mud. Ahuja
estimates the time period at about the same time that several coastal
cities were flooded, probably by a tsunami-type surge, around 300
BCE. Ahuja believes the sacred tablet was impossible to resurrect,
and the people decided to let it lie and create a sacred site where
it was buried. The most honored and sacred members of that society
were permitted to be buried there. Women became goddesses when they
gave birth, and those who died in childbirth were deified, and so
they were allowed to be buried along with the Great Mother.
An important item backing this theory was another find: a
headless woman's naked figure, carved of limestone and polished to a
high sheen. The figure, found in a pool that once stood at the feet
of the monolith, was believed to be an offering to the gods. The
raised dots on her arms and legs correspond with the number of days
in the lunar calendar, according to archaeologist Ricardo Muñoz,
while the width of her hips and the fullness of her breasts indicate
a woman at the height of her fertility.
With only six years of excavation and analysis behind them,
there are many secrets yet to be unearthed, and Ahuja and his team
are enormously excited at the possibilities - discoveries that might
contradict much of what historians think they already know about
ancient Mexican history.
Source: My San Antonio (11 October 2007)
http://tinyurl.com/35bdsl
For photos see:
http://redicecreations.com/article.php?id=2035
Greetings,
Join Joan and the organizers of Gaia Fest West tomorrow night, Wednesday, October 17th from 7-8:30pm (PST) for a call-in teleconference.
Joan is a Jungian psychotherapist, channeler and author. She holds a Magdalene Circle every month and opens sacred space to allow for the wisdom of the Magdalene to come through for healing and blessings for the community.
More About Joan Norton
Joan Norton has been a Jungian psychotherapist for 30 years in Los Angeles. She developed communication with expanded states of consciousness after the death of her 16 year old daughter in 1986, reaching to the after-death world as any mother would. While writing for the metaphysics magazine, Sedona Journal of Emergence, Joan had a "breaththrough of consciousness" experience of Mary Magdalene. Her book, The Mary Magdalene Within is a word for word account of the story Mary gave her about she and Jesus and the work they did together.
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TRIBAL AND HERBAL MEDICINE USES
For hundreds of years, indigenous peoples in Brazil and Paraguay have used the leaves of stevia as a sweetener. The Guarani Indians of Paraguay call it kaa jheé and have used it to sweeten their yerba mate tea for centuries. They have also used stevia to sweeten other teas and foods and have used it medicinally as a cardiotonic, for obesity, hypertension, and heartburn, and to help lower uric acid levels.
In addition to being a sweetener, stevia is considered (in Brazilian herbal medicine) to be hypoglycemic, hypotensive, diuretic, cardiotonic, and tonic. The leaf is used for diabetes, obesity, cavities, hypertension, fatigue, depression, sweet cravings, and infections. The leaf is employed in traditional medical systems in Paraguay for the same purposes as in Brazil.
Europeans first learned about stevia in the sixteenth century, when conquistadores sent word to Spain that the natives of South America were using the plant to sweeten herbal tea. Since then stevia has been used widely throughout Europe and Asia. In the United States, herbalists use the leaf for diabetes, high blood pressure, infections, and as a sweetening agent. In Japan and Brazil, stevia is approved as a food additive and sugar substitute.
Stevia's effects and uses as a heart tonic to normalize blood pressure levels, to regulate heartbeat, and for other cardiopulmonary indications first were reported in rat studies (in 1978). Following these studies, a crude extract of stevia demonstrated hypotensive activity in a 1996 clinical study with rats, showing that ". . . at dosages higher than used for sweetening purposes, [stevia extract] is a vasodilator agent in normo- and hypertensive animals." In humans, a hot water extract of the leaf has been shown to lower both systolic and diastolic blood pressure. Several earlier studies on both stevia extracts, as well as its isolated glycosides, demonstrated this hypotensive action (as well as a diuretic action). In hypertensive rats the leaf extract increased renal plasma flow, urinary flow, sodium excretion and filtration rate. In addition to its studied hypotensive effects, a Brazilian research group demonstrated that water extracts of stevia leaves had a hypoglycemic effect and increased glucose tolerance in humans, reporting that it "significantly decreased plasma glucose levels during the test and after overnight fasting in all volunteers." In another human study, blood sugar was reduced by 35% 6-8 hours after oral ingestion of a hot water extract of the leaf.
In other research, stevia has demonstrated antimicrobial, antibacterial, antiviral, and antiyeast activity. A water extract was shown to help prevent dental cavities by inhibiting the bacteria Streptococcus mutansthat stimulates plaque formation. Additionally, a U.S. patent was filed in 1993 on a extract of stevia that claimed it to have vasodilatory activity and deemed it effective for various skin diseases (acne, heat rash, pruritis) and diseases caused by blood circulation insufficiency.
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on Podcast - Gaia Fest West '07 Series - Karen Tate