What if the strength that got Medusa labeled monstrous really made her majestic?
And what if those old labels are creating doubts and attracting criticism in your own life?
Myths are powerful archetype creators, and no myth has contributed more to the strong-woman-as-monster archetype than Medusa.
Today Medusa—like strong women everywhere—would be called nasty, persistent, bossy, bitchy or worse. This is the legacy of misinterpreting her power, and it has led us to misunderstanding our own.
That is why we have called in the torchbearers—the most learned Medusa scholars on the planet—to re-story this myth with us, restoring her—and us—to our original majesty.
During a series of conversations, Girl God Books founder Trista Hendren will dive deep into the creation of this myth and its tragic distortions with Glenys Livingstone, Laura Shannon, Miriam Robbins Dexter and Joan Marler.
This four-week series will bring Medusa's voice into your living room Wednesdays in September, kicking off on 9/8. Tune in live or watch the recordings at your leisure. Times will vary because our teachers are coming to you from all over the world!
For just $99, you will have access to the live events, a private discussion forum (not Facebook) & the recordings to rewatch as many times as you like—because deprogramming our patriarchal inheritance is not a one and done!
Restoring Through Re-Storying
This conversation series will unearth the ancient myth of Medusa, exposing how her power—and ours—has been deemed monstrous and is ripe for reclamation.
9/8 Glenys Livingstone 2 am EST
9/15 Laura Shannon 8 am EST
9/22 Miriam Robbins Dexter 2 pm EST
9/29 Joan Marler 11 am EST
Count Me In!Glenys Livingstone
Wednesday, 9/8 @ 2 am EST (Find Your Time Zone)
Glenys opens our dialogue with essential questions and insightful explorations of how we all would be profoundly altered by welcoming Medusa back into our souls and our psyches in all her glory.
Glenys Livingstone Ph.D. (Social Ecology) is the author of PaGaian Cosmology and My Name is Medusa. She is a featured contributor to Return to Mago blog. Current projects include a book on Celebrating PaGaian Sacred Ceremony and a series of PaGaian Cosmology Meditations.
Laura Shannon
Wednesday, 9/14 @ 8 am EST (Find Your Time Zone)
Laura suggests that Medusa and Athena, both goddesses of healing, wisdom, and protection, can offer valuable support for women's healing from trauma, if we look beyond the patriarchal projections which have distorted the original nature of these powerful goddesses.
Considered one of the ‘grandmothers’ of the worldwide Sacred/Circle Dance movement, Laura Shannon has been researching and teaching traditional women’s dances for more than 30 years. She has published widely and writes a regular blog on Feminism & Religion. Laura succeeded Carol P. Christ as Director of the Ariadne Institute for the Study of Myth and Ritual, and will be leading groups on the Goddess Pilgrimage to Crete following Carol's template in 2022.
Miriam Robbins Dexter
Wednesday, 9/22 @ 2 pm EST (Find Your Time Zone)
Our deep dive into Medusa continues as Miriam and Trista embark on a historical and cross-cultural exploration of Medusa in a much-needed a feminist effort to honor and articulate the complexity of the divine female.
Miriam Robbins Dexter holds a Ph.D. in ancient Indo-European languages, archaeology, and comparative mythology, from UCLA. She is the author of Whence the Goddesses: A Source Book, and she completed and supplemented Marija Gimbutas' final book, The Living Goddesses. She coauthored Sacred Display: Divine and Magical Female Figures of Eurasia with Victor Mair and with Vicki Noble, edited the anthology, Foremothers of the Women’s Spirituality Movement: Elders and Visionaries.
Joan Marler
Wednesday, 9/29 @ 11 am EST (Find Your Time Zone)
In this final conversation, Joan reminds us that the Gorgon Medusa presents herself to us here and now, requiring us to be fully present, to listen deeply—past the noise of accumulated judgments—to the Ancient Wisdom that is our true inheritance.
Joan Marler is the Founder and Executive Director of the Institute of Archaeomythology. She is the editor of several books on the life and work of Marija Gimbutas and is completing her doctorate in Philosophy and Religion with an emphasis in Women's Spirituality at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco where she has been an adjunct professor. She is the author of “An Archaeomythological Investigation of the Gorgon” in ReVision 25, no. 1 (Summer 2002): 15-23; and “The Gorgon Medusa” in Women in World Religions.
Medusa Speaks
Join us for all four of these powerful conversations on reclaiming the majesty of Medusa in our own lives.
9/8 Glenys Livingstone 2 am EST
9/15 Laura Shannon 8 am EST
9/22 Miriam Robbins Dexter 2 pm EST
9/29 Joan Marler 11 am EST
Recordings Included
Medusa Anthology
Our conversations in this series spring from each of our guests' pieces in our anthology, Re-Visioning Medusa: From Monster to Divine Wisdom. Get your copy today!
Trista Hendren
Founder, Girl God Books
Trista Hendren will facilitate this series, bringing Medusa to life through her profound and revelatory conversation with four wise scholars who have devoted themselves to Goddess exploration and to Medusa in particular.
In 2011, Trista founded Girl God Books to support a necessary unraveling of the patriarchal world view of divinity. Her first book—The Girl God, a children's picture book—was a response to her own daughter's inability to see herself reflected in God. Since then, she has published more than 25 books by a dozen women from across the globe with help from her husband, Anders; mother, Pat; and son, Joey.
Why Medusa's Story Matters
Endorsements From Women Leading the Way
Praise for My Name is Medusa
“I am awe struck at the beautiful job you have done in liberating Medusa from the stereotype, and elevating Her to a rightful place among the deities. You have spoken in poetic and innocent language, a re-enchantment of 'the dark' that will lead us all, child and adult, into the soft warm darkness of the womb, the earth, and the cosmos."
Yeye Luisah Teish
Storyteller-Writer, Artist-Activist & Spiritual Counselor
Jambalaya & On Holy Ground
Praise for Re-Visioning Medusa
“Gifted Women's Spirituality poets, artists, and scholars create a fascinating portal to open our understanding of Medusa and her powers, to protect and heal, and also to destroy. Medusa's angry fierceness—that opposes social oppression and other violations of the matristic values of community, cooperation, and caring—will find a resonance among spiritually awakening readers for facing the political challenges of today.”
Mara Lynn Keller, PhD
Professor of Philosophy, Religion and Women's Spirituality, California Institute of Integral Studies
Praise For Re-Visioning Medusa
"I welcome Re-visioning Medusa: from Monster to Divine Wisdom wholeheartedly. Medusa unfolds the original vision of the female divine. Calling her a rebel underestimates her power. In short, the symbol of Medusa embodies Goddess Feminism, Activism, and Spirituality. Together with women, Medusa is ever present in the intergalactic journey of the Great Goddess."
Helen Hye-Sook Hwang, Ph.D
Author of The Mago Way: Re-discovering Mago, the Great Goddess from East Asia
Praise for Re-Visioning Medusa
"This deeply felt, thought and illustrated anthology asks us to imagine, know, feel, and face Medusa. This ancient goddess is not the monster to be slain by a patriarchal hero, but the face of the Earth and of wisdom. The diverse offerings in this wonderful anthology lead readers to knowledge, through study as well as dreams, art, and storytelling. It is a very fine and compelling read and also a glorious guide for getting down to the Earth wisdom so direly needed in these times."
Jane Caputi, Ph.D
Center for Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Communication & Multimedia, Florida Atlantic University
Medusa Speaks
Join us for all four of these powerful conversations on reclaiming the majesty of Medusa in our own lives.
9/8 Glenys Livingstone 2 am EST
9/15 Laura Shannon 8 am EST
9/22 Miriam Robbins Dexter 2 pm EST
9/29 Joan Marler 11 am EST
Recordings Included
Medusa Anthology
Our conversations in this series spring from each of our guests' pieces in our anthology, Re-Visioning Medusa: From Monster to Divine Wisdom. Get your copy today!
