Thank you for your wonderful presentation, Shoshana. For technical reasons, I wasn’t able to take up Craig’s invitation to participate by bringing something personal from affinities in our work, which extend into the creative projects of A Chorus of Women here in Canberra, the Australian capital. In the event, it was just right for the conversation to be held between you and Craig. I was touched by the inner resonance between you, linking Old European traditions of healing, justice and democracy with wise Indigenous traditions in North America and Australia. Themis of Epidaurus came to us in Canberra. I was happy, cleaving to the unbroken continuities you are carrying.
Your bountiful, psyche-nurturing scholarship is a big contribution to revealing the 'generative substratum’ that inspired Marija Gimbutas. The songs of the Chorus women have many names for that lively understory. A Vast Harmony. A Passion for Peace. The Wellsprings. The Web. Dear Earth. The Children’s Dream. Peace is the Nurture of Life. She Spins. The Mantle of Songs. And lots of laments and laughter and lullabies! Right now, we are rehearsing this Prayer:
O Gaia
Help us to spin the unbroken thread
From the start of the world
Through our own time
For the children yet to come
I also want to send big gratitude to Tom and all the ARAS people, including the presenters. Thank you so much Jules, Brooke, Shoshana, Craig and Miriam to come. Inspiration from the mythopoetics of climate change is gathering potency! Your significant project is beautifully timed. Not long before she died in 1994, I understand Marija Gimbutas said it would take 30 years for the import of her lifework to be realised. My friend and mentor, the artist and prehistorian Dorothy Cameron (1917-2002) who was Professor Gimbutas’ visionary Australian colleague, agreed -- longing, hoping and ever encouraging the depth psychologists, artists and archaeomythologists so it would not be too late.
Some links: A Chorus of Women’s website www.chorusofwomen.org My email glenda.cloughley@ozemail.com.au
Dear Glenda, Thank you for this wonderful amplification and for adding the beautiful voices of the chorus of women to this conversation. I am so moved by your beautiful prayer, and to your work over the years carrying on the vision of Gimbutas and Gaia and weaving the web of our planetary interconnectedness. So delighted to know you and to know of your beautiful work!