Lecture series on the ancient feminine 
July 14, 2006

Cultural historian Max Dashu of Berkeley, California, presents a slide show and lecture series giving an innovative perspective on the ancient feminine and other "hidden histories." An independent scholar, Dashu has spent 30 years developing the Suppressed Histories Archives with the aim of shining a visual "spotlight" on the hidden histories that rarely make the history books. Dashu has used an interdisciplinary approach to build her visual archives. She likes to emphasize that art and symbols preceded the written word and that the visual mode is the natural way to comprehend the inherent meanings of both ancient and contemporary histories.

She draws on history, art, archaeology, anthropology, literature, folklore and comparative religion to spotlight the hidden corners of history. The result is an archive of some 15,000 slides and over 100 slide shows, including more than 30 global-spectrum slide shows. Three of these shows-The Divine and Ancient Feminine, Ancient Mexico, and Women Shamans-will be shown on July 20, 22 and 24. There will also be an afternoon workshop on July 26 on Toning and Chanting. In this workshop, Dashu will teach some of the toning and chanting techniques that she has learned while researching shamanism.

Dashu shows her slide shows across the United States and internationally. She is adjunct faculty for the Women's Spirituality Program at the New College in San Francisco and has guest-taught classes at the California Institute of Integral Studies and at John F. Kennedy University.


The Divine and Ancient Feminine

Thursday, July 20, 5pm
The sacred was seen as feminine for at least 80 percent of our modern homo sapiens history. Where has she been these past few thousand years? Suppressed, ignored and exorcised, she has nevertheless been there all along. This slide show takes a fascinating look at goddesses in the major national traditions, including, among others, ancient Egypt, Canaan and Judah/Israel, Iraq, India, and China, the Americas and Africa.
Ancient Mexico 


The Great Goddesses

Saturday, July 22, 5pm (in English); 7pm (in Spanish)
This show presents images of clay statuettes, the Great Goddess of the Teotihuacan murals, Zapotec and Huastecan sculptures, Coatlicue, Cihuacoatl, Xilomen, and other goddesses from the Aztec cosmology, and female deities from the Maya, Aztec and Mixtec codices. The slide show gives an unusual glimpse into the obscured feminine background behind the better-known "warrior and gods" foreground of ancient Mexico.


Women Shamans

Monday, July 24, 5pm
Drummers, dreamers, diviners, ecstatic dancers, sky-walkers, rainmakers, oracles, seers, prophets, medicine women and curanderas comprise this slide show on women who invoke spirit, prophesy, heal, and work with herbs. The presentation gives a comprehensive, global view of female spiritual powers, from sacred dance to shamanic flight and shape-shifting.

Slide shows, the ancient feminine and hidden histories
July 20, 22 & 24, 5pm, Warren Hardy School, San Rafael 6, 50 pesos



Lecture series on ancient Mexican cultures continues

Several ancient cultures of Mexico are fairly well-known: Maya, Zapotec, Mixtec, Aztec, Olmec and Toltec. Less known, perhaps, is the Classic Veracruz culture, which flourished from about AD 100 to 900.

The Classic Veracruz had a unique art style that revealed itself in yokes, palmas and hachas, stone-carved ritual objects associated with the Mesoamerican ball game-which frequently ended with the sacrifice of the players. Not all the players, of course (but what would you guess-the winners or the losers?). The Classic Veracruz culture's interest in the ball game was extraordinary. Most architectural sites of the ancient cultures had one to three ball courts. El Tajín, the major site of the Classic Veracruz civilization, had eleven!
The Classic Veracruz culture, along with the Maya, Zapotec and Mixtec, are the focus of a lecture entitled "Ancient Cultures of Mexico, part II." The lecture's purpose is to aid those interested in distinguishing between the various cultures.

Each culture has a defining characteristic or phenomenon associated with it that sets it apart from the others. There are also images of art and architecture that differentiate and distinguish each of the cultures. The lecture will be illustrated with over 200 digital images that reveal the uniqueness and beauty of the ancient cultures of Mexico. The lecturer is Guillermo Méndez, retired Professor of Humanities and San Miguel resident.

Lecture, Ancient Cultures of Mexico part II
Wednesday, July 19, 3pm, Teatro Santa Ana, Insurgentes 25, 50 pesos