34 Circe Salon -- Make Matriarchy Great Again -- Disrupting History

Join us as we discuss the role of women in Hawaiian martial arts and traditional combat with stuntwoman and martial artists Michelle Manu.  Ms. Manu is a native of Hawaii and is a stuntwoman and a teacher of the Hawaiian martial art called "Lua."

Sean Marlon Newcombe and Dawn "Sam" Alden co-host. 

The second part of our talk with Joan Marler about her mentor Marija Gimbutas.  Joan is the Founder and Executive Director of the Institute of Archaeomythology.  She is the editor of The Civilization of the Goddess (1991) by Marija Gimbutas and From the Realm of the Ancestors: An Anthology in Honor of Marija Gimbutas (1997). 

Joan lectures internationally about the work of Maria Gimbutas and she is working on a biography of Dr. Gimbutas.

Vicki Noble joins us to share her experiences with Dr. Gimbutas and her work as well.

Sean Marlon Newcombe and Dawn "Sam" Alden co-host.

The Amazons are our inspiration and we thought it would be good to introduce our new listeners to some of discussions on the topic. 

In a wonderful, spirited discussion, we present and encore episode in which Max Dashu discusses her research into the warrior women called "Amazons." How did the Ancient Greek conception of femaleness shape the stories of Amazons that we know today? What is the relationship of Amazon concept to the warrior tribes that existed in the Black Sea region? Was there really a standalone tribe of warrior women? 

Sean Marlon Newcombe and Dawn "Sam" Alden discuss these concepts with Max.

Join us as we talk with Joan Marler about her mentor Marija Gimbutas.  Joan is the Founder and Executive Director of the Institute of Archaeomythology.  She is the editor of The Civilization of the Goddess (1991) by Marija Gimbutas and From the Realm of the Ancestors: An Anthology in Honor of Marija Gimbutas (1997). She worked closely with Marija Gimbutas as her personal editor from 1987-1994 and lectures internationally on Prof. Gimbutas’ life and work.  Joan is working on a biography of Dr. Gimbutas and discusses with her legacy and continued influence.

Vicki Noble joins us to share her experiences with Dr. Gimbutas and her work.

Sean Marlon Newcombe and Dawn "Sam" Alden co-host.

What is the source of creativity?  Where do poems come from?  How does an artist come into being?

Join us as we chat with Mary Mackey about her new book Creativity.  Mary Mackey  is the author of eight collections of poetry and fourteen novels, including the New York Times best-seller A Grand Passion and The Village of Bones, The Year The Horses Came, The Horses At The Gate, and The Fires of Spring, four sweeping historical novels that take as their subject the earth-centered, Goddess-worshiping cultures of Neolithic Europe.  

In her new book Mary takes on her personal journey as an artist and how that journey reflects the journey that all artists take.

Sean Marlon Newcombe, Dawn "Sam" Alden and Vicki Noble join Mary. 

Easily one of our favorite episodes, this extraordinary and little-known bit of history always amazes.

Deliberately erased from history, the story of the women of the Mongol Empire was one of tremendous achievement.  Genghis Khan encouraged equality of the genders and his daughters, granddaughters, daughters-in-law took advantage of that to great success.  Prof. Jack Weatherford is one of the foremost scholars of Mongol history and a New York Times Best Seller author.  He has recovered the stories of these powerful women and shares the tales of their amazing lives with Sean Marlon Newcombe and Dawn "Sam" Alden. 

Join us as we celebrate the history and relevance of International Women's Day (IWD).  From it's inception as an outgrowth of socialist labor movements in the early 20th Century to it's modern incarnation as a global day of awareness of the struggles of women, International Women's Day has provided an annual opportunity to focus on female empowerment.  

We will touch upon the United States Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) and whether this could be the year that American women will have their equal rights enshrined in the US Constitution.  Also, we will talk about this year's UN theme for IWD: "DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality."  Women have made many historical contributions to technological development in culture and we will focus on a few of them including those of Ada Lovelace, the mother of modern computing. 

Vicki Noble, Dawn "Sam" Alden and Sean Marlon Newcombe discuss.

We present an encore presentation of John Colarusso's discussion of the the fabulous Nart Sagas.  As our following has grown, we'd like to acquaint our new listeners with some of the foundational topics of this podcast.  The Nart Sagas touch upon many of the foundational concepts explored in this podcast.  

These sagas are a collection of heroic tales from the Black Sea Region and the Caucasus which are notable for their stories of warrior women and mystical matriarchs.  In the Classical World, Caucasia was known as the land of the fearsome female fighters whose name would pass into history as "Amazons."  

 
Join us as we talk with John Colarusso, renown linguistic professor and the translator of these fabulous tales, as he introduces us to the history of these people, to their languages and to their stories. 

The tales of these powerful women will amaze.

Sean Marlon Newcombe and Dawn "Sam" Alden co-host.

While there is still a chill in the air, let us take a moment a praise the Goddesses of Winter! Join Dawn "Sam" Alden as she regales us with tales of the Frosty Feminine Divine.  You'll hear stories of winter goddesses from cultures around the world-- including a few places that you might not expect!

Sean Marlon Newcombe co-hosts.

The Lenape people are the original inhabitants of a region that stretched from southern New York State through New York City to the state of Delaware. (They are also known as "The Delaware Nation.")  They were eventually displaced to Oklahoma by colonialist encroachment, but their cultural legacy is still powerful in both locations. 

One aspect of that culture that is rarely discussed is its matriarchal character.  Jeremy Johnson, Cultural Education Director of the Delaware Tribe, joins us to tell us about this matriarchal heritage.

Sean Marlon Newcombe and Dawn "Sam" Alden co-host.