Cosmogenetrix 2023

306 North Mount Shasta Boulevard,Mount Shasta CA 96067

24 March, 2023

Description

Our theme this year is Lion Heart, with special focus on the following topics: Goddesses associated with lions, such as Sekmet, Mehit, Cybele, Durga, Al-lat, and others.Profiles of inspiring Ancestresses and living women of courage, daring, leadership, and boldnessCultivating fearlessness and audacity in the face of systemic oppression and misogynyThe Lion’s Gate phenomenaMyths around the constellation of LeoHistory of lion symbolism and mythan evening Rite of SpringCosmogenetrix 2023 Schedule of Events: March 24, 4:00pm: Smoke Offering Stones with Priestess Lisa - In this 2-hour hands-on workshop, wear something comfy and get ready to make a Smoke Offering Stone! Priestess Lisa will help attendees pour the concrete mixture into forms and create a depression for burning incense, charcoal, or other smoke offerings, and she will supply attendees with a variety of materials to decorate and personalise their smoke offering stones. These stones will be dried, hardened, and ready to take home by Sunday, and Priestess Lisa will have molds for various sizes ready so that even if you travel by plane you can still make something that will fit easily into your luggage. March 25: Presentations will begin at 10am USA Pacific Time, and the event will close at 9:00pm. 10am: Opening remarks with Yeshe Matthews 10:15am: Gentle Yoga Flow with Jennifer Martinez - This class will guide individuals to center and quiet their thoughts allowing them to be more present at the symposium. There will be a combination of mindful meditation and gentle asanas. 11:00am: Pillars of the Lion Throne: Anchoring the Energy of the Goddess in the World with Rowan Vijayeswaridas - For thousands of years, lions and other big cats have been depicted on the thrones of deities and rulers across the world. Symbols of power and authority, these leonine seats are the meeting ground of earthly and divine energy. In this presentation, we will build on that iconography as a way for modern devotees to bring the Goddess into their life, allowing her work to unfold through and around them. To embrace the essence of the lion throne is to become a seat of sacred action from which change may issue forth. 11:45am: Cultivating Courage with Mea Voce - “True Courage is in facing danger when you are afraid” -Cowardly Lion, Wizard of Oz. What would you do if your worse fear came true? How do you think you would react? Would you run and hide, wishing it would go away? Would you charge at it in anger, trying to force from your sight? Would you curl up in a ball and pretend it didn’t exist? On January 27, 2019, I came face to face with my worse fear. The police came to my home at 7 am and informed me that my husband, my best friend was deceased. In a blink my life was changed irrevocably. In a blink all I cherished was gone. When your worst fear comes literally knocking at your door, there is no room to run and hide. There is no telling Fear that you are not ready or didn’t plan on it arriving. “Can you please come back another day, Fear, and allow me to prepare?” There is no preparing for what life sends your way, now, is there? And it is in these moments of Real Life that we must dig deep within, accessing resources we never knew existed. We must shut out outside voices and listen, really listen to the wisdom Goddess offers us within. “There is no living thing that is not afraid when it faces danger,” finishes Cowardly Lion. Yet it is our confidence, our trust, our faith in Goddess and our abilities that enable us to rise beyond fear and display the courage we thought we never had. Join me as we journey into the heart of a lion where we will cultivate courage for a new era of strength, sovereignty and purpose. 12:30pm-2pm Lunch break 2pm: The Minoan Lion with Cosette Paneque - When Sir Arthur Evans excavated Knossos, his discovery of the beautiful wasp-waisted female figures in 1903 made a vivid impression on the popular imagination. The Snake Goddess is the most famous and iconic figure of the Minoan civilisation. Together with frescoes of acrobatic young figures leaping over bulls and Greek stories of the Minotaur, the snake and bull have become the most familiar sacred animals of the Minoans. Minoan art depicts many other animals, real and mythical, such as birds, bees, monkeys, dolphins, fish, gryphons, and sphinxes. There are also hundreds of images of lions and women–goddesses or priestesses–flanked by lions. In this presentation, we'll look at the lions in Minoan art, explore the significance of female figures surrounded by lions, and consider how we might incorporate lions in modern Minoan-inspired Pagan practice. 2:45pm The Real Sekhmet: Deity, Archetype and Ideal (With Meditation) with Karen Tate - As a devotee and researcher dedicated to Sekhmet for years, I've come to believe she is greatly misunderstood. The real essence of of who She is has been clouded by patriarchal disinformation and patriarchal fear of female power. In this presentation I'd like to share a re-constructed story of Sekhmet from the shreds that remain from antiquity and take some license as those who are divinely inspired have the responsibility to do and re-tell Her story in a contemporary context, making Sekhmet relevant for this age, particularly to women. I'll also share her essence from the perspective of archetype or role model and ideal or values she offers humanity to evolve and progress. 3:30pm: Riding the Fierce and Tender Lioness: Sacred Movement with Vajra Ma - Why is Lion such an ancient and enduring epiphany of the Goddess? Durga rides the Lion, Sumerian Goddess Lilith stands on the back of a Lion, Medusa is depicted with Lions at her side as she gives birth. Lions frame the Babylonian Gate of Ishtar and down through the ages Lions flank the Throne of the Goddess, even the Christian Mother Mary. There is good reason that the traditional Sanskrit word for throne is singhasana, meaning ‘seat of the lion’! In this guided journey of breath and movement we will move beyond information into direct contact with the ‘seat of the lion’ which in women is situated in the cervix, the portal between worlds. (Men can connect by honoring this female power in their hearts.) In this guided journey of breath and movement we will move beyond information to directly contact this inner seat of power. With reverent inquiry and attention we will invite the frequencies of Lioness to stream through our body, breath and movement. Lioness activates spiritual insight, strength, feline grace, courage, divine pride, motherly protection, powerful dreams and healing. We will join the power of singhasana with the compassion of the heart to feel the fullness of the Lion Heart! What frequencies you experience will be unique and particular to your individual needs and life path. 4:15pm: Lion Goddesses of the Ancient World with Devanna Wolf - In the ancient world, goddesses embodied the wild and unpredictable forces of Nature. On the whole, the concept of a demure, entirely benevolent goddess did not exist until the advent of patriarchal monotheism. The passionate, emotionally charged and often destructive nature of the goddess existed simultaneously with her compassionate, loving, nurturing aspects. In this presentation we will look at different forms of the Goddess as Wild Woman, Lady of the Beasts, Friend of Tigers, and Divine Queen flanked by Lions. We will meet untamed goddesses such as Potnia Theron, Medeina, Cybele, Asherah, Inanna, Anahit, Durga, Hekate, and Freyja as goddesses of mystery, power, war, and sovereignty. 5pm: Ancestress Hatshepsut, Goddess (Netjer) Shesmetet, and Kemetic Mother Goddess mysticism/tradition with Alaya Diya Dannu - The re-emergence of the Divine Feminine brings with it the re-emergence of the oldest of the old. We cannot have a conversation about the Divine Feminine as Goddess without speaking about her as Mother Goddess and the Mother Goddess traditions and mysteries she generates and transmits to her progeny. For this presentation, I will call forth one ancestress and a lioness-headed woman divinity from one thread of my diverse ancestral tapestry to share knowledge about the medicine this lioness deity brings to women today. 5:30-7:30pm Dinner break 7:30-9pm: The Lion Throne of Matar Kubileya/Cybele, a Spring Equinox Ritual presented by the Mt Shasta Goddess Temple - In this ceremony honoring the Equinox, we will drum and chant to the mountain mother, Matar Kubileya, and we will dance between the lion pillars of the Temple while setting intentions for courage, strength, and empowerment. March 26 - Networking brunch at 11:00am, catered with vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, paleo, and omnivore options. Location: Welcome OM CommuniTea House, 306 N Mt Shasta Blvd, Mt Shasta, CA 96067