Jun 11
13
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In Search of Merlin Stone filming production goes to Southern California June 18-20.
Our filming schedule is a little more relaxed than the New York trip was, but again we are interviewing an amazing group of women who all have something wonderful to share about the impact of Merlin Stone’s life and about the other sacred women who have also passed. We will be sharing clips from some of these interviews at the Merlin Stone Memorial Benefit Celebration.
Ava of Goddess Temple of OC
June 18th we travel to The Goddess Temple of Orange County where we will interview Reverend Ava and ask her to speak to the impact that Merlin Stone’s work had upon her life and her calling.
Later that evening, The Goddess Temple of Orange County has graciously offered to allow us to film their evening ritual. This is an important offering because it allows us to share with world a real Goddess ceremony founded in the thealogy that Merlin Stone reclaimed for women’s spirituality. We are very grateful to the Goddess Temple for this gift.
Certainly many women’s groups do not have such a fine temple to worship in, but we feel that The Goddess Temple of Orange County hearkens back to an ancient time when such matriarchal temples did exist and thrive. There are few temples like this in existence. Perhaps documenting its existence will inspire others to create their own Goddess Temple.
For more information, you can visit: www.goddesstempleoforangecounty.com
Miri Hunter Haruach
We’re also interviewing Dr. Miri Hunter Haruach, an Adjunct Professor at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco. She is also a Lecturer in the LEAP Program at St. Mary’s College (Los Angeles Campus). Dr. Haruach did her doctoral work on the Queen of Sheba. Through her research, teaching, writing and performing she connected with her ancient ancestral roots by tapping into streams of genetic memory. Taking the Wisdom stories of the Queen of Sheba as well as studying various other Wisdom traditions throughout the world, she re-searched and developed an oracle and meditation system which grounds the individual in the present moment while connecting to the multidimensionality of the Divne, thereby opening the student to an awareness of his/her own unique creativity, strength, freedom and, of course, beauty. http://www.projectsheba.com
As an actress, Miri has toured nationally with her one woman shows “Grandmothers of the Universe” and “The Queen of Sheba? Yes I Am!” She has performed in various stage productions such as Jacques Brel at the Actors’ Ensemble in San Francisco, 15 Minutes of Fem and Comedy Union, both of which ran in Los Angeles. She has also performed with the Los Angeles Women’s Theatre Festival for two consecutive years.
June 19th we will interview Karen Tate, host of the Voices of the Sacred Feminine radio show. (www.KarenTate.com)
An independent scholar, speaker, radio show host, published author, and sacred tour organizer, Karen’s body of work blends her experiences of women-centered multiculturalism evident in archaeology, anthropology and mythology with her unique academic and literary talents and travel experience throughout the world.
We’ve asked Karen to share with all of us the importance and impact of Merlin Stone’s work for her and the people Karen works with.
Also on June 19th, we will catch up with Gloria Orenstein, author of Ecofeminism for which Merlin Stone wrote the foreword. We’ve asked Gloria to share with us what having Merlin writing the forward in her book meant to her. (http://www-bcf.usc.edu/~orenstei/)
Gloria is also promising a good Merlin tale or two!
Professor Orenstein researches women’s studies in contemporary art, literature and culture; ecofeminism in the arts; surrealism; women and surrealism; shamanism and Jewish women artists. Her first book, The Theater of the Marvelous: Surrealism and The Contemporary Stage, paved the way for her pioneering work on the women of surrealism. She has recently written The Reflowering of the Goddess, a feminist analysis of the movement in the contemporary arts that reclaims the Goddess as a symbol of a paradigm shift and a change in our mythos and ethos. More recently she has become a Contributing Editor to FEMSPEC, an interdisciplinary feminist journal dedicated to critical and creative works in the realms of science fiction, fantasy, magical realism, surrealism, myth, folklore and other supernatural genres.
Our final stop as we head back to Northern California is at the home of Charlene Spretnak.
Since the mid-1980s, all of her books have been an engagement with modernity, its discontents, and the corrective efforts that are arising. She is a co-founder of the Green Party movement in the United States and is a professor of philosophy and religion at the California Institute of Integral Studies, a graduate institute in San Francisco. In 2006 Charlene Spretnak was named by the British government’s Environment Department as one of the “100 Eco-Heroes of All Time.” (www.charlenespretnak.com)
California Institute of Integral Studies is the school that gave Merlin her honorary Doctorate.
We will bring you more tastes of this goddess-goodness as we progress. Please bookmark this Merlin Stone website and share the link. Help to get the word out about Merlin’s Memorial. Help us to create her-story! Blessed be the life of our beloved sister Merlin!
