The Great Cosmic Mother: Rediscovering the Religion of the Earth

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On the contrary, the knowledge of the existence in the ancient past of cultures shaped around and by creative women who were mothers as well as producers – seers, shamans and communicators with the living spirit and energies of the cosmos and Earth – gave me strength and hope to struggle during many years before the rebirth of the Women’s movement. Berg, Anne; Moore, Liz (1972). Towards a Revolutionary Feminist Art. Bristol, England: Monica Sjöö. Artist Linda Persson was asked early on to participate. Her decision to contribute based on the power that Monica’s work holds, aims to emphasise not just her own practice but all those women, womxn and bodies that still fight the same battles of violation and disrespect. Linda has invited Rachel Fallon (Irish artist) www.rachelfallon.com who made the fantastic work Aprons of Power that were used in the protests for the repeal of the 8th amendment in Ireland quite recently. The programe includes a re-making of Aprons of Power as a workshop 17th June 12-5pm that Linda and Rachel will lead culminating in a live promenade march and performance from Beaconsfield in Lambeth alongside the Thames to Parliament. I included this image in monoprint form from the Feminist Archive South together with 4 other monoprints in my recent exhibition ‘Invoking Absence’ (2021). The exhibition considered mineral layers, landscapes, waters and the invisible beings of place within a cycle of deep and neoteric time. The inclusion of Sjöö’s prints from the archive enabled a dialogue with goddess feminism, an area of practice that has drawn criticism from within some feminist quarters for being essentialist. But which has also been defended as part of a spiritual tradition that has been unfairly silenced too. Sjöö’s personal experience of motherhood was also deeply influential, as it was through her transformative experience of childbirth that her politics and spirituality became inseparable. During the natural home birth of her second child she experienced a profound connection between the power of her body and the divine force of the Great Mother/Goddess. The Great Mother or Goddess is the creative energy of the universe, whose divine force provided feminists with an image of woman as a powerful, protective and destructive originator of life. Images and symbols of the goddess have been uncovered and documented in most ancient cultures throughout the world. The Great Mother, or Goddess, offers an empowering model for overcoming patriarchal structures that oppressed women and dominated nature. Following this intensely spiritual birth experience, Sjöö created the painting God Giving Birth (1968) and continued to channel the Goddess in her paintings.

Monica Sjöö linked many of her ideas to The Great Mother, a figure that is found in many cultures throughout history. For Sjöö, the essence of The Great Mother was present in all phases of life, as an experience that imbues both nature and being. This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Sjöö, Monica (1975). The Ancient Religion of the Great Cosmic Mother of All. Bristol, England: Monica Sjöö. (Original pamphlet) With royalties for The Great Cosmic Mother late in coming, Mor attempted to parley the success of the book into a teaching position, but ultimately could not find even menial work and ended up destitute and homeless for several years. [8] She moved to Portland, Oregon in the 1990s, but her experience of homelessness and poverty in the American southwest even as The Great Cosmic Mother was being taught in colleges throughout the country provided much of the material for her next and last two books The Blue Rental [9] and The Victory of Sex and Metal. [10] Later work [ edit ] The Blue Rental [ edit ]a b "Exhibitions". Monica Sjöö: An Online Retrospective. Archived from the original on 7 August 2007 . Retrieved 28 January 2018. Beverley’s work and further information is featured in the University of Bristol Special Collections at feministarchivesouth.org.uk and we will be featuring her paintings over the month of September to raise awareness of her work and contribution to group exhibitions of women artists. Tested by the Dark/Light Mother of the Other-world". In Matthews, Caitlin (ed.). Voices of the Goddess: A Chorus of Sibyls. Aquarian Press. ISBN 9780850309652. Our Artist in Residence this month is featuring the legacy artist Beverley Skinner friend and exhibiting woman artist with Monica Sjoo, for the month of September. Beverley exhibited her work with Monica at the Womanpower Exhibition circa 1975 and also in the Woman Magic Touring Exhibition in the 1970s.

Sjöö's art can be found in the Women's Art Collection at Murray Edwards College in Cambridge and at the Museum Anna Nordlander [ sv] in Skellefteå, Sweden. Some of her works are currently held in private collections of individuals: Sig Lonegren, Alice Walker, and Genevieve Vaughan [13] hold a few, while Maggie Parks holds most of her art. [26] The Temple of Goddess Spirituality dedicated to Sekhmet holds Solar Lionheaded Sekhment of Primordial Fire (1992, oil on hardboard) where it is displayed in the living room of their guest house. [27] [28] Written works [ edit ] The Great Cosmic Mother [ edit ] a b Mor, Barbara. "The Oliver Arts & Open Press The Victory of sex and Metal". Oliveropenpress.com . Retrieved 2016-01-13. Originally from a small dairy farm in Cornwall Deasy Bamford has worked across cultures and landscape for over 30 years, bringing peoples together through cultural sharing, music and the freedom to explore. She has established intercultural music festivals www.tribeofdoris.co.ukand youth and family projects www.imayla.co.uk that connect through culture, creativity nature and space. She is a roamer and lover of wild open spaces, mandala maker, photographer, spoken word and land artist. “I continue to delight in free education and inspiration, the meeting of hearts and minds especially through music and creativity and being an outright idealist, because what other option do we have to change the world of power and knowledge imbalances?”Raivio, Magdalena (2007). "Transforming Reality or Reinforcing Stereotypes? On the Use of Birth-Giving as Metaphor in a Spiritual Ecofeminist Context". In Stenström, Hanna; Vuola, Elina; Bieberstein, Sabine (eds.). Scandinavian Critique of Anglo-American Feminist Theology. Journal of the European Society of Women in Theological Research. Vol.15. Leuven: Peeters. p.150. doi: 10.2143/ESWTR.15.0.2022774. ISBN 978-90-429-1974-7.

The oppression of women in societies for the past few thousand years has nothing to do with our biology as women, but all to do with patriarchal culture and economic structures.” – Monica Sjöö So, I knew when my eyes fixed my eyes on ‘Summerland’ (1996) that this had to be the final work of Sjöö to celebrate here. The first thing you see when you arrive at Moderna Museet, before you enter the Monica Sjöö exhibition, is a wall covered with contemporary protest posters and slogans. These are all from the Friday School Protests, led by Greta Thunberg. What is striking is that these same issues are the very same that Monica Sjöö was campaigning for in the 1970’s.Sjöö, Monica. "Solar Lionheaded Sekhmet of Primordial Fire – 1992 (Oil on Hardboard)". Monica Sjöö. Archived from the original on 27 October 2007 . Retrieved 28 January 2018. Sjöö believed the spirit and energy of the Goddess or The Great Mother to be present in all of life’s phases, an essence that saturated both nature and being. Sjöö viewed the oppression of women and minorities, as well as the exploitation of the land and the ravaging of the environment, as akin to violence exerted on the Great Mother.

On November 19th 2022 the plaque was inaugurated, with a short talk by Dr Sue Tate, followed by the dedication by the Lord-Lieutenant of the City & County of Bristol, Mrs Peaches Golding OBE CStJ. I have not been trying to understand and communicate (through painting and writing) the ancient religion of the Mother as some form of escape from having to face up to the very real and acute economic and sexual oppression of us women in present capitalist societies”, she writes in the article “The Witches are Returning” in Peace News, 19 November 1976: In conclusion this Survey Show at Moderna Museet in 2023 offers to its visitors a very rich experience and a catalyst to a deeper enquiry into the legacy of Monica Sjöö artist, activist writer and eco-feminist. Her personal pilgrimages are mapped in these drawings and paintings offering an individual signature that remains unique.

urn:lcp:greatcosmicmothe00sjoo:epub:2db9cde0-3adb-4f2b-80e9-c3bb95327dbd Extramarc University of Alberta Libraries Foldoutcount 0 Identifier greatcosmicmothe00sjoo Identifier-ark ark:/13960/t7cr8gg76 Invoice 11 Isbn 0062507915 Sjöö was highly critical of many of the ideas and personages of the New Age movement, including Alice Bailey, J. Z. Knight and "Ramtha", and Gene Roddenberry for some of the ideas behind Star Trek. [20] Reception [ edit ]