Mago Academy invites you to the 2024 Fall Online Seminar “Goddesses of the Seasons” taught by Dr. Helen Benigni. Dr. Benigni has served The Mago Work branches as a volunteer since 2022 including S/HE: An International Journal of Goddess Studies. A seminar course is another spin-off of the 2024 S/HE Divine Studies Online Conference after the S/HE Divine Studies Online Forum. This is the first innovative online seminar toward S/HE Divine Studies (Creatrix Studies) that Mago Academy envisions to establish.
Instructor: Dr. Helen Benigni
Times & dates: 5 Mondays in October and early November, 2 hours each session. 12:00 pm EST
Schedule:
October 7 Introduction to the Archetypes of the Calendar Goddesses
October 14 The Sacred Calendar of Eleusis and the Goddesses of the Fall
October 21 The Great Goddess of the Winter Sky and the Priestesses of the Star Clusters
October 28 The Celestial Spring
November 4 Time-Keeper, Earth-Keeper, Star-Keeper: The Creatrix of Summer
Guest Speaker: Dr. Helen Hye Sook Hwang on 13 Month 28 Day Lunar-Solar-Menstrual Calendar
Methods: Five Zoom sessions. One hour lecture, one hour discussion per session. Zoom link and passcode will be emailed to registered attendees.
Description: Using the archetypes of the Neolithic culture defined by Marija Gimbutas and the information translated from the ancient calendars of the Celts and the Greeks, a research group has identified the Goddesses of the Seasons of the year. Each season of the ancient calendars of Europe and the Mediterranean is carefully defined by its moons, solar holidays, and most importantly, a pattern of constellations that tells the story of the night sky which has been used to determine the myths of the Grandmother, the Mother and the Daughter throughout the year. Welcome this vital information by exploring the myths and the patterns of the night sky that were the base of ancient civilization and the fruit for our re-constituting a matriarchy for our present use. Celebrate the opportunity and join the Creatrix Studies to verify the Goddess in our own sphere of understanding.
Texts: Benigni, Helen. The Myth of the Year (Mago Books, 2023) and Celebrating Seasons of the Goddess, Eds. Helen Hye Sook Hwang and Mary Ann Beavis (Mago Books, 2017).
Optional Outcome for Attendees: One researched article or presentation edited by Dr. Benigni and sent as a submission to Return to Mago E-Magazine or S/HE: An International Journal of Goddess Studies for publication, and/or the 2025 Mago Conference (June, 2025) for presentation.
Fee: $100
Registration Required: Email the following form to Mago Academy (magoacademy@gmail.com) with the fee payment. Primary deadline: September 1, 2024.
1. Your name and affiliation (if applicable)
2. Working email address
3. What makes you take this seminar course?
4. Questions or requests
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About the Instructor: Helen Benigni (Ph.D. Indiana University of Pennsylvania) is a published author and Professor Emerita in Comparative Mythology at Davis and Elkins College in Elkins, West Virginia. For several decades, Helen has been teaching classes in Comparative Mythology with an emphasis on Goddess studies. Her books, The Myth of the Year (Mago Books, 2023), The Goddess and the Bull (University Press of America, 2007), and The Mythology of Venus (University Press of America, 2013) incorporate the research findings of archeoastronomers to determine the myths associated with the cycles found on the ancient calendars of the Greeks and the Celts. Identifying the goddesses of the matri-local cultures of the ancients with the seasons represented by the lunar, solar and stellar bodies has been a major endeavor in the study of archetypes, with an emphasis on the feminine archetypes of the celestial realms. Helen’s research with the Hellenic Studies Center in Washington D.C., her many trips to ancient sites, and her collaborative efforts with scholars in mythology, astronomy, archeology, and art have led to her discovery of the presence of the Goddess in the night sky and the continued renewal of the Goddess in contemporary times.