#NewThisDay Writing From My Photo Stream
Lady Slippers, Maine Woods
Rising early at sunrise in an unfamiliar place, I leave the cabin, walk toward the water, veiled in mist. Here, I enter my Sunday sanctuary by a lake in the Maine woods.
Camp Kieve, Nobleboro, Maine, my week begins at the Great Mother/New Father Conference – my first. We are here to listen to poetry, storytellers, we are here to explore Homer's Odyssey. We are here to honor story, the journey, and homecoming.
“HISTORY
The Great Mother and New Father Conference was begun in 1975 by Robert Bly, and at the time one of its major themes was the goddess or “Great Mother” as she has been known throughout human history. Much of Bly’s 1973 book of poems Sleepers Joining Hands is concerned with this theme, and was influenced by the thinking of C.G. Jung and his students Marie Louise Von-Franz and Erich Neumann (author of the comprehensive book The Great Mother). In the context of America’s war with Vietnam, a focus on the divine feminine was seen as urgent and necessary.
Since that time, the Conference has expanded to consider a wide variety of poetic, mythological, and fairy tale traditions. In the ’80s and ’90s there was much discussion among the conference community about the changes contemporary men were (and are) going through; “the New Father” was then added to the Conference title, in recognition of this movement and in order to keep the Conference as inclusive as possible.”
After my walk, after breakfast, in the great hall, we called the story:
"Shall we go?"
"Let's Go! Let's Go! Let's Go!"
