|
Odyssey Quest, Inc. Empowering individuals on their personal paths to wellness, self-healing, and spiritual wholeness |
|
Odyssey Quest, Inc. Empowering individuals on their personal paths to wellness, self-healing, and spiritual wholeness |
The challenges to women seeking to remove the yoke of patriarchal terrorism and function as leaders and partners in their families, communities and the world are many. We are all working from belief systems that have relegated the feminine principle subordinate to the masculine, which has created a psychic imbalance in our world culture. In order for humanity to successfully transition and transform humanistically, women must regain knowledge of the feminine principle in her holistic, creative and productive form, prior to the onset of patriarchy, and create a new set of values and beliefs that supports partnership in the natural and human realms.
Mythology is an age-old system of symbols constructed to enable human beings to understand and move through life both personally and universally. Inherent in every symbol system are beliefs and values that reflect reality as one perceives it and as it could be. These tales are examples of how one manages and negotiates the world. Nature, the gods and goddesses, fellow human beings, and even themselves, often challenge the character. Each story is rich with material that enables participants to examine how common themes and archetypes are activated in daily living.
The study circle is a model of alternative learning that facilitates participants in active intellectualism and activism through personal exploration of a subject, the discussion of ideas and issues relevant to the subject, and the development of strategies that can be employed in one's life. This process is group oriented since it acknowledges that change happens individually and collectively. What has become apparent over the last 30 years of the post social consciousness movements is that women in particular are struggling with issues of cultural identity and personal empowerment. The study circle would enable its participants to fully explore the cultural realities that inform their perspectives.
The study circle would be comprised of 14 seminars, 2 hours in length. Each of the first eight seminars would focus on one of the four cardinal points of the earth; North, East, South, West. Each of these directions is represented by the four root cultures of the planet, African, Asian, European and Native American. The seminar would include a recommended text that contains myths from the root culture being covered. Circle participants would be assigned a myth to read prior to the seminar and would engage in dialogue around the symbols presented in the myth. This discussion would revolve around the issues of identity and empowerment, enabling the women to explore their cultural codes as well as the codes of others.
The following four seminars would be creative time for participants to workshop their personal myths, and to develop an art project to accompany the final presentations. The creative projects could include mask making, photography, visual art, costuming, etc.
The final two seminar sessions would be devoted to participants presenting a myth of their own. That is the women will be asked to choose a root culture and develop a personal myth around identity and empowerment. This culture can be a self identified one or one for which they are interested or have a "secondary" identification. The purpose of this exercise is to enable the women to integrate the knowledge they have gained with their own personal experience. This process allows them to further explore themselves and their own symbol system. Presenting to the group enables the group to actively explore not only the individual's symbol system and personal meaning, but also the impact on that system in the definition of the group's culture.
The culmination of the study circle process is a public presentation of new women's mythology along with a publication of the participants work. This event could take the form of a one-day conference for future women and girl participants, and would be a celebration of the feminine through creative expression, education about self-care, and a discussion of issues facing girls and women in our community.
Finally, the changes occurring in world society necessitate that we continue to explore ways of fostering multicultural awareness and understanding. This new approach is important because enabling women to become more aware of their own symbol system is a necessary prerequisite for understanding and appreciating the diversity of others. By not being in touch with their own symbolic language, circle members are unable to grasp the meaning of the symbols conveyed in the chosen texts (these are assigned) or the personal texts of other members. By engaging in this process we are creating a better environment for commonality and diversity of cultural identity and experience.
Odyssey Quest, Inc., is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) that offers holistic and integrative health care interventions, multi-cultural spiritual counseling, clinical services, and preventative educational strategies to individuals and families through educational programs and conferences, wellness programs, consulting services, training workshops, community forums and discussion groups.
