Call: Coreopsis Autumn 2024
Coreopsis Journal of Myth and Theatre
Walking Another Path
“I took cl... more Call: Coreopsis Autumn 2024 Coreopsis Journal of Myth and Theatre Walking Another Path “I took classes taught by an elderly woman who wrote children’s stories. She was polite about the science fiction and fantasy that I kept handing in, but she finally asked in exasperation, ‘Can’t you write anything normal?” Octavia E. Butler, Introduction, Bloodchild and Other Stories
A handful of women writers entered the genres of science fiction and fantasy in the late 1960s and through the ’80s. Their influences can be felt throughout literature today. Among them (not in any order) Anne McCaffrey, Leigh Brackett, Andre Norton, Diana Paxson, Vonda McIntyre, Octavia Butler, Diana Wynne Jones, Patricia McKillip, Marion Zimmer Bradley, and Ursula K. Le Guin.
This issue will explore how these women writers blazed unique trails and shaped modern speculative fiction, from telepathic dragons to robots to space travel to post-apocalyptic landscapes.
The work of Ursula LeGuin and Octavia Butler in particular has influenced writers across literary and genre fiction through the many important themes explored in their novels and short fiction. From their early works published in the 1970s to her final works in the 2000s the publishing community saw significant improvement in the inclusion of minority and women’s voices in speculative and genre fiction. The ideas these writers explored, gender, race, Kropotkinist anarchism, non-human intelligence, closed systems, revolution, and entrainment, and the diversity of characters shocked editors and critics while effectively uplifting and encouraging marginalized voices. The unending support of regional ecosystems through novels and short fiction influenced a generation.
One cannot discuss Le Guin’s influence without discussing her criticism regarding the increasing commodification of books and her biting critique of the division between “literary” fiction and “genre” fiction.
This issue will be devoted to the works of speculative fiction, its influences, specifically these trailblazing writers and those they have subsequently influenced in the modern works of speculative and literary fiction. And, beyond, in scholarly research in philosophy, the political, social and human sciences, in activism and the arts in general.
Topics to consider:
How the early women writers have influenced subsequent writers in speculative fiction and beyond. In the Hainish novels, Le Guin discusses “great, immediate affinity” with anarchist thinkers Peter Kropotkin and Paul Goodman. She stated, in her essays, that “Odonism is anarchism,” mentioning parallels with Emma Goldman, Taoism and Percy Bysshe Shelley. For Le Guin, anarchism’s “principal target is the authoritarian State. How did LeGuin present her philosophy of anarchism in her body of work? How have later writers in genre and literary fiction carried those ideas forward? Or not…? How Taoist and non-violent activism influenced LeGuin’s fiction and the development of the anarchist philosophy in “The Dispossessed ”. “They leave Omelas, they walk ahead into the darkness, and they do not come back. The place they go towards is a place even less imaginable to most of us than the city of happiness. I cannot describe it at all. It is possible that it does not exist. But they seem to know where they are going, the ones who walk away from Omelas.” ― Ursula K. Le Guin, The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas
When is the right action to “walk away”?
Ecological themes within these writers’ corpus and their successor’s works. Octavia Butler wrote of dystopian landscapes and the rise of authoritarianism in the same breath as evolution and symbiosis, how is her work being carried forward in speculative fiction today? McIntyre, LeGuin, Tepper, and others’ influence on modern ecological and social activism. Feminism and gender in science fiction and fantasy within and after the publication of The Left Hand of Darkness. Mythic themes within this body of work. Pern has Master Harper Robinton, Westria has Silverhair the Wanderer, opera, singing crystals, spacefaring troubadours, singing wizards and chanting faeries, how does music, particularly the folk & ballad traditions, influence and inform these writers’ works? COPYRIGHT The name Coreopsis: A Journal of Myth and Theatre, the format, and the website are the sole property of Lezlie A. Kinyon, Ph.D., Founding Editor, Society for Ritual Arts, President Emerita. A twice-yearly (Spring and Autumn) publication of The Society for Ritual Arts and are copyrighted under the United States and international law. ISSN 2333-0627 Thank you to everyone who made this issue of Coreopsis Journal possible.
This digital asset is an authorized streaming version by the copyright holders of the original fi... more This digital asset is an authorized streaming version by the copyright holders of the original film granted to the Valdosta State University Archives & Special Collections for dissemination as a part of their of the New Age Movements, Occultism, and Spiritualism Research Library.This documentary begins with a protest of Z. Budapest speaking about witchcraft at the St. Theresa Public Library in San Jose, California on July 12, 1986. What follows are formal and informal interviews of Pagan leaders explaining what Wicca is, how the general public has a misconception of what witchcraft is, and why it is important for practitioners to come “Out of the Broom Closet” to educate the public.Brenner, Malcolm, 1951-; Kinyon, Lezlie, 1956-; Wildhear, Gabrielle; Schotz, Darcy; Nelson, Ellery; Budapest, Zsuzsanna Emese, 1940-; Baldwin, Bill, 1951-; Voigt, Valerie, 1953-; Mizialko, Valerie, 1952-; Starhawk; Okulam, Frodo; Zell, Morning Glory; Lady Galadriel, 1956-2006; Blacksun; Kenny & Tzipora (M...
Coreopsis Journal of Myth and Theatre
Call for Papers: Spring 2023: Myths that Kill: Lies, Damn ... more Coreopsis Journal of Myth and Theatre Call for Papers: Spring 2023: Myths that Kill: Lies, Damn Lies, and Urban Myth
Deadlines: Queries and abstracts: August 2022 Full papers: October 15, 2022 Publication date: February 28, 2023
Urban myth, internet rumors, social media memes, deliberate falsification of information in the media: these all have real world impact. These past several years we have witnessed how a rumor or a myth that contains false information can spread and do serious harm to communities and individuals; how some are deliberately spread by political parties and how others seem to come from nowhere and take on a life of their own. From the insurrection of 1/6/21 to Youtube pseudoscience concerning AIDS, COVID-19, Ebola, and cancer, to religious fakery, theocratic power mongering, and campaigns of oppression and genocide against those who are perceived as different and “the other”. This issue will be devoted to how these myths spread and how they harm people, places, other living creatures, communities, and democracy itself.
Coreopsis Journal of Myth & Theatre
The Moon in a Sacred Tree: the Symbology of Tarot and Alche... more Coreopsis Journal of Myth & Theatre The Moon in a Sacred Tree: the Symbology of Tarot and Alchemy Autumn 2022
Publication date: September 22, 2022 Deadlines: Queries: June 2022. Full Papers and essays: July 2022
The symbology of tarot and alchemical traditions have been inspirational to poets, novelists, artists, performers and composers from classical works such as “The Magic Flute” to popular works from classic rock to hip hop.
Call for papers Spring 2020
Publication date: February 29, 2020
Query/Abstract Deadline: Decemb... more Call for papers Spring 2020
Publication date: February 29, 2020
Query/Abstract Deadline: December 20th, 2019 Full paper due upon acceptance of abstract.
Announcements Deadline: February 1, 2020
Theme:
Quests: Magical Journeys and Wayside Attractions
“The road goes ever, ever on…” JRR Tolkien.
Quests...an image that evokes enchanted woods, magical beasts, and knights with and without shining armour. The road into the unknown where a great treasure lies at the end. How many have traveled that road, whether in the waking world or in the realm of the heart? Were there pitfalls and wayside attractions? The realm of mythopoetics and speculative fiction, popular dramas, and the ancient art of the story-song. From the ancient texts of Inanna, the wonder tales of the Mabinogion and Troyes’ Sainte Grail cycle, to Baum’s Land of Oz and Tolkien’s Hobbits, to the very modern American Gods, or McKillip’s The Forgotten Beasts of Eld the tale of the quest and journeys into the realm of magic and wonder are part and parcel of the art of storytellers. Whether we explore the realm of story, or use the idea of a quest or journey as a metaphor, or find ourselves walking into the unknown in the waking world, questing after an idea or an object in a laboratory or in the natural world, the image of seeking and finding -- or, not finding -- is a powerful one. In the Spring 2020 issue, we will explore the idea of questing and journeys into the unknown.
Publication date: February 29, 2020
Query/Abstract Deadline: December 20th, 2019
Full paper due ... more Publication date: February 29, 2020
Query/Abstract Deadline: December 20th, 2019 Full paper due upon acceptance of abstract.
Announcements Deadline: February 1, 2020
Theme:
Quests: Magical Journeys and Wayside Attractions
“The road goes ever, ever on…” JRR Tolkien.
Quests...an image that evokes enchanted woods, magical beasts, and knights with and without shining armour. The road into the unknown where a great treasure lies at the end. How many have traveled that road, whether in the waking world or in the realm of the heart? Were there pitfalls and wayside attractions? The realm of mythopoetics and speculative fiction, popular dramas, and the ancient art of the story-song. From the ancient texts of Inanna, the wonder tales of the Mabinogion and Troyes’ Sainte Grail cycle, to Baum’s Land of Oz and Tolkien’s Hobbits, to the very modern American Gods, or McKillip’s The Forgotten Beasts of Eld the tale of the quest and journeys into the realm of magic and wonder are part and parcel of the art of storytellers. Whether we explore the realm of story, or use the idea of a quest or journey as a metaphor, or find ourselves walking into the unknown in the waking world, questing after an idea or an object in a laboratory or in the natural world, the image of seeking and finding -- or, not finding -- is a powerful one. In the Spring 2020 issue, we will explore the idea of questing and journeys into the unknown.
“…. Searching all the words, in all the languages he knew, Flandry finally found the perfect one.... more “…. Searching all the words, in all the languages he knew, Flandry finally found the perfect one. Bowing 3 times he said…”
~-~ Poul Anderson, ‘A Knight of Ghosts and Shadows’
The FIRST issue of 2019 will be: Spring/Summer, Vol 7 # 2: "Rituals of Resistance" with the speci... more The FIRST issue of 2019 will be: Spring/Summer, Vol 7 # 2: "Rituals of Resistance" with the special emphasis on shamanic experience . In August, we will be back on schedule with Autumn 2019 (as yet not themed) published First Week of September. The Calls page on our webpages will be edited to reflect this schedule. Dear Colleagues, Coreopsis staff, advisers, contributors, and friends, Wishing all of you a wonderful holiday season on this, The Shortest Day! As the year ends and the light returns with the promise of spring and renewal, we send you this special invitation for submissions. For the spring 2019 issue of Coreopsis Journal of Myth & Theatre we have created the theme of "Rituals of Resistance". While we will continue to review papers that address the theme of resistance through art, performance, and ritual, we are creating a special invitation to scholars, artists and healers who study and practice shamanism and shamanic belief systems (broadly stated) and will be devoting a significant portion of the Spring 2019 issue to this topic. We are not seeking papers of personal journeys or definitional studies, or the psychology of shamanism, but ask scholars to address these questions of resistance and survival particularly among traditional peoples in their committees and in the diaspora: Keeping alive the traditions and mythos under the multiple pressures of political oppression and the rise of the extreme right in Europe, the US, and elsewhere; environmental stresses as whole communities are forced to relocate due to climate change and rising seas; cultural factors that have led to the dilution and, even disappearance, of language, traditions, spiritual and artistic heritage worldwide. (Please feel free to share this call at will!)
Dr. Denita Benyshek once sent me a poem that contained the lines:
"... Shamans work for the benefit of their communities, plug in their electric guitars and collect the garbage.
We ask that you send a query beginning at any time and until the first week of January and/or your papers prepared for peer review by January 20th. The full submission guidelines are here: http://societyforritualarts.com/coreopsis/submissions/. We ask that you study them and submit your paper following the guidelines closely.
We believe that this may be one of the most important issues that we hope to publish and welcome your submissions. If you would like to participate in the peer review process, and have not done so for a previous issue of Coreopsis, please send a note with your qualifications to this address. Yours, as always, Lezlie Kinyon, Ph.D.
Lezlie Kinyon, Ph.D. Editor. Society for Ritual Arts, President 2017 http://societyforritualarts.org/ Autumn 2017 Vol. 6 Number: 2. The Philosophy and Art of Ritual Creation Peer Reviewed Journal of The Society for Ritual Arts
CFP Spring 2019: "Rituals of Resistance: Keeping Our Hearts Whole and Strong".
WEDNESDACY, AUGUST... more CFP Spring 2019: "Rituals of Resistance: Keeping Our Hearts Whole and Strong". WEDNESDACY, AUGUST 15, 2018
Call for Papers for Spring 2019 - Submission Period is Open.
Somehow we know that only living beings can be responsible and experience freedom. What is it about living beings, and about human beings in particular, such that this is the case? And what does that imply to the way we organize our human enterprises? – Reflection, Responsibility and Freedom: we are not robots. Humberto Maturana Romesin and Pille Bunnell, 2001
Coreopsis Journal of Myth and Theatre
Autumn 2017 Vol. 6 Number: 2. The Philosophy and Art of Rit... more Coreopsis Journal of Myth and Theatre Autumn 2017 Vol. 6 Number: 2. The Philosophy and Art of Ritual Creation A Journal where Ritual, Sacred and Folk Performance Arts and Scholarship meet.
Like a bright little wildflower, folk, myth, and ritual theatre grows where it can, blooms brightly and seeds itself for future generations. There is an alliterative reference to Kore, the Maiden of the Eleusinian Mysteries in simply saying the name of this wildflower. By doing so, one may evoke the image of the Court of Beautiful Dances, a place where ritual theatre flourished for many thousand years. Like wildflowers, folk theatre flourishes in unexpected places: street corners, alleyways, open fields and along roadsides.
Coreopsis: Journal of Myth & Theatre is published semi-annually by the Society for Ritual Arts.
Peer Reviewed Journal of The Society for Ritual Arts ISSN 2333-0627 Table of Contents Editorials Editorial, October, 2017 The World at Totality: A Season of Anger, Devastation, and Morning Lezlie A. Kinyon, Ph.D. Editor in Chief, Coreopsis Journal of Myth and Theatre – In a season of devastating wildfires, ritual becomes a tool for healing. Meals on Wheels and The Dismantling of America Lezlie King, Guest Commentator – Politicians may forget the needs of elderly mothers. But this author never will. Now We Must Fight for the Children Ronald L. Boyer, Guest Writer – Native Americans made decisions for the benefit of the next seven generations; it’s time we did, too. Papers The Sign of Jonah: Initiatory Symbolism in Biblical Mythopoetics Ronald L. Boyer, Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley. California – How the belly of the whale, the Harrowing of Hell, the adventures of Pinocchio and other stories lead the listener through death and rebirth. The Archetypal Presence of Time Sharon G. Mijares, Ph.D. – From visionary films to the tragic bombing of UNESCO sites, humanity’s impulse toward creativity and destruction is driven by how we perceive the past, present and future. Moving Into Sacred Realms Selene Vega, Ph.D., Spirit Moving, Santa Cruz; Saybrook University, San Francisco, CA – “Ritual is produced by all peoples still in touch with the capacity to express themselves in metaphor.” Between the Worlds: The Art and Wisdom of the Artist in Residence Telling the World in a Time of Drought: Artists as Myth Makers Lauren Raine, MFA, Artist in Residence 2017/18, Society for Ritual Arts – “What does it take to find a meaningful identity in a society that marginalizes artists? Try a trip into the halls of Hades.” Profiles in Art My Own Kind of Wonderland: An Interview with Hasse Fröberg Dr. Steven Blomerth, Regular contributor – A founding member of the Swedish band Flower Kings discusses his career in the new wave of Progressive Rock. Physio-Psycho-Alchemy: The Art of Rafael Montanez Ortiz Lauren Raine, MFA, Artist in Residence 2017/18, Society for Ritual Arts – Release your destructive energies in art. Find your artistic visions in dream. Dream of being interconnected with everything. Gallery Valerianna Claff – The evocative art of Valerianna Claff graces this issue’s cover. A musical offering by Jamie Glaser – Tribute to the Survivors and the those lost in Irma, Harvey, Maria, and the Earthquakes in Mexico: A musical offering by Jamie Glaser. Hasse Fröberg – Live concert video Chasing A Dream The Visionary Art of JoJo Razor – I just woke up one day and I was in it. Hell…the underworld… With many thanks to the musicians who appear in this issue for sharing their work. Reviews | Books New Book Releases – From Moontime to Isadora Duncan. Books to intrigue the discerning reader. Book review: Diana Paxson Odin Jenna Ludwig – Taking a closer look at the Norse god who sacrificed his own eye to attain wisdom. Reviews | Music Jamie Laval: Into the Green Roberta Cantow and Rita Naomi Shore – The delicate and nuanced hands of a classically-trained violinist interpret the collective soul of Celtic folk music. Reviews | New Music Releases New Music Releases Compiled with commentary by Robyn Perry, Music Editor – Take a musical journey from the Scottish Highlands to Norwegian Progressive Rock — with even more delights along the way. Progressive Notes HFMC Dr. Steven Blomerth, Regular contributor – A raw, live Progressive Rock concert album that surpasses the original studio recordings. Interview/Review: Big Big Train’s Greg Spawton Dr. Steven Blomerth, Regular contributorGrimspound by Big Big Train Dr. Steven Blomerth – Combined with the strongest composing to-date, these varied musical strengths make Grimspound the most musical and compelling of Big Big Train’s albums. The Second Brightest Star by Big Big Train Dr. Steven Blomerth – To see the second brightest star depends on where we are. Announcements Staff Projects and Announcements – Find out what what we’ve been up to when you weren’t looking. Conferences, Festivals and Gatherings, Awards & Paper Calls – Of interest to our readers & the First Annual Society for Ritual Arts Gathering. Call for Papers Spring & Autumn 2018 – For the next several issues of Coreopsis, we will publish the rituals of resistance. Any and all Traditions and all positive actions are welcomed. The Society for Ritual Arts Gatherings and Spring Conference for 2017/18 Opportunities and How to Support Coreopsis Journal – Announcements: News, Networking, and Join us! In Memoriam Remembering Those Who Have Passed – What is remembered, lives. Final Word GHOSTS Lauren Raine, MFA, Artist in residence – There are many ways to haunt the world. Copyright and Reference The name Coreopsis: A Journal of Myth and Theatre, the format, and the website are the sole property of Lezlie A. Kinyon, Ph.D., Founding Editor, Society for Ritual Arts, President. A twice-yearly (Spring and Autumn) publication of The Society for Ritual Arts and are copyrighted under the United States and international law. ISSN 2333-0627
All papers, editorials, artworks and creative works are the property of the individual authors and artists.
Copyright: Coreopsis Journal of Myth & Theater, a publication of the Society for Ritual Arts, 2017, all rights reserved, Berkeley, CA. Artworks: Artworks are by Valeriana Claff, Lauren Raine, Greg Spawton, Hasse Froberg, Jamie Glaser, Thea Boodhoo, and L. Kinyon. All rights reserved, used by permission Cover Art: Valeriana Claff: “Marsh Sunrise” watercolor, 7.5″ x11″, VClaff, 2017, All Rights reserved, Used by Permission.
Editorial: Walk Away
Lezlie A. Kinyon, Ph.D. Ed.
September, 2016
Autumn: Coreopsis Journal of... more Editorial: Walk Away Lezlie A. Kinyon, Ph.D. Ed. September, 2016
Autumn: Coreopsis Journal of Myth and theatre Vol. 5 Number 2: Women in War: Spirit, Body, Mind, Heart, Art
Modern ritualists are exploring ancient and modern ritual traditions in many forms, in litanies, ... more Modern ritualists are exploring ancient and modern ritual traditions in many forms, in litanies, liturgies, as seasonal customs, and as a deliberate creation done with
A Faun Dancing: The Emerging Aesthetic/Ecstatic Community
Guidelines to Submit a Paper or Paper Q... more A Faun Dancing: The Emerging Aesthetic/Ecstatic Community Guidelines to Submit a Paper or Paper Query: http://societyforritualarts.com/coreopsis/submissions/
Abstract Deadline: November 29, 2016 Paper Deadline: December 12, 2017 Deadline for final version: January 15, 2017 Publication date: February, 2017
“Intention is highly co-created. The idea is that we’re all making it together. There is a core crew but the organizers pay the same amount as everybody else who attends. Everybody gets involved, helping decorate and offer their workshops, that kind of thing. We really create the space to be surprised by people’s offerings, beyond who might be programmed to present something. It’s a very beautiful, deeply connected, intimate transformational gathering.” – Jeet Kei, April 19, 2013, Interview: Festival Fire Reclaiming a distant past in a new dress? The emerging “ecstatic culture” of blue and green men, faery music, art, spiral dances, fire art, and Faery conferences and art/music festivals. Topics under consideration, but, not limited to: The music: a haven for indie artists Influences beyond the counter-culture: The power of co-creation Spiritual crossovers: yoga, meditation, Zen, Neo-pagan traditions, “Faery” spirituality … etc. … Costuming and cosplay Counter-culture movement or passing fancy? Beyond the U.S.: is there a contemporary aesthetic/ ecstatic movement beyond the United states? (RE: Faerieworlds Festival/Con, Beloved Festival, Burning Man) Commercialism, popularity, promotions, and into the future Safety, children, boundaries, and other concerns… Coreopsis: A Journal of Myth and Theatre Want to Submit an announcement, Paper query, or Subscribe to Coreopsis Journal? http://societyforritualarts.com/coreopsis/contact-us/ Published 2X yearly, never for profit. Peer Reviewed. Inquire concerning serving as a peer reviewer for this issue: http://societyforritualarts.com/coreopsis/contact-us/
Things need not have happened to be true. Tales and dreams are the shadow-truths that will endure... more Things need not have happened to be true. Tales and dreams are the shadow-truths that will endure when mere facts are dust and ashes, and forgot.” The Sandman, Vol. 3: Dream Country by Neil Gaiman- Neil Gaiman, The Sandman, Vol. 3: Dream Country
A faery moon rises over the San Francisco Bay and I am wandering through our house after the Lost Chord Awards concert contemplating the dark sky. On January 23 music and tales of another realm filled the historic Haver Hall at Northbrae Community Church as the Society for Ritual Arts and Coreopsis Journal presented the inaugural Lost Chord Award. It was a “coming out” party for the Society for Ritual Arts wherein we presented ritual art in a ritual context: the four winds were called, tales unfolded and music played.
ast week, while going through a mountain of correspondence, I received this note from a good frie... more ast week, while going through a mountain of correspondence, I received this note from a good friend and colleague whom I had asked to “spread the word” about the Lost Chord Award Concert, an event that the Society for Ritual Arts is hosting on January 23:
Dear Lezlie, I’m hard pressed to know to whom to spread it. My pagan contacts are limited — and those in the Bay Area all seem to be low income. But I’ll be thinking about who might be interested. Hmm… Yours, M–
I felt obliged to answer and to expand upon that answer in this brief opinion piece.
Creating an event while also beginning the editing process for the next issue of Coreopsis: Journal of Myth & Theatre (all about Faeries), especially an event that is a “new thing”, as is the Lost Chord Award Concert, is a complex and interesting process. Particularly when one is known in several contexts as an activist and writer and, also, as a person who follows a minority spiritual path.
The Society for Ritual Arts is seeking an enthusiastic and fun individual to become our Social Me... more The Society for Ritual Arts is seeking an enthusiastic and fun individual to become our Social Media Manager. You must have experience promoting causes or companies using Facebook and Twitter . Some training can be provided, but you should know your way around these services and be able to point us to some work you’ve done involving them. You should also have an interest in ritual arts, since the bulk of the work will involve finding and sharing stories relevant to this topic. Subjects that our community members are interested in run the gamut from shamanism to consciousness studies, spiritual healing, environmental stewardship, and international activism for religious freedom--not to mention spirituality-themed music, art and performance. Any and all faiths welcome! We are globally-minded and work with artists and scholars from very diverse backgrounds.
There is a rock band on YouTube called Therion who has recorded a song called "The Wild Hunt." I ... more There is a rock band on YouTube called Therion who has recorded a song called "The Wild Hunt." I came across them while searching for a story by Charles deLint (mis-remembering the title). While this musical genre is not really my cup of tea, I do have a fascination with the story of the Wild Hunt and finding this band served the purpose of renewing my personal "Search for the Wild Hunt." With a cup of Darjeeling (which is my preferred cuppa tea...) and a little Celtic fiddle on the radio I will begin my tale...
Call: Coreopsis Autumn 2024
Coreopsis Journal of Myth and Theatre
Walking Another Path
“I took cl... more Call: Coreopsis Autumn 2024 Coreopsis Journal of Myth and Theatre Walking Another Path “I took classes taught by an elderly woman who wrote children’s stories. She was polite about the science fiction and fantasy that I kept handing in, but she finally asked in exasperation, ‘Can’t you write anything normal?” Octavia E. Butler, Introduction, Bloodchild and Other Stories
A handful of women writers entered the genres of science fiction and fantasy in the late 1960s and through the ’80s. Their influences can be felt throughout literature today. Among them (not in any order) Anne McCaffrey, Leigh Brackett, Andre Norton, Diana Paxson, Vonda McIntyre, Octavia Butler, Diana Wynne Jones, Patricia McKillip, Marion Zimmer Bradley, and Ursula K. Le Guin.
This issue will explore how these women writers blazed unique trails and shaped modern speculative fiction, from telepathic dragons to robots to space travel to post-apocalyptic landscapes.
The work of Ursula LeGuin and Octavia Butler in particular has influenced writers across literary and genre fiction through the many important themes explored in their novels and short fiction. From their early works published in the 1970s to her final works in the 2000s the publishing community saw significant improvement in the inclusion of minority and women’s voices in speculative and genre fiction. The ideas these writers explored, gender, race, Kropotkinist anarchism, non-human intelligence, closed systems, revolution, and entrainment, and the diversity of characters shocked editors and critics while effectively uplifting and encouraging marginalized voices. The unending support of regional ecosystems through novels and short fiction influenced a generation.
One cannot discuss Le Guin’s influence without discussing her criticism regarding the increasing commodification of books and her biting critique of the division between “literary” fiction and “genre” fiction.
This issue will be devoted to the works of speculative fiction, its influences, specifically these trailblazing writers and those they have subsequently influenced in the modern works of speculative and literary fiction. And, beyond, in scholarly research in philosophy, the political, social and human sciences, in activism and the arts in general.
Topics to consider:
How the early women writers have influenced subsequent writers in speculative fiction and beyond. In the Hainish novels, Le Guin discusses “great, immediate affinity” with anarchist thinkers Peter Kropotkin and Paul Goodman. She stated, in her essays, that “Odonism is anarchism,” mentioning parallels with Emma Goldman, Taoism and Percy Bysshe Shelley. For Le Guin, anarchism’s “principal target is the authoritarian State. How did LeGuin present her philosophy of anarchism in her body of work? How have later writers in genre and literary fiction carried those ideas forward? Or not…? How Taoist and non-violent activism influenced LeGuin’s fiction and the development of the anarchist philosophy in “The Dispossessed ”. “They leave Omelas, they walk ahead into the darkness, and they do not come back. The place they go towards is a place even less imaginable to most of us than the city of happiness. I cannot describe it at all. It is possible that it does not exist. But they seem to know where they are going, the ones who walk away from Omelas.” ― Ursula K. Le Guin, The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas
When is the right action to “walk away”?
Ecological themes within these writers’ corpus and their successor’s works. Octavia Butler wrote of dystopian landscapes and the rise of authoritarianism in the same breath as evolution and symbiosis, how is her work being carried forward in speculative fiction today? McIntyre, LeGuin, Tepper, and others’ influence on modern ecological and social activism. Feminism and gender in science fiction and fantasy within and after the publication of The Left Hand of Darkness. Mythic themes within this body of work. Pern has Master Harper Robinton, Westria has Silverhair the Wanderer, opera, singing crystals, spacefaring troubadours, singing wizards and chanting faeries, how does music, particularly the folk & ballad traditions, influence and inform these writers’ works? COPYRIGHT The name Coreopsis: A Journal of Myth and Theatre, the format, and the website are the sole property of Lezlie A. Kinyon, Ph.D., Founding Editor, Society for Ritual Arts, President Emerita. A twice-yearly (Spring and Autumn) publication of The Society for Ritual Arts and are copyrighted under the United States and international law. ISSN 2333-0627 Thank you to everyone who made this issue of Coreopsis Journal possible.
This digital asset is an authorized streaming version by the copyright holders of the original fi... more This digital asset is an authorized streaming version by the copyright holders of the original film granted to the Valdosta State University Archives & Special Collections for dissemination as a part of their of the New Age Movements, Occultism, and Spiritualism Research Library.This documentary begins with a protest of Z. Budapest speaking about witchcraft at the St. Theresa Public Library in San Jose, California on July 12, 1986. What follows are formal and informal interviews of Pagan leaders explaining what Wicca is, how the general public has a misconception of what witchcraft is, and why it is important for practitioners to come “Out of the Broom Closet” to educate the public.Brenner, Malcolm, 1951-; Kinyon, Lezlie, 1956-; Wildhear, Gabrielle; Schotz, Darcy; Nelson, Ellery; Budapest, Zsuzsanna Emese, 1940-; Baldwin, Bill, 1951-; Voigt, Valerie, 1953-; Mizialko, Valerie, 1952-; Starhawk; Okulam, Frodo; Zell, Morning Glory; Lady Galadriel, 1956-2006; Blacksun; Kenny & Tzipora (M...
Coreopsis Journal of Myth and Theatre
Call for Papers: Spring 2023: Myths that Kill: Lies, Damn ... more Coreopsis Journal of Myth and Theatre Call for Papers: Spring 2023: Myths that Kill: Lies, Damn Lies, and Urban Myth
Deadlines: Queries and abstracts: August 2022 Full papers: October 15, 2022 Publication date: February 28, 2023
Urban myth, internet rumors, social media memes, deliberate falsification of information in the media: these all have real world impact. These past several years we have witnessed how a rumor or a myth that contains false information can spread and do serious harm to communities and individuals; how some are deliberately spread by political parties and how others seem to come from nowhere and take on a life of their own. From the insurrection of 1/6/21 to Youtube pseudoscience concerning AIDS, COVID-19, Ebola, and cancer, to religious fakery, theocratic power mongering, and campaigns of oppression and genocide against those who are perceived as different and “the other”. This issue will be devoted to how these myths spread and how they harm people, places, other living creatures, communities, and democracy itself.
Coreopsis Journal of Myth & Theatre
The Moon in a Sacred Tree: the Symbology of Tarot and Alche... more Coreopsis Journal of Myth & Theatre The Moon in a Sacred Tree: the Symbology of Tarot and Alchemy Autumn 2022
Publication date: September 22, 2022 Deadlines: Queries: June 2022. Full Papers and essays: July 2022
The symbology of tarot and alchemical traditions have been inspirational to poets, novelists, artists, performers and composers from classical works such as “The Magic Flute” to popular works from classic rock to hip hop.
Call for papers Spring 2020
Publication date: February 29, 2020
Query/Abstract Deadline: Decemb... more Call for papers Spring 2020
Publication date: February 29, 2020
Query/Abstract Deadline: December 20th, 2019 Full paper due upon acceptance of abstract.
Announcements Deadline: February 1, 2020
Theme:
Quests: Magical Journeys and Wayside Attractions
“The road goes ever, ever on…” JRR Tolkien.
Quests...an image that evokes enchanted woods, magical beasts, and knights with and without shining armour. The road into the unknown where a great treasure lies at the end. How many have traveled that road, whether in the waking world or in the realm of the heart? Were there pitfalls and wayside attractions? The realm of mythopoetics and speculative fiction, popular dramas, and the ancient art of the story-song. From the ancient texts of Inanna, the wonder tales of the Mabinogion and Troyes’ Sainte Grail cycle, to Baum’s Land of Oz and Tolkien’s Hobbits, to the very modern American Gods, or McKillip’s The Forgotten Beasts of Eld the tale of the quest and journeys into the realm of magic and wonder are part and parcel of the art of storytellers. Whether we explore the realm of story, or use the idea of a quest or journey as a metaphor, or find ourselves walking into the unknown in the waking world, questing after an idea or an object in a laboratory or in the natural world, the image of seeking and finding -- or, not finding -- is a powerful one. In the Spring 2020 issue, we will explore the idea of questing and journeys into the unknown.
Publication date: February 29, 2020
Query/Abstract Deadline: December 20th, 2019
Full paper due ... more Publication date: February 29, 2020
Query/Abstract Deadline: December 20th, 2019 Full paper due upon acceptance of abstract.
Announcements Deadline: February 1, 2020
Theme:
Quests: Magical Journeys and Wayside Attractions
“The road goes ever, ever on…” JRR Tolkien.
Quests...an image that evokes enchanted woods, magical beasts, and knights with and without shining armour. The road into the unknown where a great treasure lies at the end. How many have traveled that road, whether in the waking world or in the realm of the heart? Were there pitfalls and wayside attractions? The realm of mythopoetics and speculative fiction, popular dramas, and the ancient art of the story-song. From the ancient texts of Inanna, the wonder tales of the Mabinogion and Troyes’ Sainte Grail cycle, to Baum’s Land of Oz and Tolkien’s Hobbits, to the very modern American Gods, or McKillip’s The Forgotten Beasts of Eld the tale of the quest and journeys into the realm of magic and wonder are part and parcel of the art of storytellers. Whether we explore the realm of story, or use the idea of a quest or journey as a metaphor, or find ourselves walking into the unknown in the waking world, questing after an idea or an object in a laboratory or in the natural world, the image of seeking and finding -- or, not finding -- is a powerful one. In the Spring 2020 issue, we will explore the idea of questing and journeys into the unknown.
“…. Searching all the words, in all the languages he knew, Flandry finally found the perfect one.... more “…. Searching all the words, in all the languages he knew, Flandry finally found the perfect one. Bowing 3 times he said…”
~-~ Poul Anderson, ‘A Knight of Ghosts and Shadows’
The FIRST issue of 2019 will be: Spring/Summer, Vol 7 # 2: "Rituals of Resistance" with the speci... more The FIRST issue of 2019 will be: Spring/Summer, Vol 7 # 2: "Rituals of Resistance" with the special emphasis on shamanic experience . In August, we will be back on schedule with Autumn 2019 (as yet not themed) published First Week of September. The Calls page on our webpages will be edited to reflect this schedule. Dear Colleagues, Coreopsis staff, advisers, contributors, and friends, Wishing all of you a wonderful holiday season on this, The Shortest Day! As the year ends and the light returns with the promise of spring and renewal, we send you this special invitation for submissions. For the spring 2019 issue of Coreopsis Journal of Myth & Theatre we have created the theme of "Rituals of Resistance". While we will continue to review papers that address the theme of resistance through art, performance, and ritual, we are creating a special invitation to scholars, artists and healers who study and practice shamanism and shamanic belief systems (broadly stated) and will be devoting a significant portion of the Spring 2019 issue to this topic. We are not seeking papers of personal journeys or definitional studies, or the psychology of shamanism, but ask scholars to address these questions of resistance and survival particularly among traditional peoples in their committees and in the diaspora: Keeping alive the traditions and mythos under the multiple pressures of political oppression and the rise of the extreme right in Europe, the US, and elsewhere; environmental stresses as whole communities are forced to relocate due to climate change and rising seas; cultural factors that have led to the dilution and, even disappearance, of language, traditions, spiritual and artistic heritage worldwide. (Please feel free to share this call at will!)
Dr. Denita Benyshek once sent me a poem that contained the lines:
"... Shamans work for the benefit of their communities, plug in their electric guitars and collect the garbage.
We ask that you send a query beginning at any time and until the first week of January and/or your papers prepared for peer review by January 20th. The full submission guidelines are here: http://societyforritualarts.com/coreopsis/submissions/. We ask that you study them and submit your paper following the guidelines closely.
We believe that this may be one of the most important issues that we hope to publish and welcome your submissions. If you would like to participate in the peer review process, and have not done so for a previous issue of Coreopsis, please send a note with your qualifications to this address. Yours, as always, Lezlie Kinyon, Ph.D.
Lezlie Kinyon, Ph.D. Editor. Society for Ritual Arts, President 2017 http://societyforritualarts.org/ Autumn 2017 Vol. 6 Number: 2. The Philosophy and Art of Ritual Creation Peer Reviewed Journal of The Society for Ritual Arts
CFP Spring 2019: "Rituals of Resistance: Keeping Our Hearts Whole and Strong".
WEDNESDACY, AUGUST... more CFP Spring 2019: "Rituals of Resistance: Keeping Our Hearts Whole and Strong". WEDNESDACY, AUGUST 15, 2018
Call for Papers for Spring 2019 - Submission Period is Open.
Somehow we know that only living beings can be responsible and experience freedom. What is it about living beings, and about human beings in particular, such that this is the case? And what does that imply to the way we organize our human enterprises? – Reflection, Responsibility and Freedom: we are not robots. Humberto Maturana Romesin and Pille Bunnell, 2001
Coreopsis Journal of Myth and Theatre
Autumn 2017 Vol. 6 Number: 2. The Philosophy and Art of Rit... more Coreopsis Journal of Myth and Theatre Autumn 2017 Vol. 6 Number: 2. The Philosophy and Art of Ritual Creation A Journal where Ritual, Sacred and Folk Performance Arts and Scholarship meet.
Like a bright little wildflower, folk, myth, and ritual theatre grows where it can, blooms brightly and seeds itself for future generations. There is an alliterative reference to Kore, the Maiden of the Eleusinian Mysteries in simply saying the name of this wildflower. By doing so, one may evoke the image of the Court of Beautiful Dances, a place where ritual theatre flourished for many thousand years. Like wildflowers, folk theatre flourishes in unexpected places: street corners, alleyways, open fields and along roadsides.
Coreopsis: Journal of Myth & Theatre is published semi-annually by the Society for Ritual Arts.
Peer Reviewed Journal of The Society for Ritual Arts ISSN 2333-0627 Table of Contents Editorials Editorial, October, 2017 The World at Totality: A Season of Anger, Devastation, and Morning Lezlie A. Kinyon, Ph.D. Editor in Chief, Coreopsis Journal of Myth and Theatre – In a season of devastating wildfires, ritual becomes a tool for healing. Meals on Wheels and The Dismantling of America Lezlie King, Guest Commentator – Politicians may forget the needs of elderly mothers. But this author never will. Now We Must Fight for the Children Ronald L. Boyer, Guest Writer – Native Americans made decisions for the benefit of the next seven generations; it’s time we did, too. Papers The Sign of Jonah: Initiatory Symbolism in Biblical Mythopoetics Ronald L. Boyer, Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley. California – How the belly of the whale, the Harrowing of Hell, the adventures of Pinocchio and other stories lead the listener through death and rebirth. The Archetypal Presence of Time Sharon G. Mijares, Ph.D. – From visionary films to the tragic bombing of UNESCO sites, humanity’s impulse toward creativity and destruction is driven by how we perceive the past, present and future. Moving Into Sacred Realms Selene Vega, Ph.D., Spirit Moving, Santa Cruz; Saybrook University, San Francisco, CA – “Ritual is produced by all peoples still in touch with the capacity to express themselves in metaphor.” Between the Worlds: The Art and Wisdom of the Artist in Residence Telling the World in a Time of Drought: Artists as Myth Makers Lauren Raine, MFA, Artist in Residence 2017/18, Society for Ritual Arts – “What does it take to find a meaningful identity in a society that marginalizes artists? Try a trip into the halls of Hades.” Profiles in Art My Own Kind of Wonderland: An Interview with Hasse Fröberg Dr. Steven Blomerth, Regular contributor – A founding member of the Swedish band Flower Kings discusses his career in the new wave of Progressive Rock. Physio-Psycho-Alchemy: The Art of Rafael Montanez Ortiz Lauren Raine, MFA, Artist in Residence 2017/18, Society for Ritual Arts – Release your destructive energies in art. Find your artistic visions in dream. Dream of being interconnected with everything. Gallery Valerianna Claff – The evocative art of Valerianna Claff graces this issue’s cover. A musical offering by Jamie Glaser – Tribute to the Survivors and the those lost in Irma, Harvey, Maria, and the Earthquakes in Mexico: A musical offering by Jamie Glaser. Hasse Fröberg – Live concert video Chasing A Dream The Visionary Art of JoJo Razor – I just woke up one day and I was in it. Hell…the underworld… With many thanks to the musicians who appear in this issue for sharing their work. Reviews | Books New Book Releases – From Moontime to Isadora Duncan. Books to intrigue the discerning reader. Book review: Diana Paxson Odin Jenna Ludwig – Taking a closer look at the Norse god who sacrificed his own eye to attain wisdom. Reviews | Music Jamie Laval: Into the Green Roberta Cantow and Rita Naomi Shore – The delicate and nuanced hands of a classically-trained violinist interpret the collective soul of Celtic folk music. Reviews | New Music Releases New Music Releases Compiled with commentary by Robyn Perry, Music Editor – Take a musical journey from the Scottish Highlands to Norwegian Progressive Rock — with even more delights along the way. Progressive Notes HFMC Dr. Steven Blomerth, Regular contributor – A raw, live Progressive Rock concert album that surpasses the original studio recordings. Interview/Review: Big Big Train’s Greg Spawton Dr. Steven Blomerth, Regular contributorGrimspound by Big Big Train Dr. Steven Blomerth – Combined with the strongest composing to-date, these varied musical strengths make Grimspound the most musical and compelling of Big Big Train’s albums. The Second Brightest Star by Big Big Train Dr. Steven Blomerth – To see the second brightest star depends on where we are. Announcements Staff Projects and Announcements – Find out what what we’ve been up to when you weren’t looking. Conferences, Festivals and Gatherings, Awards & Paper Calls – Of interest to our readers & the First Annual Society for Ritual Arts Gathering. Call for Papers Spring & Autumn 2018 – For the next several issues of Coreopsis, we will publish the rituals of resistance. Any and all Traditions and all positive actions are welcomed. The Society for Ritual Arts Gatherings and Spring Conference for 2017/18 Opportunities and How to Support Coreopsis Journal – Announcements: News, Networking, and Join us! In Memoriam Remembering Those Who Have Passed – What is remembered, lives. Final Word GHOSTS Lauren Raine, MFA, Artist in residence – There are many ways to haunt the world. Copyright and Reference The name Coreopsis: A Journal of Myth and Theatre, the format, and the website are the sole property of Lezlie A. Kinyon, Ph.D., Founding Editor, Society for Ritual Arts, President. A twice-yearly (Spring and Autumn) publication of The Society for Ritual Arts and are copyrighted under the United States and international law. ISSN 2333-0627
All papers, editorials, artworks and creative works are the property of the individual authors and artists.
Copyright: Coreopsis Journal of Myth & Theater, a publication of the Society for Ritual Arts, 2017, all rights reserved, Berkeley, CA. Artworks: Artworks are by Valeriana Claff, Lauren Raine, Greg Spawton, Hasse Froberg, Jamie Glaser, Thea Boodhoo, and L. Kinyon. All rights reserved, used by permission Cover Art: Valeriana Claff: “Marsh Sunrise” watercolor, 7.5″ x11″, VClaff, 2017, All Rights reserved, Used by Permission.
Editorial: Walk Away
Lezlie A. Kinyon, Ph.D. Ed.
September, 2016
Autumn: Coreopsis Journal of... more Editorial: Walk Away Lezlie A. Kinyon, Ph.D. Ed. September, 2016
Autumn: Coreopsis Journal of Myth and theatre Vol. 5 Number 2: Women in War: Spirit, Body, Mind, Heart, Art
Modern ritualists are exploring ancient and modern ritual traditions in many forms, in litanies, ... more Modern ritualists are exploring ancient and modern ritual traditions in many forms, in litanies, liturgies, as seasonal customs, and as a deliberate creation done with
A Faun Dancing: The Emerging Aesthetic/Ecstatic Community
Guidelines to Submit a Paper or Paper Q... more A Faun Dancing: The Emerging Aesthetic/Ecstatic Community Guidelines to Submit a Paper or Paper Query: http://societyforritualarts.com/coreopsis/submissions/
Abstract Deadline: November 29, 2016 Paper Deadline: December 12, 2017 Deadline for final version: January 15, 2017 Publication date: February, 2017
“Intention is highly co-created. The idea is that we’re all making it together. There is a core crew but the organizers pay the same amount as everybody else who attends. Everybody gets involved, helping decorate and offer their workshops, that kind of thing. We really create the space to be surprised by people’s offerings, beyond who might be programmed to present something. It’s a very beautiful, deeply connected, intimate transformational gathering.” – Jeet Kei, April 19, 2013, Interview: Festival Fire Reclaiming a distant past in a new dress? The emerging “ecstatic culture” of blue and green men, faery music, art, spiral dances, fire art, and Faery conferences and art/music festivals. Topics under consideration, but, not limited to: The music: a haven for indie artists Influences beyond the counter-culture: The power of co-creation Spiritual crossovers: yoga, meditation, Zen, Neo-pagan traditions, “Faery” spirituality … etc. … Costuming and cosplay Counter-culture movement or passing fancy? Beyond the U.S.: is there a contemporary aesthetic/ ecstatic movement beyond the United states? (RE: Faerieworlds Festival/Con, Beloved Festival, Burning Man) Commercialism, popularity, promotions, and into the future Safety, children, boundaries, and other concerns… Coreopsis: A Journal of Myth and Theatre Want to Submit an announcement, Paper query, or Subscribe to Coreopsis Journal? http://societyforritualarts.com/coreopsis/contact-us/ Published 2X yearly, never for profit. Peer Reviewed. Inquire concerning serving as a peer reviewer for this issue: http://societyforritualarts.com/coreopsis/contact-us/
Things need not have happened to be true. Tales and dreams are the shadow-truths that will endure... more Things need not have happened to be true. Tales and dreams are the shadow-truths that will endure when mere facts are dust and ashes, and forgot.” The Sandman, Vol. 3: Dream Country by Neil Gaiman- Neil Gaiman, The Sandman, Vol. 3: Dream Country
A faery moon rises over the San Francisco Bay and I am wandering through our house after the Lost Chord Awards concert contemplating the dark sky. On January 23 music and tales of another realm filled the historic Haver Hall at Northbrae Community Church as the Society for Ritual Arts and Coreopsis Journal presented the inaugural Lost Chord Award. It was a “coming out” party for the Society for Ritual Arts wherein we presented ritual art in a ritual context: the four winds were called, tales unfolded and music played.
ast week, while going through a mountain of correspondence, I received this note from a good frie... more ast week, while going through a mountain of correspondence, I received this note from a good friend and colleague whom I had asked to “spread the word” about the Lost Chord Award Concert, an event that the Society for Ritual Arts is hosting on January 23:
Dear Lezlie, I’m hard pressed to know to whom to spread it. My pagan contacts are limited — and those in the Bay Area all seem to be low income. But I’ll be thinking about who might be interested. Hmm… Yours, M–
I felt obliged to answer and to expand upon that answer in this brief opinion piece.
Creating an event while also beginning the editing process for the next issue of Coreopsis: Journal of Myth & Theatre (all about Faeries), especially an event that is a “new thing”, as is the Lost Chord Award Concert, is a complex and interesting process. Particularly when one is known in several contexts as an activist and writer and, also, as a person who follows a minority spiritual path.
The Society for Ritual Arts is seeking an enthusiastic and fun individual to become our Social Me... more The Society for Ritual Arts is seeking an enthusiastic and fun individual to become our Social Media Manager. You must have experience promoting causes or companies using Facebook and Twitter . Some training can be provided, but you should know your way around these services and be able to point us to some work you’ve done involving them. You should also have an interest in ritual arts, since the bulk of the work will involve finding and sharing stories relevant to this topic. Subjects that our community members are interested in run the gamut from shamanism to consciousness studies, spiritual healing, environmental stewardship, and international activism for religious freedom--not to mention spirituality-themed music, art and performance. Any and all faiths welcome! We are globally-minded and work with artists and scholars from very diverse backgrounds.
There is a rock band on YouTube called Therion who has recorded a song called "The Wild Hunt." I ... more There is a rock band on YouTube called Therion who has recorded a song called "The Wild Hunt." I came across them while searching for a story by Charles deLint (mis-remembering the title). While this musical genre is not really my cup of tea, I do have a fascination with the story of the Wild Hunt and finding this band served the purpose of renewing my personal "Search for the Wild Hunt." With a cup of Darjeeling (which is my preferred cuppa tea...) and a little Celtic fiddle on the radio I will begin my tale...
Deadline: May 2018 Paper Deadline: (Date) (peer reviewers deadline: Date) Deadline for final vers... more Deadline: May 2018 Paper Deadline: (Date) (peer reviewers deadline: Date) Deadline for final version: Date Publication date: Date (print), Date (web version) Year _______________________________________________________________________ Note: For the next several issues of Coreopsis, we will publish rituals of resistance. From a spiritual perspective, what was effective? Empowering? What and how did you approach the ritual? If a public event, how did you keep safe space? Any and all Traditions and all positive actions are welcomed. If you wish to submit for peer review, please tell us. Message me for the Addy for the submission guidelines. Please share this announcement. How we care for the dying people in our midst, and how we die when it is our turn: these together are the proving ground, the cradle and the grave both, for every conviction we have about justice and mercy, about the meaning of life, about what love should look like and what it should do. They are the sum of every political instinct we have, every dream of community we've nursed along and every faith we've been willing to have in a better day. They are where every fascination about the Other World and the Big Story live, and they are where the midnight fear of Nothing comes to call. They are where our immense technical medical wizardry and mastery is visited upon you and those you love, and where the mythic poverty of our time comes to show itself. They are surely where our love of life earns its keep, or shatters. Mostly, though, they are the place where our ability to be a people is forged, or fails. They are where our village is made or broken. They are where we are most ourselves, and most alone. Together they are The Big Tent of our time.
Trans-Disciplinary Migrations: Science, the Sacred and the Arts, 2024
The radical change of perspective sweeping the Western world and the paradigm shift of our times ... more The radical change of perspective sweeping the Western world and the paradigm shift of our times challenges our most deeply held beliefs about reality, whether scientific, religious, aesthetic, ethical or other. As our constructs are amended to accommodate this shift in consciousness, we can anticipate monumental changes in our collectively held beliefs about our world, our communities, and ourselves. This book includes a wide range of ideas and creative expressions, curated from contributors who hail from a spectrum of disciplines, fields, perspectives and approaches. The authors are doctors of science, medicine and the humanities, artists of multiple disciplines, philosophers, poets, and educators, and present a prismatic array of fascinating and accessible scholarly discourses. They hail from a spectrum of spiritual, cultural and disciplinary backgrounds, but all have journeyed with a sense of the quantum sublime, experienced awe in apprehending the web of connectivity, and speak about that with passion and eloquence.
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Coreopsis Journal of Myth and Theatre
Walking Another Path
“I took classes taught by an elderly woman who wrote children’s stories. She was polite about the science fiction and fantasy that I kept handing in, but she finally asked in exasperation, ‘Can’t you write anything normal?” Octavia E. Butler, Introduction, Bloodchild and Other Stories
A handful of women writers entered the genres of science fiction and fantasy in the late 1960s and through the ’80s. Their influences can be felt throughout literature today. Among them (not in any order) Anne McCaffrey, Leigh Brackett, Andre Norton, Diana Paxson, Vonda McIntyre, Octavia Butler, Diana Wynne Jones, Patricia McKillip, Marion Zimmer Bradley, and Ursula K. Le Guin.
This issue will explore how these women writers blazed unique trails and shaped modern speculative fiction, from telepathic dragons to robots to space travel to post-apocalyptic landscapes.
The work of Ursula LeGuin and Octavia Butler in particular has influenced writers across literary and genre fiction through the many important themes explored in their novels and short fiction. From their early works published in the 1970s to her final works in the 2000s the publishing community saw significant improvement in the inclusion of minority and women’s voices in speculative and genre fiction. The ideas these writers explored, gender, race, Kropotkinist anarchism, non-human intelligence, closed systems, revolution, and entrainment, and the diversity of characters shocked editors and critics while effectively uplifting and encouraging marginalized voices. The unending support of regional ecosystems through novels and short fiction influenced a generation.
One cannot discuss Le Guin’s influence without discussing her criticism regarding the increasing commodification of books and her biting critique of the division between “literary” fiction and “genre” fiction.
This issue will be devoted to the works of speculative fiction, its influences, specifically these trailblazing writers and those they have subsequently influenced in the modern works of speculative and literary fiction. And, beyond, in scholarly research in philosophy, the political, social and human sciences, in activism and the arts in general.
Topics to consider:
How the early women writers have influenced subsequent writers in speculative fiction and beyond.
In the Hainish novels, Le Guin discusses “great, immediate affinity” with anarchist thinkers Peter Kropotkin and Paul Goodman. She stated, in her essays, that “Odonism is anarchism,” mentioning parallels with Emma Goldman, Taoism and Percy Bysshe Shelley. For Le Guin, anarchism’s “principal target is the authoritarian State. How did LeGuin present her philosophy of anarchism in her body of work? How have later writers in genre and literary fiction carried those ideas forward? Or not…?
How Taoist and non-violent activism influenced LeGuin’s fiction and the development of the anarchist philosophy in “The Dispossessed ”.
“They leave Omelas, they walk ahead into the darkness, and they do not come back. The place they go towards is a place even less imaginable to most of us than the city of happiness. I cannot describe it at all. It is possible that it does not exist. But they seem to know where they are going, the ones who walk away from Omelas.”
― Ursula K. Le Guin, The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas
When is the right action to “walk away”?
Ecological themes within these writers’ corpus and their successor’s works.
Octavia Butler wrote of dystopian landscapes and the rise of authoritarianism in the same breath as evolution and symbiosis, how is her work being carried forward in speculative fiction today?
McIntyre, LeGuin, Tepper, and others’ influence on modern ecological and social activism.
Feminism and gender in science fiction and fantasy within and after the publication of The Left Hand of Darkness.
Mythic themes within this body of work.
Pern has Master Harper Robinton, Westria has Silverhair the Wanderer, opera, singing crystals, spacefaring troubadours, singing wizards and chanting faeries, how does music, particularly the folk & ballad traditions, influence and inform these writers’ works?
COPYRIGHT The name Coreopsis: A Journal of Myth and Theatre, the format, and the website are the sole property of Lezlie A. Kinyon, Ph.D., Founding Editor, Society for Ritual Arts, President Emerita. A twice-yearly (Spring and Autumn) publication of The Society for Ritual Arts and are copyrighted under the United States and international law. ISSN 2333-0627 Thank you to everyone who made this issue of Coreopsis Journal possible.
Call for Papers: Spring 2023: Myths that Kill: Lies, Damn Lies,
and Urban Myth
Deadlines: Queries and abstracts: August 2022
Full papers: October 15, 2022
Publication date: February 28, 2023
Urban myth, internet rumors, social media memes, deliberate falsification of information in the media: these all have real world impact. These past several years we have witnessed how
a rumor or a myth that contains false information can spread and do serious harm to communities and individuals; how some are deliberately spread by political parties and how others seem to come from nowhere and take on a life of their own. From the insurrection of 1/6/21 to Youtube pseudoscience concerning AIDS, COVID-19, Ebola, and cancer, to religious fakery, theocratic power mongering, and campaigns of oppression and genocide against those who are perceived as different and “the other”. This issue will be devoted to how these myths spread and how they harm people, places, other living creatures, communities, and democracy itself.
The Moon in a Sacred Tree: the Symbology of Tarot and Alchemy
Autumn 2022
Publication date: September 22, 2022
Deadlines: Queries: June 2022.
Full Papers and essays: July 2022
The symbology of tarot and alchemical traditions have been inspirational to poets, novelists, artists, performers and composers from classical works such as “The Magic Flute” to popular works from classic rock to hip hop.
Publication date: February 29, 2020
Query/Abstract Deadline: December 20th, 2019
Full paper due upon acceptance of abstract.
Announcements Deadline: February 1, 2020
Theme:
Quests: Magical Journeys and Wayside Attractions
“The road goes ever, ever on…” JRR Tolkien.
Quests...an image that evokes enchanted woods, magical beasts, and knights with and without shining armour. The road into the unknown where a great treasure lies at the end. How many have traveled that road, whether in the waking world or in the realm of the heart? Were there pitfalls and wayside attractions?
The realm of mythopoetics and speculative fiction, popular dramas, and the ancient art of the story-song. From the ancient texts of Inanna, the wonder tales of the Mabinogion and Troyes’ Sainte Grail cycle, to Baum’s Land of Oz and Tolkien’s Hobbits, to the very modern American Gods, or McKillip’s The Forgotten Beasts of Eld the tale of the quest and journeys into the realm of magic and wonder are part and parcel of the art of storytellers.
Whether we explore the realm of story, or use the idea of a quest or journey as a metaphor, or find ourselves walking into the unknown in the waking world, questing after an idea or an object in a laboratory or in the natural world, the image of seeking and finding -- or, not finding -- is a powerful one. In the Spring 2020 issue, we will explore the idea of questing and journeys into the unknown.
Query/Abstract Deadline: December 20th, 2019
Full paper due upon acceptance of abstract.
Announcements Deadline: February 1, 2020
Theme:
Quests: Magical Journeys and Wayside Attractions
“The road goes ever, ever on…” JRR Tolkien.
Quests...an image that evokes enchanted woods, magical beasts, and knights with and without shining armour. The road into the unknown where a great treasure lies at the end. How many have traveled that road, whether in the waking world or in the realm of the heart? Were there pitfalls and wayside attractions?
The realm of mythopoetics and speculative fiction, popular dramas, and the ancient art of the story-song. From the ancient texts of Inanna, the wonder tales of the Mabinogion and Troyes’ Sainte Grail cycle, to Baum’s Land of Oz and Tolkien’s Hobbits, to the very modern American Gods, or McKillip’s The Forgotten Beasts of Eld the tale of the quest and journeys into the realm of magic and wonder are part and parcel of the art of storytellers.
Whether we explore the realm of story, or use the idea of a quest or journey as a metaphor, or find ourselves walking into the unknown in the waking world, questing after an idea or an object in a laboratory or in the natural world, the image of seeking and finding -- or, not finding -- is a powerful one. In the Spring 2020 issue, we will explore the idea of questing and journeys into the unknown.
~-~ Poul Anderson, ‘A Knight of Ghosts and Shadows’
Sayonara,
Sayonara,
Sayonara.
Thrice bent,
deep from the waist:
Bowed in Honour,
Meant with Respect,
Sent as Farewell.
No more may words be said
to thee
finally free
of earthly bonds
though my lips
wish to be said
sadly it was to leave.
Away hence,
fly on Angel Wings
earned
from carrying your burden
valiantly
upon your breast
until your final breath.
Sayonara
In August, we will be back on schedule with Autumn 2019 (as yet not themed) published First Week of September. The Calls page on our webpages will be edited to reflect this schedule. Dear Colleagues, Coreopsis staff, advisers, contributors, and friends, Wishing all of you a wonderful holiday season on this, The Shortest Day! As the year ends and the light returns with the promise of spring and renewal, we send you this special invitation for submissions. For the spring 2019 issue of Coreopsis Journal of Myth & Theatre we have created the theme of "Rituals of Resistance". While we will continue to review papers that address the theme of resistance through art, performance, and ritual, we are creating a special invitation to scholars, artists and healers who study and practice shamanism and shamanic belief systems (broadly stated) and will be devoting a significant portion of the Spring 2019 issue to this topic. We are not seeking papers of personal journeys or definitional studies, or the psychology of shamanism, but ask scholars to address these questions of resistance and survival particularly among traditional peoples in their committees and in the diaspora: Keeping alive the traditions and mythos under the multiple pressures of political oppression and the rise of the extreme right in Europe, the US, and elsewhere; environmental stresses as whole communities are forced to relocate due to climate change and rising seas; cultural factors that have led to the dilution and, even disappearance, of language, traditions, spiritual and artistic heritage worldwide. (Please feel free to share this call at will!)
Dr. Denita Benyshek once sent me a poem that contained the lines:
"... Shamans work for the benefit of their communities,
plug in their electric guitars and collect the garbage.
During times of disbelief or persecution,
shamans secretly do their work standing
in lines, in banks, in grocery stores,
along the branches of family trees. ... "
Denita M. Benyshek, © March 1, 2010
We ask that you send a query beginning at any time and until the first week of January and/or your papers prepared for peer review by January 20th. The full submission guidelines are here: http://societyforritualarts.com/coreopsis/submissions/. We ask that you study them and submit your paper following the guidelines closely.
We believe that this may be one of the most important issues that we hope to publish and welcome your submissions. If you would like to participate in the peer review process, and have not done so for a previous issue of Coreopsis, please send a note with your qualifications to this address. Yours, as always, Lezlie Kinyon, Ph.D.
--
Become a Member-Patron! The SRA/Coreopsis Journal Patreon Account: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=8243035
Lezlie Kinyon, Ph.D. Editor.
Society for Ritual Arts, President 2017
http://societyforritualarts.org/
Autumn 2017 Vol. 6 Number: 2. The Philosophy and Art of Ritual Creation
Peer Reviewed Journal of The Society for Ritual Arts
http://www.societyforritualarts.com/coreopsis/autumn-2017-issue/
Want to Submit a Paper or Subscribe to Coreopsis Journal? http://societyforritualarts.com/coreopsis/contact-us/
WEDNESDACY, AUGUST 15, 2018
Call for Papers for Spring 2019 - Submission Period is Open.
Somehow we know that only living beings can be responsible and experience freedom. What is it about living beings, and about human beings in particular, such that this is the case? And what does that imply to the way we organize our human enterprises? – Reflection, Responsibility and Freedom: we are not robots. Humberto Maturana Romesin and Pille Bunnell, 2001
Autumn 2017 Vol. 6 Number: 2. The Philosophy and Art of Ritual Creation
A Journal where Ritual, Sacred and Folk Performance Arts and Scholarship meet.
Like a bright little wildflower, folk, myth, and ritual theatre grows where it can, blooms brightly and seeds itself for future generations. There is an alliterative reference to Kore, the Maiden of the Eleusinian Mysteries in simply saying the name of this wildflower. By doing so, one may evoke the image of the Court of Beautiful Dances, a place where ritual theatre flourished for many thousand years. Like wildflowers, folk theatre flourishes in unexpected places: street corners, alleyways, open fields and along roadsides.
Coreopsis: Journal of Myth & Theatre is published semi-annually by the Society for Ritual Arts.
Peer Reviewed Journal of The Society for Ritual Arts
ISSN 2333-0627
Table of Contents
Editorials
Editorial, October, 2017
The World at Totality: A Season of Anger, Devastation, and Morning
Lezlie A. Kinyon, Ph.D. Editor in Chief, Coreopsis Journal of Myth and Theatre
– In a season of devastating wildfires, ritual becomes a tool for healing.
Meals on Wheels and The Dismantling of America
Lezlie King, Guest Commentator
– Politicians may forget the needs of elderly mothers. But this author never will.
Now We Must Fight for the Children
Ronald L. Boyer, Guest Writer
– Native Americans made decisions for the benefit of the next seven generations; it’s time we did, too.
Papers
The Sign of Jonah: Initiatory Symbolism in Biblical Mythopoetics
Ronald L. Boyer, Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley. California
– How the belly of the whale, the Harrowing of Hell, the adventures of Pinocchio and other stories lead the listener through death and rebirth.
The Archetypal Presence of Time
Sharon G. Mijares, Ph.D.
– From visionary films to the tragic bombing of UNESCO sites, humanity’s impulse toward creativity and destruction is driven by how we perceive the past, present and future.
Moving Into Sacred Realms
Selene Vega, Ph.D., Spirit Moving, Santa Cruz; Saybrook University, San Francisco, CA
– “Ritual is produced by all peoples still in touch with the capacity to express themselves in metaphor.”
Between the Worlds: The Art and Wisdom of the Artist in Residence
Telling the World in a Time of Drought: Artists as Myth Makers
Lauren Raine, MFA, Artist in Residence 2017/18, Society for Ritual Arts
– “What does it take to find a meaningful identity in a society that marginalizes artists? Try a trip into the halls of Hades.”
Profiles in Art
My Own Kind of Wonderland: An Interview with Hasse Fröberg
Dr. Steven Blomerth, Regular contributor – A founding member of the Swedish band Flower Kings discusses his career in the new wave of Progressive Rock.
Physio-Psycho-Alchemy: The Art of Rafael Montanez Ortiz
Lauren Raine, MFA, Artist in Residence 2017/18, Society for Ritual Arts
– Release your destructive energies in art. Find your artistic visions in dream. Dream of being interconnected with everything.
Gallery
Valerianna Claff
– The evocative art of Valerianna Claff graces this issue’s cover.
A musical offering by Jamie Glaser
– Tribute to the Survivors and the those lost in Irma, Harvey, Maria, and the Earthquakes in Mexico: A musical offering by Jamie Glaser.
Hasse Fröberg
– Live concert video Chasing A Dream
The Visionary Art of JoJo Razor
– I just woke up one day and I was in it. Hell…the underworld…
With many thanks to the musicians who appear in this issue for sharing their work.
Reviews | Books
New Book Releases
– From Moontime to Isadora Duncan. Books to intrigue the discerning reader.
Book review: Diana Paxson Odin
Jenna Ludwig
– Taking a closer look at the Norse god who sacrificed his own eye to attain wisdom.
Reviews | Music
Jamie Laval: Into the Green
Roberta Cantow and Rita Naomi Shore
– The delicate and nuanced hands of a classically-trained violinist interpret the collective soul of Celtic folk music.
Reviews | New Music Releases
New Music Releases
Compiled with commentary by Robyn Perry, Music Editor
– Take a musical journey from the Scottish Highlands to Norwegian Progressive Rock — with even more delights along the way.
Progressive Notes
HFMC
Dr. Steven Blomerth, Regular contributor
– A raw, live Progressive Rock concert album that surpasses the original studio recordings.
Interview/Review: Big Big Train’s Greg Spawton
Dr. Steven Blomerth, Regular contributorGrimspound by Big Big Train
Dr. Steven Blomerth
– Combined with the strongest composing to-date, these varied musical strengths make Grimspound the most musical and compelling of Big Big Train’s albums.
The Second Brightest Star by Big Big Train
Dr. Steven Blomerth
– To see the second brightest star depends on where we are.
Announcements
Staff Projects and Announcements
– Find out what what we’ve been up to when you weren’t looking.
Conferences, Festivals and Gatherings, Awards & Paper Calls
– Of interest to our readers & the First Annual Society for Ritual Arts Gathering.
Call for Papers Spring & Autumn 2018
– For the next several issues of Coreopsis, we will publish the rituals of resistance. Any and all Traditions and all positive actions are welcomed.
The Society for Ritual Arts Gatherings and Spring Conference for 2017/18
Opportunities and How to Support Coreopsis Journal
– Announcements: News, Networking, and Join us!
In Memoriam
Remembering Those Who Have Passed
– What is remembered, lives.
Final Word
GHOSTS
Lauren Raine, MFA, Artist in residence
– There are many ways to haunt the world.
Copyright and Reference
The name Coreopsis: A Journal of Myth and Theatre, the format, and the website are the sole property of Lezlie A. Kinyon, Ph.D., Founding Editor, Society for Ritual Arts, President. A twice-yearly (Spring and Autumn) publication of The Society for Ritual Arts and are copyrighted under the United States and international law. ISSN 2333-0627
All papers, editorials, artworks and creative works are the property of the individual authors and artists.
Copyright: Coreopsis Journal of Myth & Theater, a publication of the Society for Ritual Arts, 2017, all rights reserved, Berkeley, CA.
Artworks:
Artworks are by Valeriana Claff, Lauren Raine, Greg Spawton, Hasse Froberg, Jamie Glaser, Thea Boodhoo, and L. Kinyon. All rights reserved, used by permission
Cover Art:
Valeriana Claff: “Marsh Sunrise” watercolor, 7.5″ x11″, VClaff, 2017, All Rights reserved, Used by Permission.
Lezlie A. Kinyon, Ph.D. Ed.
September, 2016
Autumn: Coreopsis Journal of Myth and theatre
Vol. 5 Number 2: Women in War: Spirit, Body, Mind, Heart, Art
Guidelines to Submit a Paper or Paper Query: http://societyforritualarts.com/coreopsis/submissions/
Abstract Deadline: November 29, 2016
Paper Deadline: December 12, 2017
Deadline for final version: January 15, 2017
Publication date: February, 2017
“Intention is highly co-created. The idea is that we’re all making it together. There is a core crew but the organizers pay the same amount as everybody else who attends. Everybody gets involved, helping decorate and offer their workshops, that kind of thing. We really create the space to be surprised by people’s offerings, beyond who might be programmed to present something. It’s a very beautiful, deeply connected, intimate transformational gathering.”
– Jeet Kei, April 19, 2013, Interview: Festival Fire
Reclaiming a distant past in a new dress? The emerging “ecstatic culture” of blue and green men, faery music, art, spiral dances, fire art, and Faery conferences and art/music festivals.
Topics under consideration, but, not limited to:
The music: a haven for indie artists
Influences beyond the counter-culture: The power of co-creation
Spiritual crossovers: yoga, meditation, Zen, Neo-pagan traditions, “Faery” spirituality … etc. …
Costuming and cosplay
Counter-culture movement or passing fancy?
Beyond the U.S.: is there a contemporary aesthetic/ ecstatic movement beyond the United states? (RE: Faerieworlds Festival/Con, Beloved Festival, Burning Man)
Commercialism, popularity, promotions, and into the future
Safety, children, boundaries, and other concerns…
Coreopsis: A Journal of Myth and Theatre
Want to Submit an announcement, Paper query, or Subscribe to Coreopsis Journal? http://societyforritualarts.com/coreopsis/contact-us/
Published 2X yearly, never for profit. Peer Reviewed.
Inquire concerning serving as a peer reviewer for this issue: http://societyforritualarts.com/coreopsis/contact-us/
A faery moon rises over the San Francisco Bay and I am wandering through our house after the Lost Chord Awards concert contemplating the dark sky. On January 23 music and tales of another realm filled the historic Haver Hall at Northbrae Community Church as the Society for Ritual Arts and Coreopsis Journal presented the inaugural Lost Chord Award. It was a “coming out” party for the Society for Ritual Arts wherein we presented ritual art in a ritual context: the four winds were called, tales unfolded and music played.
Dear Lezlie,
I’m hard pressed to know to whom to spread it. My pagan contacts are limited — and those in the Bay Area all seem to be low income.
But I’ll be thinking about who might be interested. Hmm…
Yours, M–
I felt obliged to answer and to expand upon that answer in this brief opinion piece.
Creating an event while also beginning the editing process for the next issue of Coreopsis: Journal of Myth & Theatre (all about Faeries), especially an event that is a “new thing”, as is the Lost Chord Award Concert, is a complex and interesting process. Particularly when one is known in several contexts as an activist and writer and, also, as a person who follows a minority spiritual path.
Coreopsis Journal of Myth and Theatre
Walking Another Path
“I took classes taught by an elderly woman who wrote children’s stories. She was polite about the science fiction and fantasy that I kept handing in, but she finally asked in exasperation, ‘Can’t you write anything normal?” Octavia E. Butler, Introduction, Bloodchild and Other Stories
A handful of women writers entered the genres of science fiction and fantasy in the late 1960s and through the ’80s. Their influences can be felt throughout literature today. Among them (not in any order) Anne McCaffrey, Leigh Brackett, Andre Norton, Diana Paxson, Vonda McIntyre, Octavia Butler, Diana Wynne Jones, Patricia McKillip, Marion Zimmer Bradley, and Ursula K. Le Guin.
This issue will explore how these women writers blazed unique trails and shaped modern speculative fiction, from telepathic dragons to robots to space travel to post-apocalyptic landscapes.
The work of Ursula LeGuin and Octavia Butler in particular has influenced writers across literary and genre fiction through the many important themes explored in their novels and short fiction. From their early works published in the 1970s to her final works in the 2000s the publishing community saw significant improvement in the inclusion of minority and women’s voices in speculative and genre fiction. The ideas these writers explored, gender, race, Kropotkinist anarchism, non-human intelligence, closed systems, revolution, and entrainment, and the diversity of characters shocked editors and critics while effectively uplifting and encouraging marginalized voices. The unending support of regional ecosystems through novels and short fiction influenced a generation.
One cannot discuss Le Guin’s influence without discussing her criticism regarding the increasing commodification of books and her biting critique of the division between “literary” fiction and “genre” fiction.
This issue will be devoted to the works of speculative fiction, its influences, specifically these trailblazing writers and those they have subsequently influenced in the modern works of speculative and literary fiction. And, beyond, in scholarly research in philosophy, the political, social and human sciences, in activism and the arts in general.
Topics to consider:
How the early women writers have influenced subsequent writers in speculative fiction and beyond.
In the Hainish novels, Le Guin discusses “great, immediate affinity” with anarchist thinkers Peter Kropotkin and Paul Goodman. She stated, in her essays, that “Odonism is anarchism,” mentioning parallels with Emma Goldman, Taoism and Percy Bysshe Shelley. For Le Guin, anarchism’s “principal target is the authoritarian State. How did LeGuin present her philosophy of anarchism in her body of work? How have later writers in genre and literary fiction carried those ideas forward? Or not…?
How Taoist and non-violent activism influenced LeGuin’s fiction and the development of the anarchist philosophy in “The Dispossessed ”.
“They leave Omelas, they walk ahead into the darkness, and they do not come back. The place they go towards is a place even less imaginable to most of us than the city of happiness. I cannot describe it at all. It is possible that it does not exist. But they seem to know where they are going, the ones who walk away from Omelas.”
― Ursula K. Le Guin, The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas
When is the right action to “walk away”?
Ecological themes within these writers’ corpus and their successor’s works.
Octavia Butler wrote of dystopian landscapes and the rise of authoritarianism in the same breath as evolution and symbiosis, how is her work being carried forward in speculative fiction today?
McIntyre, LeGuin, Tepper, and others’ influence on modern ecological and social activism.
Feminism and gender in science fiction and fantasy within and after the publication of The Left Hand of Darkness.
Mythic themes within this body of work.
Pern has Master Harper Robinton, Westria has Silverhair the Wanderer, opera, singing crystals, spacefaring troubadours, singing wizards and chanting faeries, how does music, particularly the folk & ballad traditions, influence and inform these writers’ works?
COPYRIGHT The name Coreopsis: A Journal of Myth and Theatre, the format, and the website are the sole property of Lezlie A. Kinyon, Ph.D., Founding Editor, Society for Ritual Arts, President Emerita. A twice-yearly (Spring and Autumn) publication of The Society for Ritual Arts and are copyrighted under the United States and international law. ISSN 2333-0627 Thank you to everyone who made this issue of Coreopsis Journal possible.
Call for Papers: Spring 2023: Myths that Kill: Lies, Damn Lies,
and Urban Myth
Deadlines: Queries and abstracts: August 2022
Full papers: October 15, 2022
Publication date: February 28, 2023
Urban myth, internet rumors, social media memes, deliberate falsification of information in the media: these all have real world impact. These past several years we have witnessed how
a rumor or a myth that contains false information can spread and do serious harm to communities and individuals; how some are deliberately spread by political parties and how others seem to come from nowhere and take on a life of their own. From the insurrection of 1/6/21 to Youtube pseudoscience concerning AIDS, COVID-19, Ebola, and cancer, to religious fakery, theocratic power mongering, and campaigns of oppression and genocide against those who are perceived as different and “the other”. This issue will be devoted to how these myths spread and how they harm people, places, other living creatures, communities, and democracy itself.
The Moon in a Sacred Tree: the Symbology of Tarot and Alchemy
Autumn 2022
Publication date: September 22, 2022
Deadlines: Queries: June 2022.
Full Papers and essays: July 2022
The symbology of tarot and alchemical traditions have been inspirational to poets, novelists, artists, performers and composers from classical works such as “The Magic Flute” to popular works from classic rock to hip hop.
Publication date: February 29, 2020
Query/Abstract Deadline: December 20th, 2019
Full paper due upon acceptance of abstract.
Announcements Deadline: February 1, 2020
Theme:
Quests: Magical Journeys and Wayside Attractions
“The road goes ever, ever on…” JRR Tolkien.
Quests...an image that evokes enchanted woods, magical beasts, and knights with and without shining armour. The road into the unknown where a great treasure lies at the end. How many have traveled that road, whether in the waking world or in the realm of the heart? Were there pitfalls and wayside attractions?
The realm of mythopoetics and speculative fiction, popular dramas, and the ancient art of the story-song. From the ancient texts of Inanna, the wonder tales of the Mabinogion and Troyes’ Sainte Grail cycle, to Baum’s Land of Oz and Tolkien’s Hobbits, to the very modern American Gods, or McKillip’s The Forgotten Beasts of Eld the tale of the quest and journeys into the realm of magic and wonder are part and parcel of the art of storytellers.
Whether we explore the realm of story, or use the idea of a quest or journey as a metaphor, or find ourselves walking into the unknown in the waking world, questing after an idea or an object in a laboratory or in the natural world, the image of seeking and finding -- or, not finding -- is a powerful one. In the Spring 2020 issue, we will explore the idea of questing and journeys into the unknown.
Query/Abstract Deadline: December 20th, 2019
Full paper due upon acceptance of abstract.
Announcements Deadline: February 1, 2020
Theme:
Quests: Magical Journeys and Wayside Attractions
“The road goes ever, ever on…” JRR Tolkien.
Quests...an image that evokes enchanted woods, magical beasts, and knights with and without shining armour. The road into the unknown where a great treasure lies at the end. How many have traveled that road, whether in the waking world or in the realm of the heart? Were there pitfalls and wayside attractions?
The realm of mythopoetics and speculative fiction, popular dramas, and the ancient art of the story-song. From the ancient texts of Inanna, the wonder tales of the Mabinogion and Troyes’ Sainte Grail cycle, to Baum’s Land of Oz and Tolkien’s Hobbits, to the very modern American Gods, or McKillip’s The Forgotten Beasts of Eld the tale of the quest and journeys into the realm of magic and wonder are part and parcel of the art of storytellers.
Whether we explore the realm of story, or use the idea of a quest or journey as a metaphor, or find ourselves walking into the unknown in the waking world, questing after an idea or an object in a laboratory or in the natural world, the image of seeking and finding -- or, not finding -- is a powerful one. In the Spring 2020 issue, we will explore the idea of questing and journeys into the unknown.
~-~ Poul Anderson, ‘A Knight of Ghosts and Shadows’
Sayonara,
Sayonara,
Sayonara.
Thrice bent,
deep from the waist:
Bowed in Honour,
Meant with Respect,
Sent as Farewell.
No more may words be said
to thee
finally free
of earthly bonds
though my lips
wish to be said
sadly it was to leave.
Away hence,
fly on Angel Wings
earned
from carrying your burden
valiantly
upon your breast
until your final breath.
Sayonara
In August, we will be back on schedule with Autumn 2019 (as yet not themed) published First Week of September. The Calls page on our webpages will be edited to reflect this schedule. Dear Colleagues, Coreopsis staff, advisers, contributors, and friends, Wishing all of you a wonderful holiday season on this, The Shortest Day! As the year ends and the light returns with the promise of spring and renewal, we send you this special invitation for submissions. For the spring 2019 issue of Coreopsis Journal of Myth & Theatre we have created the theme of "Rituals of Resistance". While we will continue to review papers that address the theme of resistance through art, performance, and ritual, we are creating a special invitation to scholars, artists and healers who study and practice shamanism and shamanic belief systems (broadly stated) and will be devoting a significant portion of the Spring 2019 issue to this topic. We are not seeking papers of personal journeys or definitional studies, or the psychology of shamanism, but ask scholars to address these questions of resistance and survival particularly among traditional peoples in their committees and in the diaspora: Keeping alive the traditions and mythos under the multiple pressures of political oppression and the rise of the extreme right in Europe, the US, and elsewhere; environmental stresses as whole communities are forced to relocate due to climate change and rising seas; cultural factors that have led to the dilution and, even disappearance, of language, traditions, spiritual and artistic heritage worldwide. (Please feel free to share this call at will!)
Dr. Denita Benyshek once sent me a poem that contained the lines:
"... Shamans work for the benefit of their communities,
plug in their electric guitars and collect the garbage.
During times of disbelief or persecution,
shamans secretly do their work standing
in lines, in banks, in grocery stores,
along the branches of family trees. ... "
Denita M. Benyshek, © March 1, 2010
We ask that you send a query beginning at any time and until the first week of January and/or your papers prepared for peer review by January 20th. The full submission guidelines are here: http://societyforritualarts.com/coreopsis/submissions/. We ask that you study them and submit your paper following the guidelines closely.
We believe that this may be one of the most important issues that we hope to publish and welcome your submissions. If you would like to participate in the peer review process, and have not done so for a previous issue of Coreopsis, please send a note with your qualifications to this address. Yours, as always, Lezlie Kinyon, Ph.D.
--
Become a Member-Patron! The SRA/Coreopsis Journal Patreon Account: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=8243035
Lezlie Kinyon, Ph.D. Editor.
Society for Ritual Arts, President 2017
http://societyforritualarts.org/
Autumn 2017 Vol. 6 Number: 2. The Philosophy and Art of Ritual Creation
Peer Reviewed Journal of The Society for Ritual Arts
http://www.societyforritualarts.com/coreopsis/autumn-2017-issue/
Want to Submit a Paper or Subscribe to Coreopsis Journal? http://societyforritualarts.com/coreopsis/contact-us/
WEDNESDACY, AUGUST 15, 2018
Call for Papers for Spring 2019 - Submission Period is Open.
Somehow we know that only living beings can be responsible and experience freedom. What is it about living beings, and about human beings in particular, such that this is the case? And what does that imply to the way we organize our human enterprises? – Reflection, Responsibility and Freedom: we are not robots. Humberto Maturana Romesin and Pille Bunnell, 2001
Autumn 2017 Vol. 6 Number: 2. The Philosophy and Art of Ritual Creation
A Journal where Ritual, Sacred and Folk Performance Arts and Scholarship meet.
Like a bright little wildflower, folk, myth, and ritual theatre grows where it can, blooms brightly and seeds itself for future generations. There is an alliterative reference to Kore, the Maiden of the Eleusinian Mysteries in simply saying the name of this wildflower. By doing so, one may evoke the image of the Court of Beautiful Dances, a place where ritual theatre flourished for many thousand years. Like wildflowers, folk theatre flourishes in unexpected places: street corners, alleyways, open fields and along roadsides.
Coreopsis: Journal of Myth & Theatre is published semi-annually by the Society for Ritual Arts.
Peer Reviewed Journal of The Society for Ritual Arts
ISSN 2333-0627
Table of Contents
Editorials
Editorial, October, 2017
The World at Totality: A Season of Anger, Devastation, and Morning
Lezlie A. Kinyon, Ph.D. Editor in Chief, Coreopsis Journal of Myth and Theatre
– In a season of devastating wildfires, ritual becomes a tool for healing.
Meals on Wheels and The Dismantling of America
Lezlie King, Guest Commentator
– Politicians may forget the needs of elderly mothers. But this author never will.
Now We Must Fight for the Children
Ronald L. Boyer, Guest Writer
– Native Americans made decisions for the benefit of the next seven generations; it’s time we did, too.
Papers
The Sign of Jonah: Initiatory Symbolism in Biblical Mythopoetics
Ronald L. Boyer, Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley. California
– How the belly of the whale, the Harrowing of Hell, the adventures of Pinocchio and other stories lead the listener through death and rebirth.
The Archetypal Presence of Time
Sharon G. Mijares, Ph.D.
– From visionary films to the tragic bombing of UNESCO sites, humanity’s impulse toward creativity and destruction is driven by how we perceive the past, present and future.
Moving Into Sacred Realms
Selene Vega, Ph.D., Spirit Moving, Santa Cruz; Saybrook University, San Francisco, CA
– “Ritual is produced by all peoples still in touch with the capacity to express themselves in metaphor.”
Between the Worlds: The Art and Wisdom of the Artist in Residence
Telling the World in a Time of Drought: Artists as Myth Makers
Lauren Raine, MFA, Artist in Residence 2017/18, Society for Ritual Arts
– “What does it take to find a meaningful identity in a society that marginalizes artists? Try a trip into the halls of Hades.”
Profiles in Art
My Own Kind of Wonderland: An Interview with Hasse Fröberg
Dr. Steven Blomerth, Regular contributor – A founding member of the Swedish band Flower Kings discusses his career in the new wave of Progressive Rock.
Physio-Psycho-Alchemy: The Art of Rafael Montanez Ortiz
Lauren Raine, MFA, Artist in Residence 2017/18, Society for Ritual Arts
– Release your destructive energies in art. Find your artistic visions in dream. Dream of being interconnected with everything.
Gallery
Valerianna Claff
– The evocative art of Valerianna Claff graces this issue’s cover.
A musical offering by Jamie Glaser
– Tribute to the Survivors and the those lost in Irma, Harvey, Maria, and the Earthquakes in Mexico: A musical offering by Jamie Glaser.
Hasse Fröberg
– Live concert video Chasing A Dream
The Visionary Art of JoJo Razor
– I just woke up one day and I was in it. Hell…the underworld…
With many thanks to the musicians who appear in this issue for sharing their work.
Reviews | Books
New Book Releases
– From Moontime to Isadora Duncan. Books to intrigue the discerning reader.
Book review: Diana Paxson Odin
Jenna Ludwig
– Taking a closer look at the Norse god who sacrificed his own eye to attain wisdom.
Reviews | Music
Jamie Laval: Into the Green
Roberta Cantow and Rita Naomi Shore
– The delicate and nuanced hands of a classically-trained violinist interpret the collective soul of Celtic folk music.
Reviews | New Music Releases
New Music Releases
Compiled with commentary by Robyn Perry, Music Editor
– Take a musical journey from the Scottish Highlands to Norwegian Progressive Rock — with even more delights along the way.
Progressive Notes
HFMC
Dr. Steven Blomerth, Regular contributor
– A raw, live Progressive Rock concert album that surpasses the original studio recordings.
Interview/Review: Big Big Train’s Greg Spawton
Dr. Steven Blomerth, Regular contributorGrimspound by Big Big Train
Dr. Steven Blomerth
– Combined with the strongest composing to-date, these varied musical strengths make Grimspound the most musical and compelling of Big Big Train’s albums.
The Second Brightest Star by Big Big Train
Dr. Steven Blomerth
– To see the second brightest star depends on where we are.
Announcements
Staff Projects and Announcements
– Find out what what we’ve been up to when you weren’t looking.
Conferences, Festivals and Gatherings, Awards & Paper Calls
– Of interest to our readers & the First Annual Society for Ritual Arts Gathering.
Call for Papers Spring & Autumn 2018
– For the next several issues of Coreopsis, we will publish the rituals of resistance. Any and all Traditions and all positive actions are welcomed.
The Society for Ritual Arts Gatherings and Spring Conference for 2017/18
Opportunities and How to Support Coreopsis Journal
– Announcements: News, Networking, and Join us!
In Memoriam
Remembering Those Who Have Passed
– What is remembered, lives.
Final Word
GHOSTS
Lauren Raine, MFA, Artist in residence
– There are many ways to haunt the world.
Copyright and Reference
The name Coreopsis: A Journal of Myth and Theatre, the format, and the website are the sole property of Lezlie A. Kinyon, Ph.D., Founding Editor, Society for Ritual Arts, President. A twice-yearly (Spring and Autumn) publication of The Society for Ritual Arts and are copyrighted under the United States and international law. ISSN 2333-0627
All papers, editorials, artworks and creative works are the property of the individual authors and artists.
Copyright: Coreopsis Journal of Myth & Theater, a publication of the Society for Ritual Arts, 2017, all rights reserved, Berkeley, CA.
Artworks:
Artworks are by Valeriana Claff, Lauren Raine, Greg Spawton, Hasse Froberg, Jamie Glaser, Thea Boodhoo, and L. Kinyon. All rights reserved, used by permission
Cover Art:
Valeriana Claff: “Marsh Sunrise” watercolor, 7.5″ x11″, VClaff, 2017, All Rights reserved, Used by Permission.
Lezlie A. Kinyon, Ph.D. Ed.
September, 2016
Autumn: Coreopsis Journal of Myth and theatre
Vol. 5 Number 2: Women in War: Spirit, Body, Mind, Heart, Art
Guidelines to Submit a Paper or Paper Query: http://societyforritualarts.com/coreopsis/submissions/
Abstract Deadline: November 29, 2016
Paper Deadline: December 12, 2017
Deadline for final version: January 15, 2017
Publication date: February, 2017
“Intention is highly co-created. The idea is that we’re all making it together. There is a core crew but the organizers pay the same amount as everybody else who attends. Everybody gets involved, helping decorate and offer their workshops, that kind of thing. We really create the space to be surprised by people’s offerings, beyond who might be programmed to present something. It’s a very beautiful, deeply connected, intimate transformational gathering.”
– Jeet Kei, April 19, 2013, Interview: Festival Fire
Reclaiming a distant past in a new dress? The emerging “ecstatic culture” of blue and green men, faery music, art, spiral dances, fire art, and Faery conferences and art/music festivals.
Topics under consideration, but, not limited to:
The music: a haven for indie artists
Influences beyond the counter-culture: The power of co-creation
Spiritual crossovers: yoga, meditation, Zen, Neo-pagan traditions, “Faery” spirituality … etc. …
Costuming and cosplay
Counter-culture movement or passing fancy?
Beyond the U.S.: is there a contemporary aesthetic/ ecstatic movement beyond the United states? (RE: Faerieworlds Festival/Con, Beloved Festival, Burning Man)
Commercialism, popularity, promotions, and into the future
Safety, children, boundaries, and other concerns…
Coreopsis: A Journal of Myth and Theatre
Want to Submit an announcement, Paper query, or Subscribe to Coreopsis Journal? http://societyforritualarts.com/coreopsis/contact-us/
Published 2X yearly, never for profit. Peer Reviewed.
Inquire concerning serving as a peer reviewer for this issue: http://societyforritualarts.com/coreopsis/contact-us/
A faery moon rises over the San Francisco Bay and I am wandering through our house after the Lost Chord Awards concert contemplating the dark sky. On January 23 music and tales of another realm filled the historic Haver Hall at Northbrae Community Church as the Society for Ritual Arts and Coreopsis Journal presented the inaugural Lost Chord Award. It was a “coming out” party for the Society for Ritual Arts wherein we presented ritual art in a ritual context: the four winds were called, tales unfolded and music played.
Dear Lezlie,
I’m hard pressed to know to whom to spread it. My pagan contacts are limited — and those in the Bay Area all seem to be low income.
But I’ll be thinking about who might be interested. Hmm…
Yours, M–
I felt obliged to answer and to expand upon that answer in this brief opinion piece.
Creating an event while also beginning the editing process for the next issue of Coreopsis: Journal of Myth & Theatre (all about Faeries), especially an event that is a “new thing”, as is the Lost Chord Award Concert, is a complex and interesting process. Particularly when one is known in several contexts as an activist and writer and, also, as a person who follows a minority spiritual path.