PBDS 721

Gifts of the Goddess

NOTE: This is representative of the syllabi for this course. It is not necessarily the syllabus being used in any one semester.

"The realm of myth exists beyond time and space and human reality. It is a symbolic world that dwells within us at levels deeper than our normal consciousness. . . . We reflect these mythic beings and they reflect us." --Huston

Course Objectives:

Gifts of the Goddess is a backgrounds and ideas course and, therefore, concentrates on developing critical and analytical skills, as well as imaginative vision and thought. It evolves from the world of myth and will attempt to explore the history, meanings, symbols, and modern associations surrounding the figure of the Goddess, who has appeared and reappeared throughout all times and among all peoples. The course begins by considering her ancient ways, follows her changing fortunes as the male gods superseded, attempted to destroy, and finally "enshrined" her, and concludes with her return today. Her modern manifestations and meanings will be emphasized throughout, and a central question will concern the meaning of her gifts to us. The course will, as well, consider the meaning and importance to us of myths and symbols within themselves.

Texts:

Apuleius (Lindsay, trans.), The Golden Ass

Bolen, Jean, Goddesses in Everywoman

Euripides (Vellacott, trans.), Medea

Gadon, Elinor, The Once and Future Goddess

Harding, Elizabeth, Kali, the Black Goddess

Renault, Mary, The King Must Die

Other Materials Xeroxed

Films or Videos, as Appropriate

Ground Rules for the Course:

We will be using a seminar format in this course, with a great deal of emphasis on your interaction. Class attendance, therefore, is essential. An important part of your final grade will be based on participation; it is thus important that you complete reading assignments as they are given. It is also necessary that you bring to class whatever books are being considered at the time.

Specific reading assignments will appear on the weekly syllabus. A series of oral and written assignments and projects will also be required.

A Commonplace Book--in which you should collect materials related to the myth and symbols of the Goddess and whatever else appeals to you personally and as publication designer--is a part of the course work. This book may take many forms from a collection of ads, art, and ideas to a journal of your journey through the course experience.

Finally, you will be responsible for a final project in the form of both class presentation and written essay that derives from your own relation to the concept of the Goddess. This may vary from a critically documented paper to an outer or inner directed study--for example, relating to human and /or personal issues; but, whatever your choice, it should involve some aspect of the course that intrigues or challenges you.

Grading will be based on written papers, projects, and class participation and performance. Your work will be evaluated at the end of the term in four categories carrying approximately these weights:

Class work 2 parts

Oral and written assignments, including Dinner Party Project 2 parts

Commonplace Book 1 part

Final project, oral and written 2 parts

Welcome to the Goddess's many--splendored world!

Course Outline:

I. Taking the Once-trodden Way: The White Goddess of Antiquity

". . . I sailed to find her

In distant regions likeliest to hold her

Whom I desired above all things to know

Sister of the mirage and echo." -- Graves

Readings:

Gadon, The Once and Future Goddess

And Other Xeroxed or Library Assignments Throughout the Course

Topics:

The Earth Mother

Her Mysteries and Symbols

Her Journey and Cycles

The Thrice-Great Goddess

II. Living Through the Triumph of the Gods: The Many-faced Goddess(es) of the Classical World

"There in cold air

lying still where her hand had thrown me,

I tasted the mud that splattered my lips:

the seeds of a forest were in it,

asleep and growing! I tasted

her power!" -- Levertov

Readings:

Gadon, The Once and Future Goddess

Renault, The King Must Die

Bolen, Goddesses in Everywoman

Topics:

Artemis--Nature and the Moon

Aphrodite--Love and Beauty

Athena--Wit and War

Demeter and Persephone--Mother and Child, Life and Death

Other Goddesses of Greece, the Middle East, and Rome

III. Darkening the Path of the Sun: The Witch Goddesses of the West and the Dark Goddesses of the East

"I have gone out, a possessed witch,

haunting the black air, braver at night . . .

A woman like that is not a woman, quite.

I have been her kind." -- Sexton

Readings:

Gadon, The Once and Future Goddess

Euripides, Medea

Harding, Kali: The Black Goddess of Dakshineswar

Topics:

Medea, Circe, and Medusa

Kali of India

Kuan Yin, Chinese Goddess of Mercy

Other Goddesses -- Oya of Africa, Kokyang Wuhti, Spider Woman of Native Americans, and Others of Choice

IV. Emerging as Consort and Power: The Return of the One Goddess

"I am all that has been and is and will be; and no mortal has ever lifted my veil" -- Plutarch

Readings:

Gadon, The Once and Future Goddess

Apuleius, The Golden Ass

Warner, Alone of All Her Sex (xeroxed excerpts)

Topics:

Isis, Mistress of the Elements

Sophia, Who Fell

Eve, Adam, Lilith, and the Garden World

Mary and the Sacred Garden

Medieval Legend and Mary Magdalene

The Celtic Fa"rie of Morgana, the Lady of the Lake, and Guinevere--the Triple Goddess Once More

V. Awakening Again, Evoking the Spirit: The Goddess and Contemporary Myth-making

"You yourself are even another little world and have within you the sun and the moon and also the stars." -- Origen

"There's a wilderness in women

You haven't dreamed of. We are

Dark continents, not sea, not snow." -- Garrett

Readings:

Gadon, The Once and Future Goddess

Woolger, The Goddess Within (Handout)

Topics:

Her Re-emergence

Her Many Faces and Attributes

Her Identity in Poetry, Art, and Ads

The Feminist Perspective

As You See Her