“Do not try to transform yourself. Move into yourself. Move into your human unsuccess. Perfection rapes the soul.”
~Marion Woodman

"Inanna" by Susan Seddon Boulet

The Hamadryades were 8 dryad nymphs who each presided over a tree, and Syke was the nymph of the fig tree. Interesting how similiar her name is to Psyche…

It is also said that Demeter gifted Phytalos with the cultivated fig tree as a gift for his hospitality while she searched for Persephone.

The Root and the Bloom

 

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A couple of years ago there was the house flipping craze, people were doing it as a way to make a living and eventually TV caught on and made some shows about it. When did owning a home become a business maneuver…when did a hearth and home become a means for financial gain? What has happened to our worship, our value, of Hestia?

Hestia, Athenian red-figure kylix C5th B.C., National Museum, Tarquinia

We are in different times right now, seems people can’t sell their homes (if they aren’t losing them). The NY Times had an article yesterday about the state of home sales and in grasping for some positivity the author wrote,  “For real estate, some economists say, an end to the

seemingly endless decline in housing values might be in sight.” (NY Times, David Streitfeld). Dropping values eventually leads to shells of meaning, empty husks of what was once imbued with value. We have become too attached to literal forms and concepts and this makes difficult our awareness (and attendance) of Hestia. Profit from home sales is literalizing the value that is inherent in the establishment of a hearth flame. In the classical Greek tradition Hestia was not represented as a personified figure but as the living flame – that which glows and burns and radiates from the center, the hearth of our homes. Where is the embodied presence of the hearth in our shared collective life when the actual home keeps slipping away? How do you attend to that flame in your home?

“Life throws up around us these temptations, these distractions, and the problem is to find the immovable center within. Then you can survive anything. Myth will help you do that. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t go out on picket lines about at0omic research. Go ahead, but do it playfully. The universe is God’s play.” Joseph Campbell, Myths of Light

Tanagran Triton –  a sea-monster with the upper body of a man and a fishtail. A solitary creature with an appetite it is said to have red eyes, scaly fish skin, and vicious sharp teeth.

Monstrous Triton , Der Naturen Bloeme manuscript c. 1350, National Library of the Netherlands - www.theoi.com

Pausanias recounted the legend that “the women of Tanagra before the orgies of Dionysos went down to the sea to be purified, were attacked by the Triton as they were swimming, and prayed that Dionysos would come to their aid. The god, it is said, heard their cry and overcame the Triton in the fight.” (Pausanias, Description of Greece 9. 20. 4 (trans. Jones) Greek travelogue C2nd A.D.)

 

Tutorial 2 – Participatory Action Research, PhotoVoice and Video

Sunday, May 22nd 3 – 5 pm

In this tutorial we will continue the theme of qualitative data collection using visual methods.  The hands-on exercises will combine ethnographic observation with photographic and video data collection techniques, and the discussion will focus on using these in the context of participatory action research (PAR).  You will be asked to bring a small number of objects to this session, as well as a digital camera, if you own one.

Click here for more information about the tutorials.

Cost – $10

Montecito Public Library
1469 East Valley Road, Santa Barbara, CA

Space is limited – Register at rsvp@opusarchives.org
or 805.969.5750