34 Circe Salon -- Make Matriarchy Great Again -- Disrupting History

Right now, the world needs goddesses, so there's no better time to give an encore presentation of our episode on the Titanides with Max Dashu! Tune in and enjoy! ***** It is our pleasure, once again, to present a fascinating conversation with Max Dashu! Max Dashu has championed the various lost histories of women and championed female-centric civilizations for decades. Max Dashu founded the Suppre...

Join us for a wonderful, foundational episode: we're making matriarchy great again! Laura Hirch is a filmmaker, writer, artist and a scholar of matriarchal studies.  Her six-part documentary, From The Goddess , explores the concept of the Great Goddess and how matriarchal societies, centered around Goddess worship, thrived in peaceful coexistence for millennia until the emergence of patriarchy 5,0...

The Thracians - Once the most numerous people of Europe, but, now, lost amidst the fog of history. They were known as formidable and warlike-- and some even said that they were the people who spawned the Amazons.  (Amazon queen Penthesilea was thought to be Thracian by the ancients.) It's this potential Amazonian connection lead us to the fascinating goddesses in their pantheon. Join Sean Marlon N...

Co-hosts Dawn "Sam" Alden and Kimberly Rockwell discuss the works of author Kate Quinn and the women characters in her WW2 novels. Most based on actual women, these stories of spies, pilots, investigators, and drunks with dark secrets are compelling and fun reads. Join the discussion, and leave a comment if you have read these novels as well! Support the MMGA podcast on Patreon here: https://www.p...

The last in our series, this might actually be what a true Female Revenge Film looks like!  Dawn “Sam” Alden and Kimberly Rockwell talk about this brutal gem of a movie.  Content warning: because the film contains implied castration, implied pedophilia and the aftermath of the murder of a minor, we talk about these topics as they arise in the movie.  Skip this episode if that's outside your comfor...

Was Crete one of the latest Matriarchies to resist infiltration and overthrow by the waves of Indo-European invasion? What evidence is hidden in plain sight to support the presence of Matriarchy on the island?  Joan Cichon talks about her book “Matriarchy in Bronze Age Crete” which she has generously made available to all online.  Joining the discussion are Vicki Noble, Sean Marlon Newcombe and Da...

The gang's all here and we're ready to discuss the sexism and misogyny imbedded in many words in our language and we're using the book Wordslut by Amanda Montell as our starting point. Amanda Montell, reporter and feminist linguist, deconstructs language—from insults, cursing, gossip, and catcalling to grammar and pronunciation patterns—to reveal the ways it has been used for centuries to keep wom...

The Motherpeace Round Tarot deck is a co-creation of Karen Vogel and Vicki Noble. Created in 1978, within a year of being given their first tarot deck, Motherpeace represents a vision of Goddess energy and a transmission of ancient wisdom. The Motherpeace deck is based on the traditional tarot system and uses ancient images from goddess-centered cultures throughout the world.  The deck is world re...

It’s the 20th Anniversary of an amazing documentary, Double Dare. We speak with the director and one of the stars, and speak fondly of the other star, lost to us this year.  Or, the one in which Zoë muses, Dawn rants, and Amanda puts things perfectly. (And all remember Jeannie fondly.)

Dr Felicitas D. Goodman was an anthropologist who made some ground breaking discoveries in her field. She discovered and verified that holding specific postures altered states of consciousness and that these postures were represented on ancient representations in art and pottery.  Join Lauren Torres and Dawn "Sam" Alden as they discuss this amazing woman's legacy with Laura Lee. Laura Lee and her...

Dr. Carla Ionescu joins us again, this time to talk about Spartan women!  The women of Sparta were unique in the Ancient Greek world for the level of freedom and power that they enjoyed.  Renown for their athletic skill and beauty, they were also reviled by some Greek writers for their learning, economic wealth and open sexuality. Drawing on the groundbreaking work of Dr. Sarah Pomeroy, Dr. Ionesc...

A frank discussion about abortion. 

We're back for the 2024-2025 season!  And what better way to begin than to discuss the history of a sisterhood between the Haudenosaunee women and the American suffragists.  Join us as we interview Sally Roesch Wagner, noted feminist pioneer, activist and author as we discuss her book, Sisters In Spirit . The Iroquois, alternatively referred to by the endonym Haudenosaunee, are a confederacy of Na...

A belated season-end thank you from the 34 Circe Salon to all of our listeners!  We concluded the 2023-2024 season with our Medusa episode and we'll be back again in October for the 2024-2025 season.  We're already recording, so get ready for discussions of all of your favorite topics from warrior women and goddesses to stuntwomen and Bad Marthas.  Thank you to all of you around the world who have...

In this episode, we delve into the matriarchal reinterpretation of the Medusa myth, contrasting it with the traditional patriarchal narrative of Ancient Greece. Starr Goode, Miriam Robbins Dexter and Joan Marler each bring their unique insights and years of scholarship to our understanding of this famous legend. Starr Goode is a noted writer and teacher as well as a scholar of matriarchal history...

Join Lauren Torres and Dawn "Sam' Alden as they welcome author Molly Remer and discuss (and praise) the Goddess Persephone. Goddess of spring and Queen of the Underworld, the myths of Persephone are familiar in the Western World.  In this episode, as always, we examine this goddess using a matriarchal rather than patriarchal lens. We also view Persephone from a more personal standpoint, with the w...

Just a brief message to our sponsors from the newest members of the 34 Circe Make Matriarchy Great Again  family, Lauren Torres and Kimberly Rockwell.  Thank you all for your support and we look forward to bringing you more exciting matriarchal content in the coming seasons!

Taking care of new mothers by restoring their health through rest, bodywork, and nourishing foods can be found in every society, most in the not so distant past.  Why then does it become all about the new baby that has arrived?  Why don't we think of offering care and support to the parents?  New mothers are born into a new role and ceremonies like Closing the Bones help her transition into a new...

Join Dawn "Sam" Alden and Kimberly Rockwell as they discuss the female revenge film Peppermint (2018).  Starring Jennifer Garner, Peppermint tells the story of woman whose happy life is destroyed when a drug cartel kills her husband and daughter. The event turns her into a vigilante and she will not be satisfied until she has her revenge. Our hosts discuss not only the creative quality of the film...

We're back with the long-awaited follow-up discussion to our foundational episode on Amazons and Matriarchy.  In Part I, we discussed the movements of the Old Europe matriarchies in the third millennium B.C., as well as Vicki's concept of the "Double-Goddess," its significance for matriarchy and it's connection with the Amazons.  In this episode we pick up in the second millennium B.C., and discus...

Has it been four years already? Why, yes, it has! Join us as we celebrate our fourth anniversary and take a trip down memory lane.  Favorite episodes and stories from Dawn, Sean, Laruen and Kimberly... and a VERY BIG thanks to all of our listeners!

They are the daring action women that we all adore, but what is it really like to be a stuntwoman? Join us for a really fun discussion with four Hollywood stuntwomen: Katie Rowe is the head of the Hollywood Stuntwomen's Association and an amazing stuntwoman of more than two decades.  Angela Meryl is also legendary stuntwoman who has doubled such luminaries as Beyonce and Viveca Fox.  Indus Alelia...

In preparation for our upcoming part 2 episode, we bring you the uncut version of part 1 of Vicki Noble's discussion of the matriarchal origins of the women called "Amazons."  This was the first episode that we recorded for our "Make Matriarchy Great Again" podcast and you can tell as we're still introducing ourselves to all of you. :-) Here we go... The first installment in our series on the birt...

Join us for the first episode in our Founding Mother Series! Viola Spolin developed a complete system of education which she called Theater Games and her methods are the roots of contemporary improv.  While the power of Viola's system is widely recognized in the theater education community, her fundamental contribution to improvisation is just beginning to get full recognition. Spolin's non-author...

We welcome back Professor Walter Penrose, specialist in gender and sexuality in the Ancient World, to discuss everyone's favorite Amazon: Wonder Woman! Fans had demanded a Wonder Woman movie for decades, so when the movie reached theaters in 2017, the reactions were huge. With Professor Penrose, Dawn and Sean look back on that moment, as well as the comic book genesis and the life of the family wh...