Resurrecting Eve Workshops

Led by Roberta Mary Pughe and Paula Anema Sohl

Download a flyer about the workshops [PDF format - 2 MB]

Re-Imagining the Garden Story

In this 1-hour presentation, we will explore in lecture format the Genesis creation story. By looking at the Hebrew words and imagining alternative ways of understanding this myth, we will notice how powerfully it lives in the cultural consciousness where Abrahamic religious traditions are dominant.

Shining Light on Faith: Integrating Personal Religious Histories

In this 3-hour presentation, we will invite participants to reflect on their personal religious experiences, noticing the bene fits and the interruptions they have discovered. Her presentation is rooted in a reinterpretation of the Eden story as a starting point for women to “decide for themselves what is true.”

Blending a variety of religious understandings and exploring rituals for weaving sacred practice into everyday life, Paula and Roberta will present a framework for evaluating the belief structures individuals encounter in faith communities,including:

  1. Beliefs and Attitudes about Children
  2. Locus of Authority
  3. Opportunity for Creative Expression
  4. Role vs. Authenticity
  5. Essential Equality of Gender
  6. Sexual Ethics
  7. The Rules for Belonging

The presentation will provide opportunities for small-group sharing, music, movement, color, light, and the celebration of support.

Roots of Domination

In this 1-hour presentation,we will describe the characteristics and commandments of fundamentalist systems and their effect on the psychological development of women.

  1. Defining and understanding the characteristics of an oppressive system
  2. Naming the commandments that interrupt the authentic free expression of the woman

Iconic Women:Mary and Eve

In this 2-or 3-hour presentation we will explore the Eve/Mary Split:

  1. Eve, as mythic mentor and heroine: personalizing and identifying with Eve
  2. Splits and duality of the Self
    1. Working to integrate the Eve/Mary polarities
    2. Naming the disowned parts of the self
    3. Giving voice and movement to the multiplicity of the self
  3. Moving towards wholeness
    1. Seven chakras opening to oneness
    2. Authentic self within relationship

Chakras in the Bible

In this workshop (1 hour) we will compare the Panoply of God in Ephesions 6 to an understanding of the inheritances embodied in our physio-spiritual natures using the language of chakras. We will explore the Greek words commonly translated in military terms, and re-image a spiritual wardrobe designed for peace.

Dancing Resurrection

This dance/movement opportunity will provide experiences of embodied exploration and awareness of the chakras. We will explore closing/opening, wounding/healing, repression/resurrection, all in the context of ritual space. We will celebrate this experience with light, music, color, textile, conversation, and dance, expanding creative expression. This workshop can be adapted to any length or presented as seven distinct sessions.