2009 Conference on the Great Mother and New Father

Robert Bly's 35th Annual Conference
on the Great Mother and New Father

May 30th 2009 - June 7th 2009

Camp Kieve, Nobleboro, Maine

Theme of 2009:

What Was Said To The Rose

This June we will have the 35th meeting of the Conference on the Great Mother and the New Father, and once again we will gather to give some food to the soul.

This year we will find ourselves in a challenging time in our national life. Something is ending and something new about to begin. We will focus in this spirit on how a poem or a melody or a thinker is able to open us to new possibilities, opening a window for sparrows and crows to come in.

We are deeply pleased that James Hillman, the master psychologist and writer, will be back with us after many years.

We will also be joined by Neil Douglas-Klotz, a student of the complicated history of Aramaic as it was spoken by Jesus. He will help us to see what current translators have overlooked and help us to swim in the images.

The wildly entertaining Caroline Casey will keep us up to date on the movements of the stars and bring us political news.

Gioia Timpanelli brings the storytelling world and its beauty right up to our faces. Robert Bly will have new ghazals of his own and translations of Norwegians and Sufis.

A new teacher, Martin Shaw, from England, will offer us tales from his huge bag of stories.

Doug von Koss will begin each morning with singing. John de Kadt the drum teacher will bring thirty drums with him, and introduce them to people who have never drummed before. The Brothers Frantzich will lift our spirits with their music and teach workshops to bring out the singer in each of us.Rita Shumaker will encourage us all to create new works of art in watercolor or oil.

The invited poets this year, Fran Quinn and Aracelis Girmay, will read their own poems and teach poetry workshops. Coleman Barks will be with us again, thank God. It's a delight that Marcus Wise and David Whetstone will bring ecstatic music to us again. Abraham and Hallima Sussman will lead us in Sufi dance and song. Carey Odes will be back with his genius for comedy.

During these ten days we will have a taste of what it is like to live in a community of women and men who have already raised their voices in acts of resistance, through painting, poetry, thought and storytelling. The Conference will once again give thanks to many who are gone, including William Stafford, Etheridge Knight, Marie Louise von Franz, and Joseph Campbell. Children are welcome. We have teachers who work specifically with projects for children and teens.

Conference participants who work with the visual arts will have an opportunity to show their work in a Conference gallery.

That's what it looks like this year. We'll be happy to see you all when June comes.

This conference owes its continuance to no institutions or foundations. It is entirely supported by those who attend.
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