Weaving Circle
2025-08-16 09:30 - 12:30 UTC | Crete
Join us for a bit of relaxed weaving and spinning, and of course a nice chat! Please let us know you’re coming at councilformatriarchalarts@gmail.com.

Wisdom Circle
2025-08-22 18:30 - 21:30 | Fres, Fres
Topic: Dr. Heide Goettner-Abendroth’s article, Visioning a Matriarchal Future, which she delivered in a speech at the “Matriarchy for Future Festival” in July, 2025.
About the Wisdom and Scholarship Circle:
Gatherings will be minimally facilitated, and our dialogue format will be fluid. Each session begins with a short ritual to arrive and open sacred space. Generally speaking, each woman is allowed several minutes to share her perspectives. We may later proceed into more open and free-wheeling conversation, allowing ideas, stories, and feelings to flow. There will be a “talking stick” in the room in case it is needed or desired by the group. As we grow in our knowledge and respect for one another, we will ever-more- skillfully co-conceive and co-create productive structure for our time together.
In preparation, please be thoughtful about how you would like to see us navigate potentially controversial topics and passionate varying opinions. What will you bring to the group? What would you like to receive and take away from this experience? What do we need to know about you so that we can hold you in a way that allows you to feel relaxed, open-hearted, seen, heard, and cherished?
The Sacred Agreement: In this forum, we will share the responsibility of holding space for respectful, curious, and productive conversation. We will maintain a commitment to confidentiality for each woman’s sharing, as well as a deep knowing that each woman is developing her own perspective and gifts through this experience. Each woman is asked to share from her heart, while tenderly holding attentive and heartfelt space for everyone in the group to do the same. Our shared vision is that each woman feels welcome to learn and imagine openly and in her own way. We arrive in this space with deep respect for diversity of experience, opinion, communication style, and perspective.
Please email us to let us know your coming, and to request a copy of the article: councilformatriarchalarts@gmail.com

Make Your Own Ceramic Goddess
2025-09-05 11:00 - 15:00 | Huset I Fres, Fres, Crete, Greece
Artist and Teacher Kirsten Mus will guide us in creating a Goddess with our own hands using stoneware clay. Light refreshments included. 15 euro to cover materials and kiln firing costs.

Council Meeting
2025-09-19 10:00 - 12:00, 2025-11-12 10:00 - 12:00, 2025-12-10 10:00 - 12:00 | Kalyves, Kalyves, Crete, Greece

Wisdom Circle
2025-09-30 18:30 - 22:30 | Aptera, Aptera, Greece
Topic: The Maternal Gift Economy, as presented in The Maternal Gift Economy Movement Online Conference, November 27, 2020.
Special Focus: Presentation by Sherri Mitchell: Indigenous Matriarchy and The Gift Economy; Naturally Aligned Systems (video timestamp: 1:37:20 – 2:10:00)
https://www.maternalgifteconomymovement.org/speakers/
About the Wisdom and Scholarship Circle:
Gatherings will be minimally facilitated, and our dialogue format will be fluid. Each session begins with a short ritual to arrive and open sacred space. Generally speaking, each woman is allowed several minutes to share her perspectives. We may later proceed into more open and free-wheeling conversation, allowing ideas, stories, and feelings to flow. There will be a “talking stick” in the room in case it is needed or desired by the group. As we grow in our knowledge and respect for one another, we will ever-more- skillfully co-conceive and co-create productive structure for our time together.
In preparation, please be thoughtful about how you would like to see us navigate potentially controversial topics and passionate varying opinions. What will you bring to the group? What would you like to receive and take away from this experience? What do we need to know about you so that we can hold you in a way that allows you to feel relaxed, open-hearted, seen, heard, and cherished?
The Sacred Agreement: In this forum, we will share the responsibility of holding space for respectful, curious, and productive conversation. We will maintain a commitment to confidentiality for each woman’s sharing, as well as a deep knowing that each woman is developing her own perspective and gifts through this experience. Each woman is asked to share from her heart, while tenderly holding attentive and heartfelt space for everyone in the group to do the same. Our shared vision is that each woman feels welcome to learn and imagine openly and in her own way. We arrive in this space with deep respect for diversity of experience, opinion, communication style, and perspective.
Please email us to let us know your coming: councilformatriarchalarts@gmail.com

Women's Weaving Retreat - Peloponnese
2025-10-18 - 2025-10-22 | Tsakonika Ifanta
The Council for the Revival of Matriarchal Arts and Tsakonika Ifanta present
A Women’s Weaving Retreat in the Peloponnese
The family-run workshop of Tsakonika Ifanta is based in Tyros, Arcadia, in the Peloponnese region of Greece, where the upright loom weaving tradition has thrived since the late 18th century. The region of Tsakonia is known for its rich folkloric heritage from the unique Tsakonian dialect, to its ancient history, distinctive dances, traditional costumes, and of course, its weaving art.
What makes Tsakonian weaving truly unique is the technique and tools. Each creation is woven with a cotton warp and wool weft, making seamless pieces with identical designs on both sides. This meticulous hand-weaving is done using only one tool, the loom’s beater comb.
Since 1948, we have continued to practice the traditional Tsakonian weaving technique, an art passed down from mother to daughter through three generations. Today, our workshop remains the only professional weaving studio in the region, preserving this centuries-old craft with deep respect and creativity. Our work has been featured in national and international media, reflecting the cultural significance of Tsakonian weaving.
Our weaving tradition has received official recognition and is currently being documented for inclusion in the National Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Greece.
Elisavet Rodopoulou, a third-generation weaver, is recognized as a representative of Tsakonian weaving. She teaches at craft schools, offering workshops for beginners and professionals alike.
A recent highlight of our workshop was representing Greece at the International Conference on Geographical Indications, an event organized by the EUIPO to honor handmade cultural products. This recognition is a vital step toward ensuring that the Tsakonian weaving tradition will be cherished and preserved for generations to come.
With love and meraki, we continue the craft passed down to us by our great-grandmothers.
https://www.tsakonikaifanta.gr/
Retreat Logistics
Dates: Saturday, October 18 – Wednesday, October 22 (arrival Friday evening October 17)
Location: Tsakonika Ifanta Studio, Tyros, Arcadia
Duration: 5 days, 5 hours per day
Workshop Fee: 650 Euro (VAT included) – fee includes all materials and weaving equipment for the duration of the workshop.*
Accomodation: 40 euro per night for a shared room; 80 per night for a single (VAT included), 5 nights. https://www.studios-kyparissi.eu/
Meals and Transfers: Meals can be prepared together or provided for us at Kyparissi Studios, and/or taken at local Taverna’s, depending on group and individual desires. Cost of transfers will be shared. We’ll have a car traveling from Athens on the 17th.
Retreat Overview: The workshop offers a hands-on experience in traditional weaving, allowing participants to engage in every stage of the process. Participants will learn historical techniques, work with hand-spun, naturally-dyed wool, and weave their own 30cm x 40 cm (12” x 15”) kilim textile using a traditional vertical loom. One workshop day will be dedicated to learning sustainable plant-based dye sourcing and dyeing techniques. Optional daily somatic body conditioning sessions and spa treatments available through Kyparissi studios. Outside workshop hours the group will share meals, and determine additional group activities and excursions together. The schedule will allow for individual/personal time daily.
* A few scholarships for workshop fee only will be available for women needing financial assistance. To apply, send an inquiry to councilformatriarchalarts@gmail.com detailing your interest in traditional arts, women’s lineage, and/or the field of modern matriarchal studies.
Inquiries and to register email councilformatriarchalarts@gmail.com
The Council for the Revival of Matriarchal Arts was conceived to reweave the ancient wisdom and traditions of women into our modern social structures. Inspired by the rich and growing field of Modern Matriarchal Studies, our activities are co-created to heal and strengthen the bonds among women, and to reintegrate maternal values of attuned care, nurturance, generosity, egalitarianism, and responsible Earth stewardship into our interpersonal and communal relations at all levels.
To this end we are gathering to re-member the practical and spiritual arts that were developed and shared through generations and lineages. We engage in focused dialogues about things that matter deeply to us as women and to the world; we share food, life experiences, talents, responsibilities, and challenges, and meet the trials and tribulations of beginning again with humility. Find out more at https://matriarchalartscouncil.com

Hearth Gathering and Weaving Workshop
2025-10-24 10:00 - 17:00 | Love Without Borders Gallery, Athens, Athens, Greece
A Hearth is the warm and ambient space at the center of a home or community where everyone belongs, where food is prepared and shared, and where handcrafts, festivities, rituals, and other communal activities take place. The“Heart” and “Earth” of the community is where sincere connections are forged among humans of all ages and stages of life, while the practical daily responsibilities that sustain and nurture life are shared. It is where human-to-human coherence is cultivated, as well as our capacity to care in a meaningful way for one another and the Earth.
Weaving for Life: We will explore together how the ancient skilled art of weaving beautiful fabric is a metaphor for weaving resilient community. Skilled arts and handcrafted wares were once the foundation of local economies. Before the modern norms of corporate marketing, digital logos, mass-produced commodities, and unchecked resource extraction, vessels and fabrics were locally handcrafted and imbued with cultural wisdom. Skilled handcrafting attunes body, mind, and soul, like meditation. Left and right brain capacities—rational/intellectual and intuitive/creative—are integrated to bring imagination and insight into practical, shareable form. Gathering to remember culturally significant arts helps us recover the wisdom of lost lineages and cultivate the skills necessary for balanced, cooperative living.

Learn to weave on a handloom, create a small tapestry
Create and enjoy a wholesome home-cooked meal with us
Enjoy a relaxing afternoon engaged in meaningful conversation
Optional: bring beads, shells, twigs, old (clean) cotton t-shirts (for cutting), or other items to weave into your tapestry
Free community gathering. Optional donations to LWOB or CRMA welcome.
Please RSVP to assure materials and space are available: councilformatriarchalarts@gmail.com

www.matriarchalartscouncil.com
www.lovewithoutborders4refugees.com

Wisdom Circle - Raising Resilient Children
2025-11-10 18:30 - 21:30 | Gavalochori, Greece
Topic: Raising Resilient Children
Dear Friends,
This next Wisdom circle is about Raising Resilient Children. For the first time, I (Audrey) am going to lead our circle. As a new mum who is still trying to navigate which figure I want to embody for my daughter, I find in Erica Komisar’s talks the reassurance to act in alignment with my natural mother’s intuition, despite what modern society presents to mothers as the “right” way to raise children.
Erika is a social worker, psychoanalist, and author committed to helping parents raise emotionally regulated children in a context where community networks have been disrupted and the institutionalization of childcare normalized.
She discusses the alarming situation of a narcissistic society led by narcissistic parents after years of telling women they should choose themselves, their needs, and their desires first. This has led to a generation of teenagers and young adults who struggle with social and mental health issues. They have been separated from their parents from a very young age by placing them in daycares, raised without the presence of extended family or community, and with both parents working, unable to be as physically and emotionally present as they might wish to be.
Erica reemphasizes the importance of being present for our babies, especially during the most neurologically fragile years between birth and age three. This prevents attachment issues and emotional instability later on in life.
She speaks directly to women and new parents who wish to reconnect with their natural instincts and intuition, reminding them that their young children deeply need their presence. After decades of promoting independence, career focus, and individualism, society has forgotten the essential role of community and the importance of making choices that positively impact families and, above all, the children.
I hope this topic will resonate with you as a mother, an aunt, a grandma or any figure who cares about children and how we treat them. Because if as adults we do not step to act diferently, the circle of trauma will keep repeating itself.

Materials to Preview for our Dialogue:
1- Podcast Interview of Erica Komisar in The Diary of a CEO , Starting at 09:49 How Have Social Changes Influenced Parenting? Until 25:31 Family Diaspora: Raising Children Without Extended Family.
In addition, choose one of the 2 (shorter) videos below to view before our meeting:
2 – Psychoanalyst’s Advice For Young Parents
3 – Psychoanalyst: “Children need a childhood!” | Erica Komisar , This speech is a conference where Erica presents the systemic problem causing children to develop mental issues such as ADHD and presents her solutions at a personnal, society and governmental level to adress the issue.

A few questions and ideas to consider for our dialogue:

Do you agree that western society has overvalued individualism and created narcissistic parents to the detriment of children?
As grandmothers, neighbors, aunts, or members of the wider community, how do you feel you can support mothers and help break the cycle of raising children in isolation?
What do you think about the complementary roles that mothers and fathers play with their children, especially in a context where many adults grew up with single parents or with parents trying to fill both roles at once?
According to Erica, “Parents need to look after their past and traumas and take responsibility for their children’s mental health issues.” What does this mean to you?

Additional Links:
Erica’s website
Book: Being There: Why Prioritizing Motherhood in the First Three Years Matters

Logistics:
Date: Monday, November 10
Time: 6:30 – 9:30 p.m.
Place: Gavalochori
What to bring: An object that represents a child that is dear to your heart or your inner child.
Food: You are welcome to bring a light and healthy dish to share, or to arrive early to prepare something together. Please contact us to coordinate.
Please RSVP to let us know you’re coming: councilformatriarchalarts@gmail.com

About the Wisdom and Scholarship Circle:
Gatherings will be minimally facilitated, and our dialogue format will be fluid. Each session begins with a short ritual to arrive and open sacred space. Generally speaking, each woman is allowed several minutes to share her perspectives. We may later proceed into more open and free-wheeling conversation, allowing ideas, stories, and feelings to flow. There will be a “talking stick” in the room in case it is needed or desired by the group. As we grow in our knowledge and respect for one another, we will ever-more- skillfully co-conceive and co-create productive structure for our time together.
In preparation, please be thoughtful about how you would like to see us navigate potentially controversial topics and passionate varying opinions. What will you bring to the group? What would you like to receive and take away from this experience? What do we need to know about you so that we can hold you in a way that allows you to feel relaxed, open-hearted, seen, heard, and cherished?
The Sacred Agreement: In this forum, we will share the responsibility of holding space for respectful, curious, and productive conversation. We will maintain a commitment to confidentiality for each woman’s sharing, as well as a deep knowing that each woman is developing her own perspective and gifts through this experience. Each woman is asked to share from her heart, while tenderly holding attentive and heartfelt space for everyone in the group to do the same. Our shared vision is that each woman feels welcome to learn and imagine openly and in her own way. We arrive in this space with deep respect for diversity of experience, opinion, communication style, and perspective.

Weaving Instruction with Dina
2025-11-15 11:00 - 14:00 | Kalyves, Kalyves, Crete, Greece

Weaving Instruction with Dina
2025-11-29 10:00 - 14:00 | Kalyves, Kalyves, Crete, Greece
Warping the loom.

Wisdom Circle: Inanna's Return: Re-Embodying Menstrual Sacrality
2025-11-29 18:30 - 21:30 | Kalyves, Kalyves, Crete, Greece
Topic: Inanna’s Return: Re-Embodying Menstrual Sacrality
Guest Speaker: Annalisa Derr, PhD
The Sumerian goddess Inanna is the zeitgeist goddess of our cultural moment. She is a multi-faceted myth figure that expresses erotic agency, is a formidable goddess on the battlefield, and willingly sacrifices Herself to the Underworld Queen to regain Her original (pre-patriarchal) Sovereignty. But Inanna is more than an archetypal role model for women seeking to embody sexual agency and empowerment; She is a myth model who guides women to experience the living presence of Goddess within the female body, including the menstrual cycle.
Western culture has no sacred menstrual narrative to teach women and men, girls and boys, about the connection between the menstrual cycle and the mysteries of creation. We are also not taught about the existential role the menstrual cycle plays in human society. Most of our approaches to menstruation miss the biological, psychological, sociological, and spiritual meanings that undergird menstruation.
Menstrual narratives grounded in empowering goddess archetypes fill this cultural void. Sacred stories and rituals that center goddesses empower women (and men) to revere female bodies as divine and powerful. In particular, the menstrual cycle is best viewed as a source of wisdom about women’s bodily power.
In this workshop, Annalisa will illustrate how she re-imagines “The Descent of Inanna” as a sacred menstrual narrative, offering a framework for contemporary women’s empowerment. Annalisa will then lead the group through a selection of embodied practices—a writing prompt, a womb visualization, and a ritual enactment—geared toward re-(w)riting menarche. As a myth model She encourages them to shed internalized sexism and menstrual stigmatization and instead cultivate sacred menstrual stories, symbols, and practices to experience Goddess’ indwelling power—Her erotic aliveness which is the driving feminine force of the menstrual cycle. Ultimately, Inanna serves as a healing guide for the little girl inside of every woman, regardless of age or menstrual status.

About Annalisa: Annalisa Derr earned her PhD in Mythological Studies from Pacifica Graduate Institute and holds a BA in theater. Her forthcoming book with Inner Traditions helps liberate women from internalized sexism and menstrual shame, (re)awakening them to their indwelling Sacred Feminine Power through a re-imagining of “The Descent of Inanna.” Embodying her research, Annalisa performs original site-specific, goddess-centered, menstrual art performances.
Annalisa produces “Journey to the Goddess TV,” hosting experts in goddess scholarship and spirituality. She also offers sacred feminine retreats and embodiment workshops. She will be leading an intimate group to Mary Magdelene’s sacred sites in France in May 2026. Annalisa served on the Sarasvati Nonfiction Book Award committee for ASWM, and she modeled Mary Magdalene for the “Goddess on Earth Oracle Deck” by Lisa Levart. She is an aspiring flamenco dancer, Italophile, and a recent resident of Greece. Learn more about Annalisa and her upcoming book at: https://www.journeytothegoddess.voyage/who-we-are
Logistics:
Date: Saturday, November 29
Time: 6:30 – 9:30 p.m.
Place: Kalyves (Exact location given upon RSVP)
What to bring: A notebook and item for the communal altar.
Food: You are welcome (but not required) to bring a light and healthy dish to share. Please contact us to coordinate.
Space is Limited. Please RSVP to let us know you’re coming: councilformatriarchalarts@gmail.com

Introduction to Spinning with Sophie
2025-12-01 10:00 - 13:00 | Kalyves, Kalyves, Crete, Greece

Wisdom Circle - The Evolved Nest
2025-12-15 18:30 - 21:30 | Aptera, Aptera, Greece
Topic: The Evolved Nest
Material to Preview for our Dialogue: Online Presentation by Darcia Narvaez: Returning to the Core of Societal Health and Human Potential: Mothering and Nested Care. Bio on Darcia Narvaez and video available for viewing at: https://www.maternalgifteconomymovement.org/speakers/ (Presentation begins at video timestamp 31:10 and ends at 54:00).

Introduction: Narvaez’ work gives scientific and practical context to principles recognizable in indigenous matriarchal social systems; specifically regarding the importance of creating safe space for mothers and children to nurture and be nurtured, and for all members of a community to give and receive care as a function of “evolved nesting.” In her talk, we discover the principles of effective nesting for the human animal, and why it is absolutely necessary for healthy human development and for building cooperative, resilient communities.

About the Wisdom and Scholarship Circle:
Gatherings will be minimally facilitated, and our dialogue format will be fluid. Each session begins with a short ritual to arrive and open sacred space. Generally speaking, each woman is allowed several minutes to share her perspectives. We may later proceed into more open and free-wheeling conversation, allowing ideas, stories, and feelings to flow. There will be a “talking stick” in the room in case it is needed or desired by the group. As we grow in our knowledge and respect for one another, we will ever-more- skillfully co-conceive and co-create productive structure for our time together.
In preparation, please be thoughtful about how you would like to see us navigate potentially controversial topics and passionate varying opinions. What will you bring to the group? What would you like to receive and take away from this experience? What do we need to know about you so that we can hold you in a way that allows you to feel relaxed, open-hearted, seen, heard, and cherished?
The Sacred Agreement: In this forum, we will share the responsibility of holding space for respectful, curious, and productive conversation. We will maintain a commitment to confidentiality for each woman’s sharing, as well as a deep knowing that each woman is developing her own perspective and gifts through this experience. Each woman is asked to share from her heart, while tenderly holding attentive and heartfelt space for everyone in the group to do the same. Our shared vision is that each woman feels welcome to learn and imagine openly and in her own way. We arrive in this space with deep respect for diversity of experience, opinion, communication style, and perspective.
Please email us to let us know your coming: councilformatriarchalarts@gmail.com

Council Meeting
2026-01-21 10:00 - 12:00 | Kalyves, Kalyves, Crete, Greece
Email for more information or to join: councilformatriarchalarts@gmail.com

Wisdom circle - Healing trauma in community
2026-01-31 18:30 - 21:30 | Chania, Chania
Based on the work of renowned physician Gabor Maté, who has extensively explored addiction and the healing of trauma, we can better understand the roots of individual suffering. Maté explains that addictive and self-harming behaviors often stem from unresolved trauma and are attempts to cope with pain that was never properly acknowledged or nurtured, often beginning in early childhood.
Most of his methods focus on helping patients uncover and acknowledge what happened to them, as well as the lack of care or support they may have experienced. While his work primarily centers on individual healing, I would like to invite reflection on a broader question: how can community, particularly communities striving to embody matriarchal principles, be a space for healing individual as well as collective trauma?
This perspective invites us to see trauma healing not just as a personal journey through therapy, but also as something that can be supported by the dynamics of a community. Gabor Maté has identified isolation as one of the main reasons why individual have a hard time healing their trauma and looking for help. Communities can create a space where healing becomes more accessible, especially in today’s context, where disconnection makes the process even more challenging.
Materials to watch: Interview with Gabor Maté from 6:50 until 25:30 min
Optional material to listen if you want to go deeper on the subject:
The oldest trauma podcast episode by Subject to Power
Questions to reflect on:

Can you share an experience where being part of a community helped you heal or cope with a personal trauma?
Traumatized individuals often feel isolated and alone in their experiences. How can a community create a safe space that allows them to connect and feel supported?

Links: Gabor Maté’s website
Books by the author:

The myth of normal: Trauma, Illness, & Healing in a Toxic Culture
When the Body Says No

Logistics:
Date: 31st January from 6pm 30 until 9pm 30
Location: Chania
What to bring?

Some food you would like to share with the group, please share if possible on the telegram group what you plan to bring.

Please confirm your presence by sending an email to: councilformatriarchalarts@gmail.com
Facilitator and hostess for the evening: Audrey

Women's Ritual Circle Dances with Claudia
2026-02-20 18:00 - 20:00 | Orizon Center at Akrimios, orizon center, Άπτερα, 73003, Greece
Women’s Circle Dancing is held monthly at Orizon Center in Crete.Read full details here → Orizon Center Akrimios
Dancing and Potluck
Contact Claudia: +306973347501, claudia.welter@gmx.de
