When Women Were The Shamans: In the Ancient Civilisations of the Middle East

When Women Were The Shamans returns for parts 4 - 6 in a series lectures on the historical context of women’s mystery teachings and religious experience in pre-patriarchal Europe, the Near and Middle East with scholar Gabriela Gutierrez

“Woman is by nature a shaman.” 
 - Maria Czaplicka (1914)  
Aboriginal Siberia: A Study in Social Anthropology

In this new three-part series, independent scholar Gabriela Gutierrez takes us through more of her research on the female shamans of ancient Europe, the Near and Middle East.

Our prehistoric past is full of evidence for women holding active religious positions in society. Gabriela’s interdisciplinary research draws on ancient history, mythology, anthropology, archaeology and folk tradition to bring together usually separate fields of study in order to draw a fuller picture of women’s religious history. 

This is not to imply that there weren’t male shamans in prehistory, nor that men are not able to be shamans, but rather to suggest that a primordial female archetype was central to the oldest roots of the shamanic tradition.

Gabriela’s work seeks to bridge intellectual and intuitive ways of knowing, and so these lectures are each accompanied by an experiential practice. Participants will be guided into a self-induced altered state of consciousness in order to access the ancient wisdom of these shamanic women through their own experience.
 

Lecture 5: When Women Were The Shamans

In the Ancient Civilisations of the Middle East

This lecture will cover:

• The worship of the Goddess, known as “the Great Mother of the Gods”
• The religion of Ashtoreth, Asherah or Anath and her Lover Baal
• Female sexual autonomy
• The mythos of the son/lover and the ritual of the sacred marriage
• The origins of the Old Testament Resurrection Story
• The deification of the Goddess by the Semites (Arab and Hebrew peoples)
• The territorial conquests and violent aggressions that led to the change from a Feminine to a Masculine Creative Principle
• The sacred sexual customs
   

What to expect:

• Another look at our history in Europe in order to redefine our understanding of where we come from, our rich spiritual heritage, and why the Western world is suffering from a type of spiritual amnesia.
• An extensive reading list on women in ancient history and mythology
• An ancient method used by these women to induce a trance state and access direct revelation from the gods
• Dreamwork practices to deepen your relationship with your dreams and aid dream recollection

You are encouraged to continue working with the practices you learn, and integrate them into your daily life for a period of time to give them a chance to unfold in you.

Way you may benefit from this work:

• An understanding of women’s religious experience in the ancient world
• You will receive a chronology that covers the key events in human history that resulted in the patriarchal world we live in today
• Insight into the spiritual heritage of the western world that was largely wiped out by invading war tribes from the East in the Neolithic, the institutionalisation of women’s religious practice, and the Inquisition of the Middle Ages
• A deeper sense of belonging in the world, rooted in the knowledge of a rich spiritual heritage of the ancient women who lived before us
• Reconnecting with your own inner wisdom
• Trusting in your own sovereignty and direct relationship with the divine
• A deeper sense of intimacy with your body, particularly your womb which was an important tool for these ancient women
• Enhanced confidence in your ability to trust your intuition and develop a heightened awareness of the subtle realms

Please Note:

 If you cannot attend the live classes, a recording will be available. Please sign up and you will be sent a follow up email with a recording. 

Parts 1 - 3 of Gabriela’s online lectures from this series can be found on her website. However, each of these lectures is stand alone. You do not need to have watched previous lectures in order to benefit from the wisdom being shared. 

Facilitator 
 

Gabriela is a writer, mythologist and teacher of the mythic imagination, mysticism and ancient history. She is globally trained in shamanic healing and the oracular arts. Her work stems from her decade-long studies with shamans and renunciants around the world, and is focused on the revival of women’s wisdom traditions in Europe & the Middle East. She is currently writing her first nonfiction book on the bee priestesses of pre-Hellenic Greece. Her writing and research can be found on her Substack publication ‘Under a Fig Tree’.

www.gabrielamairgutierrez.com

"I cannot recommend Gabriela’s classes highly enough. To me there is no doubt she is amongst the great teachers on this Earth." - Noora Al Qassimi, Lawyer at United Nations, Abu Dhabi, UAE

"Gabriela is a rare find and an exquisite teacher. She is a unique combination of scholarly astuteness and mystical wisdom." - Ian Yan, Traditional Healer, Malaysia