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Dark Goddesses 2002
Jan. 17th, 2002 11:54 pmCool!
This play is shaping up, it seems, to be something they do every year. It's been shown every 3 years now, and this is the second year I went. It focuses on some dark goddesses, they each get to do or say something. There are a few goddesses they did last year that weren't there this year, and there were some new ones that I hadn't seen before. Some impressions:
I still like Hecate. Not as much as last year; she was very quirky almost to the point of seeming insane, and you really got the sense of 'touched by the Goddess', and I was in awe of her weirdness. This year she seemed a little tamer, but I think she's still my favorite. She had really cool horns.
The summoning was very powerful. I could feel the energy being raised very clearly. I loved the African-type dance done to raise Earth. Wonderful!
Sedna the sea goddess was the clearest 'story' vignette of the bunch. The message got a wee bit preachy (everyone shouting 'protect the wild places' over and over) but I still cried a little when they showed her with all the junk we throw in the oceans in her hair, trying to untangle it. Her despair and alarm was palpable.
Kali was... god, amazing. I remotely know the woman playing her as the friend of a friend. For me she did the best job of manifesting her goddess. Her dancing was astounding, and she really seemed to be speaking as Kali, rather than reciting some lines. Hers was the other time when I cried; when she explained that she did what she did because she loved us, which really showed me another facet of her. Most Wiccan stuff you read about her just kind of makes her out to be this nasty bad-ass. But hearing her tonight, I'm reminded of one of my favorite lines from a movie that goes something like "when we die, we are stripped of everything that holds us back from moving on to the next world. If we cling to that which holds us back, those who strip our illusions from us seem to be demons tearing our hopes and dreams from us. But if we let these things be taken from us in peace, the beings are angels, setting us free."
I would have liked to hear more from Sekhmet. She has a really good myth, but she really didn't get to express it much. Same with Rhiannon.
Lilith was good and slutty. So was Medusa, in a different way.
The closing farewells were beautiful. Lilith and Spider Woman sang a wonderful harmony together, and the elemental dismissals were lovely- I wish I could remember them (and sing well) so I could use them in circle. One of the actresses has expressed interest in becoming a student, and I may be able to learn it from her. I'll see if she decides to apply.
Now I'm trying to think of who I can recommend this play to, besides my pagany friends, I'd like to tell Eric's mom about it, but I don't know if it would freak her out. I think I'll take the chance though.
This play is shaping up, it seems, to be something they do every year. It's been shown every 3 years now, and this is the second year I went. It focuses on some dark goddesses, they each get to do or say something. There are a few goddesses they did last year that weren't there this year, and there were some new ones that I hadn't seen before. Some impressions:
I still like Hecate. Not as much as last year; she was very quirky almost to the point of seeming insane, and you really got the sense of 'touched by the Goddess', and I was in awe of her weirdness. This year she seemed a little tamer, but I think she's still my favorite. She had really cool horns.
The summoning was very powerful. I could feel the energy being raised very clearly. I loved the African-type dance done to raise Earth. Wonderful!
Sedna the sea goddess was the clearest 'story' vignette of the bunch. The message got a wee bit preachy (everyone shouting 'protect the wild places' over and over) but I still cried a little when they showed her with all the junk we throw in the oceans in her hair, trying to untangle it. Her despair and alarm was palpable.
Kali was... god, amazing. I remotely know the woman playing her as the friend of a friend. For me she did the best job of manifesting her goddess. Her dancing was astounding, and she really seemed to be speaking as Kali, rather than reciting some lines. Hers was the other time when I cried; when she explained that she did what she did because she loved us, which really showed me another facet of her. Most Wiccan stuff you read about her just kind of makes her out to be this nasty bad-ass. But hearing her tonight, I'm reminded of one of my favorite lines from a movie that goes something like "when we die, we are stripped of everything that holds us back from moving on to the next world. If we cling to that which holds us back, those who strip our illusions from us seem to be demons tearing our hopes and dreams from us. But if we let these things be taken from us in peace, the beings are angels, setting us free."
I would have liked to hear more from Sekhmet. She has a really good myth, but she really didn't get to express it much. Same with Rhiannon.
Lilith was good and slutty. So was Medusa, in a different way.
The closing farewells were beautiful. Lilith and Spider Woman sang a wonderful harmony together, and the elemental dismissals were lovely- I wish I could remember them (and sing well) so I could use them in circle. One of the actresses has expressed interest in becoming a student, and I may be able to learn it from her. I'll see if she decides to apply.
Now I'm trying to think of who I can recommend this play to, besides my pagany friends, I'd like to tell Eric's mom about it, but I don't know if it would freak her out. I think I'll take the chance though.
