THIS IS NOT A BOOKCLUB 'The Great Cosmic Mother'

THIS IS NOT A BOOKCLUB X SARSAS at Bristol Folk House, present The Great Cosmic Mother: Rediscovering the Religion of the Earth by Monica Sjöö and Barbara Mor.

THIS IS NOT A BOOKCLUB

You don’t have to read anything first

Just sit back and let us read to you

Join THIS IS NOT A BOOKCLUB to celebrate, ‘The Great Cosmic Mother’, Monica Sjöö and Barbara Mor’s excavation of global evidence painting women as creators.

7pm, Friday 18 December

Bristol Folk House

40a Park Street BS1 5JG

While living in Bristol in December 1975, Swedish Artist & Activist, Monica Sjöö, published a 76 page pamphlet titled ‘The Ancient Religion of the Great Cosmic Mother of All’. Deeply embedded in Sjoo’s work was her belief that “There is no spirituality without politics, no politics without spirituality”. Five years before the pamphlet’s publication, the police confiscated Monica Sjöö’s painting, ‘God Giving Birth’, from an exhibition in St Ives. 

“The sky, with all its dramatic life-giving movement, is in fact created by the earth—the envelope of air and moisture surrounding us is really the earth’s “breathing.” As in the ancient African beliefs, the sky gods are creations of the Mother Earth; she breathes them out, and can breathe them back in again.”  Quote from The Great Cosmic Mother

Upon removal of the painting the police cited ‘blasphemy’ and threatened Sjöö with prosecution because the painting depicted a woman of colour giving birth to the cosmos.

Later, American Poet, Barbara Mor, worked with Sjöö to expand the pamphlet from 76 pages to the almost 500 page book, ‘The Great Cosmic Mother: Rediscovering the Religion of the Earth’. Beginning as far back as verifiable research allowed, they gathered artefacts, archaeological, anthropological, historical and mythological texts that evidenced women as the creators.

Sjöö’s feminist matriarchal/goddess influence was so wide, African American Novelist, Alice Walker, counted her as a friend and listed The Great Cosmic Mother as her favourite book, and “one of the greatest inquiries into religious thought in our time”.

Sue Tate, Bristol’s preeminent feminist art historian said, Sjöö’s work “resonates strongly with current concerns around climate change, ecological collapse, racial equality and the place of women in global culture.”

What is THIS IS NOT A BOOKCLUB?

A live literary performance weaving feature books between contextual global writing from history, poetry, science, current affairs, and personal reflections by up and coming writers.

BRISTOL FOLK HOUSE

Please come early to enjoy a seasonal drink and snack.

GIFT GIVING

We give all profits and donations to SARSAS, The South West charity supporting survivors of sexual violence.