My friends and colleagues, There is sage wisdom, when a project is involved, in the word “start”. This is a re-birth of an idea: a place for artists and scholars working in sacred, mythic, and ritual performance and theatre. A sacred dancing ground, of sorts.
This is broadly stated, because it is an emergent multidisciplinary field ranging from the visual arts, writing, composition, to the study of shamanic practice and cultural expressions of the sacred, of folk-life and the ancient world (where it all began), to the creation of liturgy and, lest we forget, modern Pagan ritual and the artes magicale. The uniting thread is the performing arts: dance, composition, plays and play writing, performance art, and music.
This work is not simply the “study of…” in order to create or acknowledge added knowledge, but a place also of wisdom. Of conversation: A word which means: “turning together”. I will be accepting queries for publication in a POD edition to be published bi-annually entitled: “Roses and Wildflowers: Sacred Performance”. It will not be free (as was the journal), but will be priced to cover my expenses as publisher/editor and to provide a small remuneration to the writers who are included. The copyrights and publication rights, except as they pertain to “Roses and Wildflowers” will remain, thereafter, with the individual author. The first publication will not be themed, except as the accepted papers group themselves into five basic categories:
1. Folk traditions (medieval customs & holdovers, secular seasonal rituals such as morris, mummers plays, Noh)
2. Classic theatre of the Ancient world (Pre 200 C.E. Greece, India, Persia, Japan, China … & etc.)
3. Ritual and Sacred Theatre and Performance (as example: Purim Shpiels, Hindu dance/drama [e.g.: Natya], re-creations of Eleusis in a sacred context, Passion Plays, traditional peoples and First Nations performance traditions, Pagan/Wiccan performance-rituals, and the historic works of mystic writer/creators [such as the Blessed Hildegard von Bingen].)
4. Theoretical and philosophical works that explore each of these areas from an epistemological standpoint
and: (very importantly!)
5. Creative work. (liturgies, compositions, poetry, and at least one ritual play in its entirely)
6. Psychology & therapeutic use of drama and music as a sacred journey
While there is, at present, no set deadline for submission, one will be set within the next 3 weeks along with an official CPF which can be distributed. While I prefer to create this aspect of this project as a peer reviewed publication, I am prepared to go ahead without a review board, but will keep you posted as things develop. Eventually, it is my intention to create an interactive web area where artists and scholars may collaborate and share both knowledge and wisdom.
Thank you all for your patience and support. The past issues of Coreopsis are at: https://sites.google.com/site/mythandtheatre/ and http://www.coreopsis.org. should you need a copy of any given paper, both site have download (as pdf) and print options and a means to contact individual authors.
Lezlie Kinyon, Ph.D., Editor Coreopsis A Journal of Myth and Theatre
http://www.coreopsis.org
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Lezlie A. Kinyon, Ph.D.,(Ed)
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