Mago Academy offers Female Divine in Myth, History and Culture, as an elective course of the Creatrix Studies Programs (CSP). You may take it as 0.5 credit course toward your M.A. or Ph.D. in Creatrix Studies program or audit it for non-degree track education.
Female Divine in Myth, History and Culture (0.5 Credits)
Course no: 405
Instructor: Helen Benigni, Ph.D.
Time: 9AM to 11 PM PT March 2-March 23 (Mondays, 2 hour-long 4 weekly sessions)
Description: This course traces the evolution of the basic archetypes of the Goddesses of Life, Death and Regeneration outlined by Marija Gimbutas as they evolve from the Paleolithic Era to the Bronze and Iron Ages. Focus on the Creatrix and Regeneration Goddesses in Western Europe and the Mediterranean reveals attributes in the matricentric cultures that allowed all forms of the Goddess to flourish as part of an expression of the Female Divine in myth, history and culture. (Continue to read for course summary.)
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Mago Academy accepts registration for Spring 2026 Courses. For the list of Spring 2026 courses, see here.
If you want to register courses as your graduate degree program, go to Coursework Application Guides.
Fill out the form below and email to Dr. Helen Hye-Sook Hwang (magoacademy@gmail.com) with the payment (Copy and paste the form in the body of your email). For other methods of payment, email Dr. Hwang for instructions. A Zoom link will be provided to registered students 2-3 days prior to the first session of your course.
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Fee for 1 credit course toward M.A. or Ph.D. degree program: $700 (if you register for a 2 unit course, choose 2 in product quantity).
Fee for 0.5 credit course toward M.A. or Ph.D. degree program: $350 (if you register for a total of 1 unit course, choose 2 in product quantity).
Fee for 1 credit course Audit: $100 (if you register for a 2 credit course auditing, choose 2 in product quantity)
Fee for 0.5 credit course Audit: $50 (if you register for a worth of 1.5 credit courses, e.g. one 1 credit course and 0.5 credit course, choose 3 in product quantity).
All inquires should be email to Dr. Hwang (magoacademy@gmail.com).
Course Summary
Rationale: We have now reached a vital cornerstone in the study of the Goddess that challenges our imaginations and evokes deep memories that call us to the pragmatism necessary to forge ahead. By this, I mean the ways of the Goddess now remain to be defined, described and promoted by those of us who wish to embrace the Sacred Feminine and begin to lead the way using the cornerstones of research that have been established. Keeping this in mind, we begin a course of study.
This course traces the evolution of the basic archetypes of the Goddesses of Life, Death and Regeneration as they evolve from the Paleolithic Era to the Bronze and Iron Ages. Focus on the Creatrix and the Regeneration Goddesses in Western Europe and the Mediterranean reveals attributes in the Matricentric Cultures that allowed all forms of the Goddess to flourish as part of an expression of the Female Divine in myth, history and culture.
Objectives:
*Students will reach an understanding of the interconnection of the cosmic elements of the Goddess.
*Students will identify with the past and continue the mythology of our culture as an inherent need in the human psyche.
*To accomplish this tremendous endeavor, students will continue the process of the evolution of human thought by studying the myths that are most abiding and which myths we have cast aside in the past that should be resurrected into a new, vital mythology.
*Renewing the archetype of a Goddess is one necessary part of resurrecting images of femininity that have been misunderstood or omitted in the patriarchal cultures that dominate the world today. However, the larger task before us is to re-create an entire mythology based, not only on the resurrection of the Goddess but of a re-vamping of human thought conscious of the balance of the life force itself with a respect not only of a feminine balance, but one which contains a balance with the forces of Nature and the Earth itself.
Methodology: Each session of the course will define and describe Goddesses in the Paleolithic, Neolithic and Bronze Ages by tracing their roots where their archetype retains the original characteristics of powerful and influential figures capable of change and regeneration of the cycles of life, death and rebirth.
The first hour of each session will be dedicated to presentations and answering students’ questions, and the second part of the class will focus on discussion and participation, including student presentations.
Instructor: Helen Benigni Ph.D. in USA
Biography: Helen Benigni (Ph.D. Indiana University of Pennsylvania) is a published author and Professor Emerita in Comparative Mythology at Davis and Elkins College in Elkins, West Virginia. For several decades, Helen has been teaching classes in Comparative Mythology with an emphasis on Goddess studies. Her books, The Myth of the Year (Mago Books, 2023), The Goddess and the Bull (University Press of America, 2007), and The Mythology of Venus (University Press of America, 2013) incorporate the research findings of archeoastronomers to determine the myths associated with the cycles found on the ancient calendars of the Greeks and the Celts. Identifying the Goddesses of the matri-local cultures of the ancients with the seasons represented by the lunar, solar and stellar bodies has been a major endeavor in the study of archetypes, with an emphasis on the feminine archetypes of the celestial realms. Helen’s research with the Hellenic Studies Center in Washington D.C., her many trips to ancient sites, and her collaborative efforts with scholars in mythology, astronomy, archeology, and art have led to her discovery of the presence of the Goddesses in the night sky and the continued renewal of the Goddesses in contemporary times.
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