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‘In any creative work, be it the artist or the artisan, the creatve person unites with the material they are working with, which symbolises the world outside him/herself. The worker and the artefact become one. The human being becomes one with his creation. ‘ Erich Fromm
The word Poiein in Ancient Greek (ποιεá¿–ν) means making. It is where the word Poetry comes from. Plato had pointed at the connection between craft-making and poetry, calling us to gaze at the rich worlds of form and meaning that come to life when we take raw material from our landscape and create with it. It is possible, when we look at a handcrafted object, to appreciate the emotion and soul life that the maker had infused in it.
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Sefrou is located in the heart of the middle Atlas. Traditionally, a market town located amidst fertile farming lands, it is known for its fruit orchards, cherry festival and the large Jewish community that lived there up until the last century. Sefrou is still home to a large community of local artisans, metal smiths, woodworkers, weavers and button makers. Though the community is still thriving, few are the ones of the young generation who wish to learn these skills.
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Visiting local crafts people in their workshops, we will learn about their work and daily lives as a way to get a sense of the place through the people and their working spaces. An orientation of the city from the inside out hosted by Culture Vultures, will lead us into a deeper relationship with Amazigh women who spin and weave and we will participate in a hands own textile workshop.
We will be introduced to ‘The Loom in Local Rituals’ and how women used the loom as a sacred medium for protection. On Sunday we will make a day trip to a mountain market town in the Middle Atlas where the wool comes from, to meet women who practice unbroken textile traditions in the region.
Alongside these visits our work will consist of listening to the stories that emerge from our activities, as well as engage with traditional stories from around the world to bring into clearer focus the role of craft-making in the life of the Soul. On our last day we will share these stories in a storytelling evening (no previous experience necessary). Daily shamanic practices will help us access ancestral knowledge and seek healing for modern day’s rupture between skill and community, craft and Time.
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​Prophet women is a story about chthonic knowledge and the feminine 'otherwise', before and after the Apollonian takeover of the oracular temple at Delphi.
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A scratch on the surface of the Python/Apollo myth at Delphi, reveals that when Apollo killed the dragon/serpent and ‘took over’ the temple there was a certain erasure and co-optation of the existing practices, as well as demonisation of the she-serpent, Delphyne.
These are the ways of colonisation.
But the otherwise ways of relationality, ambiguity and deep time mediated by the serpent Delphyne and the pythia, the oracular priestesses, did not die. They shape-shifted, dispersed and still to this day continuously re-emerge in new forms.
Even when dominant powers impose new orders, alternative ways of being remain persistent in the margins, in the subterranean layers of history. This was the theme of the festival (see programme here) that Elena Kazantzidi curated in the village of Chrisso which is nestled in the valley between Delphi and the sea.​​​​
Prophet Women
Storytelling performance
Karmit Even Zur & musician Elli Giannaki
1st Mythopoetic Festival, Chrisso Delphi, Greece 2025​
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