Kathryn Knight Sonntag
SUN, AUG 8, 2021 | 7:30-9:00 pm MDT
Discover the wisdom and love of our Divine Mother through a journey into the symbolic realm of the ancient and sacred Tree of Life, where divine femininity is able to make itself known as generative, intuitive, compassionate—a complement to divine masculinity.
GATHERING IN THE BACK YARD OF:
Jim and Judy McConkie.
3373 S Oakwood St
Salt Lake City, Utah 84109
Or your home via Zoom.
Due to the risk and harm of the Delta variant, we ask that only those who have been fully vaccinated attend in person. If you do attend in person, it would be best to sit a chair apart from those you didn’t come with and to wear masks whenever you get in close proximity to others. In this case, “love hath no bounds” does not apply.
Thanks to Jim and Judy as well as Bryant and Aimee McConkie for sharing their yard and home with us. And thanks to Jana Spangler for continuing to host us via Zoom. Below is some helpful info for being part of a Zoom convo. I will also note below the Zoom address so that you can connect. If you are not on my email list then either join at the bottom of this site’s home page or text or call me at 801-695-5036.
THE CONVERSATION:
As Latter-day Saints we believe that “our theology begins with heavenly parents,” and yet there is a conspicuous silence surrounding what it means for us to have a Divine Mother individually and collectively. The reality of a Heavenly Mother in our doctrine is explicit. A recent work, “‘A Mother There’: A Survey of Historical Teachings about Mother in Heaven,” documents a substantial amount of LDS references to Her reality and nature comprising “over six hundred sources of all types referencing a Heavenly Mother in Mormon and academic discourse since 1844.” Statements about the Mother from Church leaders affirm Her as heavenly wife and parent, cocreator with the Father, coframer of the plan of salvation, an involved parent during our mortality, and our Mother after we leave this earthly realm. These identities alone give us reason to seek Her, and to understand more fully Her role in our salvation and the salvation of the world. Together, we will approach the Mother through the symbol of the Tree of Life as we consider who She is and why She has been seemingly absent. Join us for a discussion of Kathryn Knight Sonntag’s forthcoming book The Mother Tree: Discovering the Love and Wisdom of Our Divine Mother (Faith Matters Publishing, 2021)
ABOUT KATHRYN
Kathryn Knight Sonntag is the author of The Tree at the Center (BCC Press, 2019). Her poetry and essays appear in Colorado Review, The Inflectionist Review, Psaltery & Lyre, Exponent II, Segullah, Dialogue, Blossom as the Cliffrose: Mormon Legacies and the Beckoning Wild (Torrey House Press, 2021), and others. She earned a BA in English and a BS in environmental studies before earning her MLA in landscape architecture and environmental planning. Her thesis focused on the role of the transcendent in landscapes and greatly informs her creative pursuits. Her collection The Tree at the Center was a 2019 Association for Mormon Letters Awards finalist in Poetry and Criticism, and in 2020, her article “The Mother Tree: Understanding the Spiritual Root of Our Ecological Crisis” was nominated for the Geisner & Mogg Best Theological Article Award by the John Whitmer Historical Association. When she is not racing Hot Wheels with her two boys, she works as a freelance writer and land planner in Salt Lake City.
EXPLORE BEFORE WE MEET:
“A Mother There”: A Survey of Historical Teachings about Mother in Heaven, David L. Paulsen Martin Pulido:
https://byustudies.byu.edu/article/a-mother-there-a-survey-of-historical-teachings-about-mother-in-heaven/
“Nephi and His Asherah,” Daniel C. Peterson:
https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/jbms/vol9/iss2/4/
The Tree of Life: From Eden to Eternity, Donald W. Parry, John W. Welch:
https://deseretbook.com/p/tree-life-eden-eternity-john-w-welch-77393?variant_id=21061-hardcover
“The Mother Tree: Understanding the Spiritual Root of Our Ecological Crisis,” Kathryn Knight Sonntag:
https://www.dialoguejournal.com/articles/the-mother-tree-understanding-the-spiritual-root-of-our-ecological-crisis/
Poetry Celebrating Mother’s Day & the Divine Feminine:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEk0DDBEXGE&t=1671s
The Tree at the Center, Kathryn Knight Sonntag:
https://www.kingsenglish.com/book/9781948218320
LISTEN TO THE RECORDED CONVERSATION
PLEASE READ THESE ZOOM TIPS:
- Please mute your microphone before entering and when you are not speaking so noises are not heard by everyone else.
- Rather than have the whole group watch you try to get your camera or screen positioned, feel free to get that figured out prior to when we meet.
- Resist the urge to multitask—be with us, people. Knitting is still allowed though. But…
- If you are going to multitask, please turn off your video and make sure you are muted. No one wants to be distracted by you eating or using the loo.
- If you are having difficulty with the technology, don’t hold up the meeting by distracting other participants for solutions. Try Googling your problem. I do that with most of life’s problems.
- Speaking of distractions—just as when we used to meet in person in the good old days, let’s be cautious about using the chat for side conversations that may distract others. You can always ask for people’s contact info and continue your conversation—I’d love that to happen. Or, let me know, and I’ll do my darndest to give you a chance to share to the group.
- Please share air time and follow the guidelines under “Intentions” on this website.
To enter the Zoom conversation:
- Click on the Zoom link above.
- The link Zoom should open, and you should be able to see and hear other participants. Or wait until the host opens the meeting. Please make sure that you muted and that your video is on if you choose to have it on. (Love to see and hear you live, but we’ll take curious lurkers also.)
- If you can’t hear the host, me, or others, find your settings and make sure you have a working microphone and speaker selected. Also, make sure you have your volume up.
