OUR PURPOSE

This “FIRST INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS ON THE CULT OF THE GODDESS: FEMININE SPIRITUALITY, SPIRITUAL FEMINISM AND WOMEN’S CIRCLES” is an innovative academic proposal because it introduces a topic belonging to gender studies that has rarely been addressed in Spain—either by universities or public institutions. In the United States, Northern Europe, Australia, and Latin America, this subject is increasingly gaining significance both in academic and activist contexts.

The university, as a socially respected institution, must play an active role in promoting research that fosters sisterhood and female empowerment. Academia should also provide spaces for debate and visibility, critically examining hegemonic religious models and alternative or dissident forms of spirituality and religiosity. Moreover, universities must ensure that the knowledge they generate transcends academic boundaries and becomes useful to society as a whole.

This congress aims to bring all these aspects together by analyzing key topics related to spirituality, feminism, activism, sisterhood, and pro-equality masculinities, while fostering collective reflection on the role of Women’s Circles, audiovisual media, and communication in informal education and socialization—especially in relation to gender roles, sexism, empowerment, and sorority networks.

We are fully aware of the boldness of this initiative, as few academic conferences address this topic so directly and from such a reflective, interdisciplinary, and experiential perspective, integrating theory with activism and lived experience.

From this FIRST INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS ON THE CULT OF THE GODDESS: FEMININE SPIRITUALITY, SPIRITUAL FEMINISM AND WOMEN’S CIRCLES, our wish is to bring this knowledge into the university and to society, making a special call to younger generations.

Dr. Anastasia Téllez Infantes

Full Professor of Social Anthropology

Miguel Hernández University of Elche (Spain)

President of the First International Congress on the Cult of the Goddess: Feminine Spirituality, Spiritual Feminism and Women’s Circles