Artemis Forum is based on the goddess of the hunt and the goddess of the wilderness. It’s all about what is next on the evolving edge for women.

Today’s conversation is with the Artemis Forum founders Dr. Elizabeth Debold and Mary Adams. I’ve been following Dr. Debold’s research and writings for over 10 years. When she accepted my invitation to an interview I danced around my condo. When I used to teach Women’s Wisdom workshops I would use the 1 page handout by Elizabeth that I found in What is Enlightenment Magazine when it was still being printed.  The article was “10 Challenges of a Liberated Woman”. It changed my life. This conversation is a cutting edge conversation with women who know how to shift culture in line with our deepest potential. This is the real deal of the real deal.

In this interview I talk to Elizabeth Debold and Mary Adams about:

• The concept of consciously creating culture + breaking taboo
• The big experiment of women at the edge of creating culture
• Super-subtle unconscious agreements that limit women’s individual + collective potential
• Mayiya Mala – the contraction of subconscious subtle comparison
• Shifting how we show up  in family dynamics
• The real juice in creating conscious community in your yoga work
• What power looks like for awake women
• Letting go of existential angst

What we mention in this Episode:

• 10 Agreements of Evolving Women  (Book coming!)
  • Agreement 1: To Awaken to and Embody an Enlightened Perspective
    Agreement 2: To Trust the Timeless Depth of the Self Absolute
    Agreement 3: To Accept Sole Responsibility for Creating the Future
    Agreement 4: To Own Women’s Collective History
    Agreement 5: To Liberate My Identity from Sexual Roles
    Agreement 6: To Cultivate Higher Rationality and Perspective
    Agreement 7: To Engage in Perpetual Development
    Agreement 8: To Relinquish the Need for Affirmation
    Agreement 9: To Cultivate Integrity of Self
    Agreement 10: To Forge an Enlightened Sisterhood
• The Breakthrough Woman 1 Day Virtual Retreat 
• The Types of Power Scale Quiz

 BIOS

Artemis Forum was founded by Dr. Elizabeth Debold, one of the foremost authorities on girls’ and women’s development and a bestselling author. After spending her twenties engaged as a feminist activist, she joined Dr. Carol Gilligan at Harvard University as a founding member of the Harvard Project on Women’s Psychology and Girls’ Development. This research collective explored why adolescence was such a difficult turning point in girls’ lives. Based on this work, Elizabeth wrote the bestselling book, Mother Daughter Revolution: From Good Girls to Great Women, which was heralded by Gloria Steinem and Dr. Gilligan as “the book women have been waiting for.”

But actually, it wasn’t. One of the main insights from her work was that girls’ lives will not truly be different unless women change culture, and that’s no small task. Neither activism nor psychology went deep enough to make the shifts needed to create deep change in women (or men).

Elizabeth’s book, Mother Daughter Revolution, was our collective effort to give mothers and women who love girls the thinking and the tools to open up new potentials between the generations and to help girls maintain their deepest connection to themselves as they became young women. The main message of the book was, yes, it’s possible for girls to make this transition and become powerful women. But for that to happen, we women have to change.

As we get closer to the February 1st virtual seminar with Dr. Elizabeth Debold and Mary Adams, Breakthrough Women 2: Discovering Power Beyond Empowerment, we wanted to give you an opportunity to assess and reflect on your capacity to make change and have an impact. Elizabeth and Mary will be guiding us into a deeper recognition of our inherent power so that we can have the impact that we desire.

Mary Adams, spiritual leader and mentor, has over thirty years experience integrating the insights of spiritual enlightenment into the complex reality of human development and transformation. As one of a handful of senior teachers of Evolutionary Enlightenment, Mary creates and teaches innovative programs globally that catalyze individuals and groups to develop new capacities of awareness, relatedness, and creativity. Her passion for women’s awakening and authentic leadership has made her a leader in forging a new developmental path for women based on the principles of Evolutionary Enlightenment. For several years she was Director of Education for EnlightenNext and is currently working on creating a new global education platform bringing enlightened evolutionary principles to the field of cultural development. Together with her teaching partner, Dr Elizabeth Debold, Mary is working on a book based on the breakthrough principles ofThe Ten Agreements for Evolving Women,

Mary Adams Artemis Forum exists for serious, sophisticated women who want significant conversation and challenging support to build their leadership capacity and give rise to the future in real partnership with each other and with men. 

Cate’s Favorite Quotes from the Conversation

 “What shifted? The sense that as women – that we have to be “good”… the intense perfectionism that women have.  We began to be able to be objective as that… desperate if someone sees us as imperfect. We were able to be together at a deep level – to relax with each other – to be with each other… to not struggle … to prove that I’m a big…  (We had) more space once we let it go… and not get caught up in that… which makes us unavailable for deep relationship.”

“We were able to show up as ourself… without the scaffolding.”

“We have come through (women’s collective subordination) together.”

“We began to see it – a deeper shared ground. -Deeper intimacy. We began to be able to make conscious choices to respond.”

“You can’t do this alone.”

“I wasn’t trying to change them … or trying to please them!” (referring to family members)

“I’m not divided against my sisters. We began to share an evolutionary sisterhood.”