Mara Lynn Keller

Mara Lynn Keller (Ph.D., Philosophy, Yale University, 1971) is a wholistic philosopher, thealogian, and international lecturer, she is a scholar and ritualist of the Eleusinian Mysteries of Demeter and Persephone, and has published articles on the Goddess civilization of ancient Crete, the new field of archaeomythology, and Rosen Method Bodywork and Movement. Formerly at San Francisco State University, she co-founded and directed the Global Peace Studies program in addition to teaching philosophy and women's studies.

In keeping with her goals of balancing spirit, mind, and body, she is a Rosen Method bodywork practitioner and movement teacher. As an activist for peace and social justice since the 1960's, Mara has organized and advocated for civil rights, affirmative action in higher education, women's reproductive rights, the prevention of violence against women and children, the formation of the Green Party in California, and peace for war-torn peoples around the world. Mara has been a key organizer of several important conferences, including the First International Minoan Celebration of Partnership in Crete (1992); Californians in Dialogue for the Common Good, sponsored by the California Council for the Humanities (1992); and From the Realm of the Ancestors: Language of the Goddess, sponsored by CIIS (1998); and she co-produced the Jennifer Berezan Ritual Concert, Returning to the Mother of Us All, also sponsored by CIIS (2000).

In addition, she has led educational tours for CIIS and the International Women's Studies Institute in Greece and Turkey: Aegean Women's Studies, Women Across the Millennia: 5000 Years of Women's Culture and History in Greece, and Anatolia: Land of the Mothers. She is the creator of the Women's Spirituality Journeys, and with other CIIS faculty has co-led educational tours to Greece, Turkey and other countries.

Selected Publications

“The Eleusinian Mysteries of Demeter and Persephone: Fertility, Sexuality, and Rebirth.” Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, Spring 1988, Vol.4, # 1, pp. 27-54.
Part I, Part II

"The Interface of Archaeology and Mythology: A Philosophical Evaluation of the Gimbutas Paradigm" (in two parts) in Joan Marler, ed. From the Realm of the Ancestors: An Anthology in Honor of Marija Gimbutas (Manchester CT: Knowledge, Ideas, Trends, Inc. 1997).
Part I, Part II

"Crete of the Mother Goddess: Communal rituals and sacred art" in ReVision: Winter 1998; 20, 3; p. 12-16.

Goddesses Around the World. Published by Common Ground: Resources for Body, Mind and Spirit, The Woman Issue, Issue 113, Fall 2002.