Yesterday, petals fell in tribute to Robert Bly, whose life’s work came to an end on Sunday, November the 21st, 2021.
During the 1980s, ’90s and early 2000s I dipped in and out of the oft-misunderstood “Mythopoetic Men’s Movement”, which drew much inspiration from Bly’s teachings; first via word of mouth emerging from his countercultural Conference of the Great Mother gatherings, dating back to 1975, then via his best-selling work of poetic prose nonfiction Iron John: A Book About Men (1990).
Those teachings also inspired events such as the Stamping Ground Festival of Dance and the Action Arts in Bellingen, New South Wales, Australia during the early 2000s, which proved a receptive venue for one of my own New Danse Macabre ritual/performances.
Here’s Bly interviewed in the year 1990: