Dr. Sayyad’s presentation is called “Looking Through the Auroral Green Eyes of the Heart: Khidr as Angel of Liberation”
Khidr announces his presence in the color green, the fountain of youth, revivification, psychedelic plants, and gnosis. His name first appeared in the Islamic tradition when Koranic commentators used it to identify the mysterious guide of Moses in Sura 18. At this point, he joined a growing cast of Abrahamic characters advocating doom for all but those who testify that there is no god but God. Later, however, Sufi mystics would spirit him away to the Mazdaist myths of Iran where with the magical aid of comparative mythology, they would construct a bridge from exoteric Islam to Iranian myth across which Khidr dovetailed that inner authority whose abode is in the heart and whose guidance frees us from coercive external authority. In other words, they employed comparative mythology, Khidr, and the heart as tools for liberation.
My presentation traces their mythological footsteps. This is my heart-led contribution to the Woman-Life-Freedom revolution in Iran…and everywhere.
About Dr. Sayyad
Maryam Sayyad is a mythologist and designer who emigrated from Tehran, Iran and lives in Los Angeles. She is a writer, lecturer, and myth/story consultant and serves as Director of Art and Education for Cross Cultural Expressions (CCE). She has taught courses and lectured in myth, psyche, philosophy, and writing at Ubiquity, Studio School, and CCE and has served as consultant and co-writer on several myth-based film and animation projects. She recently curated a conference on Iranian mythology title: Unveiling the Mythos of Iran: Liberating Our Stories, Liberating Ourselves.