Colleen’s talk is called “The Path of Ashes: Journeying to the Underworld in ‘The Robber Bridegroom'”
The tale, “The Robber Bridegroom,” is a strange and dark story, one collected by the Brothers Grimm in the early 19th century, but with roots that go back thousands of years. Not surprisingly, this eerie account of a young woman’s solitary journey into the forest and her courageous escape after a traumatizing ordeal has not enjoyed the attention of the Grimms’ more popular stories. It is considered by many scholars to be a “Bluebeard Tale”—a warning to young women about the dangers of marriage. While I do not dispute that conclusion, I believe the story holds a great deal more: in fact, it harbors ancient knowledge of the passage into the Underworld. In this presentation, I will demonstrate that there are secrets woven into the story regarding the use of poison and trance that reveal the maid’s motivations for her journey, which link her self-empowerment with a willingness to risk her life for her clan.
About Colleen
Colleen holds a master’s degree in Mythological Studies with Emphasis in Depth Psychology and is current pursing her PhD in the same field. After studying art history and studio arts at Purdue University, including studies at the Sorbonne in Paris, Colleen continued her academic work at the University of Hamburg, Germany. During a decade of living in Europe, Colleen had the privilege of hearing many stories of the trauma of the twentieth century told by the people who had lived through the events. She witnessed the healing that emerged through the telling of the stories. In this way, she learned about the fundamental necessity of myth to the individual. Having returned to the US and earned a master’s degree in psychology, Colleen was drawn to Pacifica to study mythology with a particular emphasis on the role of myth in the healing of trauma. Her dissertation focuses on the ancient knowledge of trauma contained within the old stories still told in Germany.