Tag: Alchemy

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Mythologium 2022 welcomes Dr. Beth Anne Boardman

Beth Anne’s talk is called “A Poetics of Silver”

This poetry workshop flows from ideas of ecopsychology, developing a theme of nature as alchemical container for the silvering of human artistic, emotional, psychic transformation.

In “Silver and the White Earth,” James Hillman writes about the albedo phase of the work. After the dissolving and fermenting of the nigredo, when we may explore our deepest shadows and pain, a phase of drying and cooling comes along, which Hillman says fosters reflection, like silvering on a mirror. During the albedo we take stock, observe, without judgment or passion. A rest from the rigors of diving into our darkness and bringing up materials to cook and render, the albedo distills, giving us time to separate the fluid of emotions from the sparkling powdery substance left behind. These are not hardened insights or spiritual truths, but different kinds of reflections which have dimensions and shadows of their own, like shadows on snow. Hillman sees them “as blues, as creams, as the wan and pale feelings of grey.”

This workshop offers participants a chance to explore their own silvering through writing about nature, poetry, fantasy, whatever mystic realm calls. We will use prompts, images, poems as starting points for our own silver word-dance.

About Beth Anne

Beth Anne Boardman, RN, MA, PhD lives in California and New Hampshire. She travels and lectures on the Mythology of Sport, Women and Myth, and the Alchemy of Adolescence (her dissertation topic), in addition to consulting as a writer to websites.  Recently, Beth has served on the board of the Pacifica Graduate Institute Alumni Association and as Regional Coordinator for local alumni. Her career spans work as a registered nurse, the study of world dance and music, and the profound joy of raising two children. Beth’s writings may be found at http://otherworldpoetry.blogspot.com and https://mythmuse.wordpress.com 

To hear Beth Anne’s talk and many others, join us at the Mythologium!

The Mythologium is a conference and retreat for mythologists and friends of myth, held July 29 – 31 via Zoom in the Pacific time zone.

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Mythologium 2022 welcomes our keynote speaker, Dr. Craig Chalquist

In keeping with the 2022 theme of Myth and Ecological Consciousness, we are thrilled to announce that this year’s keynote speaker will be Dr. Craig Chalquist. Craig is a professor, author, storyteller, and consultant who writes and teaches at the intersection of psyche, story, ecology, and imagination. His Mythologium keynote is called “Terragnosis: Yesterday’s Folklore, Today’s Earthly Wisdom.” Welcome, Craig!

Terragnosis: Yesterday’s Folklore, Today’s Earthly Wisdom

What do the old stories tell us about how to relate to nature, place, element, animals, and planet—and how not to? What are the warnings and wisdoms we discover in the ancient tales when retold for our time? Drawing on the framework of Hermeticism, an Earth-honoring wisdom path originating in Egypt and infusing alchemy, Islamic gnosticism, European Romanticism, depth psychology, spiritual ecology, and now terrapsychology, we will learn how the Way of the Mage can guide our understanding as tales once told around the world return to life in an ecologically troubled time.

Craig Chalquist, PhD is a depth psychologist and ecopsychologist whose teachings and books focus on the intersection of folklore, story, place, nature, and psyche. The former Associate Provost of Pacifica Graduate Institute, he is core faculty in the Department of East-West Psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies. His most recent book is Terrapsychological Inquiry: Restorying Our Relations with Nature, Place, and Planet (Routledge, 2020). He is also author of Myths Among Us: When Timeless Tales Return to Life (World Soul Books, 2018). Visit his website chalquist.com. 

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The Mythologium welcomes Bob Scott

Bob’s talk is called, “San Diego as Archetypal Geography: The Box Canyon as Alchemical Vessel”

City planning can benefit from archetypal psychology by offering a perspective that is absent in the process of planning cities: one that re-visions the city by activating the figural, the metaphorical, and the imaginal as crucial and essential forms of a city’s soul. My talk, and the dissertation from which is it developed, offers a multi-disciplinary, mytho-poetic perspective toward San Diego as city. Through the lens of archetypal psychology, city is approached as subjective being to inform one’s ability to understand, and to relate to, presences that are palpable but invisible in the natural and physical landscapes.

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About Bob:

Bob holds a BA in Geography and an MA in Mythology with an emphasis in Depth Psychology. He is a PhD candidate working on his dissertation, entitled “Poiesis in the Polis: Re-imagining San Diego as Archetypal City.” In a 25-year career in city planning, Bob has observed a broken and outdated mythos toward a city planning process where economics control and where issues of aesthetics and beauty, the subjective elements that stir the soul, have no real part in the city-making process. Bob has always been intrigued by the layout of cities, the magic of natural open spaces, and understanding the psychological underpinnings of what makes a great sense of place. His academic and professional areas of interest are steering him toward a more humanistic and collaborative relationship toward the environment and city.

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The Mythologium welcomes Dr. Beth Anne Boardman

Beth Anne’s presentation is called “The Alchemy of Adolescence”

Exploring images, music, science, and the wisdom of depth psychology, this presentation discusses adolescence as a phase we all transit on our way to adulthood.  Our adolescent bodies initiate the prima materia.  Neurologically, hormonally, musculoskeletally, one’s body begins a transformation into physical maturity, bidden or not.  Wrapped in uncomfortable, even painful bodies, possessed by a mélange of hormones, confused by rapidly morphing neurons, we feel a need at some point to mourn the loss of childhood or the dreams of innocence.  With or without the permission of adults, we feel compelled to delve into the sad, dangerous, and even horrible aspects of life.  The nigredo rules adolescence.  Through art, music, movies, gaming, as well as fashion, body markings, and adventure, we learn at adolescence to express our experience of grief, disillusionment, and exhilaration.  Adults can provide understanding and guidance through modeling, mentoring moments, and practicing the art (and terror) of letting go.

Beth Anne Boardman, RN, MA, PhD lives in California and New Hampshire. She travels and lectures on the Mythology of Sport; Women and Myth; and the Alchemy of Adolescence (her dissertation topic), in addition to consulting as a writer to websites.  Recently, Beth has served on the board of the Pacifica Graduate Institute Alumni Association and as Regional Coordinator for local alumni. Her career spans work as a registered nurse, grant-writer, the study of world dance and music, and the profound joy of raising two children.

Beth’s writings may be found at http://otherworldpoetry.blogspot.com and https://mythmuse.wordpress.com.