Category: Mythologium 2019

Updates about the 2019 Fates and Graces Mythologium, a conference for mythologists held in Morro Bay, CA.

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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.

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The Mythologium welcomes Leon Aliski

Leon’s presentation is called, “Wild Bison and the Buffalo People: Re-imagining ‘the Heart of Everything That Is'”

Passed down from generation to generation for thousands of years, oral histories told by Plains Indian peoples – Lakota, Dakota, Arapaho, Blackfeet, Cheyenne, and many other tribes – account for the origins of how things came to be, the animals, people, plants, and the natural forces of the world. Expressions of a cultural stream of ancestral memory, oral histories are interwoven with a people’s sacred ceremonies, dances, and songs, affirming their cultural significance. The Lakota speak of The Buffalo People, Sacred Beings who live below the surface of the earth and became the four-legged, shaggy-haired creatures we know today as tatanka, the buffalo, or wild bison. Hunted and slaughtered to near extinction by end of the 19th century, wild bison continue to endure, yet their existence as wildlife remains in peril, confined to a landscape we know today as Yellowstone National Park. Leon’s talk will explore the oral histories of Plains Indian peoples, the presence of wild bison, and the influence of Western Christian heritage with respect to how human beings see themselves in the natural world.

Leon Aliski holds an M.A degree in Mythological Studies with an emphasis in Depth Psychology and is a Ph.D. candidate in the same field. He is a writer, researcher and consultant for the tourism industry and has recently traveled to Yellowstone National Park, the Black Hills, Wind Cave, the Platte River, and First Peoples Buffalo Jump near Great Falls, Montana.

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The Mythologium welcomes Dr. Katherine J. Bailes, JD

Katherine’s presentation is about King Minos and the U.S. psyche

Classical Greek mythology includes the story of King Minos of Crete, son of Zeus and father to the infamous Minotaur. Minos was born of privilege, destined to be King, yet his insecurities and actions guided him to use bravado and deceit to secure the throne. The consequences of these actions resulted in a monster son and bad relations with neighboring city states. Dr. Bailes will share aspects of the story to expose the Minos archetype and reveal glimpses of its constellation in the current U.S. political psyche.

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About Katherine:

Katherine J. Bailes, JD, PhD is a practicing attorney and an adjunct professor of mythological studies at Johnson County Community College in Overland Park, Kansas. Dr. Bailes holds a BFA in painting from the University of North Texas and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Kansas, School of Law. She later obtained a master’s degree and Ph.D. from Pacifica Graduate Institute, Santa Barbara, California. Her dissertation topic entitled “The Themis Principle: Mystery and Irrationality in the U.S. Legal System” focused on the mythological aspects of the law as expressed in ancient cultures through goddesses such as Athena, Themis, Inanna and Maat. She has received numerous awards and served in a variety of leadership positions in art, law and teaching, successfully combining these fields through her understanding of story and the human capacity for myth making.

She can be reached through her LinkedIn profile or email.

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The Mythologium welcomes Dr. Darlene “Maggie” Dowdy

Maggie’s presentation is titled, “Metamorphoses of Gender and Identity in Ancient and Modern Myth”

“Metamorphoses of Gender and Identity in Ancient and Modern Myth” focuses upon two mythic characters, Tiresias, the blind prophet from ancient Greece, and Estraven, the visionary politician of Ursula LeGuin’s sci-fi novel, Left Hand of Darkness.  An exploration of their masculine-feminine shapeshifting dispels the fallacy that the Western perspective has always viewed gender and gender identity as rigidly fixed in Nature.

Darlene “Maggie” Dowdy received her Ph.D in Mythological Studies with an Emphasis in Depth Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute.  Her dissertation, Harbingers of Change: Images and Archetypes of Imminent Transformation, explores the co-creative relationship between psyche, soma, and an ever-changing environment.  She presented a variation of her dissertation, Birds as Nature’s Harbingers, at the 2018 conference for the Association for the Study of Women and Mythology.  Maggie advocates for an interactive approach to learning through myth and literature as is evidenced by an M.A. in English and past volunteer tutoring in English as a Second Language. 

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The Mythologium welcomes Dr. Karin Zirk

Karin’s presentation is called, “Using Trickster Mythology to Create Change”

Tricksters change shape, cross boundaries, and shatter dysfunctional ideologies without intentionality. From traditional mythologies to modern characters we know and love, tricksters occupy a liminal space. However, tricksters are unique beings with their own needs and wants. Karin’s talk will dig into the subtle distinctions between specific trickster characters—past and present—from a mythographic perspective and empower trickster energy to create new paradigms both in our personal lives and our culture. A handout will be provided with trickster information and journaling prompts conference attendees can utilize to engage their inner trickster at a later date.

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About Karin:

Karin Zirk, Ph.D. completed her doctorate in Mythological Studies with an Emphasis in Depth Psychology at Pacifica Graduate Institute where her dissertation focused on using mythic artifacts and journal writing to enhance well-being in family caregivers. She has taught Humanities courses in the San Diego Community College District and she facilities workshops that incorporate mythic narratives, active imagination, and journal writing to animate human connections to the natural world. She will be presenting, “We Already Have a Border Wall: The US/Mexican Border as Cultural Complex” on a panel for the Psychology, Culture and Religion panel at the American Academy of Religion conference in November 2019. Her novel, Falling From The Moon, will be released later this year from Talk Story Publishing. She lives in San Diego, California and is deeply involved in protecting and restoring her local creek.

You can connect with Karin through her website.

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The Mythologium welcomes Andrea Slominski

Andrea’s presentation is called, “The Goddess and Women’s Embodiment in Four”

Representation of Goddess has transformed throughout human history. From the early forms of the Great Goddess unearthed at Catal Huyuk and decoded by Marija Gimbutas, through the work of Jane Ellen Harrison who explored the archaic Greek development of dual and triple female deities, to the poetic interpretations of Robert Graves with his adoption and popularization of the triple goddess as Maiden, Mother, Crone, we can see the development of the expression, interpretation, and experience of the goddess throughout history. In the last century the life span of women has expanded statistically from 45-50 years to nearly 90 years. Running parallel to the increase in life expectancy, women’s lives have also expanded from three stages to four, psychologically and spiritually. If women are the metaphoric embodiments of the goddess in the flesh, if we are living metaphors of the goddess’ creative power as womb and tomb, and if we are living metaphors of the cycle of the seasons, as personified in the seasons of a life, then it is fundamental that the metaphors of the goddess have expanded right along with us. We are the goddess and she is us. Women cannot separate themselves from the goddess anymore than the goddess can separate herself from women. The goddess’ metaphors have transformed in the past, have done so again and will always continue to reflect the lives of women. I maintain that we are now squarely in four, Maiden, Mother, Regent, Crone. The four-fold goddess is one expression of the new emerging mythos that may, hopefully, find its full expression in the balancing of the masculine and feminine attributes within the psyche and in the external world.

Andrea holds an M.A degree in Mythological Studies with an emphasis in Depth Psychology and is a Ph.D. candidate in the same field. She has created a coaching/counseling program that guides women during midlife and menopause to rediscover their authentic selves, so often back-burnered during the hectic householder years. In her creative and supportive workshops and one-on-one coaching/counseling, she incorporates the work of personal story and depth psychology, honoring the changes women’s psyches and bodies must navigate through the profound transformations of midlife and menopause. A writer, speaker, coach, and workshop facilitator, Andrea’s leadership in creative expression and group dynamics was honed for over 25 years as a producer and a director for the stage, in TV and video projects, and as a college adjunct instructor.

You can connect with Andrea through her website, Facebook, Instagram, and email.

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The Mythologium welcomes Arthur George

Art’s presentation is entitled, “Depth Psychology Aspects of the Christian Myth”

Art’s talk will think outside the box of traditional methods of biblical criticism to examine pivotal biblical stories as myth, particularly from the perspective of depth psychology. He will emphasize the Garden of Eden story, the accounts of the birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus, and the Gnostic Christian myth. Understanding these stories from such a perspective gives us a deeper appreciation of them, which we can then use to enhance our spiritual lives – regardless of whether we are Christians – because that’s what myths can do.

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About Art:

Arthur George is a mythologist, cultural historian, blogger, and winemaker; formerly he was an international lawyer. He has written the award-winning The Mythology of Eden (2014) about the mythology of the biblical Eden story, and before that the leading and award-winning history of St. Petersburg, Russia, entitled St. Petersburg: the First Three Centuries. He has a mythology blog, frequently speaks at scholarly conferences, institutes, JCF Roundtables, and other audiences on mythological topics, and authors articles on the same. He is currently finishing a book about the mythology underlying our seasonal holidays, and has commenced another about the mythology of wine.

You can find Art’s blog and connect with him at www.mythologymatters.wordpress.com.

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The Mythologium welcomes our keynote speaker, Dr. Safron Rossi

We are delighted to announce that Dr. Safron Rossi will deliver the keynote speech at the Fates and Graces Mythologium. Read on for more, and register today to reserve your spot.

In Ananke’s Lap: Finding Beauty Through the Mythic Perspective

To invoke the Fates and Graces means reflecting on the twin themes of necessity and beauty in the mythic perspective. If we open up to what Hillman called ‘archetypal necessity,’ personified by the goddess Ananke who was mother of the Fates, we invite more grace into our lives. We learn to be graceful — supple, agile and receptive — by being more attuned to the deep patterns of the psyche and cosmos, and myth is what helps us do this.

Safron Rossi, Ph.D., is Associate Core Faculty at Pacifica Graduate Institute in the Jungian and Archetypal Studies MA/PhD program, teaching courses on mythology, archetypal symbolism, and research. For many years she was the Curator at Opus Archives, which holds the Joseph Campbell and James Hillman manuscript collections. Her writing and scholarly studies focus on Greek mythology, archetypal psychology, astrological studies, alchemy, goddess traditions, and feminist studies. Safron is editor of Joseph Campbell’s Goddesses: Mysteries of the Feminine Divine (2013), and co-editor with Keiron Le Grice of Jung on Astrology (2017). Safron has published articles in Jungian, Archetypal, and astrological journals and lectures across the US and internationally in Europe, Brazil and Australia. 

You can connect with Safron through her website, www.thearchetypaleye.com, and on Instagram.

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The Mythologium welcomes Dr. Dori Koehler

Dori’s presentation is titled, “Roger’s Labors: The Resonance of Eros and Psyche in Outlander”

In his seminal work Amor and Psyche, Erich Neumann suggests that Psyche’s story offers a key to understanding the process of coming to know and fall in love with one’s own soul. This depth psychological approach shows how stories activate divine energies in the world around us, making the mythic gods real as they walk in our imaginations and in our interactions with others. We see the resonances of these myths in the stories we continue to tell and retell. My presentation will look the relationship between the characters Brianna Randall Fraser and Roger Mackenzie Wakefield in season four of the Outlander television series. I will explore the presence of motifs connected to Eros and Psyche as I discuss how the activation of these archetypal energies helps to illuminate ways we might think about deepening our relationships with others and with ourselves.

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About Dori:

Dori Koehler, Ph.D. is a cultural mythologist and scholar of American popular culture. She is a professor of Humanities and Popular Culture at Southern New Hampshire University. Her book The Mouse and the Myth: Sacred Art and Secular Ritual is available on Amazon. Her latest article on Walt Disney as a manifestation of the trickster archetype will be published in a forthcoming collection of essays through John Libbey Publishing. She lives in Santa Barbara with her husband and their cocker spaniel, Sorcha.

To connect with Dori, visit her blog, Of Myth and (Hu)Men: Myth and Ritual of our Time.

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The Mythologium welcomes Dr. Robert W. Guyker

Robert will present on the topic of Mything with games, gaming with myths.

Robert presents insights drawn from his dissertation, Myth in Translation: The Ludic Imagination in Contemporary Video Games (2016), and other writings on the myth-conscious approach to media and media-conscious approach to myths. He outlines the theoretical problems, ethics, and new creative possibilities that emerge when considering the incorporation, production and reception of traditional—and fictional—mythologies in the interactive context of games and gaming culture. A pluralistic ethos is proposed to engender critical, but playful, polymythy as a sensible principle of design and storytelling across new media.  This especially resonates with the growing need for today’s mythologists to engage with cultural, creative, and stylistic diversity in our increasingly multifabulaic world and inclusive media ecology.

Robert W. Guyker, Ph.D., is Resident Mythologist for the Joseph Campbell Writers’ Room at Studio School, Los Angeles where he teaches writing, storytelling, and art history.  He currently serves as Associate Editor for the journal Cultural Analysis: An interdisciplinary forum on folklore & popular culture in collaboration with the Société Internationale d’Ethnologie et de Folklore, and is co-editor of Retrospective Methods Network Newsletter, based out of the University of Helsinki, Finland. Robert earned his Ph.D.  and M.A. in Mythological Studies from Pacifica Graduate Institute. His research has been published in Heidelberg Journal of Religion on the Internet, Marvels & Tales: Journal of Fairy-Tale Studies and his poetry has been featured in Immanence: The Journal of Applied Myth, Story, and Folklore. His areas of interest beyond mythological studies include folkloristics, digital culture, (virtual) ethnography, and game studies.

Learn more about Robert’s work at the Joseph Campbell Writers’ Room and at his ResearchGate page.