Reise’s talk is called “Baba Yaga and the Dark Forest: Engendering Truth and Wildness at the Thresholds”
Mythologist Martin Shaw has written that “myth is a wild way of telling the truth.” In these challenging times, both truth and the wild—in ourselves and the natural world—are endangered. Might the old stories be a way to preserve them and find our way forward? With their symbolic images and archetypal figures, myths are doorways to the collective unconscious. They are the voices of wild nature and the ancestors telling us who we are and how to be in the world even when we seem to have severed our connections to them.
Echoes of mythic figures are everywhere—embedded in pop culture, media and merchandise—reminding us that they are still present and can’t be silenced. One such figure that seems to be appearing is Baba Yaga, a wild witch of the woods in Slavic cultures. Depicted as an old woman or hag, her ambiguity, association with natural cycles, and status as a psychopomp inhabiting threshold locations suggest a connection with more ancient goddess traditions and an ecological consciousness. Perhaps her image shows up because it is time to listen rather than attempt to control and contain, to risk the unknown of apprenticeship with truth and wildness.
About Reise
Reise Eiseman-Sanchez Tanner is a PhD student focused on the practices of decolonial depth psychology, ecopsychology, and applied mythology at the crossroads of women’s spirituality, Indigenous traditions, and liberatory methods. Her research positions birthwork as sacred activism and mothering in feminist discourse while exploring archetypes of the Feminine, centering what has been marginalized, and finding ways to reconnect with the natural world. She is also a mother, storyteller, seasoned doula, perinatal educator, Certified Empowerment Coach, Maya Abdominal Therapy practitioner, and creator of multiple group programs who has attended hundreds of births and supported thousands of people through initiations and life cycle events.
To hear Reise’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.
Jason’s talk is called “Do This in Remembrance of Me: Bits and Pieces in Re-membering the Body”
A third testament of the Christian tradition was never canonized. However, two works explore the fresh manifestation of a divine revelation of community within the natural world. These new scriptures guide us towards “re-membering” new bodies of community within a natural environment. Written 136 years apart, Moby Dick by Herman Melville and Beloved by Toni Morrison explore this transformation within the evolving American landscape. Each work’s Biblical allusions and narratological structure beg to be seen as a third testament, one which incarnates the collective community within the new sacred space of the natural world.
Ultimately, these scriptures guide the development of community firmly rooted in an ecological understanding. In Beloved, Baby Suggs is the manifestation of the divine and her chapel is that of the wild forest, far from the walls of standard temple or church. In Moby Dick, Queequeg is the Word incarnate and his prophet, Ishmael, extends the sacred space to the whole of the Earth: “I mean, sir, the same ancient Catholic Church to which . . . all of us . . . belong; the great and everlasting First Congregation of this whole worshiping world . . . in that we all join hands.” The two works, in concert, present a path through myth towards community empathy.
About Jason
Jason D. Batt is the co-founder of Signal Hill Road Publishing. He serves as the Creative and Editorial Director for the 100 Year Starship and is the founder and organizer of the annual Canopus Award for Excellence in Interstellar Writing. His novels include Onliest, Young Gods, and Dreamside, and his short fiction has appeared in Perihelion, Bastion, Bewildering Stories, A Story Goes On, and other periodicals. Most recently he edited the science fiction anthology Visions of the Future, published through Lifeboat Foundation and Strange California, a successful Kickstarter through Falstaff Books.
To hear Jason’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.
I have been thinking of myths as the “fruiting body mushrooms” of underground mycelial mythic systems. I have come to the conclusion that you can only understand a myth in its particular ecosystem. Just like mushrooms are the fruiting bodies of underground mycelial systems, so are myths the particular above-ground mushrooms of a specific ecology. We can think of mythologems and mythic figures as being like the giant (perhaps 7,000-year-old) honey fungus in Oregon. It stretches for miles underground and fruits up as mushrooms that superficially look like individuals.
The cattle cults that spread across the Mediterranean during the Bronze Age are like the honey fungus. Orpheus and the Orphic hymns are now treated more as a title than a specific mythic figure. Lyric prophets stepped into the role of Orpheus. Perhaps my favorite example is Dionysus. Dionysus “fruits” up across the Mediterranean, in different cities, often looking different, offering a variety of fermented beverages as suited to the different ecologies. But the real Dionysus is the mycorrhizal system of vegetal gods underground, weaving a net that is ready to pop up and proliferate wherever nature-based, ecstatic wisdom is needed.
About Sophie
Sophie Strand is a writer based in the Hudson Valley who focuses on the intersection of spirituality, storytelling, and ecology. Her first book of essays The Flowering Wand: Rewilding the Sacred Masculine will be published by Inner Traditions in Fall 2022 and is available for pre-order. Her eco-feminist, historical fiction reimagining of the gospels The Madonna Secret will also be published by Inner Traditions in Spring 2023. Subscribe for her newsletter at sophiestrand.substack.com, and follow her work on Instagram (@cosmogyny) and at www.sophiestrand.com.
To hear Sophie’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. Join us to rekindle your mythic spark!
Ash’s talk is called “The Völuspá and the Nature of Wyrd Consciousness: A Presentation on the Prophetic and Magical Potential of Ecological Consciousness”
I invite you to join me on an extra-ordinary exploration of a form of ecological consciousness that has been around for more than 1500 years, called wyrd consciousness. Wyrd—the progenitor of the word weird—was an ancient Northern European concept used to point to the mysterious happenings of fate, destiny, nature, magic, soul, and becoming. Wyrd consciousness, as well as being other things, is the experiential awareness of the interweaving of these threads. It is the consciousness represented and embodied by the Norns (the Norse Fates), by Nature, and by both ancient and modern practitioners of the divinatory and mystic nature-magic known as seiðr (pronounced say-thr).
Using as a touchstone the 10th century Norse poem, Völuspá—in which an unnamed “seiðr-woman” reveals the creation, destruction and rebirth of the cosmos to the “seiðr-man” and ecstatic god, Odin—I will facilitate an inquiry into the nature of seiðr, wyrd, and wyrd consciousness, and discuss how wyrd consciousness—as well as every form of eco-consciousness—is not only naturally revelatory, healing and transformative, but also inherently prophetic and magical. Considering the ecological-soul-crisis of our zeitgeist, this makes the mythos of Völuspá, the concept of wyrd, and the phenomenon of wyrd consciousness profoundly relevant. After all, one must see the strings of fate before one may pull the strings of fate. Wyrd consciousness can help us do both.
*This presentation will be based on material from my forthcoming book, Wyrdcraft: Healing Self and Nature through the Mysteries of the Fates, to be published by Llewellyn Publications, January 2023.
About Ash
Ash McKernan is a psychotherapist (MFT), ecotherapist, bard, pagan, and life-long explorer of wyrd. He earned his BA in anthropology from the Ohio State University with a focus on the evolution of consciousness, and his MA in Integral Counseling Psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies with a focus on transpersonal therapy, Gestalt therapy, and ecotherapy. Before this, Ash worked for many years at the Arc of San Francisco as a direct-support professional for and with people with developmental differences/disabilities. He loves to spend time at the crossroads where psyche, magic, and healing intersect. You can visit his website at www.wyrdwildweb.com.
To hear Ash’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. Join us to rekindle your mythic spark!
Courtney’s talk is called “Nymphs and Nymphomania: Reclaiming Kallisto as the ‘Bride’ of Artemis and the Sacred Wilderness”
The Greco-Roman pantheon is littered with understudied and oft-forgotten divine figures including its wealth of nymphs: “minor” goddesses associated with the innate faerie-like enchantment of the natural world. Kallisto, daughter of the Arcadian nymph Nonakris, whose name means “most beautiful,” is one of Zeus’s many rape victims. Her story traditionally functions as a cautionary tale against being too alluring for the lustful gods as she is victim-shamed by her own mentor, Artemis, and punished for the rapist’s crime against her.
Although “nymph” originally meant young, nubile bride, by the Victorian era nymphs resurfaced in the concept of nymphomania which pathologized women’s sexuality and their supposedly excessive lust. In this paper, I propose a queer remythologizing of Kallisto’s story by reclaiming her “nymphomania” as a positive expression of the endlessly erotic and creative potential of both women’s bodies and the earth Herself. Drawing inspiration from Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés’s Women Who Run with the Wolves, I depict Kallisto as the “bride” (nymph) of Artemis and by extension of the untamed wilderness overseen by this Hellenic goddess of the hunt. This retelling restores to both Kallisto and the earth Herself agency and sovereignty while celebrating sapphic love and queer women’s desire.
About Courtney
Dr. Courtney Kleftis is a former musicologist, music librarian and the founder of The Goddess Foundation (www.thegoddessfoundation.org) library, archive, and online spiritual center (established September 2021). Courtney is dedicated to rewilding women’s sacred and sexual experiences. In addition to her Artemisian research, she is in the process of developing TGF’s pilot initiative: an oral herstory project dedicated to exploring women’s experiences of the divine feminine within the traditionally patriarchal Abrahamic religions.
To hear Courtney’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. Join us to rekindle your mythic spark!
Pamela’s talk is called “Working with Earth Allies to Heal Person and Place”
This year I am releasing the groundbreaking, choose-your-own-adventure myth game for self-analysis called Mythic Mapping. In this presentation I will explore a very specific part of Mythic Mapping: Earth Allies. Inspired by my work with the Irish mythologist, Sharon Blackie, the Earth Allies process encourages us to connect deeply with the world around us for healing both people and place.
This revolutionary process encourages us to identify the parts of our landscape or animals we are attracted to, and then determine what stories they have to share. In order to heal the planet, we need new myths—not only to reconnect us to the planet, but also to discover parts of our selves. In Mythic Mapping, Earth Allies help us do that work. Based in Jung’s theories about archetypes and the individuation process, Earth Allies are plants, animals, minerals, stones, and parts of the landscape on which a person lives. In my presentation I will explore the overall importance of Nature in Depth Psychology and how we can evolve as a result. I will also provide the specific process one can go through to identify their own Earth Allies and create new personal myths for change.
About Pamela
The Reverend Doctor Pamela D. Hancock is the Assistant Professor of Spiritual Practice and Care of the Soul as well as the Director of the Chaplaincy Program at Starr King School for the Ministry. She is an ordained Interfaith Minister, Priestess of the Sisters of Moon and Snow Coven, and holds a masters of divinity from Starr King School for the Ministry (2015). She received her PhD in Depth Psychology with a focus in Jungian and Archetypal Studies from Pacifica Graduate Institute in May 2022. Her dissertation focused on the creation of a self-directed program for trauma survivors to embark on an individuation journey, through the creative examination of myth. No stranger to trauma herself, Rev. Hancock is a survivor of sexual violence, as well as a life-threatening kidney disease and a forced Caesarean section that left her with terrible postpartum depression after the birth of her son. She is dedicated, wholeheartedly, to helping people heal, building bridges between communities, bringing people together to honor the sacred in all things, supporting environmental advocacy, and helping women embody all parts of their trues selves. Rev. Dr. Pamela Hancock is a published author and multi-media artist, workshop facilitator, and the Director of the virtual spiritual center, the Sacred Outpost. She lives in the mountains of Southern California with her husband, John, an engineer and musician, and their young son, Hudson. Visit her website for more information: www.RevPamelaDawn.com
To hear Pamela’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. Join us to rekindle your mythic spark!
Sarah’s talk is called “Myths of Regenesis: Co-Creating a Fertile Earth”
How do we activate living myths for our times, vital stories that regenerate and inspire our cultural psyche and deepen our interrelationships with our living Mother Earth? Stories that unlock the teaching codes of old, and also allow us to collectively dream and create a future that nourishes and honors all sentient life?
This query and mandate have been central to my life’s work. I am the author of Gaia Codex, a globally popular eco-feminist novel which tells the tale of an ancient lineage of women, the Priestesses of Astera who through the rise and fall of cultures have held regeneration codes for the Earth. In this mythos, these women come together in times of cultural and environmental crises to help birth the world anew.
My presentation explores how we are each keepers of inter-generational wisdom and creators of new myths inspiring a vital future. Our collective mandate is to create, in multiple mediums, stories of regeneration and well-being and models of civilizations that live harmoniously with our Mother Earth. It is time to break the spells of inevitable dystopian collapse.
About Sarah
As the visionary author of the eco-feminist novel, Gaia Codex, Sarah Drew catalyzes powerful blueprints for the future deeply rooted in the gnosis of the past. Sarah has been a featured speaker at the graduate level and at organizations such as Google, ABC, Deepak Homebase, and Bioneers, and she is currently a popular teacher and mentor for women worldwide on topics such as Feminine Wisdom, Evolutionary Culture, and Regenerative Technologies. Learn more at www.SarahDrew.net and www.GaiaCodex.com.
To hear Sarah’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. Join us to rekindle your mythic spark!
Morgan’s talk is called “A Revolting Voice: W.B. Yeats and the Renaissance of the Soul”
When W. B. Yeats published A Vision, he declared it would proclaim “a new divinity.” The new divinity that he foresaw was the revolt of the soul against the intellect — an apotheosis of all humanity through the reemergence of an ecological consciousness. Inspired by the theosophy of Madame Blavatsky, Yeats had long predicted humanity’s return to the golden age of the Goddess through a reinstatement of the chthonic and lunar tradition. Dionysious Psilopoulos, in The Prophets and the Goddess, investigates this quest that consumed Yeats’s being but skims past an integral component — the importance of Yeats’s hermetic training in his lifelong dedication, not only to the transient cycles of the Goddess, but to the restoration of unity and balance. Through a close analysis of A Vision, citing esoteric and scholarly sources, as well as Jungian theories of the unconscious, this presentation works to demonstrate how magic and mythology may serve as the foundation for both the renaissance and balancing of consciousness, ecology, and soul.
About Morgan
Morgan Azali dwells at the intersection of wellness, creativity, mythology, and magic. She recently completed a BA (Hons) in Creative Writing from Deakin University where her research focused on the influence of western esotericism in the life and work of W. B. Yeats. Weaving this together with her background in holistic health, she is interested in the ways that creative and spiritual practice can function as healing modalities on both the personal and the global scale.
To hear Morgan’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. Join us to rekindle your mythic spark!
This panel is sponsored by iRewild. Thank you, iRewild!
In this panel, Dr. Renda Dionne Madrigal, Dr. Catherine Svehla, and Dr. Annalisa Derr address the question, how do myths and mythic images depict empathy as a critical ingredient for restoring a deeper relationship with the soul of the world?
Dr. Renda Dionne Madrigal will present on “Heart Story Medicine: Indigenous Wisdom for the Modern World”
Are you connected to the stories of the lands you live upon? Young and Saver note that once we lose our ability to construct narrative, we lose ourselves. According to the World Health Organization, loneliness and depression are epidemics today. People do not feel connected to themselves, others, or the natural world. We have to care about something to feel empathy, and to care we have to connect. Our ancestors were deeply connected to place and people. The foundation for this connection is in the old stories, the land-connected stories of the places we live. Stories enchant the world, and an enchanted world is a world in which we are connected to everything around us. Indigenous people have long known that stories carry medicine. Stories contain wisdom, resources, and archetypal energies. This workshop will focus on the Chippewa story of Skywoman, the manitou who created the North American continent. This is the story I worked with as part of my Capstone project at the Applied Compassion Training program at Stanford. This journey began with asking, Who are the ancient female peace keepers? My capstone was aimed at highlighting and revitalizing indigenous female heart medicine contained in traditional stories from around the world. My premise was that when indigenous women’s voices are seen as fiercely and gently compassionate, strength is reclaimed and useful archetypes are made visible once more. Come learn what an ancient manitou from this continent has to teach us about how to live well.
About Renda
Renda Dionne Madrigal, Ph.D., Registered Drama Therapist, Narradrama Trainer, Somatic Experiencing Practitioner, was featured on the cover of the February 2018 edition of Mindful Magazine and will be featured as a 2022 Powerful Woman of Mindfulness (August edition). She is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist, TA/Advisor for the UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, Mindfulness Awareness Research Center Teacher Training Program, UCLA Certified Mindfulness Facilitator, certified with the International Mindfulness Teachers Association and Stanford Certified Applied Compassion Educator/Consultant. She is also faculty at the Drama Therapy Institute of Los Angeles and California Indian Nations College, President of Mindful Practice Inc. and works with story medicine (embodied mindfulness, narrative and drama/creative arts).
Dr. Dionne Madrigal specializes in embodied mindfulness-based practices and has been a Licensed Clinical Psychologist for over twenty years. She combines mindfulness, somatic (body-based) therapies, and story in much of the work she does. She is Turtle Mountain Chippewa. Her heritage informs her work. She is involved in healing theater and has appeared in Indigenous plays written by her daughters. In her spare time, she enjoys writing fiction featuring Indigenous female protagonists who save the world. Her book The Mindful Family Guidebook is available through Parallax Press and Penguin Random House and was listed as a Best Book of Mindfulness 2021 by Mindful Magazine. She is currently working on her next book, Story Medicine.
Dr. Catherine Svehla will present on “More Than a Metaphor: ‘The Queen Bee'”
The importance of empathy for members of the more-than-human world is a common theme in fairy tales. In the fairy tale of "The Queen Bee," for example, the youngest brother is ridiculed for a sensitivity that is later rewarded. Stories like this one affirm the value of kindness and reciprocity that extend beyond human society. This is a valuable message and yet there is more to be found in such stories. Curiosity about the lives of our fellow beings in the material world can lead to insights that challenge cultural constructs and deepen awareness of the link between self and Other. This type of investigation makes a broader understanding of relationship and empathy possible.
About Catherine
Catherine Svehla is an independent scholar, storyteller, and teacher with a PhD in Mythological Studies and Depth Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute. She creates thought-provoking story circles, workshops, and other tools to help people use a mythic and archetypal lens to transform their lives. Catherine is the host of the Myth Matters podcast, an exploration of myth in contemporary life and a member of Joseph Campbell Foundation’s MythMaker℠ Podcast Network. A recognized innovator in the field of mythological studies, Catherine received a New Mythos grant from OPUS Archives and is a member of the Joseph Campbell Foundation Editorial Advisory Group. Learn more at http://www.mythicmojo.com.
Dr. Annalisa Derr will present on “Ecological Empathy: Grief in the Age of the Anthropocene”
Grief is a universal human experience. In many myths, even the gods and goddesses grieve. Not only do they teach us how to grieve, but some of these myths teach that celestial grief can itself cause catastrophic consequences in response to both human and divine folly and ignorance. In the age of the Anthropocene where human impact on climate change is ever more apparent, what can these myths teach us about grief that extends beyond our human-to-human bonds?
In this presentation, I will describe my personal experience with inter-species grief after a tragic encounter with a deceased bald eagle. Examining myths from the Ancient Greek, Hindu, and Mesopotamian traditions, I will also include how I believe mythic expressions of grief can model an ecological empathy for non-human animal life and death.
About Annalisa
Annalisa Derr, PhD completed her doctorate in Mythological Studies with an Emphasis in Depth Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute. The title of her dissertation is Resacralizing Female Blood: Overcoming 'the Myth of Menstrual Danger.' Seeking an embodied approach to her research inquiry, Annalisa developed a site-specific, menstrual art performance series, “She Bleeds the World into Existence.” She also founded Journey to the Goddess TV—an online platform featuring interviews with scholars, artists, activists, and religious practitioners that explores the significance of goddess archetypes for modern women. Annalisa has been a professional actress for over 30 years with a BA in Theater Arts and specialized training in masked and physical theater from internationally renowned teachers in Italy, India, and New York. She is also a Mary Magdalene devotee, an Italophile, and an aspiring Flamenco dancer. You can visit her website at www.journeytothegoddess.voyage.
In this panel, Maile Kaku, Orpheus Black, and Marcene Gandolfo address the question, how does myth comment on the possibility of an ecological society where diverse voices and traditions all have space to flourish?
Maile Kaku will present on “Hawaiian Akua: Laka as Living Myth, Science and Ecological Awareness”
The Hawaiian word akua is usually translated by the English word “god.” This is misleading. It compels us to see the Hawaiian akua through Western eyes—that is, as supernatural or divine beings. However, in the Hawaiian cosmovision, the akua are not so much “beings” as “doings,” less nouns than verbs. They are the energies of the earth and sky, the active, ongoing processes of nature. Becoming aware of these akua and their (inter)actions is ecological consciousness par excellence.
Maile’s talk will focus on the akua Laka, known in modern terms as the “goddess of the forest.” Laka’s realm expresses the interconnective energies that sustain us all as living beings. Her divine powers are indeed the very stuff of science. Through the prism of this akua, we will see how the sacred, the mythological, the scientific and the ecological are all interwoven.
Indigenous ways of interbeing-with-the-world have always been deeply rooted in ecological knowledge and practice. Seeing the environment as an ecosphere of living myth and nature through non-Western eyes incites us to self-reflexively question our own ways of viewing and engaging with not only the world but mythology itself.
About Maile
Maile Kaku is on a twisting-turning never-ending learning journey and is grateful to all of the teachers who have nurtured and continue to nurture this wondrous journey. She has lived abroad most of her life, worked as a documentary translator and traveled the world. She holds a French postgraduate degree in Histoire et Sémiologie du Texte et de l'Image from the Université de Paris-Diderot and is currently a doctoral candidate in Mythological Studies at Pacifica Graduate Institute. Maile is also an ongoing learner in the Ulu Ka ‘Ōhiʻa Hula-Consciousness Seminar as well as a dancer and teacher of hula with Hālau Hula O Mānoa, the only traditional school of Hawaiian dance in France. She divides her time between Honolulu, Hawai’i, and Paris, France.
Orpheus Black will present on “The Missing Myth: The Abduction of the Afro Cultural Unconscious”
Myths and stories are soul-making and speak to cultures about origins and creation. Without mythology, a given group of people may be devoid of archetypes that model survival, familial narratives, and a cultural understanding of self and community, along with the roles that one may play in the wider global lens and the cosmos.
The culture of the African-American has been deprived of inclusion in the collective unconscious, namely with regards to the development and cultivation of culture-specific archetypes. Sustained exposure to the forces of colonization included an intentional archetypal erasure, and this played a major role in the disappearance of these narratives among the African-American population. The mythological and archetypal narratives most cultures adopt as their foundation were deleted from the indigenous African population enslaved into the Americas.
We may consider a multitude of other cultures, such as the Greeks, who have created identifiable archetypes and mythologies that give them reference to who they are as a people. The Greek archetypes are synonymous with who they believe themselves to be. These ancient narratives continue to inform a population and culture to the present day. This cultural isolation would become a type of imprisonment for groups such as African-Amerians who, through colonization, had their stories of who they were as a people ripped from their consciousness.
Joseph Campbell’s “Hero with a Thousand Faces” addresses the idea that many cultures share the same hero archetype. Juxtapose these cultures that share a mytho-poetic narrative with one devoid of the hero archetype. It is difficult for the average individual living in the U.S. to name a single hero from African-American history. Consequently, it is difficult for the communities in possession of a hero archetype representation to empathize with the community lacking this connection.
Without mythology, a group of people may be devoid of the cultural unconscious that seeks to produce archetypes. I will discuss the consequences of the African-American population deprived of its mythological inheritance. I aim to guide an exploration of a relevant contemporary phenomenon and propose practices to move forward into a cultural mythos unique to our time, our place, and our people.
About Orpheus
Orpheus Black is a Los Angeles-based public speaker, teacher, thought leader, and somatic visionary who specializes in the application of ancient wisdom in modern day settings. With a helpful practice steeped in spirituality and intimacy, Orpheus is a living bridge between healthy sex and enlightenment. Through a balanced integration of Afro-Buddhism, psycho-sensuality, and Taoist teachings inherent in his martial arts practice, his light-hearted lessons have become sought after internationally, even as counsel to the experts in his field.
Orpheus aims to propel the intellectual and sensual evolution of masculinity both by challenging men to reconnect with its roots and by inviting them to embrace manhood in its fullness, the way strong modern men wish it to be. In this role, he shares insights, offers tools, and speaks against societal norms of shame and repression. He does it all with the earnestness of a therapist, the knowledge of a guru, and the charisma of a stage performer.
Marcene Gandolfo will present on “Ecofeminism and Contemporary Native American Poetry: Linda Hogan’s Mythopoetic Vision”
Native American poet Linda Hogan asserts that mythical narratives depict “the deepest, innermost cultural stories of our human journeys toward spiritual and psychological growth.” Hogan’s poems manifest as contemporary myths, which derive images, themes, and narratives from traditional Native American mythologies and unite the quest for ecological sustainability to the desire for physical and emotional healing and balance. Inspired by ecofeminist theory, Hogan’s work recognizes the connection between the exploitation and degradation of the natural world and the subordination and oppression of women. Hence, Hogan’s poems seek to restore harmonies between the archetypal feminine and the earth.
This presentation explores ecofeminist themes in Hogan’s poetry and includes a close reading of Hogan’s poem “Hunger,” which maps the journey of European fishermen, as they hunt dolphins and sail toward a Native American settlement. Throughout the poem, Hogan creates a juxtaposition between the dolphins and the Native American women that the fishermen violate and subjugate. The poem explores the hunger that compels colonialism, misogyny, and brutality toward the natural world; however, it also explores mythic themes of forgiveness, restoration, and healing.
About Marcene
Marcene Gandolfo’s poems have been published widely in literary journals, including Poet Lore, Bellingham Review, december, and RHINO. In 2014, her debut book, Angles of Departure, won Foreword Reviews’ Silver Award for Poetry. She has taught writing and literature at several northern California colleges and universities. Marcene is currently a PhD candidate in Comparative Mythology at Pacifica Graduate Institute. Her dissertation explores mythological resonances in the poems of Brigit Pegeen Kelly.
