Category: Presenters

Presenters at the Fates and Graces Mythologium, a virtual conference for mythologists.

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Mythologium 2021 welcomes Will Linn and Andre (AJ) Fleuridas

Will and AJ’s talk is called “Healing Journey and Return”

By studying the myths we see in art, we can better understand the myths we experience in our lives and in our culture. Could there be a way to use this deeper understanding to engage our cultural and personal myths and to heal them?  

Where Eliade describes the renewal of a culture as dependent on the re-enactment of its creation myth, Jung sees the renewal of self as dependent on the integration of repressed other. This presentation argues that the redemption of inner and collective wastelands depends on the living out of a new myth that is, at once, a renewal of the original creation myth AND an integration of repressed other. In a search for healing threads through the pandemic, this talk seeks to address the creation myths we are reliving, the otherness we are integrating, the wasteland(s) we are attempting to redeem and the new myths we are starting to tell.

This multimedia, interactive presentation will utilize musicmaking, video, written media, interactive webpages, writing prompts, and reflection to offer a grab-bag of tools attendees might use to recognise and heal personal and cultural myths.  

About Will and AJ

Will Linn, Ph.D. is the founder of Mythouse.org and the General Education Department at Hussian College in LA Center Studios, where he teaches mythology, storytelling and philosophy. Will has appeared in several documentaries and TV series. He is the co-creator of a radio show for the Santa Barbara News-Press called Mythosophia, and he co-hosts the Myth Salon. His collaborators include many of the world’s leading mythologists and story experts. After working for the Joseph Campbell Foundation in a variety of roles for seven years, he supports musicians, filmmakers and brands on the development of their stories.

AJ Fleuridas is the head of technology at Mythouse.org, with experience mediamaking, educating, and building technical systems. His web-dev, media-making, and communication-tech skills have brought him the fortune of working with leaders across the planet with the purpose of changing the world of education and of storytelling. Some highlights include working to innovate technology, media, and education with the Global Schools Alliance in New Zealand, Autens in Denmark, Liger Leadership Academy in Phnom Penh, the city of Helsinki, and HundrEd. 

To hear this talk and many others, join us at the Mythologium!

The Mythologium is a conference and retreat for mythologists and friends of myth, held July 30 – Aug 1 via Zoom. Register here!

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Mythologium 2021 welcomes Rosalyn Fay

Rosalyn’s talk is called “Rewilding: A Reclamation of Primordial Belonging”

After 25 years of city living, I found myself deep in the Underworld of health issues, crushing debt, a crumbling career, and a deadened soul. In desperation, I begged God, the Universe, anyone who could hear, for guidance. “Move to nature‚” a voice whispered. For the first time in years my body relaxed. Heeding the call, I left the city for the Coastal Redwoods. There, in the sanctuary of a single room cabin and the stillness of the forest, I began an eight year journey of reclamation. That simple act of surrender ushered me on a mythological journey of healing decades of disconnection from both the natural world and my own wild soul. My inner stories of unworthiness, shame, and not belonging, as well as decades of repressed grief and rage, rose to the surface. Yet I remained surrendered, and in doing so, ravens, wild boars, a 1500 year-old tree, a fiery Texan crone, a feral cat, a Gandalf-like homeless man with flowers in his hair, and roses appeared as guides. The consistent messages were to slow down, simplify, and trust my own wild heart, which eventually led me back into the circle of life, a magically animate world, and my own belonging within it.

About Rosalyn

Rosalyn is a writer, a women’s empowerment and grief facilitator, ritualist, herbalist, storyteller, and a lover of wild things. She is a devout listener of the quiet realms, to children, the elderly and plants. She is a firm believer in the simple primary satisfactions of life and the unbridled creative spirit. She resides in the northern California redwoods in a tiny house she built where she writes, sings, dances, and makes hand-crafted goods and herbal medicine for the local farmer’s markets.

Devoted to the slow, intuitive, feminine way of the senses and body, you can often find her wandering the local woods harvesting edible and medicinal plants, singing with the birds, listening to the wind, dancing barefoot, celebrating and grieving life inside ancient trees, and writing about her experiences.

To hear Rosalyn’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 30 – Aug 1 via Zoom. Register here!

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Mythologium 2021 welcomes Gelareh Khoie

Gelareh’s talk is called “Artemis, Apollo, and the Dance of Oracular Healing“

Living in a world of rapidly refracting kaleidoscopic consciousness, the besieged ego-self tends to become mired in restless seeking that often leads to exhaustion and confusion. By focusing on the healing potential of the ritual of dance portrayed in the mythology of psychocosmic party-starter twins, Artemis and Apollo, I convey an oracular dimension of healing which could, if adopted, facilitate the maintenance of perfect creative tension between ego and Self.

About Gelareh

Gelareh Khoie is an Iranian-American artist, writer, scholar, and DJ with over thirty years of experience as an entrepreneur and creator. Currently a doctoral candidate at Pacifica, she is researching the spiritual potentials of music and dance conveyed through the sociocultural phenomena of the 1970s known as disco.

To hear Gelareh’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 30 – Aug 1 via Zoom. Register here!

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Mythologium 2021 welcomes Annalisa Derr

Annalisa’s talk is called “Embodied Menstrual Rituals as Healing Praxis: Affirming Female Power in the Myth of Mary Magdalene”

Throughout Western history, powerful women, such as Mary Magdalene, have long been symbols of dangerous femininity. In particular, female bodies have been sites of patriarchal fantasies and projections of feminine danger. “The myth of menstrual danger” is one such feminine danger that has been a destructive legacy leading back to the early stages of Western civilization.

The dehumanizing depictions of “the myth of menstrual danger” have been used to control women’s bodies and devalue women’s place in society. Even more troubling, I believe this myth contributes to women’s internalized menstrual shame through a process termed “internalized sexism.”

Locating myself within the traditions of feminist spirituality, archeomythology, women’s history, and performative embodiment techniques, my presentation illuminates how I re-mythologize Mary Magdalene—and other goddesses and heroines—in ritual menstrual art performances to affirm female power and heal “the myth of menstrual danger.”

I do this in two primary ways: first, by framing Mary Magdalene within the Neolithic Great Goddess worshipping traditions, and second, with enactments of ritual performances that re-potentiate menstrual blood to symbolize feminine powers of death and regeneration. By remythologizing Mary Magdalene within a tradition that views the bleeding female body as life-affirming, menstrual embodiment becomes a radical act of self and collective healing.

About Annalisa

Annalisa Derr is a professional actress turned ritual theatre creatrix, budding goddess scholar, and doctoral candidate in Mythological Studies at Pacifica Graduate Institute. The working title of her dissertation is _Healing “the Myth of Menstrual Danger”_. Her current performance series, “She Bleeds the World into Existence,” utilizes menstrual art as an embodied research method and as sacred activism. She is founder of Journey to the Goddess TV on YouTube, an interview and soon-to-be travel series with the aim to regenerate ancient feminine wisdom for modern women.

To hear Annalisa’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 30 – Aug 1 via Zoom. Register here!

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Mythologium 2021 welcomes Gabriel Keczan

Gabriel’s talk is called “The Cultural Somatics of Myth & The Crisis of Masculinity”

We are in a crisis of masculinity. As a collective body of culture, we are going through a massive initiation as multiple crises of the world intersect. This is a time of radical reclaiming, healing and transformation. The ancient Russian tale of the Firebird contains clues and guidance on our paths of awakening. In this presentation, Gabriel will carry in the story of the Firebird and, together with the audience, feed the story and explore its relevance in our lives and for this moment in order to turn crisis into a catalyst for courage and growth.

About Gabriel

Gabriel Keczan is a transformational men’s coach, somatic counselor and art therapist living in the mossy, time-bending giants known as the mountains of the Kootenays in Western Canada, the un-ceded homeland xaʔxáʔ tumxʷulaʔxʷ of the Sinixt Nation. He founded Sacred Pathways Foundation to help restore rites of passage for male youth as well as create more initiatory spaces for men using myth, art and connection with nature.

To hear Gabriel’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 30 – Aug 1 via Zoom. Register here!

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Mythologium 2021 welcomes Dr. Julie Hugonny

Julie’s talk is called “The Last Man on Earth: A New Myth for a New Trauma“

Science fiction literature is a relatively new invention. Born from the traumas of the French Revolution, the quite literal killing of King and God, the genre started as a secular retelling of the End of Times. Apocalyptic narratives thus appear as the shape science fiction took at its very inception, the fantasized, non-prophetic story of the Last Man on Earth. The Last Man, this lone figure standing on the ruins of civilization, becomes an extremely popular type through the 19th century; its ubiquity is the sign it was a needed myth, welcome prism through which to look at the modern world.

Following James Berger’s study of catastrophe and trauma and my own work on early Apocalyptic literature, I will present this obsessive retelling of the end of the world as a way to process the brutal changes brought by the social, political and personal upheavals of the time. Far from para-literature or pure fantasy, science fiction is both a sign of trauma and the means to heal from it, and the archetype of the Last Man the guide to walk us through grief. The versatility of the genre, and its helpfulness in allowing us to take control of the narrative, haven’t abated since its creation.

About Julie

Julie Hugonny earned her Ph.D. in French literature from New York University in 2014. Her dissertation, The Last Man: Apocalyptic science fiction literature from the nineteenth century to World War I, deals with disasters, epidemics, devolution and the end of the world. Her teaching and research interests are: nineteenth-century French and English literature, science fiction in literature and film and depictions of monsters in popular culture. She is currently a lecturer at the University of Stirling.

To hear Julie’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 30 – Aug 1 via Zoom. Register here!

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Mythologium 2021 welcomes Kathryn Makeyev

Kathryn’s talk is called “Once Upon a Wounded Time”

Once upon a time there was an opportunity for homo sapiens to come together. The first step in healing a divide is to acknowledge the wounds that we have as well as those we have given to others. Make no mistake, social injustice, global warming, and the pandemic are wounds. Real forgiveness begins by giving up hope that the past could have been any different.

James Hillman told me (ok, not me) that Aphrodite is missing in the pantheon of the United States. This lack of beauty has caused depression, mental illness and anxiety. I think that if she were present she would tell us: “your place is a dump—clean it up!” But a failure to acknowledge our shortcomings has been one of our serious problems. Therein lies a trail.

We are being called to find our beauty again (not to make America great again). The quest is to re-enchant our cosmos. Not only is this possible, it is not particularly difficult because the cosmos is on our side. Separation is the real illusion.

Let it be told about the Age of Aquarius: Once upon a time there were wounds.

About Kathryn

Kathryn has lived for over 30 years in San Luis Obispo, home of the Slo Transit Company, the Slo Real Estate Development Company, the Slomotion Film Festival, and likes it more each day. She is finishing a novel (slo-style) about reincarnation through history, and is currently recovering from the PTSD brought about by the Trump administration.

To hear Kathryn’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 30 – Aug 1 via Zoom. Register here!

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Mythologium 2021 welcomes special guests from the Joseph Campbell Foundation

This panel will address “The Myth of the Body and the Body of Myth”

The ancient connection between the body and the stories that humankind has crafted around the body’s functions, purpose, and capabilities has been a key theme in mythological narratives for thousands of years. Healing, both physical and psychological, has been approached through forms ranging from rituals to mindful practices. In this panel, leaders from the Joseph Campbell Foundation will be in conversation with each other and with Renda Dionne Madrigal, PhD, a Turtle Mountain Chippewa clinical psychologist, around Campbell’s ideas concerning myth and  healing, as well as practices from the cultures and traditions he studied, including those of First Nations people. 

Renda Dionne Madrigal, PhD, Clinical Psychologist at Mindful Practice, Inc.

Renda is a Turtle Mountain Chippewa clinical psychologist and UCLA certified mindfulness facilitator. Featured on the cover of Mindful magazine in 2018, her workshops on Mindful Families, Storytelling as Healing, and Theatre of the Oppressed are popular nationally in the United States. She has over 20 years of experience creating and directing evidence-based family and child programs for better health. She regularly incorporates storytelling, writing, and mindfulness into her work. Her new book, The Mindful Family Guidebook, is available from Penguin/Random House.  

Bradley Olson, Phd, MythBlast Series Editor at the Joseph Campbell Foundation

Brad is currently a psychotherapist in private practice at Mountain Waves  Healing Arts in Flagstaff, Arizona. His work with clients is heavily influenced by his interest in  Jungian analytical psychology and mythological studies. Brad is also the author of the  acclaimed Falstaff Was My Tutor blog, which earned him a nomination for the 2012  Pushcart Prize in nonfiction. 

Robert Walter, President of the Joseph Campbell Foundation 

In 1979, Bob began work with Joseph Campbell on several projects, including Campbell’s  multivolume Historical Atlas of World Mythology, for which Bob became editorial director. As Campbell’s literary executor, following the famed mythologist’s death in 1987, Bob completed  and supervised the posthumous publication of the Historical Atlas. In 1990, when Bob and  Joseph Campbell’s widow, Jean Erdman, together with his family and close friends, founded the Joseph Campbell Foundation (JCF), Bob was named vice president and executive director.  He was appointed JCF president in 1998. He has spoken internationally about the connections between myth and healing. 

This panel will be moderated by Joanna Gardner, PhD, Senior Editor on the Editorial Advisory Group at the Joseph Campbell Foundation.

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Mythologium 2021 welcomes Patricia von Papstein and Kristina Dryža

Patricia and Kristina’s talk is called “Trickster Energy as a Healing Force?”

The Trickster is a beautifully iridescent archetypal character in mythology. In contrast to its liberating behavior qualities, it’s been much maligned and demonized throughout history. By decrypting the Trickster archetype in its multi-dimensional ability to peek behind the curtains, the two presenters will discuss how those in the business world can engage mythology and psychology to ensure that their products and services are ‘Trickster worthy.’

Drawing on the archetypes of the goddess queens Aphrodite and Persephone, Patricia and Kristina will illustrate how both, facing growing and decaying are essential for meeting the Trickster at the threshold. We live in a time where we experience ourselves and the world as fragmented – outside perhaps solid, but on the inside atomising. Travelling between the upper world and the under world like a trickster, not like a charlatan, is a fresh approach to healing.

About Patricia and Kristina

Patricia von Papstein is a business woman, a clinical and organizational psychologist and a lover of technology and the arts. Following through to her credo “Bliss to Business!” she challenges business and capital owners to refine their unconventional talents and to market products that keep a secret, spread self-irony and celebrate the spirit of contradiction. Currently she has accepted to become a jury member of the Berlin science fiction festival. You can visit her website at www.blisstobusiness.com.

Kristina Dryža is recognized as one of the world’s top female futurists and is also an archetypal consultant and author. She has always been fascinated by patterns and feels we are patterned beings in a patterned universe. Her work focuses on archetypal and mythic patterns and the patterning of nature’s rhythms and their influence on creativity, innovation and leadership.

To hear this talk and many others, join us at the Mythologium!

The Mythologium is a conference and retreat for mythologists and friends of myth, held July 30 – Aug 1 via Zoom. Register here!

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Mythologium 2021 welcomes Dr. Olivia Happel-Block

Olivia’s talk is called, “The Therapy of Prythian: Writing Psychological Trauma and Dealing with it in New Adult Literature”

Sarah J. Mass’ inventive 2015 New Adult fantasy novel, A Court of Thorns and Roses, plays on familiar fairy tale archetypes such as Beauty and the Beast, Hades, and Persephone. Despite putting her characters through challenging tasks, adventures, and the occasional torture session, Mass answers the question of what happens after the trauma of returning from the underworld. In this series, the reader is taken through an imaginative faerie realm where magic powers the universe, humans fear their fae neighbors, and an evil queen has cast a plague upon the land. This presentation examines the powerful mythic images present within Mass’ universe along with the inclusion of mythic themes and archetypes to create a psychologically compelling narrative in the bourgeoning genre of New Adult. Mythical ideas and concepts have long been a fantastic resource for authors, but this emerging genre provides a vehicle for telling stories that acknowledge and process the traumatic events of life. What mythical truths can these New Adult novels provide to audiences? Where and how do these novels fit within the “canon” of academic literature? What value might they hold for entertainment and scholarship?

About Olivia

Olivia Happel-Block, PhD, is a Mythology, Theory of Knowledge, English, and Film Studies teacher at Dos Pueblos High School in Goleta, CA. There she serves as the Extended Essay Coordinator (a four thousand word research essay composed by IB students over the junior and senior year). She has created her own curriculum for both the Mythology and Film Studies course at DPHS. Her dissertation, That Which Is Not Yet Known: An Alchemical Analysis of Michael Maier’s Arcana Arcanissima explores themes of mythology, alchemy, and religion. Olivia serves as the Pacifica Graduate Institute Alumni Association’s Vice President. She has presented at the American Academy of Religion Regional Conference as well as the Pop Culture Association’s Regional and National Conference. Her academic interests include myth, religious studies, alchemy, and classics. She seeks to pursue the #immutablediamondbody throughout her life, scholarship, and career. Follow her on Instagram @doctorhappel.

To hear Olivia’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 30 – Aug 1 via Zoom. Register here!