Author: Elspeth Newton

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Mythologium 2022 welcomes Ash McKernan

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.

2022 Mythologium program
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Mythologium 2022 welcomes Courtney Kleftis

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.

2022 Mythologium program
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Mythologium 2022 welcomes The Reverend Doctor Pamela D. Hancock

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.

2022 Mythologium program
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Mythologium 2022 welcomes Sarah Drew

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.

2022 Mythologium program