Lynlee’s talk is called “Earth as Self-Adjusting Organism: Anima Mundi as Healing Force in the Physical World”
Plato viewed the cosmos as a single organism that was vitalized by a force greater than its inhabitants. Known as the anima mundi, this force was the mothering soul of the world, responsible for the order and purposiveness of nature, and was believed to be the mediating influence of the stars at a distance. In the 1960s, James Lovelock’s Gaia hypothesis initiated a contemporary renewal of interest in the environment as a living organism and asserted that all species in the planetary biomass act symbiotically to enhance the life-giving potential of the planet, where the goal of life was global homeostasis with the earth as a self-regulating organism. The Gaia hypothesis helped restore the anima mundi as divine intelligence who heals through self-regulation.
This presentation seeks to elucidate theories like Lovelock’s that contribute to planetary psychology, and explores contemporary healing modalities emerging from Earth as living organism theories. Of particular interest is the work of mycologist Paul Stamets, who explores using mushrooms to heal toxic environmental sites as well as trauma in individuals.
About Lynlee
Lynlee Lyckberg is a California-based artist/educator who maintains a studio and teaching practice in the Nevada City foothills of northern California. She earned her B.A. in Studio Art/Art History from Cal State East Bay, and her M.F.A. in Painting (Consciousness Studies) from John F. Kennedy University. In 2016 she completed her doctorate in Mythological Studies with an emphasis in Depth Psychology. She also studied Traditional Chinese Arts and Healing at the University of Hangzhou, China, in 2001. She is currently completing a PsyD, and will begin an art therapy licensing program in the fall.
Her teaching philosophy is that a creative practice is one of the best ways to enhance problem solving skills, and often connects one to deeper ways of knowing and being in the world. Core elements of her teaching practice include the use of dreamwork, myth, and the symbolic image to enhance thinking skills and open the doors to personal creativity.
