Laura’s presentation is called “The Inner Child at Play: Using Fairy Tale Stop Motion Films in Inner Work”
“Fairy tales are the simplest and purest expressions of the collective unconscious and thus offer the clearest understanding of the basic patterns of the human psyche.” —Marie-Louis von Franz
Stop motion films and fairy tales speak to our heart center and the inner child. Laura’s films are homemade creations that beckon us toward play. Laura will share how these films are being used in small groups and their resonance in our own inner life. She will also explore challenges to the heart space in creativity, including the myths of perfectionism and proving our worth in the marketplace.
About Laura
Laura Lewis-Barr was a graduate student in clinical psychology but switched majors and earned her M.A in theater. In 2019 Laura began making stop motion films focused on fairy tales. Now she is an award-winning stop-motion filmmaker and educator.
Laura’s focus is on animating fairy tales and mythic stories for personal and collective transformation. She is inspired by the work of Joseph Campbell, Carl Jung, and Michael Meade. Laura’s films are made in her basement in Chicago. Her screening events are filled with heart and questions for the soul.
Maria’s talk is called “Eco-Psychologically Transform The Climate Crisis by Accessing the Force”
Story making, storytelling, and story listening are human superpowers. Seemingly, humankind’s ability to imagine the impossible and make it a reality changed evolutionary history. Yet today, humanity has crossed over the bridge of mystery and into a glacial river of truth–meaning we need to be honest about our rapidly warming Earth.
Yet, the same mythologies from our early beginnings that knitted us into nature’s awe and abundance are what we could be turning into modern narratives.
A new mythology for living into the future will come forward through the tales we imagine today. And needed are the heroes or heroines who are the story makers and story carriers—those who can gallop full speed into the mouth of danger and change where humanity is heading.
A hidden path has appeared that negates living as we always have, and today’s younger generations are creating actionable plans for slowing climate change and re-arranging their futures. From another perspective, we don’t have much time to act, so I suggest preparing for adventures.
All our collective stories are needed to conjure the one perfect solution. A Force so powerful a thousand other ideas get birthed.
As humanity stands at the mythical Crossroads of Fate, our tribal collective seeks kind, generous, and courageously compassionate eco-psychological responses that could bind us into collective action.
About Maria
Maria Felice Cunningham is a story writer, storyteller, and re-seeder of curiosity. She believes hope lives in our ears and courage in our hearts, while wisdom requires listening to the natural world. She is a connector who passes on whispers heard in seashells and she uses stories as her currency.
Maria Felice spent decades in corporate America creating stories and advertising campaigns for capital growth while partnering with targeted non-profits. She is an eco-psychologist, board-certified culture and leadership coach, author, journalist, and doctoral candidate at Viridis Graduate School. Her primary focus is promoting stories, myths and fairy tales to face the challenges of a warming Earth.
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.
Colleen’s talk is called “Wedded to Death: Trauma and Healing within ‘The Robber Bridegroom'”
“Ach! My dear child, if I don’t rescue you, you will be lost!” cries the old woman in the Grimm Brothers’ story, “The Robber Bridegroom.” Yet the rescue does not occur until after the violence has taken place, and it is the young woman who must save herself.
The shadowy world of the fairy tale is one wherein evil fabricates traps, well hidden within societal mores and tradition. Here, the horrific happens with regularity and its victims often have little recourse but to be ensnared. This fate befalls the maiden in “The Robber Bridegroom.” Yet the occult information the tale harbors regarding trauma and its transformative powers has not been explored sufficiently by modern scholars. In this presentation, I analyze the story, employing the lens of shamanism, and shamanism clothed as witchcraft. Gathering in other German folktales, I glean clues that help explain the experience of shattering that the maiden undergoes, leading to a new kind of wholeness, one that empowers her to take a role of leadership within her clan.
About Colleen
After studying art history and languages at Purdue University, Colleen Salomon, Ph.D. continued her academic work at the Sorbonne in Paris and the University of Hamburg, Germany. During years of living and working in Germany, she had the privilege of hearing many stories of the trauma of World War II, told by the people who had lived through the events. She witnessed the healing that emerged through the telling of the stories. In a very concrete way, she learned about the fundamental necessity of myth to the individual. Returning to the US, and working as a curator at the Williamson Gallery of Scripps College, Colleen earned a master’s degree in psychology. Later, she was drawn to Pacifica Graduate Institute to study mythology with a particular emphasis on the role of myth in the healing of trauma. Colleen holds a doctorate in mythological studies and depth psychology. Her dissertation focuses on the ancient knowledge of trauma contained within the old stories still told in Germany.
Raina’s talk is called “What Women Want: The modern implications of an ancient tale on the difficulties of being a woman in a man’s world”
Revisiting the legend of “The Wedding of Dame Ragnell and Sir Gawain,” we gain insight into What Women Want, the riddle paused to King Arthur and which he must solve to keep his head. We reveal if it has changed much over the centuries. With an illuminating detour from fairy tales to modern heroines in Cinema and the women who play them, this proposal offers a mytho-poetic approach to the heart of the tension between the feminine and the masculine and whether it can be resolved.
About Raina
Raina Manuel-Paris, Ph.D. has a multi-cultural and multi ethnic background. She holds a Masters degree from Columbia University in screenwriting and directing and a Ph.D. from Pacifica Graduate Institute in Mythological studies with an emphasis in depth psychology. Her work as a poet and writer, filmmaker, teacher and speaker illuminates the various paths to spiritual transformation, the relationship to ourselves and others, to love and compassion, to light and shadow. She is a published author of books, (The Mother-to-be’s Dream Book, published by Time Warner), and articles ( Trauma,War, and Spritual Transformation for the Magazine of Jungian thought, Psychological Perspectives) and has been a professor of Myth and Symbol, Magic and Ritual for the past seventeen years. She is a meditation guide and a speaker. She has lectured on the Goddess: from ancient times to the #metoo movement, Love as Primal Agent of Change, Love and Sacred Medicine, the Handless Maiden: a mytho-poetic guide to wholeness, on the Tarot as a guide through the cycles of life and death. Her latest lecture on The In-Between, Liminality in Uncertain Times, as well as other lectures and writings, can be found on Youtube.com, through PRS.org, on the Joseph Campbell foundation website (jcf.org) and on her website www.rainamparis.com. Her poetry can be heard on NPR, All Things considered, Poetry month. And was selected for the commemorative edition of Solo Novo, Psalms of Cinder&Silt. She is currently working on a novel.
