mindfulness Archives - Fates and Graces Mythologica

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.

2021 Mythologium program

Selena’s talk is called “Reintegrating with Nature Through Our Body and Magickal Rituals”

Our connection with nature has been lost amidst the chaos and hustle of modern Westernized society. Not only has this disconnect separated us from our natural environment, it has created disharmony with our own bodies and our sense of peace and fulfillment, and weakened our ability to traverse life’s obstacles. To be estranged from nature creates discord within ourselves, for we are of nature and not separate entities. You cannot have a relationship with your body if you do not have a relationship with nature. Spiritual traditions from many cultures are rich with practices that foster coalescence with nature. One such tradition is witchcraft, and I will examine modern witchcraft rituals that can be utilized in today’s society by those who feel disconnected. Additionally, I will address specific deities who cultivate methods of connecting with our natural divinity. I will share insights from particular movement arts that foster intention, awareness, and mindfulness. Utilizing my extensive experience as a dancer, martial artist, and practitioner of traditional witchcraft I will offer tools to reintegrate mindful movement, reverence to nature, and reverence for ourselves into our lives.

About Selena

Selena Madden believes magic is a part of all of us and can guide us through life’s obstacles. She believes in fostering connection with one’s intuition, which to her, is akin to connecting with the divine. She carefully and respectfully works with deities from various pantheons, such as Hindu traditions, Celtic, Egyptian, Greek, and Yoruban.

As a trained dancer and martial artist, she has cultivated her learnings and passion into a shareable practice designed to help women (re)connect with their inner warrior, lover, and other archetypes. Her training stems from bellydance, snakedance, ballet, Capoeira, Filipino Lameco, Kung Fu, and Aikido. She is actively working on her dissertation for her PhD in Mythological Studies with an emphasis in Depth Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute, where she earned her M.A. Pacifica has provided her the academic foundation to support her array of spiritual practices and holistic approaches for cultivating a powerful, loving, and nurtured feminine. She is currently working with her partner, Orpheus Black, in his thriving coaching practice around sexuality, intimacy, kink, and interpersonal power dynamics.