Tag: Transformation

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Mythologium 2023 welcomes Abigail Nelson

Abigail’s presentation is called “Medusa: Shadow to Shield — The Dramatherapeutic Use of the Mythical Dark Feminine for Modern Female Empowerment”

When we picture Medusa, we see the monstrous, deadly creature with snakes for hair. The vicious killer who could turn even the strongest of heroes to stone with just a look. But who was the women behind the monster? Listen to her tale then decide for yourself, Medusa – villain or victim? Monstrous or misunderstood?

Dramatherapy uses myth as a powerful therapeutic tool. By engaging with myths in an embodied way, dramatherapy allows individuals to explore universal themes and archetypal characters, both at a conscious and unconscious level. At the same time, myths offer a safe and imaginative space where individuals can project their own deeply personal struggles, conflicts, and desires onto the characters and events, gaining new perspectives and insights. Furthermore, myths often contain transformative journeys, symbolic rites of passage, and powerful metaphors that parallel the psychological processes individuals undergo during therapy. By immersing themselves in the mythic realm, participants in dramatherapy can tap into their inner resources, access buried emotions, and discover hidden strengths. The use of myth in dramatherapy, therefore, serves as a bridge between the personal and the collective, enabling individuals to connect with universal human experiences, find meaning in their struggles, and embark on a path of healing and personal transformation.

Medusa: Shadow to Shield, was a women’s circle and dramatherapy workshop which used storytelling, embodiment and art-making to explore the myth, focusing on self-understanding and female empowerment. Following this workshop’s structure and using its content, this presentation will allow you to explore the myth for yourself, whilst giving you an insight into the broader use of myth in dramatherapy.

About Abigail

Abigail Nelson is a dramatherapist and creative wellness facilitator in Edinburgh, Scotland. Abigail attained an MA in Dramatherapy from Roehampton University in 2022 and is now registered with the UK’s Health and Care Professions Council and a member of the British Association for Dramatherapists (of which she is currently the Executive Intern). Abigail provides one-to-one and group dramatherapy in a community therapeutic arts and mental health charity, The Alma Project. She also works freelance, facilitating creative wellness workshops, events and retreats (where she works therapeutically with nature). You can see her previous and upcoming events, plus more information, on her website at www.abigailnelson.co.uk.

2023 Mythologium program
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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.

2021 Mythologium program
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Mythologium 2021 welcomes Lucy Smith

Lucy’s talk is called “Greek Goddess Archetypal Healing”

Have you ever wondered how the Greek goddesses can personally heal you? In “Greek Goddess Archetypal Healing,” we’ll explore the strengths and weaknesses of seven of the most well-known Greek goddesses: Aphrodite, Artemis, Athena, Demeter, Hera, Hestia, and Persephone. Each goddess, corresponding to an area of a woman’s life, can empower you to transform your life into one of mythic proportions.

About Lucy

Lucy Smith (Moore College of Art & Design B.F.A. Illustration ’16, Delaware College of Art & Design A.F.A. Illustration ’13, West Chester University B.A. Theatre ’11 cum laude) is the lady behind Persephone’s Jewels, a life coaching experience of self-esteem building and identity exploration through the lens of the Greek goddesses. She maintains a popular face painting business, Colorful Kingdom Entertainment; models, and babysits dogs. In her spare time, Lucy studies astrology, tarot, and life drawing.

2021 Mythologium program
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Mythologium 2021 welcomes Dr. Drew Smith

Drew’s talk is called “Trimming Iron John: Alchemical Healing of the Masculine Soul Through the Barber’s Chair”

In the German fairy tale “Iron Hans,” as recorded by the Brothers Grimm, we watch as a wild man initiates a young prince into adulthood. Made popular by Robert Bly and helping to spawn the mythopoetic men’s movement of the 1990s, the tale has become synonymous with a call for modern men to embrace the intense and shadowy inner masculine energy, their own lost psychic “wild man,” and thus embark on a journey toward individuation and finding one’s authentic identity. This myth, culminating with the golden-haired prince marrying the princess, ends with an unexpected twist not often explored: The wild man Iron John appears at the wedding feast, no longer a hair-covered beast but transformed into a noble king.

This nearly instantaneous transformation from wild man to nobility through the removal of Iron John’s hairy coverings provides an opportunity to explore how the physical act of growing one’s hair out and then cathartically cutting it off has the potential to transform a man internally and externally, physically and psychically, by shedding identity and image and stepping into a new way of viewing himself. We investigate the shamanic role of barber as well, who acts as counselor, mentor, and agent of change, and the barber’s chair as the alchemical alembic in which this transformation takes place.

About Drew

Drew H. Smith, Ph.D. is the Director of Online Learning at Walsh College in Troy, MI, where he oversees the design, development, and technical support for all of Walsh’s online and hybrid courses. He has a passion for moving higher education forward into a new pedagogical model focused on transformation rather than information. Dr. Smith earned his Ph.D. in Depth Psychology which focuses on the unconscious and transpersonal aspects of the human experience. His research interests include men’s psychology, mindful masculinity, spirituality and Christian mysticism, the current sociopolitical climate surrounding gender in academia and culture, and scotch.

2021 Mythologium program
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Mythologium 2020 welcomes Arthur George

Arthur’s talk is called, “The Mythology of Groundhog Day and the film Groundhog Day“

Our holiday Groundhog Day may seem merely to be simple, trivial fun, but it has a profound mythological underpinning of which most people are unaware. So too does the Bill Murray film Groundhog Day, whose makers understood this mythology and worked it into the film. The myths, which go back to the ancient classical world, are about rebirth and personal transformation. I will argue that the myths underlying the holiday involve the hibernation of that most mythical creature, the bear; oracles and divination (including about the weather); and legendary caves in which historical and legendary people reportedly became enlightened and transformed (e.g., Pythagoras, Zalmoxis, Epimenides, and Apollonius of Tyana). This presentation will explain the underlying mythology and then show how it was used to great effect in this film about spiritual transformation. And you will learn the mythological reasons why a sunny Groundhog Day, when the critter sees his shadow, portends more winter. This presentation is based on the Groundhog Day chapter of my new, peer-reviewed book, The Mythology of our Seasonal Holidays, to be published by Palgrave Macmillan.

About Arthur

Arthur George is a mythologist, cultural historian, blogger, and winemaker; formerly he was an international lawyer. He has written the award-winning The Mythology of Eden (2014) about the mythology of the biblical Eden story, and before that the leading and award-winning history of St. Petersburg, Russia, entitled St. Petersburg: the First Three Centuries. His newest book, The Mythology of America’s Seasonal Holidays: The Dance of the Horae, will be published by Palgrave Macmillan in September. He has a mythology blog, frequently speaks at scholarly conferences, institutes, JCF Roundtables, and other audiences on mythological topics, and authors articles on the same. He is currently finishing a book about the mythology of wine, which will be published this autumn.

2020 Mythologium program