Category: Mythologium 2020

Updates about the 2020 Fates and Graces Mythologium, a virtual conference for mythologists.

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Mythologium 2020 welcomes Sara Lovett

Sara’s talk is called, “The Actor at Risk: Personal Myth as Self-Care”

A four-year study conducted by The British Office for National Statistics showed that artists “are up to four times more likely to commit suicide” (Grae-Hauck, 2018). The actor’s central work tool is their psyche and soma, both of which are most certainly at risk. Actors and the role they play are joined by one common thread: they grow inside of the same body. With every character, actors are asked to live out another’s story, embodying each emotion through the vehicle of their own flesh. Neuroscience tells us that we store emotion and memory in the body, unless it is moved onwards, through and out.

Through a somatic, depth psychological lens this presentation considers how the actor might withstand this mind/body onslaught through a process called self-landscaping (a titrated version of body mapping). Using ritual and an open dialogue with the archetypes who have taken up residence in the body, the actor has the option to stand in the doorway of the myth they are living with an open heart of recognition. As the actor tells their own story, it enables them to embrace another’s from a healthier, more embodied place. Holding onto a stronger sense of self-awareness, the actor waits at the gate for Hermes to deliver the invitation, a sacred contract from the ‘other.’ “Your body is my body, walk me through all that I am.” And the actor will not be afraid, because of the unyielding felt sense of their own story.

About Sara

Sara Lovett M.A. is a writer, performer, and dialect coach who works with actors on self-care and embodied performing. She has a BFA in acting from The University of Texas at Austin, and an M.A in Somatic Depth Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute. She is currently pursuing her doctorate in Somatic Studies in the Depth Psychology program at Pacifica as well. Her research centers on the effects that embodiment practices have on self-care for the actor. She is the author of the memoir, The Invisible Bones, and speaks publicly on abortion healing, releasing shame, and recovering voice.

2020 Mythologium program
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Mythologium 2020 welcomes Dr. Leon Aliski

Leon’s talk is called, “Persistence and Change: Historical Memory of Euro-American Migration and Settlement”

We will begin by considering the cultural legacy of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show, which toured Europe in 1889 and 1905, and its influence on the Western, a film genre that began in the early 20th century.  As described by one of the characters in James Welch’s novel, The Heartsong of Charging Elk, the performance of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show was seen as a representation of recent history: “Buffalo Bill says they are disappearing — like the bison. He says their culture is dying and soon they will be gone too.” 

Following in the footsteps of the Wild West narrative, the film industry has depicted a version of North American history that often portrays a story of heroic conquest and Euro-American settlement coinciding with the disappearance of Native peoples in the name of civilization. We will explore some of the ways in which this historical narrative has been shifting through the discussion of two contemporary films: Neither Wolf Nor Dog (2016) and Indian Horse (2018).

About Leon

Leon Aliski, Ph.D. holds a doctorate in cultural mythology and depth psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute. His dissertation entitled, “Wild Bison and the Buffalo People: Reimagining ‘The Heart of Everything That Is’,” examines a selection of historical narratives inspired by Euro-Americans and the Western Christian heritage in which these narrative themes are rooted. He is a supporter of Cloud Horse Art Institute, dedicated to Lakota traditional arts, performing arts, culture camps, and the Reel Jobs Film School located on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. 

2020 Mythologium program
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Mythologium 2020 welcomes Dr. Margaret Mendenhall

Margaret’s talk is called, “‘The Perfect Mate’: The Embodiment of Anima and Animus Projection in Star Trek: The Next Generation“

Using Jungian ideas to explore the various Star Trek films and television series, a futuristic interpretation of the American myth, is a way to make Jung’s teachings more accessible to the world at large. This paper looks at how the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “The Perfect Mate” — in which the beautiful female alien Kamala comes aboard the Enterprise commanded by Captain Jean Luc Picard — elucidates Jung’s concept of anima and animus projection in popular culture.

Highlighting the filmmaker’s use of mirrors throughout the episode to frame the interaction of Kamala and Picard, this paper will propose that this reflects Jung’s theory of the projection of the anima and animus onto our own perfect mate. I will discuss both Jung’s writings, some of which are problematic in his portrayal of “the feminine,” as well as work by Jungian and post-Jungian scholars in attempts to soften or reframe his ideas to address this. I will also touch on the patriarchal nature of the underlying narrative of the utopian future represented by Star Trek and how it projects the androcentricity of the American culture into the future.

About Margaret

Margaret (Maggie) Mendenhall, JD, PhD, currently resides in Long Beach, California, and is a graduate of Pacifica Graduate Institute’s Mythological Studies program. Her dissertation examined the rise of female rescue characters in German-language opera from the perspective of Eurydice. She is also currently a student in Pacifica’s Depth Psychology Program, Specializing in Jungian and Archetypal Studies. Margaret has presented papers on Star Trek-related topics at various conferences, including the Association for the Study of Women and Mythology, Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association, Mythgard Institute, and the American Academy of Religion, Western Regional Conference. As an edutainer, she has written, performed and produced two myth-based one-woman shows: Dancing to the Edge of a Cliff: A Mythical Journey Toward Wholeness and Soul Trek: My Sci-Fi Journey Toward Wholeness, and has just begun research on a potential one-woman show based on the life of Emma Jung. Margaret produced and hosted the public access television series Myth Is All Around Us and has been published in legal journals and Pacifica’s Mythological Studies Journal (online) and Between Literary Review.

2020 Mythologium program
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Mythologium 2020 welcomes Linda Marshall

Linda’s talk is called, “Seeking Insight through Athena”

We are currently living with the air of transition hanging heavily all around us. In the tradition of depth psychology, I turn to mythology for insight; and more specifically to the myth of Athena. It was Athena’s mother Metis, already pregnant with Athena, who was swallowed by Zeus when it was foretold that she would give birth to a son who would overthrow his father. What does this swallowing of the feminine and the voice of “other” in order to preserve patriarchal power, have to tell us about the wounding inherent in this country today? I believe that Athena offers a path towards healing when her importance as a mother’s daughter is fully recognized. Understanding Athena as both a mother’s daughter and a father’s daughter, presents the creative possibilities inherent in the interpenetration of the swallowed “other” with the wounded patriarchal culture presently causing such destruction in its determination to maintain control. I would offer that Athena offers a symbolic path towards re-energized possibility when the hidden power and wisdom of the marginalized feminine and the voice of “other” re-emerges in equal voice with the wounded masculine, leading towards a more inclusive image of what it means to be human.

About Linda

Linda holds a Masters in Engaged Humanities and the Creative Life from Pacifica Graduate Institute. She is interested in the power of story and the creative impulse in understanding both our personal and our collective lives. She is presently pursuing her PhD in Jungian and Archetypal Studies at Pacifica. She is working on a dissertation focused on the re-telling of Athena’s story and how a fuller understanding of those myths might lead us to a new perspective of the world as we find it today, as well as our individual lives within it.

2020 Mythologium program
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Mythologium 2020 welcomes Dr. Devon Deimler

Devon’s talk is called, “The Owls Howl at Midnight: From Midnight Movies to ‘Twin Peaks’ Return as Ultimate Reality TV”

From the late 1960s through the mid-70s, a new cinematic phenomenon arose in the dark: the midnight movie. Low-budget, high-vision experimental films like El Topo, Night of the Living Dead, Pink Flamingos, Eraserhead, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show were original hybrids of horror, humor, cringe, and camp. Each re-mythologized tropes and iconographies of their cinematic ancestors with a sense of ironic romanticism and serious play. The midnight movie also created highly engaged mimetic ritual participation in these mythologies; cult film thus ventured into the (sac)religious dimension. This presentation addresses the mythologies and rituals of these films, as well as the mythical nature of the midnight movie itself, including its associated aesthetic qualities, psychological states, and reputation as the witching hour of outcasts, uncanny occurrences, and Dionysian revelry and transgression. Dreams, nightmares, surreal irrationality, and absurd subversion rule deep night and the midnight movie. In conclusion, we will briefly explore how the midnight movie impacted the work and public reception of its final standout, David Lynch, especially his series Twin Peaks—perhaps the best example of how enigmatic filmmaking can hold the midnight hour and continue unfolding a mythology in contemporary settings.

About Devon

Devon Deimler, PhD is an artist, writer, and mythologist. She is Curator at OPUS Archives and Research Center—home to the collections of James Hillman, Joseph Campbell, and MarionWoodman, among others—and is Scholar in Residence, Special Editions Editor, and
Founder/Curator of the Cinemyth Film Series at the Philosophical Research Society in Los Angeles. She earned her doctorate in Mythological Studies with an Emphasis in Depth Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute with her dissertation, Ultraviolet Concrete: Dionysos and the Ecstatic Play of Aesthetic Experience, which received the institute’s Dissertation of Excellence award. Devon earned her BA in Interdisciplinary Sculpture from the Maryland Institute College of Art, where she focused on event-based work and modern through contemporary art and film history. Her professional experience in art and music includes founding an independent record label and collaborative event project, Wildfire Wildfire Productions, working as Assistant to the Director at the Dennis Hopper Art Trust, and teaching photography and modern art history and studio practices at American University Preparatory School in DTLA. Learn more at devondeimler.com.

2020 Mythologium program
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Mythologium 2020 welcomes Amy Slonaker

Amy’s talk is called “The Gospel According to Jughead: Monster Theory and Comparative Popular Culture Practices as Hermeneutic Lenses”

In certain hermeneutical pursuits, scholars use monsters and their symbols as comparative tools for cultural analysis. This scholarly lens, called Monster Studies, asks questions and analyzes problems through the lens of “The Monster.” As part of a critical reflection on Monster Studies, this presentation will use this lens in an intertextual, antidiachronic comparison of the “monsters” of two beloved American narratives from the 1940’s: Archie Comics and Oklahoma! These two continuously existing brands are now riding the crest of another pop culture wave coinciding with their new focus on storytelling through the lens of the monster/outsider. This presentation compares the characters of Jughead from Archie Comics and Jud Fry from Oklahoma! to the outsider narrator, Judas the disciple, as he appears in the first-century Gnostic text, The Gospel of Judas. I suggest that all three texts act as a form of midrash that provide narrative supplement and work to highlight issues of community concern. For first century Christians, an issue of concern was how the all-knowing Jesus could be betrayed by a mere mortal/disciple. The Gospel of Judas addresses that concern through the perspective of the betrayer himself. Likewise, the newly-elevated perspective of the outsider-narrators in Archie and Oklahoma, I argue, raise the contemporary community issue of active shooters and incel culture. This presentation uses the lens of popular culture comparison as discussed by Jeffrey Kripal to conclude that the dark characters of our narratives may hide real life concerns; supporting Jeffrey Kripal’s suggestion that “not everything imagined is imaginary.”

About Amy

A cat fancier from Goleta, California, Amy Slonaker graduated from UC Santa Barbara with a double major in Religious Studies and Political Science. During her 20+ year law career, she lived in Seattle, San Francisco, New York City and London. In 2017, she enrolled at Pacifica Graduate Institute where she is currently pursuing her PhD in Mythological Studies with an Emphasis in Depth Psychology, with an expected completion date of 2022. A lover of popular culture, Amy has dabbled in an array of art media including installation art, costume/set design, public performance art, and psychedelic liquid light shows. Her favorite musical is Oklahoma!

2020 Mythologium program
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Mythologium 2020 welcomes Dr. Raina Manuel-Paris

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.

2020 Mythologium program
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Mythologium 2020 welcomes Colleen Salomon

Colleen’s talk is called “The Path of Ashes: Journeying to the Underworld in ‘The Robber Bridegroom'”

The tale, “The Robber Bridegroom,” is a strange and dark story, one collected by the Brothers Grimm in the early 19th century, but with roots that go back thousands of years. Not surprisingly, this eerie account of a young woman’s solitary journey into the forest and her courageous escape after a traumatizing ordeal has not enjoyed the attention of the Grimms’ more popular stories. It is considered by many scholars to be a “Bluebeard Tale”—a warning to young women about the dangers of marriage. While I do not dispute that conclusion, I believe the story holds a great deal more: in fact, it harbors ancient knowledge of the passage into the Underworld. In this presentation, I will demonstrate that there are secrets woven into the story regarding the use of poison and trance that reveal the maid’s motivations for her journey, which link her self-empowerment with a willingness to risk her life for her clan.

About Colleen

Colleen holds a master’s degree in Mythological Studies with Emphasis in Depth Psychology and is current pursing her PhD in the same field. After studying art history and studio arts at Purdue University, including studies at the Sorbonne in Paris, Colleen continued her academic work at the University of Hamburg, Germany. During a decade of living in Europe, Colleen had the privilege of hearing many stories of the trauma of the twentieth century told by the people who had lived through the events. She witnessed the healing that emerged through the telling of the stories. In this way, she learned about the fundamental necessity of myth to the individual. Having returned to the US and earned a master’s degree in psychology, Colleen was drawn to Pacifica to study mythology with a particular emphasis on the role of myth in the healing of trauma. Her dissertation focuses on the ancient knowledge of trauma contained within the old stories still told in Germany.

2020 Mythologium program
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Mythologium 2020 welcomes Dr. Dolores Aguanno

Dolores’s talk is called “Tracing the Divine Feminine in the Lands of Oz”

When characters of mythic narratives descend into the underworld, they often return transformed and bearing treasures of the dark, gifts of the Divine Feminine. This presentation will explore various aspects of the Divine Feminine and how its presence through various personifications of the Goddess archetype morphs in the musical narratives of Oz: The Wizard of Oz (1939 film version), The Wiz (1979 film) and Wicked (2003 Broadway musical, film to be released in 2021). As the characters ease on down the road or trip onto their demise, the Goddess also dances and weaves her influence throughout their journeys. Whatever path they take, all are changed. Dorothy’s journey in The Wizard of Oz and The Wiz are both quintessential examples of the mythic structure of the Hero’s Journey. Wicked, the Musical, offers the possibility of another mythic structure: the Eternal Return, a pattern of the cyclical nature of sacrifice, death, and rebirth. In it we follow Elphaba, Dorothy’s shadow persona, in her soul journey, rather than an egoic journey of the hero. She does not return to her community as the Hero with the elixir, but rather she descends back into the Underworld, the unconscious, with her new wisdom. Using audio and video clips, photos, and graphic images in this presentation, we will see how these personified archetypal images of the Divine Feminine act as transformers bringing conscious awareness to what was previously unconscious in the psyche of both the characters and their audience. 

About Dolores

Dolores Aguanno, PhD. is a cultural mythologist, theatre educator, actor, spiritual counselor, student of bioenergetics and yoga, and the mother of two recently married daughters! Dr. Aguanno holds a Ph.D from Pacifica Graduate Institute (2010) in Mythological Studies with an Emphasis in Depth Psychology where she wrote her dissertation on Musical Theatre and the Mythic Imagination. She is the founder and artistic director of dee-Lightful Productions, a musical theatre education program for kids ages 7-17, in Culver City, California, now celebrating its 20th anniversary. She has produced and directed over 80 productions, with hundreds of children, many of whom have gone on to careers in the performing arts, theatre and film tech, and performing arts education.  She is also an actor and has directed and taught adult actors, having had her training and start as an acting teacher at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute in New York. She has been a licensed spiritual practitioner with the Agape International Spiritual Center in LA, under the mentorship of Rev. Michael Beckwith since 1995, where she has taught numerous workshops on spirituality and the arts. Most recently, she became a Certified Master Trainer of the Energy Codes with the Morter Institute for Bioenergetics, under the tutelage of Dr. Sue Morter, bridging science, spirit and human possibility. Always an avid student and adventurer, her life has been one long mythic journey so far, traveling many different roads. She plans to take the next few decades of her life to continue to weave together and integrate all of the wonderful things that she’s passionate about.

2020 Mythologium program
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Mythologium 2020 welcomes Dr. Karin Zirk

Karin’s talk is called “Starting a Conversation on Decolonizing Mythology”

Oftentimes as mythologists, a narrative or an image enchants us and we forget that mythic artifacts do not exist in isolation but are embedded in human culture with all the problematics that entails. This discussion starter aims to reveal issues, problems, and potential methods for decolonizing our field. As a field of inquiry, Mythology comes into existence during the cultural juxtapositions created by colonialism during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The colonized became objects of study for Europeans, who documented the cultural habits, sacred beliefs, arts, and other cultural artifacts of non-European cultures even as the Europeans strove to Westernize and destroy these cultures. In many instances, the mythic artifacts mythologists explore come from the ongoing exploration of native people, people from non-Western backgrounds, and other marginalized cultures. I intend to provide a brief background on the theoretical work by Faye V. Harrison on decolonizing anthropology, David Miller on mythoclasm, and Joel P. Christensen on decolonizing a myth class for what I hope will be a brainstorming session using the Kumeyaay Birds Songs as our mythic artifact and addressing the problematics inherent in my own mythic exploration of this tradition.

About Karin

Karin Zirk, Ph.D. is a mythologist, activist, and writer, whose first novel, Falling From The Moon, was released in early 2020. She earned her doctorate in Mythological Studies with an Emphasis in Depth Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute where her dissertation focused on using mythic artifacts and journal writing to enhance well-being in family caregivers. She facilitates in-person and online workshops using mythic artifacts and creative expression to explore both individual and cultural challenges facing the world. Her collection of poetry, Notes from the Road, chronicled her years traveling the USA in a Volkswagen camper van. She is a longtime advocate for a Southern California creek and attends peace and healing gatherings. When not engaged in her passions, she works in Information Technology.

2020 Mythologium program