Category: Presenters

Presenters at the Fates and Graces Mythologium, a virtual conference for mythologists.

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Mythologium 2021 welcomes Dr. Colleen Salomon

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.

2021 Mythologium program
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Mythologium 2021 welcomes Lucy Dolan

Lucy’s talk is called “A Contemporary Re-imagining of the Ancient Irish ‘Vessel of Everlasting Abundance’: Symbol of Inspiration, Transformation, Healing and Regeneration”

The “Clay-Cup Symbol and Worldview” offers a contemporary re-imagining of the ancient Irish mythological vessel of everlasting abundance: a symbol of inspiration, transformation, healing and regeneration. This numinous vessel symbol resides in the deep ecological roots of the Irish psyche.

This work puts forward that there is an absence of such symbols of wholeness in the modern Western psyche. This has led, in part, to the emergence of the humanitarian, ecological and climate crises of our times. This unique project re-imagines this vessel through a synthesis of the arts, sciences and humanities, conceptualizing the Earth as an earthen vessel broken into many pieces with each broken shard representing an aspect of life: ecology, biology, psychology and mythology.

The work seeks to re-form the vessel, to bring these disparate shards back together into meaningful relatedness in an endeavor to heal the modern fragmented mindset and acknowledge the everlasting nourishment and renewal that their inter-relatedness provides the individual, community, culture and planet. The mythic imagination has the capacity to constellate renewal and healing in the psyche, helping cultures to adapt and evolve in challenging times. This re-imagined vessel symbol is offered in service to the healing, health, and well-being of the whole.

About Lucy

Lucy Dolan holds a B.A. in Ceramics, an M.A. in Ecopsychology, Viridis Graduate Institute, and is currently undertaking a research Ph.D. Her work synthesizes her academic interests in Irish arts, symbols, myth, and culture, as well as depth and ecopsychology, with her practical ceramic work. Lucy lives in County Kerry, Ireland.

2021 Mythologium program
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Mythologium 2021 welcomes the sponsored panel, Confronting Colonialism and White Supremacy in Myth

Rosalie Nell Bouck will present on “Held Embrujadas”: Reading Mesoamerican Myths of Femininity as a Radical Response to Contemporary Colonialism.

Sea Gabriel will present a talk called, “Who’s Your Daddy? The Norse, The Nazis, and The World Stage.“

Brandon Williamscraig will address “The Myth of Peace and Conflict Done Well.“

This panel is sponsored by the Pacifica Graduate Institute Alumni Assocation. Thank you, PGIAA!

PGIAA’s motto is, “Through soul, community thrives.”

2021 Mythologium program
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Mythologium 2021 welcomes Dr. Nicole K. Miller

Dr. Miller’s talk is called “The Wisdom of Scheherazade: The Power of Narrative to Heal the Heart and Mind”

As her childhood friend, Sultan Shahryār, grows more and more unstable and deadly, Scheherazade knows that she alone has the knowledge of how to heal him. As a storyteller, she courageously embarks on a “fool’s journey” to employ her considerable narrative skills as she attempts to restore sanity and peace to his heart and mind. Scheherazade aims for the heart of his core stories, and each night in their marital bed, instead of lecturing him directly on the harmful and delusional ramifications of his current state of mind, she engages him mythically, slowly unraveling and addressing his pain through masterful storytelling, provoking a profound healing. This presentation will look at how Scheherazade the Storyteller from “One Thousand and One Nights” demonstrates a mythic understanding of the power of stories to heal. This faith in mythic narrative as healing device has implications in our modern world as well, as it has become more vividly evident how the potent use of narratives can be used to confuse, misdirect, and incite to violence, but can also be used to bring clarity of mind, healing of heart, empathy, and personal awareness.

About Dr. Miller

For the past 20 years, Dr. Miller has taught K-8 classes in the humanities, the performing arts, and social emotional learning, and classical and world mythology and general humanities at the university level. She has also presented papers and workshops on mythology, depth psychology, narrative thinking, mindfulness, and the arts at conferences nationally and internationally. Dr. Miller is the founder of The Unstoried Self, offering a systems-thinking, narrative-based process for personal and organizational transformational change aimed at breaking out of dysfunctional patterning in order to cultivate more meaningful and authentic interpersonal relationships and dynamics in groups, schools, and other organizations. Using a combination of influences, from mythological motifs, archetypal psychology, mindfulness, non-dual philosophy, systems-thinking, and storytelling, a Ph.D. in Mythology and Depth Psychology, and a Masters in Education, Dr. Miller strives to combine her love of teaching with her passion for the power of narratives.

2021 Mythologium program
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Mythologium 2021 welcomes Dr. Rosalie Nell Bouck

Rosalie’s presentation is called “‘Held Embrujadas’: Reading Mesoamerican Myths of Femininity as a Radical Response to Contemporary Colonialism”

This paper presents a portion of my doctoral research on the cycles of waste land and borderland spaces in Mesoamerican myth. I will share an example of how an unusual reading of key Mesoamerican myths helps us move through collective shadow spaces (waste lands) into periods of reorientation (borderlands) to the whole in order to regenerate culturally and environmentally.

This exploration focuses on the critical role of feminine figures in Mesoamerican myth, which are often direly misunderstood by the Western mind. These strange, beautiful/hideous, death-adorned maternal figures shapeshift throughout myths and over time but they always serve a similar purpose: To guide us through our necessary death/life cycles and into regeneration of our collective psyche and landscape. Cultivating a deep understanding of the waste land/borderlands motif and the “dark” feminine figures at the heart of the Mesoamerican worldview is more than just an exciting mythological adventure, it is part of a radical approach to “decolonizing” the American mind.

As an educator and community organizer I use these narratives to combat the pervasive ideologies of racism, patriarchy, and American exceptionalism. I will share how I read and teach Mesoamerican femininity as a piece of a greater conversation of “Corn Consciousness,” a social philosophy I have adapted using and honoring poorly understood Indigenous epistemologies. I use these teachings in community and organizations as a guide to consciously stepping out of a hyper-masculinized mentality and into a feral feminine alignment to explore, wade through, and emerge reoriented to our collective spaces.

This presentation is part of a special panel on Confronting Colonialism and White Supremacy in Myth, sponsored by the Pacifica Graduate Institute Alumni Association.

About Rosalie

Rosalie Nell Bouck has degrees in Mythological Studies, Philosophy, and Political Science and over a decade of experience as a community organizer, nonprofit project developer, and educator among under-served populations. She has spent time living in Mexico and in Guatemala among the k’iche Maya. Her current work is as a narrative consultant for decolonizing projects and draws from her academic education, lifelong activism, and unique cultural perspectives.

2021 Mythologium program
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Mythologium 2021 welcomes Dr. Leon Aliski

Leon’s talk is called “Sensing the Landscape, Shifting the Lens: In Search of Wellness and Healing through Language, Story, and Perception”

Once in his life a man ought to concentrate his mind upon the remembered earth. He ought to give himself up to a particular landscape in his experience; to look at it from as many angles as he can, to wonder upon it, to dwell upon it.

— N. Scott Momaday

Our relationship with the natural world may be seen as essential to our well-being. Yet, perceived through the lens of Western culture, humans have often considered themselves as separate from the earth and other living beings. Does a felt sense of separation from the living earth affect our very breath, our cells, our essential well-being? Does our capacity to be fully human actually depend on our connections with the more-than-human world?

Through the voices and life experiences of David Abram, Thomas Berry, and Barry Lopez, we will explore ways of speaking, sensing, and understanding that enhance our capacities for healing and wellness. We will consider how shifting language, perception, and cultural assumptions may serve as a form of nourishment — a transformative balm while finding our way through the unprecedented crises we are now facing. Fair warning: this may change the way you experience a morning sunrise, a birdsong, or what the river says.

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’,” explores the cultural and historical significance of the buffalo for Plains Indian peoples as expressed through sacred narratives, songs, visions, and ceremonies. He is a supporter of Cloud Horse Art Institute, dedicated to Lakota traditional arts, performing arts, and culture camps, and the Reel Jobs Film School located on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.

2021 Mythologium program
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Mythologium 2021 welcomes Sea Gabriel

Sea’s talk is called “Who’s Your Daddy? The Norse, the Nazis, and the World Stage”

In this presentation, we look at the re-mything of the Norse pantheon, as we delve into the history of Norse Mythology as a tool of supremacist propaganda, and discuss opportunities for healing.

This presentation is part of a special panel on Confronting Colonialism and White Supremacy in Myth, sponsored by the Pacifica Graduate Institute Alumni Association. Thank you, PGIAA!

About Sea

Sea Gabriel is a storyteller via audio, video, text, and interactive media. She is currently finishing her Pacifica dissertation on the potential to combat oppression through storytelling, specifically concentrating on Norse Mythology and its relationship to white supremacy and gender. Her relevant background is in shamanism, graphic design, and advertising.

2021 Mythologium program
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Mythologium 2021 welcomes Dr. Darlene Maggie Dowdy

Maggie’s talk is called “Demeter’s Way: The Journey through Grief Towards Healing in Homer’s Hymn to Demeter“

Homer’s Hymn to Demeter offers a glimpse into the often circuitous pathways traversed through the fog of grief. Separated from her beloved daughter, Demeter aimlessly wanders the Earth cloaked in a shadow of despair. The shock of separation and loss causes her to disengage from everyday life, she is physically present, but psychologically absent. And this absence causes all of Earth to wither.

I saw my own story mirrored in Demeter’s archetype of a grief-stricken mother’s search for meaning and some re-connection with life. For even in isolated sorrow, Demeter is drawn to life in Eleusis. Her demeanor embodies the psychological trauma caused by separation and loss.

Studies in neuroscience demonstrate the diminished neuroactivity of the human brain when afflicted with grief and depression. This diminished neural activity mirrors the individual’s psychic sense of isolation from the current of life, even as others attempt to offer comfort. Still, as Demeter demonstrates in her encounter with Iambe’s novel dance, those numbed synapses in our brains can reignite in the stimulation of the unexpected, in the challenge of learning, or seeing something anew.

Demeter’s ability to negotiate and eventually engage with the nature of what is, and what even a goddess cannot change, offers us a model for acceptance and resilience towards healing.

About Maggie

Darlene “Maggie” Dowdy received her Ph.D. in Mythological Studies with an Emphasis in Depth Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute. Her dissertation, Harbingers of Change: Images and Archetypes of Imminent Transformation, explores the co-creative relationship between psyche, soma, and an ever-changing environment. A variation of her dissertation, “Birds as Nature’s Harbingers,” was presented at the 2018 conference for the Association for the Study of Women and Mythology. Maggie co-presented on a panel concerning gender identity at the first Mythologium conference in 2019 with her essay “Metamorphoses of Gender and Identity in Ancient and Modern Myth.”
As vice-president of an independently owned industrial rubber company, Maggie has recently engaged in an exploration of alternatives for industry to contribute to social equity and environmental sustainability, while still making a profit. She combines her passion for myth and literature with a practical application towards furthering these pursuits.

2021 Mythologium program
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Mythologium 2021 welcomes Dr. Jody Gentian Bower

Jody’s talk is called “The Beautiful Fruits of Barrenness”

Most of the synonyms for barren begin with “un”—indicating not what it is, but what it is not: unfertile, unproductive, unfruitful. Or they are adjectives like empty, arid, sterile, desolate, indicating a lack of value. But what are we missing when we define barrenness only in terms of what it is not? Ann Zwinger tells us that to see the beauty of the tundra, the seemingly lifeless areas of the cold high places in the world, “takes close looking, a scaling down of anticipations . . . a getting down on hands and knees—or even stomach—to examine.” In her presentation, Jody Gentian Bower will take a close look at barrenness, arguing that not only can it be a thing of beauty in itself, but may enable different and innovative ways of being creative and nurturing.

About Jody

Jody Gentian Bower, PhD, is a cultural mythologist and the author of “Jane Eyre’s Sisters: How Women Live and Write the Heroine Story” and “The Princess Powers Up: Watching the Sleeping Beauties Become Warrior Goddesses.” She has lectured widely over the past decade about hero and heroine stories, and blogs about myths and archetypes in popular culture at jodybower.com. She is currently at work on a book about barrenness as well as a work of historical fiction based on a family legend.

2021 Mythologium program
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Mythologium 2021 welcomes Jamie Figueroa and Dr. Raïna Manuel-Paris to the Myth Makers panel

This year’s Myth Makers panel features the novelist Jamie Figueroa and the poet Dr. Raïna Manuel-Paris. Jamie and Raïna will share selections from their work, as well as some reflections on myth, healing, and their creative process. We’ll make sure to leave time for audience discussion, so bring your questions for Jamie and Raïna!

About Jamie

Jamie Figueroa is Boricua (Afro-Taíno) by way of Ohio and long-time resident of northern New Mexico. Her writing has appeared in McSweeney’s, American Short Fiction, Agni and Emergence Magazine among other journals. Jamie received her MFA in Creative Writing from The Institute of American Indian Arts where she is now an Assistant Professor. Recipient of the Truman Capote award, and the Jack Kent Cooke Graduate Arts award, she was also chosen as a Bread Loaf, Rona Jaffe Scholar, and is a VONA alum. Brother, Sister, Mother, Explorer (Catapult) is her debut novel.

About Raïna

Raïna Manuel-Paris, Ph.D., born in Paris, France, of French and Caribbean descent, lived in England and then moved to the United States in her early twenties. Her love of transformational story telling has taken her from an MFA in Film from Columbia University to a Ph.D. in Mythological Studies and Depth Psychology. She is a published writer of non-fiction, poetry and several scholarly articles, as well as a documentary filmmaker. She recently completed her first novel, a mythical fairy tale, Arabella & the Wise Women. Her understanding of what gives meaning to daily life has led her to her work with dreams, and to include meditation practice in her classrooms. She is a lecturer and scholar who speaks on several subjects, including “Awakening the Magician Within,” “What Women Want,” “The Goddess,” “Love: Primal Agent of Change,” “Love and Sacred Medicine,” “War, Trauma and Spiritual Transformation,” and “The Major Arcanas of the Tarot as a Sacred Life Path.”  

2021 Mythologium program