Cultural Mythology: American Notions of Self and Country: Mythic Oasis

Good Books About Myth and Culture

Ginette Paris: Wisdom of the Psyche: Depth Psychology after Neuroscience
Paris provides a wonderful explanation of the intersection between personal life story and collective myths and the way myth shapes perspective.
James Hillman: We've Had a Hundred Years of Psychotherapy--And the World's Getting Worse
Hillman is a central figure in the field of archetypal psychology, which provides a theoretical base for work on cultural mythologies that I find very useful. This collaboration with Michael Ventura is an accessible and stimulating introduction to some of Hillman's ideas.
Michael Meade: The World Behind the World
"The world," Meade writes, "despite it's disasters, tragedies and villainies, can't end unless it runs out of stories." Useful reflections on these changing and frightening times--I especially like the story of the Old Woman, the black dog, and the loose thread.
Carl G. Jung: The Undiscovered Self (Mentor)
C.G. Jung and Sigmund Freud first articulated the existence of the unconscious (which became depth psychology) and understood the ongoing relationship between human meaning and myth. In this book, Jung discusses the moral obligation to become self aware.
Joseph Campbell: The Hero with a Thousand Faces (Bollingen Series)
Campbell writes, "It would not be too much to say that myth is the secret opening through which the inexhaustible energies of the cosmos pour into human cultural manifestation." An important and influential book that links the mythic narrative of "the hero's journey," found across cultures, to contemporary life.
Barry Mills, editor: Kali's Kites: Essays From The Mythological Imagination
This book is both a beautiful and provocative collection of essays about myth, soul and the depths of the imagination. Each author is a graduate of Pacifica Graduate Institute, a unique institution dedicated to animae mundi colendae gratia (for the sake of tending soul in and of the world). Two of my essays are included: "Euripides' Women: The Role of the Feminine Other," and "The Myth of Actaion: Archetypal Image of Buddhist Enlightenment."
Theodore Roszak, editor: Ecopsychology: Restoring the Earth, Healing the Mind
This anthology is a good introduction to some of the themes and thinkers in the field of ecopsychology, which involves the intersection of human ideas about self and world, and the natural, biological, and ecological. Given the current environmental crisis and modern alienation from the natural world, including our own bodies, it is crucial that we deepen our understanding of the cultural myths that govern these relations.
Dennis Patrick Slattery: A Limbo of Shards: Essays on Memory Myth and Metaphor
In this collection of essays, Slattery explores the related themes of memory, myth, and metaphor, drawing material from literature, poetry, and current events. In "The True Terror of Terrorism," he suggests that the loss of Trust, necessary to maintain "civilized space," may be the greatest loss. "Trust is a virtue," he writes, "security its pale shadow."

August 07, 2009

Alchemy of Transformation: Mythological ToolBox

Some projects need a long time in the fire. Transformation occurs under the right conditions. Unfortunately, the alchemy governing the planned gathering at the Joshua Tree Retreat Center, October 16-18th doesn't have enough sizzle, so it has been canceled. Maybe it's the economy, maybe it's the process, maybe we don't know what the prima materia will become----yet.

Thank you for your interest and enthusiasm. See you under different circumstances.

(Problems/questions contact Jasmine Kazarian, JCF RoundTable Communications/Education Network, mythicjazz@aol.com)

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May 26, 2009

Myth and community

Myth is alive, the product of our imaginative engagement with the world. Mythologies give rise to our ideas, to our ideologies, to our belief systems, and to our actions. Myth, mythology, lends coherence and meaning to life. I think this understanding is the key to everything else. Not because we'll suddenly know everything and extinguish uncertainty once and for all, but because myth is the antidote to fundamentalism, and fundamentalism frightens me more then anything else.

So, I'm really happy to announce a new conversation about myth, a new community of seekers, a new gathering place where "mythic waters rise to the surface...." Mythic Oasis. Mythic Oasis is the result of a lovely collaboration between Jasmine Kazarian, Communications Coordinator for the JCF Mythological RoundTables,the Joseph Campbell Foundation (Bob Walter in particular) and myself. Jasmine and I met synchronistically through the RoundTable program and are still marevlling over our mutual good fortune. Our first project is a weekend workshop, The Alchemy of Transformation: Mythological ToolBox at the Joshua Tree Retreat Center October 16-18th.

This will be a unique event on many levels. We have the retreat center and the desert itself. We have Bob Walter, who has been facilitating a fluid, experiential exploration of myth at Esalen for years. We have the multifaceted theme of alchemy to bounce off of, literally and metaphorically (see the explanation of that cryptic statement on the website). We have this new collaboration.

And hopefully, we have you. The group experience, in all of its organized and orchestrated and spontaneously loose configurations will be magical. Alchemical.

Check out Mythic Oasis

Let me know what you think.
Let me know how to encourage you to join us.

"You should not see the desert simply as some faraway place of little rain. There are many forms of thirst."--- William Langewiesche

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