Season: Spring 1994

Beyond the Hero and the Patriarch: Fairy Tales of the Deep Masculine for Men and Women

After many millennia of the archetypal hero and patriarch, men and women today are ready for other models of masculine energy. A unique group of fairy tales offers such an alternative. Focused on mature men, these “men’s tales” come from around the world and share a common theme: they show men at mid-life moving away from the hero and the patriarch to a more ancient, masculine archetype-the shaman-Trickster. The stories have a dual meaning. On the level of the psyche, the offer men an invaluable map of mid-life development. On the level of society, they give women and men a vision of life beyond the patriarchy. This is because the shaman-Trickster emphasizes communication rather than competition, creativity instead of conquest, and healing over heroics. He complements rather than contests the goddess, seeking a balance between masculine and feminine.

In the lecture, several men’s tales will be retold and discussed.

Beyond the Hero and the Patriarch: Fairy Tales of the Deep Masculine for Men and Women

After many millenia of the archetypal hero and patriarch, men and women today are ready for other models of masculine energy. A unique group of fairy tales offers such an alternative. Focused on mature men, these “men’s tales” come from around the world and share a common theme: they show men at mid-life moving away from the hero and the patriarch to a more ancient, masculine archetype-the shaman-Trickster. The stories have a dual meaning. On the level of the psyche, the offer men an invaluable map of mid-life development. On the level of society, they give women and men a vision of life beyond the patriarchy. This is because the shaman-Trickster emphasizes communication rather than competition, creativity instead of conquest, and healing over heroics. He complements rather than contests the goddess, seeking a balance between masculine and feminine.

The workshop will continue the storytelling and dialogue in greater depth with more tales, a chance for participants to enact some of the stories, and a slide presentation on the ancient roots of the shaman-Trickster.

The Hephaestus Problem: An Exploration of the Wounded Creative Instincts

The Greek god Hephaestus, blacksmith and artist, and patron of artists and crafts people, provides a compelling insight into the problem of wounded creativity. Himself lame and imperfect, yet ingenious and resourceful, Hephaestus symbolizes the painful outcome of the clash between matriarchal and patriarchal cultural values.

This two-part weekend program will utilize the Hephaestus myth and its effects on contemporary men and women, with a focus on therapeutic strategies for the healing and enhancement of creative potential.

On Myth and Psyche will utilize the Hephaestus myth and Jung’s concepts of instincts and archetypes as a means of understanding the damaged creative instincts in men and women.

The Hephaestus Problem: An Exploration of the Wounded Creative Instincts

The Greek god Hephaestus, blacksmith and artist, and patron of artists and crafts people, provides a compelling insight into the problem of wounded creativity. Himself lame and imperfect, yet ingenious and resourceful, Hephaestus symbolizes the painful outcome of the clash between matriarchal and patriarchal cultural values.

This two-part weekend program will utilize the Hephaestus myth and its effects on contemporary men and women, with a focus on therapeutic strategies for the healing and enhancement of creative potential.
Hephaestus and the Wounded Creative Instinct in Men and Women will focus on an exploration of both masculine and feminine psychology and the attempts, by men through the men’s movement and by women through spiritual creativity, to heal this wound. The workshop will incorporate journaling, active imagination, and discussion groups.

Care of the Soul

The great malady of the twentieth century is loss of soul. When soul is neglected, it doesn’t just go away; it appears symptomatically in obsessions, addictions, violence, and loss of meaning. Our temptation is to isolate these symptoms or to try to eradicate them one by one; but the root problem is that we have lost our wisdom about soul, even our interest in it.

Care of the soul is not solving the puzzle of life; quite the opposite, it is an appreciation of the paradoxical mysteries that blend light and darkness into the grandeur of what human life and culture can be. Dr. Moore’s lecture will focus on concrete ways of fostering soulfulness in our ordinary everyday lives and in our relationships.

Care of the Soul

The workshop will consider in more depth the following themes: a passionate and fulfilling life for individuals; soul in relationships and community; work, ecology, and the soulful society; and the soulful practices of religion and spirituality.

Creative Transformation: The Healing Power of the Arts

The drama of healing and transformation in enacted in the imaginal realm. Here is where dreams, myths, rituals and all the creative arts emerge. Here is where all of our histories and complexes, including inner children, false mother addictions, and potential shadow aspects of the self, also reside.

Friday evening’s lecture will focus on the transformative power of the arts through the two phases of the journey: recovery from childhood trauma, addictions, and outmoded survival.

Creative Transformation: the Healing Power of the Arts

The drama of healing and transformation in enacted in the imaginal realm. Here is where dreams, myths, rituals and all the creative arts emerge. Here is where all of our histories and complexes, including inner children, false mother addictions, and potential shadow aspects of the self, also reside.

Saturday’s experiential workshop will focus on the use of art, movement and drama in these two phases. Wear comfortable clothing. Recommended reading: Creative Transformation: the Healing Power of the Arts, by Penny Lewis. Chiron Publications.

Lady Alchemy: The Body and the Archetype of Service

The elusive goddess Iris, messenger and psychopomp, presides over the central mystery of alchemy and the individuation process. She is a caring, ever-vigilant servant, especially to the Great Goddess. She hears prayers, brings dreams and messages, brings help, bears the waters of truth, and rescues and tempers the darkest, most troubled parts. We find her especially around turning points in our lives, times when we must find and follow our individual paths. According to Jung, the crux of the individuation process is the downward linking of soul and spirit with the body; Iris appears in all her colors at the completion of this stage of the opus. With lecture, stories, and slides, Fran Slocumb will introduce Iris as Lady Alchemy, and speculate about ways she colors our embodied and disembodied lives.

The Body Electric

The focus of this discussion and experiential workshop will be the currents and changes in and around our bodies that can inform us about ourselves. We will playfully explore issues of energy and service in our bodies, as we search for the undiscovered life in our subtle and physical energy bodies.

Woman on the Edge: The Many Faces of Iris Woman

The Goddess Iris will be introduced as a re-emerging ancient feminine energy being experienced by many women and men today. At home in liminality, this earlier form of Hermes has a foot in both worlds. Her incarnation, whether in mid-life or at the other turning points in our lives, can bring us to the edge. If she isn’t to run us ragged, we have to be conscious of her. The traps and possibilities of some modern-day incarnations of Iris will be discussed, including Medial Woman, Invisible Woman, Temperance Woman and Traveling Woman. Slides will be used for illustration.

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