This happened

Jeff will present a summary of his work and lead a discussion on the ways biological research on the differential function of the two halves of the human brain have impacted our understanding of spirituality and consciousness.     Jeff received his doctorate in Depth Psychology from Pacifica and is rector of St. James Episcopal Church.

Three of our members, John, Pablo, and Saundra, will report on books that each of them has recently read and wishes to share. The books are—Falter: Has the Human Game Begun to Play Itself Out? by Bill McKibben; Jean Baudrillard’s Fragments; and Michael Pollan’s best-selling How to Change Your Mind: What the new Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression and Transcendence. We will enjoy a general discussion after each presentation. We look forward to a lively literary evening for all.

Tonight we continue our reading of the essay “Woman as Mana Figure” and begin “Woman’s Experience of Herself and the Eleusinian Mysteries.” These ritual initiations into the underworld at Eleusis were stableover three millennia lasting into Roman times. How do we come to know this fundamental unconscious wisdom today, “a wisdom that is infinitely superior to the wisdom of man’s waking consciousness and that, as source of vision and symbol, of ritual and law, poetryand vision, intervenes, summoned or unsummoned, to save man and give direction to his life.” (p 330)

Based on her recent presentation, Lisa will walk participants through steps of identifying the dynamics of her or his own complex of choice. Lisa is not a therapist, and this workshop will not be therapy. Participants must have attended Lisa’s presentation or listened to it online. Please RSVP lisa.maroski@mindspring.com to enroll.

Tonight we present an introduction and comparative analysis of the Orpheus/Eurydice and Izanami/Izanagi myths. Guests can expect some storytelling, image play, and discussion led by mythologist Dr. Dan Gurska.

Lisa leads us in theatrical dream interpretation. In this popular series, we will dramatize dreams that participants bring to the session. Come with a dream or dream segment you wish to be acted out.

Tonight we’ll read and discuss the introduction and the first essay, “Woman as Mana Figure” in the final chapter of The Great Mother. Though Jung has written extensively on the Mana Personality Neumann’s essay is a work of outstanding originality in the examination of Woman as Mana Figure mythically, historically and psychologically represented as the “original seeress,” the center of magic and magical song, dancer, priestess, oracle, medicine women, shaman, warrior queen, witch, muse, Sophia and ... anima. In the matriarchal period “the culture- bringing primordial mysteries culminate in a spiritual reality that completes the mystery character of the Feminine. There unfolds before us a magnificent world of feminine cultural development, which is at the same time an unfolding of feminine power. In ever new circles of numinous fascination it takes form around the Archetypal Feminine, which as goddess represents the centre of the female group and the self of the individual psyche.” p. 287 “It is evident that in this phase (the matriarchal) the woman’s pre-eminence— quite aside from her sociological position— is firmly entrenched; for the less developed the consciousness of mankind, the more it is in need of orientation by the unconscious, that is, by the transpersonal powers.” p. 296