THE ABSTRACT OF ASHLEY'S TALK

Flowing Beneath the Diamonds

In an environment that is being tortured and ravaged by mankind’s insatiable desire for control and power, there seems to be little hope of turning around such a momentous stampede towards ultimate destruction. In attempting to reconnect with the earth, a connection is simultaneously forged within the individual and the two become closer in nature than one may have thought possible. The St. Johns River in Florida is one of these many bodies of the earth that has been manipulated and pumped full of toxic sludge at the ultimate expense of the essence of its life and the lives lived in and around it. Through remembering and telling stories of the river, a new consciousness arises in which an opportunity for forgiveness and salvation between nature and human can be realized. In the oral practice of sharing life experiences of the waters of the St. Johns, its body may once again be seen as ensouled and living and thus worth saving. 

CONGRATULATIONS TO THREE OF OUR CURRENT STUDENTS

who presented pages at Claremont Colleges Pagan Studies Conference. The American Academy of Religion now recognizes Pagan Studies as a legitimate field of study.

Interview with Ashley Thompson

Your presentation at the conference was based on a paper you wrote at Pacifica, wasn't it? Tell us more about that.

Yes, the paper I presented was one that I had written for my Ecopsychology course which was taught by Ed Casey. The idea for the paper actually came from my best friend Mandy. I was having a discussion with her about how much the material was inspiring me and allowing me new ways to view and experience my relationship with nature. We started talking about the St. Johns river that we both grew up on and the idea for my paper was born!

Was this your first conference? How did it go? And how was your paper received?

This was my first conference and I am so relieved to say that it went smashingly! Being the first presenter on the first day of the conference was a bit nerve racking but I quickly relaxed when I realized that everyone listening was genuinely interested in my ideas. The woman who presented right after me thanked me before she began her own talk and said that she was reminded of her own childhood memories of growing up on a lake in Florida.

What brought you to Pacifica?

I suppose I could write my dissertation on what brought me to Pacifica! Synchronicity, a search for meaning, fate fixed in the stars, community, passion for learning, a calling, child-like wonder. What keeps me coming back though is the experience of a life that is lived with purpose and awakened beauty.

You're almost half way through your second year. What would you say the high points of the program have been so far?

I'm already half way through the second year??!! It's all gone by way too fast. I would have to say the highlights have been far too many to name. But what comes to mind first would be the opportunities that I have been gifted with to view life in ways that have enriched my life beyond words. The highlights for me have been felt experiences of self-realizations, love, community, expansion of heart, mind, body, soul, and an overwhelming sense of being grateful for the forces that brought me to Pacifica.

Interview with Vonda Roberts

Tell us about the origination of your presentation.

I lifted my presentation out of a larger body of work that originated in the first summer’s fieldwork at Pacifica. Since the theme of the conference was sustainability, I chose those elements that elucidate how paganism itself is at the heart of sustainability. With a pagan attitude of being we remember the role of Place, the interrelationship amongst events and entities, and the multitude of deities (and other creatures) that inhabit our lives. Interweaving history, theology, and ecopsychology, I suggested we have need to recall how it feels to be human before we can begin to extract meaning from this human life. Only then will we be able to imagine how to “sustain” anything.

Was this your first conference? How did it go? And how was your paper received?

Technically, yes, this was my first time presenting from the lens of depth psychology. And because I don’t self-identify with any particular belief system, i.e. religion, I was curious about stepping into the Pagan community. The most brilliant and enjoyable aspect for me was watching individuals begin to blend and merge around people and the ideas introduced as the conference proceeded, participating in the community’s unfolding in live time. And it was inspiring to witness those whom I would consider to be “insiders” struggling with challenges internal to the community in a very depth psychological way: they were doing their shadow work, and thereby doing the work for all of us, no?  As for how my presentation was received, I can only thank it--thank the work--for providing an introduction to new friends, most of them professors from other universities, with whom I can now exchange ideas and possibly even collaborate. Presenting widened my universe in areas that I already love and that is a pretty cool thing!

What brought you to Pacifica?

Nightmares. Nightmares I didn’t understand but which demanded my attention. I was living in rural New Hampshire and I liked to say that a lifetime’s worth of ghosts and demons came out of the woods to visit during those winter nights. After I returned to California, as with many of the Pacifica-creation stories you hear, I cannot say exactly how I found myself here, only that when I arrived on campus the palms of my hands and soles of my feet were literally on fire and, as with the dreams, I knew I had to pay attention. After I was accepted to the program, I shook and cried for two entire days: I think something knew that Psyche was launching us on a wild but necessary ride! 

You're almost half way through your second year. What would you say the high points of the program have been so far?

The highlight of the program, for me, is the pedagogy and the burning up process that comes with. There is a very subtle, and if I am completely honest, grueling component to engaging with the material, akin to what Hillman calls "soul-making." It isn't fun, and it isn't easy, but it is so grounding and so alive! And I love doing it in the container of the cohort, and being in intimate relationship with the psyche and soul of the work that drives others. It is a wonderous dance.

THE ABSTRACT OF VONDA'S TALK

Remembering Beyond History: Relating in a Natural World

Subscribing to Heraclitus' axiom that nature love to hide, Remembering meanders through various landscapes including the land of the author's youth, where ghosts of Judea-Christianity beckon to be reconciled with Bear. The sojourn culminates in the Sangre de Cristo mountains with a ritualized ten-day wilderness fast. Exploring what is wild, without and within, by inviting Place to fully enter body and psyche, the work searches for means of supporting the human animal and of contributing to Earth's healing. Eschewing dogmas of ascension, the journey discovers an alliance with Carl G. Jung's concept of natural mind, offering much-needed complexity to our human lives and to our world. Paradoxically, spending time solo in the wilderness leads to a deeper connection with humanity. It invites a remembering and an honoring of the primordial ways that still surge within us as beings connected with all of life.

Interview with Jeffrey Albaugh (pending)