Awakening the Animistic Imagination with Cyndera Quackenbush
Sunday March 4
3-6pm, $45
Animism, from Latin anima, or “soul,” sees the world as sentient and alive. In this workshop, billion-year-old sedimentary stones from Death Valley will be used to activate the imagination. The shapes, figures, and landscapes on the stones function like a Rorschach to evoke powerful stories. Participants will select a stone that calls to them, then meditate on it in silence until a story emerges. In sharing these tales, we will consider them waking dreams inspired by the anima mundi, or soul of the world. We will move from our individual tales to deep eco-collective questions of how tending these emergent themes can bridge the gap between modern civilization and our very ancient planet. Those who have participated in this unique workshop have found it to be personally moving and inspiring.
Cyndera Quackenbush, MA, a recent alumna of Pacifica Graduate Institute, is the current artist-in-residence at The Dream Institute. A gifted storyteller and workshop facilitator, she is founder of Imaginal Stone, an organization devoted to bringing the animistic imagination to art, educational, and ecopsychological settings. Cyndera grew up in Joshua Tree; the Mojave desert is also where her father uncovered the billion-year-old stones and began what he termed a collaboration between the Earth and human perspective. Cyndera’s commitment to continuing this legacy has been supported by a series of important dreams about the stones.
THE DREAM INSTITUTE of NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
1672 University Ave.
Berkeley, CA 94703
510-845-1767
dreaminstituteca@gmail.com
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