Blogs

Three of four Americans profess at least one paranormal belief, studies show, including a belief in ghosts, witches, or other magical entities.¹ There is a particular genre of folklore narratives called mythological legends, I recently learned, which are stories relayed as real experiences by real people, and which always involve paranormal elements such as highly unusual animals or ghosts. These specific kinds of folklore narratives are not historical, notes Evija Vestergaard, Ph.D., who resear

He was Busy Mouse, Searching Everywhere, Touching his Whiskers to the Grass, and Looking. He was Busy as all Mice are, Busy with Mice things. But Once in a while he would Hear an Odd Sound. He would Lift his Head, Squinting hard to See, his Whiskers Wiggling in the air, and he would Wonder.

So begins the ancient story of Jumping Mouse and the Sacred River, an Amerindian story, published in Seven Arrows (1976) and handed down by Cheyenne Elder Hyemeyohsts Storm to the rites of passage guides at T

A depth look at oil production.

Introduction: Through a Mythic Rear-View Mirror

“The modern world is in some ways a dialogue between oil and water,” notes environmental professor David Orr in his book Earth in Mind:

Water makes life possible, while oil is toxic to most life. Water in its pure state is clear; oil is dark. Water dissolves; oil congeals. Water has inspired great poetry and literature. Our language is full of allusions to springs, depths, currents, rivers, seas, rain, mist, dew, and sn

Sandplay therapist, Judy Zappacosta, MFT, first became interested in the Black Madonna at a suggestion from Dora Kalff, founder of Sandplay therapy, to visit one of the mysterious iconic figures in Einsiedeln, Switzerland. Zappacosta was immediately drawn into the “silence and dark interiority of the Black Madonna, and has made an extensive exploration of the history and symbolism associated with her.

In this interview for Depth Insights™, Zappacosta reveals the powerful and evocative significanc

As a cultural historian, Kayleen Asbo has crafted a fascinating career by weaving together mythology, depth psychology, music, literature, and women’s studies. The work of bringing together so many different fields stems from her burning passion and desire to create something that is truly unique. Her love of music, along with what she calls her “medieval imagination” (through which she views things in terms of their “hidden wholeness”) have been a key piece of her journey.

The age of enlightenme

One of the best stories from the Land of Nowhere concerning the rainbow is the Norse saga of Bifröst. Bifröst is the bridge that links Asgard, the home of the gods, with Midgard, the world of humans. The gods traverse Bifröst on horseback, moving between earth and heaven. The Rainbow Bridge stretches from this world to Himinbjörg, "heaven mountain," home of Heimdallr, the watcher of the bridge. Heimdallr is a god who is equipped with a mighty horn to warn of Ragnarök, the death of the gods and t

Egyptologist Dr. Edmund Meltzer had a predilection for ancient things and the distant past from a very early age. His long and illustrious career includes work in Egypt as a site supervisor on an important archeological excavation, as well as being a researcher, teacher, fellow, journal editor, professor, and tour lecturer.

When it comes to history, mythology, and archetypes, there are many variations of the fundamental idea of death as a precursor to rebirth in ancient Egyptian religion and symb

 When there is wounding in our culture, there is wounding to the of the world. Many may be feeling “world weary” at this moment in our modern world, but this mood of despair has happened before, suggests mythologist . A distortion in the culture, whenever it occurs, weighs on everyone in the culture—but people have survived this before.  has been collecting myths about the renewal of the  for years,  he tells them elegantly  jubilantly with the use of a drum, a rare treat to watch or listen to.

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When yoga teacher Britta Bushnell first became pregnant, it was natural for her to add prenatal yoga to the yoga classes she was already teaching. This move eventually led to her training with childbirth specialist, Pam England, the author of the classic birth book, Birthing from Within[1]. England had already formulated a remarkable method that integrated mythology to help parents prepare for birth as a rite of passage. 

The archetypal idea of a “rite of passage” is an overarching piece of how B

Janet Bubar Rich became fascinated by horses in myth and legend when she was working on her Ph.D. in Mythological Studies at Pacifica Graduate Institute.

In her book, “Riding on Horses' Wings, Bubar Rich” explores how horses inspire soulful imagination, and investigates how historical and mythological love of horses has, in our technological age, become the love of high horse-powered vehicles.

In an era when anthropologists have referred to the past five or six decades as “The Great Acceleration”

An Archetypal Plan for Recovering from the U.S. Presidential Election

(Read Part 2 of this blog series here)

The U.S. presidential election has left Americans more divided than perhaps at any time since the Civil War. This is the last in a series of three blogs in which I offer an archetypal approach to understanding the forces at work both in the U.S. and around the world that produced this outcome and that threaten catastrophe, and a possible means to achieve greater unity and renew our faith in

In this written interview, Depth Insights host Bonnie Bright interviews Kayleen Asbo, cultural historian, musician, writer, and teacher on the topic of “The Myths of Mary Magdalene,” also the title of her upcoming webinar series. The first of that series, “The Many Faces of Mary Magdalene” is free to the public (must register to join) and takes place May 1, 2013, at 7pm PT (More details at at www.kayleenasbo.com and www.mythsofmarymagdalene.com)

Most of us have had the experience of feeling stopped, stuck, or paralyzed in our lives, unable to progress, to access creativity, meet deadlines, sometimes even to manage basic obligations. Being immobilized is hardly pleasant, but it is absolutely a hallmark of impending change, and it behooves us to understand both the problem and the power of paralysis.

Years ago, I did some meaningful research into the myth of Medusa, the legendary Gorgon who turned people to stone when they looked at her. W

Our instruments have no way of measuring this feeling
Can never cut below the floor, or penetrate the ceiling.
In the space between our houses, some bones have been discovered,
But our procession lurches on, as if we had recovered.

Draconian winter unforetold.
One solar day, suddenly you’re old.
Your little envelope just makes me cold,
Makes destination start to unfold.

Our documents are useless, or forged beyond believing.
Page forty-seven is unsigned, I need it by this evening.
In the space betw

An ironic twist to the localization movement throughout Cascadia, the Plastique Sea is a moving permaculture experiment, a bobbing and rolling decentralized government with a flag and a rowdy group chant. SeaOccupy? The Plastique Sea Barge Tribe is another example of community initiation in the post-Transition era. 

“How do we make our share of Cascadian Barterbucks?”

Read New Myth 26

Greetings to the Community of DPA.

I find myself in a near frenzy, searching for a way to tenderly release it into the open. 

I'm an Artisan, an all around creative, and have finally come to peace with myself, giving my full attention to the messages of my dreams. I've documented them for 11 years, and haven't paid much attention to them until this year.

What I've found throughout a handful of entries, is an underlying current of similarity - there's a distinct message within them, and it's someth

“Shapeshift Threshold Reverie”. Interview with Maila T. Davenport PhD, AltarPlaces.org, Portland.

By Willi Paul, openmythsource.com

“I am so pleased that people are bringing story and myth back into active culture – they have been stowed away on dusty library bookshelves for too long! We live in a world whirling in story, and most often anymore they are held in a solitary word – word as hologram, code, oral image. Who says we no longer use pictographs?” MD

“Generally people who are active in a religious faith tend to get through difficult times better,” says Al Siebert, Ph.D., author of The Resiliency Advantage. (Cox 2011) Many psychologists have reached the conclusion that people with high religious convictions and who participated in religious rituals/activities could overcome depression faster than their non-religious counterparts. In Jungian Analytical Psychology, dealing with the divine mystery of religion, is really to deal with the mystery