Will and I will be pleased to bring Dr. Gita Morena into the Myth Salon to talk about the Archetypes, Character Development and the Story of the Wizard of Oz. Recovering a sense of oneself, one’s place, and one’s community after experiencing trauma and loss is a transformative journey – and as receivers of the Wizard of Oz story transmission, the Lion, Scarecrow, and Tin Man evoke aspects of the psyche’s evolution. And, don’t forget the Wizard and Toto! Looks like we’re not in Kansas anymore!
Salon Description: Recovering a sense of oneself, one’s place, and one’s community after experiencing trauma and loss is a transformative journey. Drawing on examples from the The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Dr. Morena explores the symbolism, power, and universality of this quintessential American fairy tale. The panel discusses how the wisdom contained in this story is like a map, or an archetypal template of the inner world, that shows us how to navigate the challenges of everyday life.
Gita Dorothy Morena is a Jungian psychotherapist and Buddhist practitioner whose focus is integrating spiritual practice into everyday life. With the given name of Dorothy, she embodies the beloved heroine created by her great-grandfather, L. Frank Baum. In her book, The Wisdom of Oz: Reflections of a Jungian Sandplay Psychotherapist, she sheds light on The Wizard of Oz as a tale of individuation and spiritual awakening.
PANELISTS
Maria Tatar, Ph.D., is a Senior Fellow at Harvard’s Society of Fellows and the John L. Loeb Research Professor of Germanic Languages and Literatures & Folklore and Mythology, Emerita. At Harvard, she served as Dean of the Humanities and Chair of the Committee on Degrees in Mythology and Folklore. Author of numerous works on fairytales and children’s literature, including Annotated African American Folktales, edited with Henry Louis Gates, Jr, for which she received the 2018 NAACP award for Outstanding Literary Work of Fiction. Her newest book, Heroine of 1001 Faces has brought us here today.
Christopher Vogler has been the most influential teacher of myth to storytellers since he wrote The Writers Journey. He worked as a story consultant in the departments of 20th century Fox, Paramount, and Walt Disney, where he contributed to Aladdin and The Lion King. after publishing his landmark work, he developed stories for 101 Dalmatians, Fight Club, Courage Under Fire, Volcano and The Thin Red Line.
Dyane N. Sherwood, Ph.D., did her analytic training at the C.G. Jung Institute of San Francisco. She is now President of the C.G. Jung Institute of Chicago and the Editor and Publisher of Analytical Psychology Press. She is the author of articles and book chapters on such diverse topics as the Lakota Vision Quest, the Neurobiology of Affect, the shamanic origins of Vassily Kandinsky’s paintings, and the chapter on training analysis in Murray Stein’s book Jungian Psychoanalysis. She is the co-author with Joseph Henderson —who did his personal analysis with Jung--of a book relating the alchemical paintings in the Splendor Solis to the process of transformation in analysis, on which she has made two Myth Salon presentations.
Dara Marks, Ph.D., Is a leading international script consultant with an expertise that focuses on the feminine heroic. Creative Screenwriting Magazine has consistently rated her among the top consultants in Hollywood, where she has spent the last three decades working with major studios and independent filmmakers, advising on film and television projects. She also offers workshops on her book, Inside Story: Power of the Transformational Arc and leads retreats for women worldwide on the feminine heroic. Dara holds a Ph.D. In Mythological Studies from Pacifica with an Emphasis in Depth Psychology.
Tad Crawford, the Publisher of Allworth Press in New York City, is a graduate of Tufts University in economics and of Columbia Law School. He is the author of The Secret Life of Money and has lectured on the psychology, mythology and symbolism of money at such venues as the New York Open Center, Wainwright House, and the Analytical Psychology Club of New York. He is the author of two novels, A Floating Life and The Money Mentor: A Tale of Finding Financial Freedom, and more than a dozen nonfiction books on the business lives of artists and writers. He lives in New York City.
Gabe Gale is an architect, artist, and author whose enchantment with the Oz books began in childhood. In 2017 and 2018, Simon & Schuster published two books in his three-volume series Ages of Oz, which launched his own conception of a Oz history and world based on the characters and intentions of L. Frank Baum’s original books. In 2021, Rizzoli published a book of his concept art for the Ages of Oz series.
Dennis Patrick Slattery, Ph.D. is a Distinguished Emeritus Professor in the Mythological Studies Program At Pacifica Graduate Institute. He has authored, coauthored, edited or coedited 33 volumes of poetry, non fiction and fiction. His most recent titles include The Way of Myth: Stories' Subtle Wisdom and The Fiction in Our Convictions. His web site, dennispatrickslattery.com contains a series of blogs, paintings, adventure invitations and online courses.
HOST
Dana White, Ph.D. a contributing faculty member to Pacifica's myth degrees and author of numerous volumes on mythology. Over the course of his career, Dana has worked in radio and industrial television, as a vice president of marketing for Merrill Lynch, and as an academic department chair at an art college. He edits and designs books, produces films and motion media for universities, corporations and non-profits, and is a professional photographer with more than 40 books to his credit.He currently produces and hosts the Myth Salon, a venture he co-founded in 2016 with Dr. Will Linn,
MODERATOR
Will Linn, PhD, Will is a Creative Mythologist. For three seasons and thirty episodes, he anchored the Sky, ZDF and History Channel TV show, Myths: The Greatest Mysteries of Humanity as one of the two recurring “meta experts.” He is the founder of mythouse.org and Head Mythologist for Fascinated by Everything—a visionary experience company that creates narrative art in next-generation mediums. Will served as a leader for the Joseph Campbell Foundation over an eight year period and was the founding chair of an innovative film and performing arts college called Relativity School in Los Angeles Center Studios. From 2015-2023, he taught myth, anthropology, writing, story and philosophy at the college while leading high school, graduate and professional coursework in the United States and Europe. His media and conference appearances, publications and roundtables have been focused on the poesis of nature and technology, meta-narratives of transformation, historical arcs in the mythic imagination and the archetypal revolution of meteor-steel.
MYTH SALON
The Myth Salon is all about cultivating community – bringing people and ideas into a delicious convergence every month to explore ideas of substance. Dr. Will Linn and Dr. Dana C White, the indefatigable moderators of our Myth Salon, congregate the mythological community to explore upon this rich and fertile path, and increase the amperage of myth and substance wherever we are. When we nurture and sustain our community relations and involvement, we all benefit! The full playlist of Myth Salons since the Spring of 2020 can be found Here.
MYTHOUSE INVITATIONS
Mythouse.org - Mythic Calendar: The Mythic Calendar integrates the world’s major holidays into a single calendar of media and information rich portals that explore the mythic dimensions of each holiday, sign of the zodiac, flower of the month, birth stone and celestial event. Check in with the mythic calendar each month and with every holiday to stay engaged with mythic time.
Mythology Channel: Explore ten years of mythic radio series, round tables, myth salons and special events in the Mythology Channel’s content library.