Myth in the Mojave

Will the chaos and conflict, the emerging truths and challenges of these days, result in cultural transformation and renewal? Or will we settle into a new definition of “normal” and fall back to sleep?

I believe the answer to this question rests with our ability to actively engage with the archetypal feminine and the Great Mother, and that fairy tales like “Vasilisa the Wise” offer us clues about how to proceed. In this program you will meet the Baba Yaga, and remember that cultural transformation includes you too.

Support the show

How do we become aware of nefarious, destructive aspects in the psyche and handle them successfully? The fairy tale “The Robber Bridegroom,” collected by the Brothers Grimm, is one of many stories about the dangers that prey on the naïve. 

Here are three variations on this theme as we consider unimaginable acts of violence and their mysterious source.

Support the show

What frogs can teach us about transformation and “The Three Feathers,” a fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm.

Support the show

Each of us comes into the world with the longing to fulfill our promise, to realize the potential inherent in our existence. But how do we find and meet our unique purpose?

Inner searching is often part of the process and yet responding to the world outside is required. We must gather our courage and trust life to show us.

Support the show

A reflection on the “Great American Solar Eclipse” and the lion heart of Leo, intertwined with the Egyptian myth of Sekhmet, a South African story called “The Flying Lion,” and poetry by Billy Collins and Phillip Rosenberg. 

Support the show

My telling of this story is based on a version collected from the Tlingit-Haida people of Southeast Alaska, a place relatively few of us know well. Yet the spirit of this myth and the truth it contains are easily felt and recognized. What is the source of your abundance, and how can you contribute to the give and take that sustains life?

Support the show

This program contains a telling of a Nez Perce story about love, life, death, and the Trickster in Mythic Time. Thank you to Archie Phinney, a Nez Perce enthnographer who recorded and translated his mother’s telling of this story in 1929, so it might be more widely shared. 

Support the show

How do you experience the transcendent in your daily life? The night sky is a portal into the mystery for me, especially in the summer months when the nights are long and soft. he night sky is a portal into the mystery for me, especially in the summer months when the nights are long and soft. These Navajo myths about the placement of the constellations enhance the beauty.

Support the show

Movies are shared stories about life and the world that reflect our collective fears and desires, beliefs and values. Even fantasy films like Wonder Woman, based on comic book superheroes, are part of an important, ongoing cultural conversation. 

Wonder Woman is setting box office records and upsetting industry ideas about the appeal of female protagonists and stories aimed at women. Is this film inspiring and empowering us to explore new possibilities, or reconciling us to the status quo? The answer to that question depends on each of us.

Support the show

“Down, down deep into the well that is my own source…”e.g. wise

Part 2 of the  fairy tale “Iron John,” about a mysterious wild man, a boy, and much more. What gifts might a new alliance with the wild man bring you?

Support the show