"Epiphanies are sudden realizations or flashes of recognition. Although their significance may be apparent immediately or only in retrospect, these are the moments that give depth and meaning to our lives. This workshop by Dr. Christine Downing explored the role played in our lives by such transformative events, beginning with our earliest childhood memories, whether consoling or terrifying, and then going on to honor the life-changing impact of intense engagements with others. Dr. Downing also explored the time to reflect on how our encounters with death and with nature's healing presence can be experienced as manifestations of the divine. Throughout, the workshop attended to how C.G. Jung, Sigmund Freud, Martin Buber, and the testimony of Greek mythology and contemporary poetry can deepen our understanding of our own experiences of the irruption of the imperishable world into our lives."
To listen to the full workshop click here.
Christine Downing, Ph.D, is a Professor of Mythological Studies at Pacifica Graduate Institute, where she regularly teaches in most of the programs. She was the first woman president of the American Academy of Religion, taught for almost twenty years in the Department of Religious Studies at San Diego State University, was a member of the Core Faculty at the San Diego campus of the California School of Professional Psychology, and served as a faculty member of the Religion Department at Douglass College of Rutgers University. She has taught at the Jung Institute in Zürich and lectures frequently to Jungian groups both here and abroad and at American and European universities. She is the author of numerous books, including The Goddess: Mythological Images of the Feminine, Journey Through Menopause: A Personal Rite of Passage, Myths and Mysteries of Same-Sex Love, Women's Mysteries: Toward a Poetics of Gender, Gods In Our Midst—Mythological Images of the Masculine: A Woman's View, and The Long Journey Home: Re-visioning the Myth of Demeter and Persephone for Our Time.
