Horses, Hestia and Guinevere: Mythological Perspectives for Everyday Life: An Interview with Janet Bubar Rich
A Guest Post by Bonnie Bright, Ph.D.

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. She recalls how she used to look at horses across the field from the campus during breaks, and being so taken with the magnificent animals. She began noticing the image of the horse in ancient Greek, Nordic, Hindu, and Buddhist mythologies, as well as in Native American legend, and she considered the symbol of the horse in films such as Seabiscuit, or popular plays like War Horse. Enchanted by the way that horses “enable people to go further and move faster” than they can otherwise go, Bubar Rich ultimately published a book entitled Riding on Horses' Wings: Reimagining Today's Horse for Tomorrow's World.

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Opening Keynote presentation by Michael Meade, Response at the Radical Edge: Depth Psychology for the 21st Century
Summary article by Bonnie Bright, Ph.D.

In a 4000 year old poem, a weary man argues with his ba soul (the unique spirit of a person) because the man feels deeply troubled by the increase of injustice, greed and unrest in the culture, which makes him want to end his life, begins mythologist Michael Meade, in a compelling keynote address at the recent "Response at the Radical Edge: Depth Psychology for the 21st Century" conference at Pacifica Graduate Institute.

When there is wounding in our culture, there is wounding to the soul of the world. Many may be feeling “world weary” at this moment in our modern world, and in fact, we are seeing an increase in suicide in all ages right now. But this mood of despair has happened before, Meade points out. This poem is an ancient story. A distortion in the culture, whenever it occurs, weighs on everyone in the culture—but people have survived this before.

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