August 2024: Retrograde Retrospective
Explore my Mythological Studies journey with course syllabi and articles!
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The summer Mercury Retrograde is underway, and during this period (about 3.5 weeks) I am taking a break from publishing original pieces. I have spent the spring and summer focusing on school full time, and prepping for comprehensive exams for my masters in Mythological Studies. Most recently this has looked like writing for most of the day nearly every day for four weeks 😰 I am so proud to know that I am capable of that kind of diligent, focused output… and I need to rest.
Don’t trip. I am still going to honor my commitment to publish weekly, and this week’s offering is two-fold.
Course Syllabi
This month I’ll be wrapping up my second year of coursework in myth studies. I remember the excitement and trepidation that I felt when I started grad school in 2022. I’d been interested in going back to school for a while, but it took time to find a course of study that I was willing to commit the resources to pursue. I knew that I would be a good student, but I was worried about the viability of my research niche, making friends, and creating a plan for using my degree.
I am more comfortable these days; I get great feedback on my research (some of which I share with you in this newsletter), my classmates are delightful, and the plan for using my degree is as emergent as ever. This program has been academically and emotionally rigorous, and people are usually quite curious – in both judgmental and genuine ways – about what the hell I’m even spending all this money and time studying. Below is the link to a folder with all my course syllabi to-date.
For the record, my favorite classes have been Jungian Depth Psychology, Mythic Motifs in Cinema, and Hebrew and Jewish Mythology. My most healing classes have been Ritual and Embodied Mythic Imagination, Archetypal Psychology, and Approaches to Myth.
Myth and Depth Psychology Articles
If the syllabi piqued your curiosity, I’ll do you one better. Every quarter I must produce at least three final term papers and read up to 1,000 pages per class. The folder linked below – sorted by subject matter or author – contains some PDF course readings and other articles related to my research interests. Happy studying!
Read and share my most recent publication!
You Don’t Need Another Octavia Butler Think Piece
You don’t need another Octavia E. Butler think piece. Not from me, anyway. I will spare you from my exuberant stanning this week because there are dozens of Butler enthusiasts who’ve released pieces about her unfinished series of post-apocalyptic novels known as The Parables.