�Read not the Times; read the Eternities.� � H.D. Thoreau

Myth encodes the wisdom of the world�s traditions in multi-dimensional stories and vivid imagery, taking a deep andnapproachable view of human nature and the mysteries of life. Myths are inexhaustible resources, invaluable to understand our own lives, broader cultural contexts and riddles comprising the human condition.

The Mythic Imagination Institute, in association with the Open Center, offers a new Applied Mythology Certificate Program, weaving together art and participatory learning with serious scholarship to reawaken understanding and love of stories, myth and life�s archetypal dimensions. Ancient and modern myths, folktales and fairy tales are studied and experienced through art, narrative, poetry, movies, music, drama, dream, ritual and explorations in psychology, emphasizing application of material in ways to encourage meaningful and creative lives.

Objectives are to:
� connect to the accumulated wisdom of humankind living in stories, myths and folklore;

� encourage passion, imagination and courage through contact with outstanding faculty dedicated to the study and application of myth;

� provide tools to integrate mythology into our lives in creative ways, allowing for a deeper appreciation of the sacred in the everyday;

� gain knowledge of the culture and guiding principles of many different peoples through their foundational stories.

The program is especially relevant to psychotherapists, journalists, artists, lawyers, pastoral counselors and teachers, as well as anyone who wishes to know more about basic underpinnings of world culture.

The structure: The world's stories are explored in six sessions, each constituting an immersion experience, starting Thursday evening and ending Sunday afternoon. Each session has a lead teacher joined by others drawn from an extraordinary faculty of interdisciplinary scholars, artists, performers and psychologists. Between weekend sessions there are readings and journal writing, along with a capstone project.

The curriculum places popular and contemporary culture side by side with old tales, examining the eternal relevance of myth. Background readings draw upon such works as: Don Quixote by Cervantes; Dante�s Inferno; Eliade�s The Myth of the Eternal Return: or, Cosmos and History; the Mahabharata; the Tao Te Ching; Black Elk Speaks; the Bible; the Koran; Popul Vuh; Eshenbach�s Parzifal; Ovid�s Metamorphosis; the Eddas; the Mabinogean.
 
Weekend Session themes:

1) A CHAIR BY THE HEARTH: LEARNING TO HEAR THE WORLD'S STORY

The very first weekend, Broadway playwright and performer, David Gonzalez, whose work specializes in myth and folktale, and celebrated author, mythologist and storyteller Diane Wolkstein will plunge into the Ur-stories of the ancient Sumerian Inanna and the Greek Orpheus. This immersion in story will fill our palettes with a rich array of material to work from throughout the year. As we begin the exploration into mythology, the stories themselves are our guides.

From full blown performance to quiet conversation, David and Diane awaken the connections between our personal stories and the great epics sounded thousands of years ago whose force still rolls toward us to this very day. The glory of myth is that in the form of a story it can be appreciated and loved by a child at the same time as it will yield riches when approached with intellectual incision, psychological insight or ritual enactment. The first step is to cultivate an intimacy with the stories and tellers themselves, which is the focus of the first session.
David Gonzalez  & Diana Wolkstein
October 18th-21st 2007

2) MYTH AND IMAGINATION: ENTERING THE METAPHOR

The incomparable Michael Meade leads the second session. A learned scholar of mythology, a consummate storyteller, a social activist and a true therapist, Michael Meade is a soul-man. Leading the session on Metaphor, Mr. Meade will conduct us through the inner landscape of the multi-dimensional imaginal world with which myth and story are imbued.

The joy of living and the source of creativity lie in the ability to watch the linear stalk of story and reality burst into a many-petaled blossom of multi-valent meaning. To see many possibilities superimposed upon each other is the key to freedom No one opens up this glorious multiplicity like Michael Meade.
Michael Meade  
December 6th- 9th, 2007 

3) LISTENING TO THE SOUL�S SONG: RHYTHM, MUSIC & CYCLES

The third session is lead by Lisa Sokolov. She was cited as the Rising Star Vocalist list of 2005. She is the Director of The Institute for Embodied VoiceWork at the Institutes for the Arts in Psychotherapy in New York City. She lectures and performs internationally, and her recordings Lazy Afternoon, Angel Rodeo and Presence have won press acclaim and many "Best of" awards, including 5 Star Masterpiece and Best of the 2004 for "Presence" from DownBeat Magazine. As a musician, Lisa Sokolov daily engages with the realities of rhythm and finding the true voice, two of the great themes and forms of mythology.

Alongside Honora Foah, she will engage in both the stories and the experience of these two great themes. Working as well with a depth psychologist, we will dive into the dream of finding the true voice within the great cosmic cycles. This session rocks between the macro and micro-cosmic, the Yugas, the Mayan calendar, the turning of the galaxies and the individual breath, the moment of each heartbeat.
Lisa Sokolov, Honora Foah  
January 31st-February 3rd  2008

4) THE RITUAL FEAST: EATING AT THE ALTAR

Joseph Campbell says 'a ritual is an enactment of a myth'. This is the original 'applied mythology'. The great archetypal world, 'the world behind the world' must poke through and permeate this world for us to sense depth and meaning to our lives. People have always, therefore, 'enacted the myth' in innumerable rituals of mindblowing variety. Yet at its core, ritual is trying to connect the most simple and basic human acts of survival with sacredness.

We will also explore ritual in a simple yet profound way, preparing and eating food while we explore the mythology of ritual and blessing. Lead by 'practical mystic' David Spangler, this fourth session goes to the heart of our place in the world and on the food chain. Many many rituals are expressions of gratitude and blessing for the opportunity to stay alive because we are able to eat. Every culture in the world circles this gateway to life with profound ceremony. Give us this day our daily bread.
David Spangler  
April 24th-27th, 2008.


5) COMMUNITY 

Having entered deeply into the world of myth and dream, the next session, Community, uses this experience to stimulate the imagination in the service of our own life purpose and what we have to offer the wider community. The inimitable Jean Houston, who has been spending the last several years as a United Nations Development Program Ambassador, working around the world in many diverse cultures with 'social artistry', brings this program to Applied Mythology. Dr Houston, a mythologist and anthropologist who began her career as a prot�g� of Margaret Mead, has applied her life's work to the issues we face in creating new societies.

This spring, Dr Houston was in Kathmandu training leaders from twelve Asian countries to reimagine the way we live. We must find sustainable cultures � environmentally, socially and personally. Mythology and the imaginal world have always been the narrative underpinning. Jean will help us re-connect to the creative fonts within ourselves and within mythology, specifically calling out our abilities to find the way forward.
Jean Houston  
June 12th-15th 2008

6) MEANING: APPLIED MYTHOLOGY,LIVING THE MYTHIC LIFE

The sixth and last session is Meaning, lead by Ari Berk, Fred Johnson and Honora Foah. This meeting will tie together all of the previous sessions. Mythologist and anthropologist, author, raconteur and educator Dr Ari Berk, and Mythic Imagination creative director and co-president Honora Foah will lead the group through a process of synthesis, aided and abetted by the masterful jazz musician Fred Johnson.
Ari Berk, Honora Foah, Fred Johnson 
August 15th-18th 2008 

For additional information click here

Sessions:
Thursdays, 7-10pm; Fridays & Saturdays, 10am-10pm; Sundays, 10am-3pm

Dates:
October 18-21, 2007; December  6-9, 2007; January 31-February 3, 2008; April 24-27 2008; June 12-15, 2008; August 15th-18th 2008.  


Full Payment: 07SP24AI
Members $3,700 / Nonmembers $3,750

Payment Plan: 07SP24BI
$4030
$890 deposit, 4 additional payments $785 on 12/3/07, 1/28/08, 3/31/08, 6/2/08  

Please call 212.219.2527 ext. 2 to register for the payment plan and for locations.

For more information about this certificate program please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it , or the Mythic Imagination Institute at www.mythicimagination.org. You may also call Maria Rodriguez, Open Center Manager of Academic and Professional Programs, at 212.219.2527 ext. 135.

Thursday evening sessions are open to the public. Please see the above mentioned websites for more information.

Ari Berk, PhD, teaches Mythology, Folklore and American Indian Literature in Central Michigan University's English department. He is the author of academic studies on myth and ancient cultures, as well as popular works on myth for both children and adults, including The Runes of Elfland and Goblins!

Honora Foah, MA, Co-President and Creative Director, of Mythic Imagination Institute, is a director, choreographer and designer whose credits include: co-director of ScheneHill dance theater company and chief producer and designer for the UN Pavilions in the Italy and South Korea World Expos as well as the Mythic Journeys Conference and Performance Festivals.

David Gonzalez, PhD, is a storyteller, musician, poet, actor, teacher and therapist who has created numerous musical and theater productions, including sold-out Broadway runs for �Sofrito! and MytholoJazz. His poetry was featured in a Bill Moyers PBS documentary, Fooling with Words, and on NPR�s All Things Considered.

Fred Johnson, Director of Education and Outreach at The Center for Creative Resources, is a jazz musician widely recognized for his work in the health and wellness community, presentations on the healing power of music, and as guardian of a uniquely American and inherently African oral tradition.

Michael Meade, Founder/Director of Mosaic Multicultural Foundation, dedicated to community healing and development, is a storyteller and author of Men and the Water of Life; editor, with James Hillman and Robert Bly, of Rag and Bone Shop of the Heart; and editor of Crossroads: A Quest for Contemporary Rites of Passage.

Lisa Sokolov, a singer, composer and teacher of voice, created Embodied Voice Work, a holistic method used in training performing artists, therapists and body/mind medical practitioners. She has taught internationally and is affiliated with training institutes in New York, Germany and Switzerland.