Dear Friend:

We’re still immersed in the heat of August here in Maryland, but Labor Day is approaching, the school year is about to begin, and I’m looking forward to the cool of autumn and spectacular fall colors. And while students head back to classes, I’ll be resuming my schedule of workshops; details about the next two can be found below. We’re also deep into the U.S. presidential and congressional election season, about which I’ve blogged a few times. Information about those and a number of guest blogs that I’ve posted on my blogsite also can be found in this newsletter, as well as news about radio and podcast interviews I’ve done in the past few months to which you can listen online.

‍Omega Institute Workshop

‍It’s a little less than a month until my next workshop, which will be held in beautiful upstate New York at the Omega Institute for Holistic Studies in Rhinebeck. The workshop begins Friday afternoon at 4:00 pm on September 23rd, 2016, and continues through noon on Sunday, September 25th. The title of the workshop is “The Heroine Within: Discover the Wisdom of Persephone Rising.” It is based on reflections from my latest book, Persephone Rising: Awakening the Heroine Within. During the workshop, we will use lectures, discussions, small group and partner work, journaling, meditation, and movement to activate the archetypal energies of Persephone, Zeus, Demeter, and Dionysus in our lives. These archetypes can help you claim your power, open your heart, transform outcomes, and experience joy.

This event will give me another chance to work with, and for participants to benefit from the wisdom of, Gabriele Barysch-Crosbie, who will serve as a guest facilitator. Gabi is an advanced Nia instructor, a former restaurant owner, an expert in a number of healing modalities, and the author of Out of My Comfort Zone. She will lead the movement activities, which will be designed to help participants awaken the four archetypal aspects of the inner heroine in the body as well as in the mind and heart.

Gabi and I teamed up at my workshop at La Casa de Maria in Santa Barbara in June, and everyone had a wonderful time.For more event information, visit Omega’s website or click to register.

‍Chapel Hill Workshop

‍As of this date, my next public event after Omega will be a lecture and workshop for the C.G. Jung Society of the Triangle, in Chapel Hill, NC, on Friday and Saturday, February 24th-25th, 2017. The lecture, which will begin at 7:30 pm on Friday, is entitled “Narrative Intelligence: Using the Power of Story to Transform What Happens.” The topic of the workshop, from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm on Saturday, is “Awakening Archetypal Energies.” Both will take place at the Church of Reconciliation in Chapel Hill.

The lecture will draw upon ideas concerning narrative intelligence that I elucidated in Persephone Rising. The workshop will give participants an opportunity to apply to their own lives the archetypal framework I developed in Persephone Rising as well as two of my earlier books, The Hero Within and Awakening the Heroes Within.In addition, next spring I’ll return to the Houston Jung Center to do a workshop on leadership that draws from The Transforming Leader, Mapping the Organizational Psyche, The Hero and the Outlaw, and Persephone Rising. The workshop originally was planned for a weekend in October of this year, but was postponed so that I could attend a family wedding in Philadelphia.You can check the Events page of my website for further information on these and other events as the dates get firmed up and approach.

‍Recent Interviews

‍Over the past few months, I’ve been interviewed on several radio shows and podcasts about Persephone Rising and others of my books. You can link to them through the Media page of my website. They make good listening while on the treadmill, jogging, or just relaxing, and you may find them useful in both your personal and professional lives.Margaret Mark, with whom I co-authored The Hero and the Outlaw: Building Extraordinary Brands Through the Power of Archetypes, and I were interviewed by Park Howell for his podcast, “The Business of Story.” We discussed the definition and categories of successful brand archetypes, and how businesses can use them to create more meaning in their brand stories. Our book continues to have an important influence in the marketing world, encouraging companies, organizations, and individuals to engage in  “authentic branding.” This is relevant not only to large companies but also to small ones, nonprofits, and professionals in solo practices.Earlier, I visited with Janet O’Conner on her Unity Online Radio show, “The Soul-Directed Life,” for a discussion that focused on lessons that can be learned from Persephone Rising. We explored this question: How can I embrace the wisdom of my shadow?

I also visited iHeart radio to do an interview with Dave Gaggin on “The Common Sense Spirituality Show.” We talked about my book Awakening the Heroes Within. As we discussed Jung’s archetypes and their influence on our consciousness, we reviewed the 12 archetypes I identify in the book: innocent, orphan, warrior, caregiver, seeker, lover, destroyer, creator, ruler, magician, sage, and fool. We also explored the archetypal groupings of ego, soul, and self, the way they relate to each other, and aspects of our evolutionary journey of spiritual growth.In addition, I participated in an “author call” for Hudson Institute life and executive coaches, sharing insights from Persephone Rising and archetypes more generally as applied to the practice of coaching. Whether you are a coach to others or just to yourself, you may find my interchange with Hudson coaches to be useful to your life and work.

‍Guest Blogs—and Mine, TooI continue to post blogs on my website, but over the past couple of months I’ve also posted a series of interesting—even provocative—guest blogs that, if you haven’t read them already, I’m sure you will find stimulating.

My friend and colleague Pat Adson has begun a series of blogs that apply my hero’s journey twelve archetype model to situations that arise in everyday life. The first explores archetypes and issues around abandonment and rejection, and the second discusses “The Orphan’s Trance.” Pat’s third guest blog, “Roles, Scripts, and Archetypes,” was posted this week. It examines the roles people play in their lives and how they can become the author of their own script rather than living one written by somebody else.Dori Koehler, an expert on the use of myth and archetypes in Disney films, has written several guest blogs. Her most recent is “Disney Princesses: Women of Faith, Loving Kindness, and Community.”

Gabi Barysch-Crosbie, who, as noted above, will be a guest facilitator at my Omega Institute workshop, contributed a blog on “Holding Back… and Breaking Through” that recalls how she overcame her inner critical voice and connected to joy and movement.

Finally, Priscilla Hobbs, a cultural mythologist and Disney scholar who teaches at Southern New Hampshire University, submitted a blog titled “Persephone! Let Down Your Hair” that explores the connection between the Persephone myth and the classic fairy tale about Rapunzel as depicted in the Disney movie Tangled.In recent months I’ve written several blogs containing my observations on the current political scene, several of which drew vigorous responses when they were posted on the Psychology Today and Depth Psychology Alliance blogsites.

‍My most recent blog, “Activating Your Soul’s Erotic GPS,” looks at the ways eros can both lead us into trouble and steer us toward greater and greater joy, and suggests how we can recognize the difference.Your comments on these and other blogs are welcomed and encouraged. Also, if you have an idea for a blog that you might like to submit, please send me an email with a brief summary and I will let you know whether it is suitable for my website and, if so, what guidelines you should follow in preparing it.

The easiest way to know when a new blog goes up on my website or any of the others on which I post is to follow me on Facebook at Carol S. Pearson, PhD and Twitter @carolspearson. Posts and tweets will let you know the topic and how to access it.

‍A Rave Review

‍The Transforming Leader: New Approaches to Leadership for the Twenty-First Century recently received a rave review by Dr. Sherry Miller on the blogsite of SERES, a non-profit organization serving young people in Guatemala and El Salvador. I’m gratified to know that this work is being used around the world and helping organizations to transform and people of all ages to grow.

As always, please feel free to forward this newsletter to others who might be interested. In addition, I invite you to follow me on Facebook at Carol S. Pearson, PhD, on Twitter @carolspearson, and on Instagram at carolspearsonphd, and let me know what is going on with you. Just click on one of the buttons on the right to connect.

Blessings,Carol S. Pearson