Blue Medicine Journal : A Jungian Podcast

Magical Realism & the Shadow with Rebecca Peterson, PhD

Join us In conversation with the vibrant Dr. Rebecca Peterson, PhD, as we explore magical realism in the acclaimed novel, Pedro Paramo by Juan Rulfo, the father of this literary genre; casting a Jungian lens, we consider magical realism as a creative expression of the collective "shadow." Dr. Peterson is an artist, writer, Practitioner of Embodied Imagination, sand tray, and art therapy.  
You may contact Rebecca through her website or email: 
windowsofthesoulrebeccapeterson.blogspot.com 
mexrebe@yahoo.com
Documentary on Pedro Paramo's 100 year anniversary: (in Spanish)
https://youtu.be/StJ19uPzBik?si=uy1HDFIACwPIjWVg
 

Jungian Dream Tending

Dreams are the language of the soul. Join us in conversation with Jungian analys & mandala artist, Dr. Mai Breech, for a conversation on Jungian dream interpretation & why it matters.
Dr. Breech is a licensed clinical psychologist and holds a PsyD in Clinical Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute. She completed her pre- and post-doctoral training at the C.G. Jung Institute of Los Angeles, and has been working with orphans and foster children. In 2007, she founded the Children’s Art Village, a grassroots non-profit organization that provides art and music to children in Ghana, India, and Nepal. Currently, Mai is an advisor to administrators and staff at a Sense of Home, a nonprofit home creation for former foster youth.Dr. Breech has a private practice in West Los Angeles where she works with children, adolescents, and adults, as well as an integrative practice where she incorporates somatic work, art, sand play, active imagination, and dream interpretation. For the past 18 years.

Susan Rowland & The Swan Lake Murders: A Mary Wandwalker Mystery

Join us in conversation with Dr. Susan Rowland, PhD, a Jungian scholar, teacher & prolific author. Today we discuss The Swan Lake Murders: a Mary Wandwalker Mystery. This is her 4th in an ongoing series of the heroic feminine in search of justice in a patriarchal world. In today’s conversation, we discuss the inspiration, history, and archetypal principles behind the story of Swan Lake, and the sundry cast of characters who are marooned together during hurricane, at an ancient convent which shelters young women, once victims of sex-trafficking, and run by the witch/ therapists who tend them.
 Cast includes: Mary Wandwalker and her Depth Enquiry Agency (DEA), a three women team, who brave the hurricane to bring justice to an evil sorcerer– who not only influences politics, but more nefariously, poses as a choreographer to lure and sexually abuse teenage ballet dancers, a braggadocious populist politician, his disgruntled wife– who owns the ballet company, and their teenage daughter Irina, the ballerina, about whom The Swan Lake Murders revolve.
Tune in!
 
Special thanks to my producer and editor, Lucas Bakker, whose original music adds to the magic!
 
https://www.susanrowland-books.com/
 

Universal Mother, Sinead O'Connor, and the Healing Power of Song

Join us in conversation with renowned songstress and author, Adele Bertei, as we weave our way through the life and times of Sinead O’Connor, courage in the name of justice, and the healing power of song.
Adele is an anti-disciplinary author, director, performer, and composer currently residing in Los Angeles, CA. She is the author of Peter and the Wolves (Smog Veil, 2020), Why Labelle Matters (University of Texas Press, 2021), Twist: Tales of a Queer Girlhood (ZE Books, 2023), and Universal Mother (Bloomsbury 33 1/3, 2025).
 
Bertei was an original member of the critically lauded Contortions, produced by Brian Eno on the seminal No New York LP. Reading prose and poetry, she opened for writers such as William Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, and Kathy Acker among many others. Bertei acted in several underground films, including a lead role in Born In Flames by Lizzie Borden.
 
Bertei was lead singer in the Bloods –America’s first openly queer band of women, and has performed and recorded as a backing vocalist and touring vocalist for artists such as Tears for Fears, Thomas Dolby, Culture Club, Whitney Houston, Sandra Bernhard and Sophie B. Hawkins among many others.
 
New York City's Museum of Modern Art recently acquired films of Bertei reading her poem The Ragazzi Manifesto in 1978, and The Offenders by Scott and Beth B., where Bertei plays the lead.
 
She has created and facilitated songwriting workshops for homeless youth at My Friend’s Place in Hollywood, and as a member of Wayne Kramer’s Jail Guitar Doors, teaching songwriting to the incarcerated at the Twin Towers facility in downtown LA, and at Century Women’s Regional Center at Lynwood, the largest women’s jail in the nation.
 
Her next book, No New York: A Memoir of No Wave and the Women Who Shaped the Scene, will be released in early 2026 by Faber & Faber UK.
 
Thanks to my producer and editor, Lucas Bakker @Iamlucasbakker- whose original music and soundtrack weave the Blue Medicine Journal podcast all together!
 

Theater, Magical Realism and the Shadow

Join us today as we consider theater as an archetypal quest, the magical realism of Pedro Paramo, and the shadow. In conversation with actor, Michael Moret; about his studies with John Coppola, the renowned acting coach, who teaches acting as an archetypal quest, and path to wholeness; not therapy, but therapeutic. And we turn to Pedro Paramo, for a brief intro to this quintessentially Mexican classic by Juan Rulfo, written in 1955 and giving birth to magical realism as a literary genre. 

The Kairos, the Fifth Sun, and Imagination

Join us today, as we consider the role of imagination in this dark night of the soul. We revisit the Aztec Legend of the Five Suns, as we find ourselves "entangled in myth," in this kairos and opportune moment~ for a change of worldview. 
Thanks, as ever, to the Tonantzin Society, for their generous donation, making scholarships available for Chicanx & Latinx communities, and to my producer and editor, Lucas Bakker, the backstage wizard for his original soundtrack and music.

Los Angeles Fire Storms and the Five Suns of Aztec Mythology

Join us today for my reflections & journal snippets on the LA Firestorms, the Aztec Legend of the Five Suns, and a missive from the last Aztec king, from 500 years ago.
Thanks to my producer, editor, Lucas Bakker, whose music and wizardry makes this podcast happen!
 

Gathering the Gifts with Kelly Carlin McCall

Join us in rich conversation with Kelly Carlin McCall,
and enjoy 50% off her forthcoming workshop on Winter Solstice: "Gather the Gifts." Link below!
Kelly is an author, storyteller, depth psychologist, podcaster, transformational coach and television producer. Her 20+ years of study and practice in Zen Buddhism, Co-Active Coaching and Imaginal Psychology are the foundation for her creative work and for her transformational programs through her Humans on the Verge community. Her solo show, A Carlin Home Companion, was published as a memoir by St. Martin’s Press in 2015. And in 2023, she won an Emmy as executive producer of the HBO documentary, George Carlin’s American Dream.
Thanks as ever to my producer, editor & composer of original music played on podcast @iamlucakker 
https://humans-on-the-verge.mn.co/plans/1476018?bundle_token=de78a523493c00e5210848095a93fd51&utm_source=manual
 

Psyche, Story, and the Enchanted Earth: Dr. Craig Chalquist, PhD, PhD

“Converse with everything!”
Join me in conversation with Dr. Craig Chalquist, Ph.D., Ph.D.
Dr. Chalquist is the program director of Consciousness, Psychology, and Transformation at National University.
A passionate educator and storyteller, he presents and teaches at the intersection of psyche, story, nature, reenchantment, and imagination through courses on depth psychology, applied folklore, ecotherapy, and terrapsychology, the study of how the things of the world get into our hearts and live there: "Converse with everything!”
To read The Tales of Terranea and other work, visit Chalquist.com. 
 

Archetypal Astrology & the" Rise of the Feminine" with Dr. Laurence Hillman

"Astrology is a tool that measures the kairos– re-ensouling the world." -Laurence Hillman, PhD
This month I am happy to welcome back the brilliant and warm, Dr. Laurence Hillman, archetypal astrologer, co-founder of Archetypes at Work, and author.
In this episode we discuss the "rise of the feminine," re-ensouling the world, and his upcoming  course: "Practical Archetypal Astrology Part 1: A Deep Dive For Beginners," starting Fall Equinox, September 21st. (see link below!)
Join us!
practical-archetypal-astrology-part-i-a-deep-dive-for-beginners