Our newest project! A podcast! A dialogue between mystical Christianity and Depth Psychology – “The Laughing Mystics.” Our podcast page is here.
Good friends Marci Madary & Laura Lewis-Barr bring differing perspectives to the Sunday readings of the liturgical calendar. Each week Marci shares her mystical Christian insights & infectious laughter with Laura, who ponders what Carl Jung & Joseph Campbell might say about these scriptures. Unscripted & lively, Laura & Marci offer as many questions as answers as to how Depth Psychology & Christianity might come together. New episodes every Friday! Write to us at Laughing.Mystics@gmail.com, Join our FB community!
Opening intro from our early episodes: I’m Marcy Madary and I am a church lady. I have worked in ministry of one kind or another in my entire professional life. I have my doctorate in theology and spirituality and I love connecting with people and working with them on their journey. I’m Laura Lewis-Barr and what I’m passionate about is studying symbolic language. I think that the Bible and sacred literature in general lends itself to this kind of reading, and it, for me brings the reading very alive and helps me apply it to my daily life. The mystery of my daily life.
Amazon Music
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SpotifyI’m thrilled with this new podcast project. My history with the Catholic church is a central part of my individuation journey. I felt a calling to create this new art-work , especially when the brilliant and talented Marci Madary agreed to join me in the local sound booth. While we both do some preparation for our conversations on the Sunday’s scripture readings, neither of use know what we will say, and we both have no memory of what we’ve said! We are clearly “inspired by the Holy Spirit” (Marci) or “allowing the Unconscious to speak” (me).
For my part, there is great joy but also some fear as I share a symbolic view of the scripture. When I moved toward a symbolic viewpoint (after reading some biblical scholarship in a religion class) I was extremely disoriented and anxious. I know that some people may be angry at me for what I’m saying. And some won’t care about this subject at all. If you’re curious about a conversation that includes a symbolic reading of the Jesus story, check us out!
Metaphors carry us from one place to another, they enable us to cross boundaries that would otherwise be closed to us. Spiritual truths that transcend time and space can only be borne in metaphorical vessels whose meaning is found in their connotations—that is, in the cloud of witnesses to the many sides of truth that they spontaneously evoke—not in their denotations, the hard, factual, uni-dimensional casings of their historical reference.
From the introduction of Thou Art That: Transforming Religious Metaphor (The Collected Works of Joseph Campbell) (p. 33)
The Laughing Mystics: An unorthodox journey through the liturgical year
Run the race What am I called to become? Who will it outrage? How will my destiny cause pain? When St. Paul says, “I have See More
The Laughing Mystics: An unorthodox journey through the liturgical year
The use of the word "ego" is very confusing! It is an important concept. I appreciate the work of Edward Edinger, exploring the right relationship See More
A Necessary Part - A Poem By Laura Lewis-Barr
A Necessary Part - A Poem by Laura Lewis-Barr, part of our exploration of symbols through a Jungian lens. Influenced also by Joseph Campbell.
The Laughing Mystics: An unorthodox journey through the liturgical year
"For Jung, then, it is not the presence of the religious which is a symptom of neurosis but its absence." Freud and Jung on Religion See More
The Laughing Mystics: An unorthodox journey through the liturgical year
#josephcampbell and #BillMoyers in coversation. MOYERS Eliot speaks about the still point of the turning world, where motion and stasis are together, the hub where See More
The Laughing Mystics: An unorthodox journey through the liturgical year
The ego wants to eliminate all humiliating or negative information in order to “look good” at all costs. Jesus calls this self an “actor,” a See More
The Laughing Mystics: An unorthodox journey through the liturgical year
thinking about the parable of the loaves and the fishes. This quote comes to mind. "Given material abundance, scarcity must be a function of boundaries.....when See More
The Laughing Mystics: An unorthodox journey through the liturgical year
It seems we ordinary humans must have our “other”! It appears we don’t know who we are except by opposition and exclusion. “Where can my See More
The Laughing Mystics: An unorthodox journey through the liturgical year
New episode! Reflecting on the readings of Pentecost Sunday. We talk about fire and wind and the sometimes unpredictable power of groups under the religious See More
The Laughing Mystics: An unorthodox journey through the liturgical year
The Laughing Mystics: An unorthodox journey through the liturgical year
On reading symbolic stories - From Zimmer/#JosephCampbell We can never exhaust the depths—of that we may be certain; but then neither can anyone else. And See More
The Laughing Mystics: An unorthodox journey through the liturgical year
Our updated website page. Our podcast info lives alongside pages hosting Laura's films (these explore symbolic language through playful stop motion films of fairy tales See More
A Dialogue Mystical Christianity And Depth Psychology
A dialogue between Mystical Christianity and Depth Psychology. Our new podcast, join Laura and Marci every week! Links here.
The Laughing Mystics: An unorthodox journey through the liturgical year
Jung, meanwhile, had for some time been looking for a reputable Roman Catholic theologian with a deep, personal grasp of psychology, who would work with See More
Poetry – Read A Little Poetry Holding poets to the light • Est. 2005
- There You Are by Victoria Adukwei Bulleyby T. on March 14, 2025 at 4:39 pm
“these things you do / which, although you haven’t said it yet, / say that you want to live.” — Victoria Adukwei Bulley Related posts: The Roses by Mary Oliver Invitation by Mary Oliver Misty by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer
- The World Has Need of You by Ellen Bassby T. on January 18, 2025 at 3:58 am
“What if you felt the invisible / tug between you and everything?” — Ellen Bass Related posts: The Roses by Mary Oliver Naming the Heartbeats by Aimee Nezhukumatathil My Crow by Raymond Carver
- Lines Composed While Watching My Mother Buy Tomatoes by Bee Morrisby T. on January 16, 2025 at 11:30 pm
“the sky is blue because. / The plants are watered green because. / That silver hair on your head, / so many impossible strands!” — Bee Morris Related posts: The Roses by Mary Oliver The Courtesan’s Reply – Tambulasena by Shazea Quraishi Invitation by Mary Oliver
- The Roses by Mary Oliverby T. on September 10, 2024 at 2:00 pm
“day after day / you sit near them; day after day / the honey keeps on coming” — Mary Oliver Related posts: Soot by Kaveh Akbar To the Angelbeast by Eduardo C. Corral Praise the Rain by Joy Harjo
- Soot by Kaveh Akbarby T. on August 31, 2024 at 4:31 am
“When I fell to earth // I knew the way—through the soot, into the leaves.” — Kaveh Akbar Related posts: Bun by Gillian Sze apology by George Abraham Prayer by Galway Kinnell
Also, from last year’s newsletter here’s a link to some of Laura’s published poetry.