Podcast and Poetry – Practicing Symbolic Language
We are now in our second season of The Laughing Mystics podcast! (A dialogue between mystical Christianity and Depth Psychology – “The Laughing Mystics.” You can find more thoughts about our podcast here.)
I’m finding myself bolder now and am regularly exploring the readings as if they are dreams. This has blown open many of the texts for me and it is part of my goal to practice hearing (and even speaking) symbolic language. Join us! Here’s our description.
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 Thursday! 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.
Find us on your favorite podcast platform here!
I’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
New episode Thursday! Join us! pod.link/1799776273
The Laughing Mystics: An unorthodox journey through the liturgical year
A poem..... about contemplation in daily life. For more free poems, visit poemsbylauralb.substack.com/ Ad Adventure - I am unprepared. I am on an adventure. I See more
The Laughing Mystics: An unorthodox journey through the liturgical year
For those who may struggle reconciling science and faith. Fr. Andrew Greeley's scholarship reminds us that while the Easter narrative cannot be proven historically (which See more
The Laughing Mystics: An unorthodox journey through the liturgical year
By what are you saved? And how? Saved like a bit of string, tucked away in a drawer? Saved like a child rushed from a See more
The Laughing Mystics: An unorthodox journey through the liturgical year
“I have come to think that care of the soul requires a high degree of resistance to the culture around us, simply because that culture See more
The Laughing Mystics: An unorthodox journey through the liturgical year
From Fr. Rohr's reflections Sunday, March 31, 2024 "I believe the resurrection of Christ is saying that the final judgment has already happened. It’s nothing See more
The Laughing Mystics: An unorthodox journey through the liturgical year
"On Easter Day the veil between time and eternity thins to gossamer." - Douglas Horton A small portion of the Veil Nebula as photographed by See more
The Laughing Mystics: An unorthodox journey through the liturgical year
Highlights from our second season so far. If you haven't stopped by lately, we hope you'll join us. New episodes drop every Thursday! Listen on See more
The Laughing Mystics: An unorthodox journey through the liturgical year
“Each of us must learn to live with paradox, or we cannot live peacefully or happily even a single day of our lives. In fact, See more
The Laughing Mystics: An unorthodox journey through the liturgical year
“We have to be braver than we think we can be, because God is constantly calling us to be more than we are.” - cMadeleine See more
The Laughing Mystics: An unorthodox journey through the liturgical year
New episode Thursday! Our reflections on the readings for Easter. As usual, we encounter some surprises! Join us! Art - Mary Magdalene and the apostles See more
The Laughing Mystics: An unorthodox journey through the liturgical year
The new theologians write theology for the needs of the church today. For us this means: we write theology not just for the comfortable insiders See more
Imagine writing a poem every day? It is a profound spiritual practice that I’m beginning on Substack. Join me! You can add poems of your own or just use my daily poem as a divination tool toward your own daily reflections. Subscribing means a freshly written poem will be delivered straight to your email. So far, almost a week into this project, I’m feeling really excited by the vessel that is both a poem and the Substack platform. Thanks for checking it out!
Also, from last year’s newsletter here’s a link to some of Laura’s published poetry.