Nicholas (Nick) S. Literski

Nicholas (Nick) S. Literski, JD, PhD (they/them) served as a juvenile probation officer before earning their Juris Doctor and working as an attorney in private practice. Dissatisfaction with that career, together with the experience of coming out as part of the LGBTQ+ community, led them to rebuild their life and pursue their passion for the intersection of spirituality and psychology. After three years of training as a shamanic practitioner, Nick’s desire to help facilitate the spiritual journey of others led them to earn a master’s degree in Spiritual Guidance at Sofia University. This work, in turn, inspired Nick to pursue their PhD in the DJA program at Pacifica Graduate Institute. Their dissertation work involved a depth psychological analysis of Paleolithic cave art, through Jung’s technique of active imagination, with an eye toward what these images could reveal about the human religious instinct.

Nick has published in Psychological Perspectives: A Quarterly Journal of Jungian Thought; Immanence: The Journal of Applied Mythology, Legend, and Folklore; and Somatics Magazine-Journal of the Mind-Body Arts and Sciences. Nick’s article, “Declining Divisions: Non-binary Gender Identities and American Cultural Consciousness,” was included in Thomas Singer & Andrew Samuels’ compilation, The Reality of Fragmentation and the Yearning for Healing: Jungian Perspectives on Democracy, Power, and Illusion in Contemporary Politics. Nick also co-authored Method Infinite: Freemasonry and the Mormon Restoration, published in 2022 by Greg Kofford Books. Nick also served briefly as Assistant Editor of the journal, Anthropology of Consciousness. Nick’s research interests include spirituality, LGBTQ+ studies, anthropology, magic, and the work of C. G. Jung. They live with their husband, Chris, just outside Portland, OR.