Erik Davis (www.techgnosis.com) is an author, award-winning journalist, and scholar based in San Francisco. His wide-ranging work focuses on the intersection of alternative religion, media, and the popular imagination. He is the author, most recently, of High Weirdness: Drugs, Esoterica, and Visionary Experience in the Seventies (MIT Press/Strange Attractor). He also wrote Nomad Codes: Adventures in Modern Esoterica (2010), The Visionary State: A Journey through California’s Spiritual Landscape (2006), a critical volume on Led Zeppelin (2005), and the celebrated cult classic TechGnosis: Myth, Magic, and Mysticism in the Age of Information (1998).
Jorge de la O, MA, LMFT, JA, is a professor in the M.A. Counseling Psychology Program at Pacifica Graduate Institute and is an IAAP-certified Jungian Analyst and sandplay therapist. Jorge has been in private practice since 2001. Jorge is also a senior analyst and instructor at the C.G. Jung Study Center of Southern California and a member of the Inter-Regional Society of Jungian Analysts.
Jaclyn is a core faculty member in the Counseling Psychology department, and is currently serving as the Director of Research in the Counseling PsyD program. She is a licensed psychologist who practices in San Diego, California. She has dedicated a good portion of her clinical work to providing services to people who have severe psychiatric illness and substance use disorders in community mental health, psychiatric hospitals, and more recently in detentions. She is a strong advocate for social justice, equity, inclusion, diversity, and destigmatization.
Devon Deimler is a writer, artist, and scholar. She is Associate Core faculty at Pacifica Graduate Institute in both the Mythological Studies and Depth Psychology and Creativity programs. She is also Curator of exhibits and events at OPUS Archives and Research Center (home to the collections of James Hillman, Joseph Campbell, Marija Gimbutas, and more), Scholar-in-Residence at the Philosophical Research Society in Los Angeles, and previously worked as North American Mythological RoundTable Coordinator for the Joseph Campbell Foundation. Devon’s dissertation, Ultraviolet Concrete: Dionysos and the Ecstatic Play of Aesthetic Experience, won the Institute’s Dissertation of Excellence award. She is currently writing a monograph on the work of archetypal psychologist and dramaturg, Nor Hall.
Sandra del Castillo is a teacher, storyteller, and ritual artist. She moved to Mexico with her children to explore her ancestral roots and stayed fifteen years. A deeply transformative experience, she lived in four different states, studying, teaching, and learning. Her dissertation on the Mexican Day of the Dead was inspired by her experience living in Michoacán, in a region of Mexico renowned for its celebration of the Day of the Dead, and her ancestral heritage. Sandra brings a Jungian lens to Mesoamerica, gleaning the archetypal wisdom of their cosmovisions, philosophy, poetry, and mythology, and delves into their significance in this Kairos moment, as humanity faces our Sixth Great Extinction.
Dr. Jean Densmore John is a California Licensed Clinical Psychologist in private practice for more than 10 years, and an integrative health nutritionist and dance/movement therapist for 40 years. She holds a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology with an emphasis in depth psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute. She also holds an MS degree in Human Nutrition from the University of Wisconsin, Madison and is a Licensed Registered Dietitian. Jean received training in movement and art therapy which she applies to her work with dreams and the unconscious as a vehicle of expression. She has also trained as a yoga instructor for working with stress management. Jean has presented nationally and internationally, and she has lived in Santa Barbara, CA for 35 years.
Brian Dietrich, Ph.D. , LMFT is a licensed psychotherapist, certified guided imagery practitioner, clinical supervisor, teacher and author. Brian was a clinical faculty member and training supervisor for the California Pacific Medical Center's Integrative Medicine Education Program where he taught expressive arts therapy and interactive guided imagery. He served as adjunct faculty and clinical supervisor for the California Institute of Integral Studies, Integral Counseling Psychology Program. Brian is an adjunct professor for John F. Kennedy University’s Deep Imagination Certification Program and a psychotherapist in private practice. He is also an analytic candidate at the C. G. Jung Institute of Los Angeles.
Nitsa holds a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology with an emphasis in depth psychology from Pacifica and teaches as Core Faculty in the Counseling Department. She has trained at the C.G. Jung Institute in San Francisco and has had a lifelong passion for curiosity that expands knowledge into gnosis and epignosis. This stance is deeply rooted in her Greek ancestry and informs her teaching style and philosophy. Dr. Dimitrakos’ research interests include cultural dynamics of development, female voice, alchemy, individuation, the power of myth and storytelling, passions of suffering, and imaginal approaches to clinical practice.
PJ DiPietro is Assistant Professor in Women’s and Gender Studies and the Director of LGBTQ Studies at Syracuse University. They specialize in decolonial feminism, feminist and socio-political philosophy, Afro-Latinx, Latinx, and Chicanx feminist theories, trans studies, and Andean, Mesoamerican, and Afro-diasporic spiritualities. They are the author of Sideways Selves: The Decolonizing Politics of Transing Matter Across the Américas (forthcoming), as well as the co-editor of Speaking Face to Face: The Visionary Philosophy of María Lugones (2019).
Alonso has provided direct clinical care to a diverse population for over 25 years. His service includes working with at-risk youth at the ERAS Center, and at the Kruks/Tilsner Center where he served as a youth advocate, case manager, and residential manager. He later transferred to the Tarzana Treatment Center in the San Fernando Valley and helped develop their youth department and coordinated treatment for the Sylmar Juvenile Drug Court, which was honored as a national mentor youth drug court by SAMSHA.
Peter T. Dunlap is a psychologist working in private and political practice. He is engaged in research at the interface between Jung’s thinking about the role of the psychological attitude in the future transformations of the human species, systems-centered group theory and practice, and emotion-focused psychotherapy for individuals and groups.
Natalia Duong is a scholar, teacher, director/choreographer, dramaturg, and performer. Her interdisciplinary research weaves performance studies, transnational Asian American studies, disability studies, and the environmental humanities in a study of the chemical compound Agent Orange. She received a B.A. in Psychology and Dance from Stanford University, an M.A. in Performance Studies from New York University, and a Ph.D. in Performance Studies with a Designated Emphasis in Women, Gender, and Sexuality from the University of California, Berkeley.
Jemma Elliot, MA, LMFT, LPCC, is Department Co-Chair and Core Faculty for Pacifica Graduate Institute’s Counseling Psychology Department. She supports administrative, curricular, and developmental aspects of the MA and PsyD Counseling Psychology programs, teaches in the MA program, and is a passionate contributor to faculty governance.
Wendy’s teaching focuses on integrating the body into a depth -oriented model. At Pacifica, she teaches Somatics. Her passion is to include the body in all conversations concerning the psyche. As a Dance-Movement Therapist, Somatic Experiencing Practitioner, Authentic Movement Facilitator, Yoga and Mindfulness Meditation Instructor for over 30 years, she integrates a wealth of information into the learning environment through deep experientials, creative resourcing, and self-reflection processes.
Thomas is a certified Jungian Analyst and licensed as a Research Psychoanalyst with the California Medical Board. Thomas trained as an analyst at the Center for Depth Psychology according to C.G. Jung and Marie-Louise von Franz in Switzerland and specializes in the role of dreams and the symbolic life in clinical practice. He has a private practice in Santa Barbara. Tom teaches in the depth sequence courses. He is an Analytic Member of the International Association for Analytical Psychology.
Megan is Adjunct Faculty and teaches Process of Psychotherapy, Family Systems and Domestic Violence, Ethics and the Law: Child Abuse Assessment and Treatment. Megan is a Clinical Member of the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists. M.A., Pacifica Graduate Institute Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist, Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor, Licensed Professional Counselor.
Jonathan Erickson is core faculty in the Integral & Transpersonal Psychology PhD program at California Institute of Integral Studies. He holds a Ph.D. in depth psychology with emphasis in somatic studies from Pacifica, an MFA in creative writing from Antioch University Los Angeles, and a BA in English literature and interdisciplinary field studies from the University of California at Berkeley.
Elizabeth is a nationally recognized interdisciplinary artist, author and lecturer on visual thinking, creativity and archetypes in media. She received her Ph.D. in the Mythological Studies Program at Pacifica and her M.F.A. from the University of Washington. Her artwork is widely exhibited and is held in numerous public and private collections. It has also appeared on the covers of several international myth and depth psychology journals and books, including all eight issues of Mythosphere.
Dr. Jesica Siham Fernández is a transdisciplinary scholar, blurring disciplinary boundaries between social, community and liberation psychology, Critical Race & Ethnics Studies, especifical Latinx Studies, and Youth Studies. She is the author of the forthcoming book, "Growing Up Latinx: Coming of Age in a Time of Contested Citizenship" (New York University Press, 2022).
Shoshana Fershtman, JD, PhD, is a Jungian analyst and psychologist in Sonoma County, California, and the author of The Mystical Exodus in Jungian Perspective: Transforming Trauma and the Wellsprings of Renewal. Shoshana is a member analyst and teaches at the C.G. Jung Institute of San Francisco. She served as core faculty in graduate psychology programs at both Sonoma State University and Meridian University. She has lectured widely on Jewish myth and mysticism, transgenerational trauma, and the Sacred Feminine. She also worked as an attorney advocate for environmental, social and racial justice and indigenous rights.
