Carrying Forward the Matriarch and the Mystery: An interview with Christiena Paulette Auguste

Christiena Paulette Auguste, who performs under the nom de plume CHRIS THE ALCHEMIST, is enrolled in our new M.A./Ph.D. in Psychology, Religion, and Consciousness that will begin in Fall 2025 and is now accepting applications. I’m delighted to hear more about our new student and what led her to start our completely online degree.

Angela Borda: It’s wonderful to speak with you today, Chris, as you are getting ready to start your program at Pacifica in the M.A./Ph.D. in Psychology, Religion, and Consciousness in the Fall. We’re excited to welcome you here. I saw on your resume that you’re fluent in Fluent in English, Haitian Creole/French, and Spanish, so I’m guessing you have connections to Haiti? How would you describe the formative aspects or elements of your upbringing?

Christiena Paulette Auguste: My mom’s line is from the mountains in Haiti. My grandmother was a woman of the land, who inherited many acres from her birth parents, but it wasn’t inherited as ‘wealth’ in the way we think of it. She was stewarding that land as many matriarchs had before her. They had animals. My grandfather was close to the animals, and he cared for them like extended family. Seasonally, my grandparents would take my mom and her younger siblings to climb far up into the mountains and participate in cultural ceremonies. These things are complicated, nuanced and protected, so I won’t go into too much detail. But there’s a psycho-social sorting of who will do what for which realm, deity, nature, etc. My grandma was born in the early 20th century and saw the beginning of post-colonial imperialism, and how capitalist culture would grow to be all consuming, with a disregard for the indigenous people it ‘discovered’ there. Our family was soon displaced off their land, moving from the countryside to the city where they were assimilated into Western paradigms of Third-World struggles.

Angela: Is that what led to your family’s move to the United States?

Chris: My mother, a Protestant Missionary Bishop, was the eldest of her eleven siblings and therefore assumed the responsibility of trailblazing our family’s next step for survival. She was the first in the family to be formally educated in English, French, and Haitian Creole, earning academic scholarships throughout her formative years to international private schools in Port-Au-Prince that now lie in ruin. The tradeoff for ending generational illiteracy was that pioneering a city life further detached her, and her children, from our familial connection to nature. Displaced, our family no longer had viable access to the river wherein all of grandmothers’ children were born in and the land that was seized when grandmother was orphaned then displaced. My mother gave birth to her first two daughters in Haiti and, by the time I was born twenty years later, they had grown into my loving big sisters. Decades after immigrating to Brooklyn, New York, my mother married my father to honor the dying wish of my paternal grandmother – a pious woman who had co-founded the first Haitian Church in New York City with her husband in the 1960s.

Angela: Did you have a special connection with your grandmother?

Chris: I was born in the same hospital where my grandmother passed on, almost exactly a year after her transition. Our family’s lineage entails a mystical continuance of Matriarchs with each generation. No one’s story begins in a vacuum and in many ways, we continue on with the spirits of the elders who came before us. That’s always been a huge driver behind what many have perceived as my “ambition”- I simply know I have to reach as far as I can and dive as deep as I can in this life in order to play my part in the continued dance.

Angela: What was it like growing up in Brooklyn and Long Island?

Chris: My sisters stepped in to raise me after my parents’ divorce, as my mom worked tirelessly, while also devoting her life to volunteering at underserved hospitals, churches, soup kitchens, and orphanages in Haiti, the Bahamas, and Jamaica. By the time I was 14, there was so much cognitive dissonance between my home culture and the predominantly white, suburban culture of the schools I went to. My family didn’t know how to bridge the gap themselves between Concerted Cultivation from a Mystical Haitian lens, and the well-gatekept paradigms of Western privilege that my intelligence kept bucking me up against.

My reality and the projected reality of what was expected of me based on my socio-economic status, race, gender was totally dissonant, and I didn’t yet know the words to express the mismatch. So, at age 14, I sent myself to a New England Boarding School, where I knew I’d be able to better focus on the task of learning how the world works. I did well in Music and Theatre Arts, as I was able to tap into the characters in a similar way to how my great-grandparents would tap into the spirits of archetypal Lwa when preserving herstories in Vodou ceremony. I was introduced to Thoreau and began asking how I could get closer to nature, despite my displacement in the modern Western world. It was there that I was first exposed to the writings of Carl Jung, which helped me begin framing the dynamic act of being human in constructive, English words and scientific rhetoric my mind could grasp and relate to.

Angela: Many of our students come to Pacifica to deepen their understanding of psychology, but a not insignificant number of our students come here as a pivot. They’ve reached a point in their careers or lives where they feel called to study depth psychology for the first time. Is that the case with you? What is drawing you to graduate school and depth psychology at this time?

Chris: After graduating from Columbia, I challenged myself to truly understand key systems of power in the West, which have bound Haiti to cycles of poverty and social unrest. First, I interned on Wall Street for the NY Attorney General, specifically in the Executive Research Bureau. Then, I went into Finance on Park Ave, working in Commercial Credit Analysis, Risk Management, and Leveraged Lending. I thoroughly enjoyed the intellectual rigor of the work, however, spiritually, there were some un-resonant things going on there. I was feeling drained of soul in those environments, of what made me “me.” In order to fit into these western roles, I had to dim down who I was at my core – a ‘Curious Creative who is Enlivened by the Hunger to Grow’.

So, I pivoted into what I thought, at the time, was an open-minded, life-affirming field, spearheading equitable human progress by leveraging the power of ethically sourced data – Big Tech. I got a crash course in virtue-signaling, gaslighting, and straight-up manipulation in that field. After a couple of years working at Google, I’d earned a promotion as a top performer, and I was considering working in one of the international offices. But then, I experienced the grace of an encounter with my Self and a reckoning with my personal beliefs and value systems. Do I really want to continue dedicating hours, weeks, and ultimately, some of the best years of my life, to this? I decided to resign from the industry and cultivate a more symbiotic life. There’s something more I can do with my time on Earth than perpetuate these consuming systems I’d previously been curious about.

Angela: We have many amazing programs at Pacifica that all feature depth psychology from one angle or another. What was it about the Psychology, Religion, and Consciousness Program that spoke to you in particular?

Chris: I was enthralled with all the programs, but this program focused only on the topics I had an inherent interest in, with not one class that I didn’t find deeply fascinating. The Consciousness area of formal study was key. I wanted to understand the scholastic boundaries of what we currently consider mystery in the concept of Consciousness – the facet of human beings that is known for being unknown, our relationship with it over time as a species, how the body, mind, and spirit relate to it when coming together to generate ideas and behaviors. I’m interested in learning symbiotic ways of navigating Consciousness. I’m excited to digest all the well-rounded topics, courses, different schools of thought, and when I have enough data + experience later on, trailblaze something new.

Angela: Were there any courses or subjects within the program that caught your eye? Or faculty whom you’re looking forward to working with?

Chris: When I spoke with Professor Odorisio, the program Chair of Psychology, Religion, and Consciousness, he described this Ph.D. track as a “Best Of” mixtape from degree programs in all three subject areas. I’m excited for the Depth Psychology coursework, as well as the comparative theology component from a mythical lens. I’m interested in the coursework that respectfully outlines the polarities of human thought institutions. Though I don’t personally resonate with indoctrination, I appreciate a comprehensive overview on the religious, spiritual, and psychological thought as we analyze sacred texts, psychedelics, and the revelations of mystical participation.

Structured, well-rounded studies of these concepts feel like necessary ingredients for whatever it is that I cook up as an analytical artist. Either way, I’ll enjoy the exploratory learning process in academic community.

Angela: For those who don’t know, the Psychology, Religion, and Consciousness Program welcomes all religions and does not have a religious affiliation or agenda of its own. Chris, what do you feel will be the benefit of having people from a variety of traditions in the cohort with you?

Chris: I’m looking forward to finding ways to integrate our various faith traditions into a symbiotic order where they can flow in the spiritual body. I care to remain reasonably grounded, interested in, and unpolarized by the diverse faiths and mysteries present in the world. That doesn’t mean I feel entitled to extract the inner mysteries of each tradition though: balance, consent, and symbiosis are always spiritually top of mind for me. For example, there are parts of Haitian Vodou that are proverbially ‘hot’; meaning, you don’t touch it without a layer of protection, preparation, and invitation. You have to understand it’s symbiotic use-cases and navigate wisely. I’m looking forward to expanding that understanding, and perhaps expressing it in my art.

Angela: I understand you attended Journey Week. Was that your first time being on campus? What was your experience of Journey Week like, and what about Pacifica did you find to be unique or attractive to you?

Chris: Visiting Pacifica in person was beyond a breath of fresh air. It felt like a flowing stream of nourishment, gifted to my personal microbiome. The campus is gorgeous and I love the nature surrounding it. The facilities are beautiful, yet not overly extravagant, which I appreciated. I had the pleasure of meeting many people who were accomplished and self-assured, without being cocky – perhaps because Depth Psychology is a good tool to check yourself. We shared perspectives on pressing issues facing humanity, we explored random revelations about life, all while citing the academic sources which catalyzed our discussions. From the brief time I spent in this space, the community felt comfortable and safe. Everyone seemed to have a place there, so it was encouraging to see that this level of inclusion can be fostered sustainably.

Angela: “CHRIS[THE]ALCHEMIST” is your nom de plume. How would you describe your creative endeavors?

Chris: I’m a musician, writer, and painter who performs mystical spoken word for fun. I’ve just published my first illustrated zine, entitled “Emergent Microcosm,” and I’m going to release a digital edition on ChrisTheAlchemist.com in December. Each work of art depicts different archetypal encounters I’ve experienced and distills the lessons learned with a healthy dose of satire. So that’s what CHRIS THE ALCHEMIST is. I perform poetry and sing. That’s how my art comes through. I also act in feature length indie films when the project’s message resonates with me. Life as an artist is fun and deeply fulfilling. I enjoy having the space to share my full presence and play with my muses in different ways.

Angela: Thank you so much for speaking with me. I wish you the best of luck in your academic career here!

Now enrolling for Fall 2025. Discover more about the program here.