Drinking To Remember: The Prenatal Origin of Myth, Religion, and Ritual

Donald Winnicott could have been describing this course when he said, “Mythology may be the key to our embryological experience.” Following Winnicott’s intuition, his protégé R.D. Laing asserted that much of what we call mythology, fairy tales, even sacred scripture derives from a fundamental impulse to recall and retell the universal experience of life before birth in culturally specific ways. And in our ritual reenactments, we drink, not to forget but to remember a time before we were born. We begin the discussion where Laing left off; Sargon and Moses, according to Laing, were pulled from the Nile as they floated by in their little reed baskets, which he equates with an elaborate recreation of a fertilized cell gliding toward the uterus. Exploring the canon of world mythology and the great faiths, we will discover stories and rituals that are basically derived from the same pre-natal memories but suppressed by custom, habit, and cultural arrogance. Taking our cue from Winnicott and Laing, we divide the course into two sessions, covering six distinct levels of “embryological experience”: Ovulation, Fertilization, Differentiation, Gastrulation, Organogenesis, Birth. The theory underlying the discussion, mythobiogenesis, is supported by two of the author’s recently published, peer-reviewed journal articles provided without charge for attendees. Registration: $75 / ISM Member $65 (email info@ismythology.com for discount code to use). Friday, October 2nd and 9th at 8pm ET/5pm PT (90 minutes each)