PRS LOS ANGELES SYMPOSIUM LINE-UP
Saturday, October 3, 2026 · 9 am- 6 pm
Philosophical Research Society
(3910 Los Feliz Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90027)
10:30 · Introductory Remarks
10:45 · Keynote
Joanna Ebenstein, Morbid Anatomy Founder and Creative Director
This talk will introduce the speaker’s new book The Art of Fairy Tales and introduce its core concepts.
11:45 · Unicorns?
Jessica Hundley, Editor of Taschen esoteric series: Unicorns
12:15 · Myth & Fairy Tales
Lars
1:30 · Beyond Beauty & the Beast: Animal Brides & Bridegrooms
Liz Andres, Mythology Scholar
What does it mean to marry into the wilderness, to couple with a wild creature, or to find your humanity in the arms of a beast? Animal brides and bridegrooms are popular subjects in myths and fairy tales, but are these relationships across species healthy or dangerous, or a little bit of both?
2:30 · Moderated Conversation?
horror & the grotesque? death & fairy tales? Hair in fairy tales?
3:45 · The Frog Way: Fairy Tales as an Amphibian Artform
Mythological and Depth Psychology Scholar, Devon Diemler, PhD
This illustrated presentation will briefly follow the webbed-toed steps of frogs and toads’ appearances in myth, folklore, biology, film (E.T.), literature, games, and visual art, to better understand the frog’s ecological relationship to fairytales. We will consider how frogs became emblematic of literary scholar Jack Zipes’ designation of fairy tales as memes. And we will look, with big frog eyes, at how, in our age of environmental destruction, frogs signal the drying out of stories and call us back to the well.
4:15 · Persian Fairy Tales
Miriam
4:45 · Spinning Straw into Gold: P.L.Travers' Passion for Fairytales
Patricia Llosa, M.F.A., L.P. Jungian analyst
This talk uncovers how the boundless imagination behind Mary Poppins was based on a life-long passion for the transformative wisdom of fairytales.
5:15· Q&A - All Speakers
PRS LOS ANGELES WORKSHOP LINE-UP
Sunday, October 4, 2026 ·
Philosophical Research Society
(3910 Los Feliz Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90027)
Why We Retell Fairy Tales (And How They Work)
Alicia K. Anderson
Death Cafe Picnic
Liz Andres
The Fairy Tale Shaman
Lisa Cox
SPEAKER BIOS
Liz Andres is a museum professional and scholar based in Los Angeles. She holds degrees in Art History, Classical Archaeology, and Museum Studies from U.C. Berkeley and the University of Leicester, and currently oversees gallery education at the J. Paul Getty Museum. She is pursuing her PhD in Mythological Studies at Pacifica Graduate Institute, and is a resident mythologist and frequent presenter with Morbid Anatomy, as well as a regular Death Café host. Her current research interests include hybrid and liminal creatures in ancient Greek art and mythology, museum taxidermy, and representations of death, myth, and nature in western art.
Devon Deimler, PhD is a writer, artist, and mythologist. She is Associate Core Faculty of Mythological Studies with an Emphasis in Depth Psychology at Pacifica Graduate Institute and is Curator of exhibits and events at OPUS Archives and Research Center. She has served as a Contributing Artist-Scholar and Special Editions Editor at the Philosophical Research Society and has led many arts and music projects over the years.
Joanna Ebenstein is a Brooklyn-based artist, writer, curator, photographer and graphic designer. She is the founder and creative director of Morbid Anatomy. Her books include Memento Mori: The Art of Contemplating Death to Live a Better Life, Anatomica: The Exquisite and Unsettling Art of Human Anatomy andDeath: A Graveside Companion. You can watch her Tedx Talk--Death as You've Never Seen it Before--here.
Lisa Cox is a shamanic practitioner and Wyoming's Death Midwife. She grew up in Maine and lived all over northern New England before migrating to Wyoming in 2003. With degrees in history, education, public administration and soil science, Lisa has spent much of her adult life teaching, researching and writing. Several years ago she embarked on advanced formal training in Core Shamanism, followed by Death Midwife training and opened her own small practice providing shamanic healing and end of life care- and beyond. When not providing exceptional physical, emotional and spiritual care to beings of all sorts, she likely can be found reading, cooking for community, hiking or sitting on a lake in her kayak.
Patricia Llosa, M.F.A., L.P., is a Peruvian-American Jungian analyst maintaining a private practice in New York City.With a background in archaeology and art history, she previously spent over two decades as an administrator and educator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She serves on the board of ARAS, teaches internationally, and is on the faculty of the Jungian Psychoanalytic Association and the Marion Woodman Foundation and the BodyDreaming in Developmental Trauma Training.