ARAS NEW YORK CITY SYMPOSIUM LINE-UP

Saturday, September 27, 2026 · 9 am- 6 pm
Archive for Research in Archetypal Symbolism
(28 E 39th St, New York, NY 10016)

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 · Meghan Melvin

12:15 · Morgan Library?

1:30 · 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.

2:00 · The Forest Knows the Way: Baba Yaga and the Return of Feminine Wisdom
Muriel McMahon, Jungian analyst

2:30 · TBD
3:45 · TBD

4:15 · Witches
Pam Grossman

4:45 · 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. 

5:15· Q&A - All Speakers

SPEAKER BIOS

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.

Muriel McMahon is a Zurich trained Jungian analyst, writer, and retreat facilitator. She weaves fairytales, dreams, and depth psychology into soulful explorations of the human journey. Founder of FoxHaven Retreat Centre in Ontario, she hosts story-centered retreats where myth and forest meet. She is the author of three books: Baba Yaga’s Wisdom, Toward a Sacred End, and Mater Misericordaie.

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.