Living and breathing the archetypal realm with Kristina Dryza

Podcast

Sep 9

Kristina Dryza isn’t afraid to ask life’s big questions; the kinds of questions that lead us towards something greater than the individual days of our lives.

Recognized as one of the world's top female Futurists, Kristina has always been fascinated by people's patterns. Through her work as an archetypal consultant and author, Kristina explores archetypes as a way of sense-making that weaves together our inner and outer worlds. Kristina feels past, present and future as one, and uses her perspective to offer opportunities for deep healing in this age of fake news and soundbites.

Traci and Kristina share a deep and rich conversation, in which Traci asks the kind of big questions Kristina thrives on. Questions like…

what is the psyche, and what is the soul?
what's the point of Greek mythology and how can it be meaningful?

You’ll leave this episode with a renewed sense of wonder, and a deeper understanding of how archetypes can help us access wisdom and creative energy beyond the confines of our rational mind.

Episode Timeline

[00:09] Intro
[02:58] Meet Kristina
[05:28] Kristina’s shift from Futurism to looking to the past
[7:26] Kristina explains her definition of archetypes, and how they can be a powerful map for making sense of life
[11:54] Living within natural codes
[13:24] What is psyche?
[15:00] The relationship between shadow and light
[17:52] Understanding our shared humanity through archetypes and artistry
[21:58] Allowing all of the parts of ourselves to exist
[23:02] The Underworld
[24:38] Kristina’s approach to ritual
[26:26] Kristina’s first book, Grace in the Wind
[28:03] The four influential archetypes of 2020
[33:17] The gift of witnessing
[36:43] Where you can find Kristina
[37:49] Outro

Resources Mentioned

Grace and the Wind (Kristina’s book)

Archetypes and Mythology. Why They Matter Even More So Today (Kristina’s TEDx talk)

Joseph Campbell Foundation

Standout Quotes

“the future is not thought into being, it's actually sensed into being” (Kristina)
“rather than this Cartesian, “I think therefore I am”, I think it's far more “I sense therefore I am” (Kristina)
“for me, archetypes are just a symbolic language of the universe” (Kristina)
“(Archetypes) are relevant even in the commercial world, not just in the therapeutic world, because they enable us to access deeper levels of insight and wisdom and creative energy that exist beyond the limits of the rational, linear mind.” (Kristina)
“There's universal patterns of the human psyche… patterns of instinct or impulse, survival or fate, destiny and soul.” (Kristina)
“architects don't just structure behavior. They're influencing our imagination, our perception, our ideas, our choices.” (Kristina)
“while the stories may not always be technically true outside, they are true inside. They're really descriptive of our unconscious processes. They link our inner and outer worlds.” (Kristina)
“when we're working with archetypes, we're noticing that, yes, they're neutral, but they also have this light and shadow quality. So they can be creative and destructive.” (Kristina)
“And so I think that why I feel that this work is so important at the moment, is that it's the shared experience of being a human being and our lives are lived on the back of something greater than our own personal days of our lives.” (Kristina)
“I've had this opportunity to look at how have I been living my life where I haven't actually welcomed all of who I am in? And how has that led me to feel utterly oppressed and how has that led me to oppress others?” (Traci)
“trauma so often occurs because we haven't been accompanied and it's that accompaniment is key, that holding and witnessing, and often we haven't had that.” (Kristina)
“this phrase “holy witness” is so much of what we've begun doing on the sidewalk because people will tell us stories because we're strangers. There's something that almost makes it holier. There's safety because we're unknown to this person.” (Traci)
“What the myths have taught me and the seasons have taught me, is that spring will always follow winter, joy will always follow grief. Even if I don't want the sun to come up, it actually will.” (Kristina)