Apr 22 2022 Lecture - Toko-Pa ARCHIVE

About this Event

The Knower in You – An Animist Approach to Dreamwork

by Toko-pa Turner

There is an ancient feminine power awakening in the world. Like a remembered dream, she appears suddenly and disruptively to bring our lives, and the world, into balance. She is the organising intelligence that animates and reclaims all life. She is the pattern-maker that stitches together our dreams, breaks through ordinary time into events of synchronicity and destiny. She is numinous and eternal, but as real and imminent as the dirt under our feet. She communicates through our own bodies, in a language made up of sensations, symbols, intuition, and story. But she also speaks in a multiplicity of other languages, like the patterns of animal life, the gestures of plants, shifts in weather, and even pandemics. This “power from below” is the underlying unity by which we all abide, like an invisible, connective tissue relating us all as one earth. Her name is Sophia, and she knows which way to go.

In this evening talk, we explore Sophia, the feminine personification of Wisdom, as the animating force of the world. Taking a discriminating look at psychology, we explore how we’ve derived our dominant perspective on dreams from Cartesian rationalism at the expense of a suppressed feminine lineage and Indigenous ways of knowing. We invoke animism as a counterpoint to the materialist worldview and put forward the idea that by following Sophia’s guidance, we can move into a deeper relationality with all life: the very aptitude needed for navigating the Anthropocene.

Bio: TOKO-PA TURNER

Blending the mystical tradition of Sufism in which she was raised with a Jungian approach to dreamwork, she founded the Dream School in 2001 from which hundreds of students have since graduated. Toko-pa is the author of the award-winning book, Belonging: Remembering Ourselves Home, which explores the themes of exile and the search for belonging. Sometimes called a Midwife of the Psyche, Toko-pa’s work focuses on restoring the feminine, reconciling paradox, and facilitating grief & ritual practice.

NOTE: This Lecture will start at 5:00 PM (5-7 PM PST - Pacific) as Toko-pa now lives on the east coast! ** THIS EVENT WILL BE RECORDED**