Kristina Dryža
on Mythology and being a Modern Persephone
Persephone: the image of life's cycles and transitions. The one who knows the descent, the search, and the ascent.
How would you reimagine the myth of the Persephone and Hades?
Would you keep or skip those dark nights, the challenges, the crossroads?
Kristina Dryža has been speaking “archetype” since she was born, learning to love her poetic consciousness and the symbolic life, sensing what’s mythic through digesting Lithuanian folklore as a child.
She spent her years researching underworld mythology, studying the terrain of Hades. It takes wisdom, stamina and a brave soul “to explore what’s uncertain, unchartered and unrevealed.” She invites all of us to know our inner patterns, of instinct, love, or survival while respecting the dynamics of life.
After all, we need to listen to what calls us to our depths, to “the waking call that makes us introspective, as the descent is both purposeful and necessary for us to become more complete characters; we’re pulled out of ourselves to be pulled into ourselves.”
Trust her, as she is a guide for all those who fear their interior life.
Through ecopsychology and mythology, Kristina blends the universe's rhythms with the depth of inner lives. She is the author of Grace and the Wind, a modern allegorical novel on the rhythms and cycles of nature.
A TEDx speaker, ex-futurist, archetypal consultant, one of the Joseph Campbell Foundation’s Editorial Advisory Group and a steward for The Fifth Direction, her essence stands clear:
“Our unrealized potential will always ask us to go into the unknown of our lives. Go there. We can’t grow if we stay where we are, metaphorically or literally. ”
Engage in stories, as they show you the marvels of this seen and unseen world. Regeneration must stand on the pillars of archetypes, this symbolic language of the universe, the map of life that we can’t always access through facts, figures or data.
Read Kristina Dryža’s answers for Inspirators, and nourish your psyche with her stories that heal, empower and show you how “to live a useful, necessary and unbounded life – a life of meaning, a life worth remembering”:
Thank you, Kristina, for being a Modern Persephone!
#INSPIRATORS QUESTIONNAIRE
Name: Kristina Dryža
Title: Archetypal Consultant, Speaker & Author
Website: https://www.kristinadryza.com/
LinkedIn profile: www.linkedin.com/in/kristinadryza/
Country of origin: Australia
Country you currently live in: Lithuania
Your personal definition of Regeneration: Surrendering to nature’s seasons and rhythms of rise and decline, flourishing and decay and sensitising our psyches to the inner seasons of the soul.
Main business challenge you face: That much of society is right-brain deficient.
Main driver that keeps you going: The faith in alchemy.
The trait you are most proud of in yourself: The ability to ‘go meta.’
The trait you most value in others: Self-possession.
Passions & little things that bring you joy: Applied mythology, deep dialogues, the magic hours of dawn and dusk.
The #inspirators who determined you to take the regenerative path:
The goddess Persephone.
A hint or starting point for companies or professionals that are taking the first steps in the regeneration journey: Our unrealised potential will always ask us to go into the unknown of our lives. Go there. And in all cultures there are myth-bearing themes of cyclical death and rebirth. Study them.
Most used and abused clichés about sustainability that bother you: Anything that doesn’t reference that which actually sustains us.
An honest piece of advice for young people who lose hope:
You are worthy of love.
Books that had a major impact on you:
Momo by Michael Ende
Cosmos and Psyche by Richard Tarnas
Do the Work by Steven Pressfield
Must-reads for any Regenerative professional: The Overstory by Richard Powers.
Movies / Documentaries you would watch all over again:
Groundhog Day
The Adjustment Bureau
Cloud Atlas
Blogs / Websites / Podcasts etc. you visit frequently:
jcf.org, myss.com, thefifthdirection.com, theredhandfiles.com
Music that makes you (and your heart) sing: Ash, The Killers, James.
Places you travelled to that left a mark on you: Vientiane, Nida, Folegandros.
Global Regenerative Voices you recommend us to follow:
Daniel Christian Wahl
Sophie Strand
Joanna Macy
Trends in Regeneration we should keep an eye on:
Moral imagination
Interspecies empathy
Exnovation
Best places for business networking (online or offline): CreativeMornings.
Events we should attend: Adelaide Writers’ Week, Yaga Gathering.
Associations, business clubs, tribes you belong to – and why:
The Mythologium, because it runs conferences and workshops for mythologists and the myth-curious.
Sustainable Development or Regeneration courses, trainings, or certifications that really teach us how to have an impact:
Susan Altschwager’s Collective Constellations.
Reasons to feel optimistic about our future in 2030: A greater focus on indigenous wisdom, the power of ritual, non-linear consciousness, embodiment practices, and a deeper connection to land, sea and stars.
Reasons to feel pessimistic about our future in 2030: As a society, we aren’t perceiving life through a mythic lens and haven’t developed enough of an archetypal eye.
Regenerative Leadership qualities much needed today: Poetic imagination. The ability to speak metaphorically and engage paradoxically.
The #inspirator you are endorsing for a future edition of the newsletter is:
Joanna Giannes
Quote that inspires you:
“I must be a mermaid, Rango. I have no fear of depths and a great fear of shallow living.”
(Anaïs Nin)
Your own quote that will inspire us:
