Series Cast
Inspired by the work of cultural historian and archetypal cosmologist Richard Tarnas, the series features leading figures in the fields of history, psychology, spirituality, political activism, technological innovation and consciousness research.
Richard Tarnas Ph.D. is a professor of psychology and cultural history at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco, where he founded the graduate program in Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness. He teaches courses in the history of ideas, archetypal studies, depth psychology, and religious evolution. He frequently lectures on archetypal studies and depth psychology at Pacifica Graduate Institute in Santa Barbara, and was formerly the director of programs and education at Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California.
He is the author of The Passion of the Western Mind, a history of the Western world view from the ancient Greek to the postmodern widely used in universities. His second book, Cosmos and Psyche: Intimations of a New World View, received the Book of the Year Prize from the Scientific and Medical Network, and is the basis for the documentary series Changing of the Gods.
He is a past president of the International Transpersonal Association and served on the Board of Governors for the C. G. Jung Institute of San Francisco. He is a graduate of Harvard University (A.B. 1972) and Saybrook Institute (Ph.D., 1976). CosmosandPsyche.com
Yeye Luisah Teish, Ph.D. is an initiated elder (Iyanifa) in the Ifa/Orisha tradition of the African diaspora. She is the author of six books, most notably Jambalaya: The Natural Woman’s Book of Personal Charms and Practical Rituals, a women’s spirituality classic. She is a member of The Fountain, the Center for Sacred Studies, and the Mother Earth Delegation of United Indigenous Nations. She serves as a consultant who specializes in racial healing through ancestral storytelling and ritual. She has lectured and performed at universities and in theaters worldwide.
yeyeluisahteish.com
V (formerly Eve Ensler) is a Tony Award-winning playwright, feminist, performer, and activist. She is the author of The Vagina Monologues (translated into 48+ languages, performed in 140+ countries), and the founder of V-Day and One Billion Rising, the vast global movements to end violence against women and girls. Eve also co-founded in 2011 The City of Joy, a transformational leadership community for women survivors of violence in the war-ravaged Democratic Republic of Congo. She has written several other plays and numerous articles.
(www.vday.org)
Stanislav Grof M.D., Ph.D. is a psychiatrist with more than 60 years of experience researching the healing and transformative potential of non-ordinary states of consciousness, including the earliest medical tests using LSD therapeutically. He is a co-founder of transpersonal psychology and a chief theoretician. His groundbreaking theories influenced the integration of Western science with his breakthrough mapping of the transpersonal dimension. He developed parts of his work in collaboration with Richard Tarnas around astrology as a tool for therapeutic insight. His holotropic breath work led him to study the perinatal experience of the birth process itself, resulting in groundbreaking insights into psychological states and traumas. (www.stanislavgrof.com)
john a. powell is an internationally recognized scholar in the areas of civil rights, civil liberties, race, ethnicity, housing, poverty, and democracy. He is a passionate advocate for “interbeing” and beloved community that celebrates our differences and diversity. A professor of Law, African American Studies, and Ethnic Studies at UC Berkeley, he serves as the Director of its Othering and Belonging Institute. He has founded several institutes, taught at numerous law schools, including Harvard and Columbia, and has authored several books, including: Racing to Justice.
(diversity.berkeley.edu/haas-institute)
Oren Lyons, Faithkeeper of the Wolf Clan, Onondaga Council of Chiefs of the Haudenosaunee (Six Nations/Iroquois), helped establish the UN’s Working Group on Indigenous Populations in 1982 and has long been active defending Indigenous rights around the world. He is a globally recognized Indigenous leader. Recently retired as a professor at SUNY Buffalo and as Director of its Native American Studies Program, he is also a widely exhibited artist, an author, and a legendary figure in world lacrosse.
(wikipedia.org/wiki/Oren_Lyons)
William Keepin, Ph.D. is a mathematical physicist and co-founder of Gender Equity and Reconciliation International (with Cynthia Brix), which conducts Gender Reconciliation trainings in 12 countries, inspired by the Truth and Reconciliation principles developed by Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Will’s research on sustainable energy strategies for abating global warming influenced international environmental policy. He serves on the Board of the Grof Legacy Project, and has published research on quantum physics, spirituality, comparative mysticism, and scientific evidence for astrology. His books include Divine Duality and Song of the Earth: A Synthesis of Scientific and Spiritual Worldviews
(www.GRworld.org, williamkeepin.com)
Jay Harman is described as a “visionary” and “futurist” by the Science Channel. An award-winning entrepreneur and biomimetic inventor, he converted his lifelong fascination with the deep patterns found in nature into multi-million-dollar research and manufacturing companies that develop, patent, and license innovative products inspired by nature. He was among the first pathfinding scientists to make biomimicry—the science of “innovation inspired by nature”—a cornerstone of modern and future engineering.
(thesharkspaintbrush.com)
Jeremy Narby, Ph.D. is a Swiss-based anthropologist and Indigenous land rights activist. He is the author of The Cosmic Serpent: DNA and the Origins of Knowledge and Intelligence in Nature: An Inquiry into Knowledge, detailing the leading-edge science demonstrating nature’s deep intelligence. He has worked for three decades with Indigenous Amazonian people in efforts to guarantee their territories and cultures. He grew up in Canada and Switzerland, studied history at the University of Canterbury and received his doctorate in anthropology from Stanford. His new book is Plant teachers: ayahuasca, tobacco, and the pursuit of knowledge, co-authored with Amazonian expert Rafael Chanchari Pizuri.
greatmystery.org/jeremynarby
Xiuhtezcatl Martinez, at the time of filming Changing of the Gods, was a 15-year-old Indigenous change agent, environmental activist, public speaker, eco hip-hop artist and the Youth Director of Earth Guardians. He has emerged as a powerful voice on the front lines of the youth-led climate movement. He performs internationally at music festivals, organizes demonstrations, and has spoken countless high-impact rallies, events and conferences around the globe. In 2013, he received the United Nations Community Service Award from President Obama, and was the youngest of 24 national change-makers chosen to serve on the President’s Youth Council. He keynoted along with Robert Redford in 2015 at the UN Climate meeting in New York City and was profiled in Rolling Stone among many other high-profile media.
xiuhtezcatl.com
Thomas Linzey Esq. is Senior Legal Counsel for the Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights (CDER), a nonprofit organization which partners with governments, tribal nations, and grassroots organizations around the globe to advance and enforce laws which recognize legal rights for nature and communities. Linzey is widely recognized as the founder of the “community rights” and “rights of nature” movements which have resulted in the adoption of several hundred municipal laws in the U.S., and other laws around the world. He has written several books, was featured in the documentary films 11th Hour and We the People 2.0, and his work has been featured in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Mother Jones, The Nation magazine, and Forbes. In 2018, Linzey was named as one of the top 400 environmentalists of the last 200 years.
www.centerforenvironmentalrights.org
Mari Margil is the Executive Director of the Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights (CDER). She works with national, state, and local governments, tribal nations, and indigenous communities in Australia, the Philippines, Nepal, and elsewhere, to advance legal and policy Rights of Nature frameworks. She also served as a consultant to Ecuador’s Constituent Assembly, helping to draft the world’s first Rights of Nature constitutional provisions. Margil received her Master’s degree from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, and is a co-author of The Bottom Line or Public Health, Exploring Wild Law: The Philosophy of Earth Jurisprudence, and Bearing Witness: The Human Rights Case Against Fracking and Climate Change. Her writing has also been featured in publications including The Guardian, YES! Magazine, Earth Island Journal, Mongabay, Democracy Journal, World Policy Journal, and Common Dreams.
www.centerforenvironmentalrights.org
EXTRA INTERVIEWS NOT IN FILM:
Dr. Larry Dossey is a distinguished Texas physician who has become an internationally influential advocate of the role of the mind in health and the role of spirituality in healthcare. He introduced the concept of “nonlocal mind” — mind unconfined to the brain and body, mind spread infinitely throughout space and time. Since then, the “nonlocal mind” has been adopted by many leading scientists as an emerging image of consciousness. The primary quality of his work is scientific legitimacy, with a focus on “what the data show.” He has lectured all over the world, is the author of thirteen books and numerous articles, and is the executive editor of the peer-reviewed journal Explore: The Journal of Science and Healing.
www.dosseydossey.com
Rev. Cynthia Brix, Ph.D.(hon) is co-founder of Gender Equity and Reconciliation International, which has conducted 280 programs in twelve countries for reconciliation between women and men. She is an ordained interfaith minister, and was formerly campus minister at the University of Colorado, and co-Chair of the Race Relations Committee in Muncie, Indiana. She is co-author of Women Healing Women, contributing-author of Divine Duality: The Power of Reconciliation between Women and Men; and producer of the DVD, Cultivating Women’s Spiritual Mastery (www.GRworld.org, www.Satyana.org).
